I've lived at The Ridge for almost ten years now--longer than any of the current office staff have worked there! Probably my long tenancy here is the best recommendation I can give for the place. It's not the flashiest complex in Austin, but it is a good value for the price and the neighborhood is great.

Pros:
-Far West area. I'm a single woman and feel very safe walking here, even at night by myself. It's just across the street from an awesome grocery store, which did a recent remodel to allow for more pre-made foods, more organics and health foods, etc. (More Central Market products, for those of you who know what that means.) Also a bank, library, post office, dry cleaners, and drugstore within a couple blocks. Once my car died and I had to walk everywhere for a couple weeks and had no problems getting everything I needed.

-Rent is reasonable for the area. Probably not the best, definitely not the worst.

-Lots of small nice touches in the apartments. Depending on the model (and I've lived in a couple here), you may have built-in bookshelves, brushed-nickel fixtures, crown moldings, and a good balcony. I think all models have fireplaces, which is pretty funny considering that it never gets cold enough here to use them, but they look good! If you live near one of the pools or the business/fitness center, you can pick up the free wifi that's provided for those common areas.

-The complex seems committed to increasing their green practices. They recently installed low-flow toilets (which reduced my water bill, yay!), all the apts have those fancy programmable thermostats, recycling is free (except you can't recycle glass, which is kinda goofy), and a couple months ago maintenance came through and replaced all our lightbulbs with free CFLs. Cool.

-Pretty landscaping. People always comment on that when they come to visit.

-On the UT shuttle--very quick and easy if you're a student or staff

-Huge walk-in closets. Love it.

-The maintenance guys are great. Larry and Curtis head the maintenance team, and they know me by name and I feel very safe trusting them in my home. Requests are generally handled quickly and accurately.


Cons:
-The property is owned by BH Management, a big company with lots of complexes all over the country. I get the impression that hiring good office staff is not always their top priority. Everyone there right now is pretty good, but again, I have lived here long enough to have worked with a few folks who were rude and couldn't have cared less about responding to my concerns. My contentment/displeasure with The Ridge has varied accordingly over the years. (Lucky them, I'm writing this on a good year!)

-Austin in general has a problem with auto burglaries and unfortunately this place is no exception. Just use common sense here--park against the buildings and don't leave valuables in sight in your car.

-Leaf blowers. Monday through Saturday mornings at 8 am sharp. I will always associate my time at The Ridge with the leaf blower wakeup call!

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