One of my good friends lives at the Crescent Club Apartments, so I've had an opportunity to spend a…read moregood bit of time here (not to mention a few nights on the couch...) As far as these sort of apartment buildings go, it's pretty nice -- the hallways are large and carpeted, the garage is convenient if you're bringing in groceries in the pouring rain (and, well, I'm sure it's great to have parking in general), and the pool in the center of the complex is gorgeous and probably underutilized by the people who live there. (That seems to be the case with most apartment complex pools, in my experience.)
Not sure how this development compares price-wise to similar buildings (American Can, Cotton Mill, and The Esplanade come to mind), but the apartments themselves are quite nice and well laid out for roommates. They're carpeted, have great kitchens, a tiny balcony, and the two bedroom/two bathroom unit that I've seen is definitely somewhere I'd live if not for all the old, funky, charming houses in New Orleans that have prevented me from ever bothering to look at an apartment/condo lifestyle. (I love hardwood floors, huge, heavy windows that are painted shut, porches, balconies and the random old fashioned things you'll find like the laundry closets, transoms, and terrifying gas heaters that actually work but look dangerous and have to be lit with a match.)
The only reason I'm giving this place three stars instead of four is because of the location. I'm sorry, but I really don't think I'd want to live THAT close to OPP. Case in point: last time I was visiting my friends, we (gasp!) ran out of beer and so two of us set out in search of a convenience store for more drinks. There were plenty of options within walking distance, but the one to the right had a crowd of people kind of loitering outside it (this is midnight-ish, by the way), and neither of us really wanted to brave the crowd to get inside so we did a 180 and headed toward the gas station to the left.
On our way, we passed a few people walking their dogs or whatever, and there was a guy speedwalking in our direction who actually freaked me out a little because he seemed really fidgety, anxious, just gave off a weird vibe. For the record, I've lived in some seriously questionable neighborhoods (at one house, on Louisiana Avenue Parkway, we couldn't even get pizza delivered; no one would do it b/c the street had such a bad reputation), and am not easily freaked out by people on the street. Generally, I find people to be pretty awesome, no matter what part of town you're in. The fact that this guy made me nervous was kind of a big deal, because this rarely, rarely happens.
(I'm tempted to stop here and see if anyone notices, because I'm getting tired of writing this unnecessarily long review, but it's actually kind of a funny story.)
[gives in to temptation]
....To Be Continued...