I've been living at City Plaza for about a year now. I am planning on moving because of financial reasons but am really going to miss the place. It's in a prime location (about two blocks down from the capitol) and is very close to Georgia State (about four blocks away. A ten minute walk.)
The people who work at the front office are very friendly, and as long as you are courteous to them, they will return the effort. I haven't had a single problem with them and find that the people who complain on here are probably the problems. They are really sweet and willing to help you with anything you need. Any maintenance problems that we've filed have been fixed within 4 hours- this is on multiple occasions.
If you're considering moving to be closer to Georgia State, it is a great location. It takes me ten minutes to walk to my classes. I can come home and have a comfortable lunch before going back. I am close to school functions. It's really great.
If you are a girl/woman and considering living with fellow girlfriends, think about considering having a GSU police escort you home after dark.
City Plaza is across from City Hall and a Church where the homeless people sleep every night. If you live here, expect to be hassled outside of the premises. This is my only complaint. However, since the economy has gone down the toilet in the past few months, people haven't been donating to charity and homeless shelters have closed down, causing more homeless in Downtown Atlanta. Be aware of this fact! You will be living two blocks down from Underground Atlanta.
City Plaza has a courtyard that is absolutely beautiful (doesn't make you feel like you're in Downtown Atlanta) and is kept up by landscapers a few times a month. My only complaint is that they trim the grass too far away from the sidewalk, creating weird dirt patches that are aesthetically unpleasing. The fountain in the courtyard is really pretty and sometimes you can hear it when you wake up in the morning. There are a lot of sparrows that live in the trees next to the parking lot and I love to feed them sunflower seeds. The men who work as security for the parking deck feed them, too. They are really nice guys.
The parking deck is accessible from the courtyard (uses card key access) but the lock is always broken and easy to pull open. I haven't felt unsafe about this... ever. I haven't heard of any break ins in the parking deck and always see a security guard on duty. The man who runs the parking deck, Girma, is a really nice guy, too, and is a little difficult to get a hold of sometimes. That's the only problem that I've had with the parking deck.
My favorite part about living at City Plaza is hearing the church bells on Sunday morning. It rings every fifteen minutes and on Sunday mornings, it plays beautiful songs. Sometimes they do construction around here (you will be living in an urban area) so it can get a little noisy. Cops and firetruck sirens blast every once in a while during the night, but it doesn't wake me up anymore.
Consider buying a humidifier for the apartment. The pollution downtown is terrible and will dry your throat out every night. I've found that a filter doesn't really help, but a humidifier has helped the most.
They have a policy against pets, however, I have seen many residents with them. There's a lady with a teacup chihuahua and a man with a pug. I see cats in windows every once in a while. There is a man who carts kitty litter up to his apartment every weekend that claims that it's for "his wife who is visiting and brought their cat" but it's pretty obvious that the cat is a resident here, too. I thought it comical.
They do NOT check the apartments without your permission, and most people with pets generally just hide them from maintenance. I don't know what they'd do anyway. They don't enforce the pet policy. If you do have a dog, just PLEASE be courteous and pick up it's doody with a baggie outside. You shouldn't have a pet anyway and other residents don't want to step in its crap. Just be mindful.
The washer and dryer are both located inside of the apartment, which is really convenient. The dryer that we have in our apartment has to run twice to get our clothes dry, which eat up the electric bills. To give you an idea, it cost us about 90$ last month for electricity, up from 50$ the month before. This is because I've needed to clean my clothes more often because I'm enrolled in a sculpture course.
Water is paid for by the complex, which is pretty much included in rent. The rent is very good compared to others' that I've heard about. Trash is also paid for by the complex, but stinks up the hall so please shut the chute when you're finished. Some people don't and it makes it really unpleasant for those of us who live next to it. Generally, I hold my breath as I walk by.
The elevators malfunction every once in a while and I would prefer to take steps, but it's out of the way. If I had it my way, I would make card key access to the emergency stairs so that I could go up to my apartment that way. The elevators are sometimes a little slow, but are otherwise kept up pretty well.
The mail man does not come on weekends (is let in by the office) and every once in a while will come on Fridays. Mail is generally a little bit slower getting here and I've had packages get lost, but I don't feel it's the problem of the mail carrier rather than the people who sent it (they had terrible feedback anyway).
Both buildings are card key accessible and make me feel completely safe. We have had no trouble with people we didn't know.
What's strange about this complex is that I rarely see anybody else who lives here. I usually ride the elevators alone and never really run into anyone in the hall. The walls are a little thin, though, so I often can hear people talking outside. Neighbors here love to party, so don't expect to get a lot of sleep on holidays, etc.
The little porches outside could be bigger, but are nice for hot days. We love to sit outside and eat there on pretty days, enjoying ourselves. They don't allow gas/coal grills, only electric. A Foreman has been our savior here.
The closets and bathrooms are surprisingly roomy. The only problem that I've had with space is the kitchen. Then again, we have the 1br/1bath apartment, so we get what we pay for. It's manageable, but two people can sometimes be a crowd.
It's about three blocks down from the Five Points Marta station, too, and four or five from the Georgia State Marta station. The location is about four miles away from Little Five Points and the Caroline Street Kroger/Target/Lowes/Best Buy/Barnes and Noble shopping center. We do our grocery shopping there. Howell Mill is less than ten minutes away and there is a large Wal*Mart there, and an IKEA nearby.
All in all, I've been really happy living here and will really miss it when I move away.

User Responses
From: KTBurn	Date: 02/24/2009
PS there are three maintenance staff members- scott, the tall guy, and the short dude who makes gangsta rap videos. the guy with the gangsta rap fixed our dryer quick.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/26/2009
THIS MUST BE MANAGEMENT. This review is so full of crap. I know you do not live here. There are SOOO many issues that I know he did not get to you within four hours. There are TRASH drag marks in the hallways, urine/condom/grafitti elevators, an incompetent OBNOXIOUS staff. If this is what you consider good living, I feel sorry for you. It just irritates me that management is trying to pretend to be a tenant. This apartment is a step above the "projects". However, the projects would not require expensive rent.

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