I moved to the apartment without seeing the unit first since I lived several hours away, and the pictures, virtual tour, and descriptions on many of the apartment-dot-coms said it was "luxury". I was also moving into a newly renovated unit with all the upgrades, so I was expecting a nice high-end place to live. When I moved in the unit had a crack all down the living room wall and there was no intention of fixing it. That was the first tip off.
In reality, these are old buildings where some units have been renovated with some nice finishes but have all the same issues of an old building and property. I lived there for 2 years and ultimately bought out my lease to move. If you're just looking for somewhere that is slightly less expensive than other places in the area and don't care about the amenities and other issues, then these are fine.
Pros
1. The cost of rent is slightly less than in other places in the area (but I would suggest that based on the rate increases, after a lease renewal they are not that much different from an actual luxury building).
2. The on-site maintenance team / superintendent is nice.
3. They returned my security deposit within the two-week timeline without any issues.
4. The location is convenient to shopping and highways.
Cons
1. In the back of the facility there is a waste processing facility. While the horrible smell wasn't as bad after the construction ended, there are still many days a year where the complex smells horribly.
2. The light switch in my office/den was somehow wired to an outlet in my kitchen so I could never use the kitchen outlet. While they told me this, they did not fix it.
3. You cannot control your heat aside from opening or closing a small flap. My apartment was unbearably hot. I had to keep my window open all winter long and only closed it once when it was -10 degrees outside.
4. The air conditioners in the summer did not have enough BTUs to cool the place adequately. I had two brand new units when I moved in and one broke each of the two summers I lived there. They did replace them, but they just weren't good units. I was even told by people who worked there that they were bad units but management insisted on using them because they look nice. Plus, they are ill-fitted to the holes in the wall so bugs crawl right in.
5. Laundry rooms are dirty, extremely hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The card to pay for the laundry is not convenient. I ended up sending my laundry out with a service.
6. You can hear and smell everything through the walls too - including multiple neighbors who party /stay up all night till 3am or 4am and smoke marijuana. After they "addressed the problem" with one neighbor and did not renew the lease, the next one who moved in was just more of the same. I also observed high turnover with the units next to mine each having 3 different tenants in a two-year time period.
7. The office staff turnover frequently so even though I kept asking to buyout my lease, it took 5 months to get someone who was able to help me to actually follow up, and only after I called the corporate office. read more
