We first moved into Alexan in May of 2007, we were very pleased and impressed with the quality of the apartment and surroudning grounds, parking availability, and the maintenance. That impression lasted until the middle of August, when everything went to hell.
I guess the complex was largely uninhabited in the summer, but once classes started everything went to hell. Parking became a nightmare - if you get back anytime after 10pm, expect to walk the equivalent of a city block to get to your apartment. The noise became unbearable. We were lead to believe that the residents were predominantly Duke graduate students, post docs and young professionals, but I've never known that demographic to party this much. The once beautiful grounds were completely trashed. Cigarette butts, animal droppings and garbage are often strewn across the complex.
The complex looks safe enough, but looks can be deceiving. There have been a few break-ins since we lived here, but of course the management does its best to keep those under wraps. We only found out because we know the people who were robbed. We've also had a couple packages left at our door get stolen (couriers have since gotten wise and now deliver packages to the office).
Maintenance is well meaning but poorly managed. Our apartment has, on two separate occasions, been entered by maintenance staff without our permission or notification. Both times were supposedly for a termite inspection.
None of the amenities worked. The car wash was turned off for the first few months due to the drought, but once the drought was over a supposed "broken pipe" kept the car wash closed. To this day it still doesn't work.
Worst of all, when we tried to move out, we asked management to give us an extra 2 weeks beyond the end of our lease. This request was made two months in advance. They told us it was completely fine and not to worry about it. When the end of the lease came around, management tried to charge us $676.45 for the extra 12 days we were going to stay. That amounts to almost $1800/month, an increase of over 100% of our original rent of $875. Management argued that this was allowed under the terms of our contract. I reviewed the contract and found nothing allowing management to raise the rent without providing 60 days notice. When I asked the property manager to clarify, she refused, and simply stated it was policy.
Long story short, please don't be deceived by the appearance of this complex. While it looks nice enough, it is poorly run and unethically managed. Please don't repeat our mistake.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/03/2009
With apartment vacancies up and average monthly rent down throughout the Triangle, you would think that Alexan's management would be more sympathetic. Instead, they seem to want to give the impression that they're interested mostly in milking their current residents for as much as they can.

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