Ive have lived at Chelsea on/off for 3years in the past 4. I am a UT grad working on a Master's Degree.

I have read alot of people's comments and like others I agree with most, and only disagree with a few. The bottom line is this place is old. In each apartment there is a non-working dispatch call buttom that once linked the grounds to the APD! This complex was my first off campus living area. And for the price compared to other places in Austin, it's actually quite cheap. There is a Cameron Road UT shuttle across the street and Regan High right down the road. In the past there were some issues with regan kids breaking into apartments. When I use to work late I would see people pulled over all the time around 1am off of Cameron Road. There is a security company that patrols the grounds once every night.

On my second stint with this place, like many, my first night I slept with roaches. It did not bother me. The complex works with an exterminator that comes once a week. And after a couple of trips, he layed some traps and over time my place has been fairly bug free. Like many apartment communities, there's gonna be those loud neighbors. I have really not had any loud neighbors. It's really the luck of the draw. The management changes all the time. There have been rumors of this property being sold in the recent future. The hot water issue that many seem to be having. This is because this complex has centralized water heaters. I think there's only 3 or 4 for the entire complex. During my first stay my roommates and I were fairly far back in the complex and only got hot water around 10am - 6pm. So we just adjusted accordingly. I now live near the front of the complex, and to my satisfaction, this is where the hot water runs first in a circular pattern. The "gym" is a death trap, so I wouldn't recommend working out there. Over the years, the pool has become swimable. To my surprise, the laundry room has been remodelled. It now as A/C and seems clean enough to stake out a spot to watch your clothes. The water bill is allocated with the entire complex, which sucks. The more people you have living in a greater square footage apartment, the more you'll be paying for water each month. I pay my rent on the first of every month and everytime I ask for a receipt. Two weeks ago, there was issues coming from my breaker box. I had to turn it off. They sent out their crew that very day because I had no electricity, so they deem the problem as a high priority. They called and sent out someone from an electric company because their on-staff crew was not certified. I was without power till 8pm. They gave me access to their model home to store my perishable food. I also had put in a request order for fixing my dishwasher before the breaker issue(which turned out to be directly related to my breaker box). They didn't get back to me with that until 2-3 days after my breaker was fixed (so I assume they deem it as a non-priority).

Parking here is very very bad. This is because Chelsea and McKinzie Point (next door) use to be one big complex. And when they split up, McK Point took alot of the parking spots on the west side. From what I hear, the east side has plenty of spots. They really don't enforce the double parkers. And some people living here cannot drive/park to save their lives. But, again thats just the luck of the draw.

All and all, You'll always have people who complain about a place. Whether it's the staff or the poor conditions, it's really up to you to make the best of things. If you want a picture perfect place then choose to live on Texas Capt. Highway paying 1100 for a 1/1. My wife has been living here for about 1 year now, and she wants to move. And I assume it is just about time. They have been raising my rate everytime I resign the lease. Normally, they would give you a lower price to convince you to stay, but I guess these are new times ahead of us. From my current apartment finding endevours, the rates all around Austin have gone up.

Chelsea is really THAT bad of a place to stay. It's just an old complex with high management turn over rate in a bad neighborhood. It's in a great access location. It's right in the middle of 183/290/I-35. Traffic is not that bad. There's a La Palapa (awesome mexican restuarant), Popeye's, blockbuster, cici's, tacobell etc etc down the street. And a randall's acouple of blocks away.

For a college student this place is surprisingly very good.
For a family, if you can afford the townhomes it's the only thing that's worth living here long term.

I was fairly close to the old management here. The new people here are not as friendly. I have "lost" a package that my mother sent me. This isn't a dream place to live. It's just a place to live.

Just ask every question under the sun. The more you know the better you'll end up.

User Responses
From: ladyjulsb	Date: 01/16/2008
The old management team misses you too. Juls

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