I lived in the Landmark for about 8 years years before finally getting out. A few thoughts:
Location: The location is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it's pretty close to Georgia State, MARTA and O4W, along with some of the more tourist-y and government areas of the city. On the other hand, my vehicle was broken into twice while I lived there, and its proximity to Boulevard means a lot of drifter-types floating around the general area. In fairness, that area has improved steadily as development in the area has increased. Traffic is going to be hit-or-miss - the connector and Grady curve are a nightmare during rush hour, but it's usually fine if you time it correctly or use MARTA to get around. The closest restaurants and shopping are around North Ave. and Ponce - not exactly walk-able, but not too far either. Depending on your unit, you might have an awesome view of the downtown and midtown skyline.
Residents: The people who stay at the Landmark are an eclectic mix of GSU students, Gold Dome politicians, older long-time residents, and some younger owners. People are mostly friendly, but keep to themselves. Occasionally, I experienced noise issues with student residents or weird behavior from some of the more eccentric, older tenants. But on the whole, the tenants were friendly.
Building: The Landmark is _old_ - I believe it was originally a hotel in the 1960's - and that's reflected in the quality of the building. When it rains, you'll see buckets in the lobby to catch the leaks. When it's hot, the central A/C will break down. When it's cold, the boiler needs some new part. The side parking entrance straight up didn't lock for months, so anyone could walk in as they pleased. Most egregiously, the A/C unit for the whole building failed in September 2014, and wasn't repaired for 9 days. As temperatures reached 97, the only updates tenants received were poorly-written notes posted in elevator that "finding a replacement part is really hard". Even when the infrastructure of the building isn't falling apart, it's pretty old school - your unit will _never_ get below 75 degrees in the summer or above 68 in the winter with the old radiators, and window-mounted A/C units are not allowed. Water is shut off during the day for several hours about 3-5 times a month. Aesthetically, the building is in rough shape - the carpet is stained, the old paint is chipped and aged and the presenting features are rough. Landscaping is basically done quarterly, and the parking lot is busted up and damaged, with drain pipes rarely cleaned - expect 2-6 inches of water around your car if you're parked facing 75/85 when it's raining.
Amenities: Basically non-existent. There's an "exercise room" that is just that - a small room with a TV, treadmill, row machine and a Nordic Track. Rarely are all machines in working order at the same time. The pool and patio area is rarely cleaned and is thus pretty gross - trash, leaves and cigarette butts line the perimeter of the filter traps in the pool, and tenants basically use that area to place phone calls and smoke, so banish any ideas of it being a social hub or anything like that. The HOA dues rose steadily over my time there with basically no improvements - it was over $400/month when I left, not counting parking.
Staff: Horrific. This is why I - and many others - left in a hurry this past year, and why I'd highly advise against moving here. The Landmark front office has always had high turnover, but this latest run is an unprecedented intersect of incompetence, amateurism and antagonism. Imagine a world where an old, vindictive church secretary tried to run a large complex, and you're on the right track. There's no property management group, experienced board of directors, transparency, practices or automated systems - it's one lady and a shoestring staff, and that's reflected in the quality of the service. If you have a dispute, be prepared to try and guess when one person is in the office, be talked down to, receive poorly-written and passive-aggressive letters and threatened with fines. I cannot emphasize enough how poorly run the front office is - you basically need to hope for no issues, because it will be a headache if you need anything.
To add insult to injury, the staff are dismissive and incompetent toward even the most basic and pressing of incidents. Ex.: Due to a pipe leak in the floor above mine, my ceiling collapsed and caved under the weight of the leaked water. It took 17 days from the time I notified the front office to the time it was shoddily patched. 17 days of damp, moldy sheetrock, water damaged floor and ruined furniture. No updates, no timelines, no attempt at coordinating.
I wouldn't recommend staying here long-term. Maybe a semester at most, if you work at the Gold Dome seasonally, or if you're staying for a random weekend. read more