The Good: The views are spectacular. West view better in daylight, sunset. East view better at night.

The location is perfect, commute to downtown is 5 minutes. River Oaks shopping, restaurants, cinema, comedy club are all walkable. And you can jog along the Bayou by walking out the front door.

So far, the apartments are quiet- I can hear my upstairs neighbor showering when in the bathroom, but otherwise would not know anyone is in the surrounding units. No noise from outside, at least on the upper floors.

Valet parkers will have your car out front waiting for you to go to work each day, and while one adjusts the seat (which is annoying)- it is a wonderful service overall.

Maintenance is good, and will install items you buy.

There is also a certain cachet/wow factor to the place that may or may not matter to you.

Neutral: Gym and pool are fine, nothing better or worse than other top apartments. Pool chairs, inexplicably made of wood, are fairly uncomfortable-- even with the cushions.

For those easily spooked, there are bats around (literally a quarter million of them across the street under the bridge) and a few that circle over the building each night. You can see them leave by the thousands for their rounds if you jog the Bayou just as night falls. I like it, some do not. There is also a cemetery in plain view right across the street on the west.

Concierge/security generally good and helpful, but there is no way in or out except by them, so they know exactly when you come and go, and who with. For some, that is scarier than bats or cemeteries.

The Bad: The blinds that come with the apartment are designed to let in light (so you can still have your view)- unfortunately if you face downtown (east), the sun comes barreling into your bedroom by 7 a.m., and immediately heats up the room by 10-15 degrees. This can be solved with drapes, etc. But set aside a decent-sized budget to make it dark and cool in an East facing bedroom.

Some of the basic features that come with the apartment are weak- the assumption is residents bring their own stuff. No living room lighting of any kind or ceiling fan is provided, and the toilet seats are literally less than 2 inches wide (To their credit, maintenance installed a light for me and replaced the toilet seats.)

Finally there is the issue of price. One and two bedrooms range from $2,200-5,000 a month. For townhomes, multiply that range by four. (No kidding.)

I give it a 5 as a place to live, a 3 for value on the dollar, 4 overall.

If you have questions, feel free to e-mail me at skylinehouston@hotmail.com odusyNYCcZ7yL3Bj5JtG

User Responses
From: curious12	Date: 02/22/2007
Anyone know what the HOA fee is per month on a one bedroom unit?
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/21/2007
Good accurate review. As far as the HOA fees ... they keep going up so no telling what they are this week. Of course, as the fees go up, the services provided go down: no more shuttle-service that is always mentioned and now they are even cutting back on the bottled water in the gym and kitchen!!! (Starbucks coffees is still freely flowing at no cost to residents and guest.) You may say that we are cheap by complaining about this but when they make a big deal about this when you are buying or leasing you expect those services to be there.

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