This is my first review on Apartment Ratings, so hopefully it will be of help to those who are looking into The Estates as a possible place to live. First of all, I am renting a one-bedroom apartment, so I cannot offer opinions on the other plans that Estates provides. The rent for one-bedroom is advertised as $759 which was the same price it was when I signed my lease last year, but I received a Preferred Employer discount so it was about $720.
The Pros of living here:
1. The proximity to Easton, Gahanna restaurants, the airport, the grocery store, 161 and 270.
2. The bay windows and the large patio! I live near the pond that is on the property and I find it very calming to have a view of the woods and birds as well as seeing families walking on the pathway or people walking their dogs. Also, plenty of light is allowed in which saves on electricity!
3. The walking path. I think they say it's about a 1.5 miles, but I have never walked the whole thing. It's just having it around when you just want to be outside for awhile.
4. The laundry, pool, mailbox, and fitness center is right there. The only complaint I have regarding the laundry room is that not all the dryers have the lint screen and not all the dryers work very well. Especially the top ones are known for leaving your clothes a bit moist (and I do not stuff the machines). What is nice is that you don't need quarters for the laundry. They use a card that you can recharge by just giving the office a check and they just reload the card for you. Huge huge plus in my opinion. There is a W/D connection in my apartment, but I use it for storage and figure it was cheaper to just use their laundry facility.
5. The community events. They have at least one or two a month. I have only attended one, but they seem to be pretty popular among the rest of the residents.
6. There is plenty of parking. Unless I come home late at night, I am almost always near the front of my apartment.
7. The car care center. It has a hose with spray nozzle and carpet vacuum machine. Very convenient if you want to wash your car yourself. You don't see that very often in an apartment complex.
8. The maintenance staff. When I moved in, the long blinds to my windows were not fitting in the recess and the kitchen sink faucet handle was about to fall off. The maintenance came in the next day and fixed it right away. Also, whenever it snows, I have them salt the side walks and plow the parking area, so no problems there.
9. Free basic cable.
Cons:
1. The price. You are on the edge of New Albany and will pay for it. I am moving out because we are in a recession and it's not a smart move for me to continue paying rent at this price range. If it was in the 650 range, I would probably stay.
2. The dumpster. I read a comment about the dumpster being overfilled at times. I do agree with that, but the trash is cleared every week.
3. With the bay windows, you also get a colder apartment. The insulation on the windows is not great, so my gas bill shot up in December/January. Tripled! It went back down the next month to about $30, so I guess one month of a high gas bill is not too bad. I don't know anything about old pipes that another commentator mentioned, so maybe they have since replaced them.
On one last note, I have never had a problem with the staff, but there is turnaround just like with any community staff and I don't visit them often anyway. I just know that whenever I had a problem, someone was able to fix it quickly and painlessly.
Enjoy apartment hunting!

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