Great location, but read your contract or get screwed in the end...
From:
unt0ld
Date posted:
4/30/2007
Years at this apartment:
2003
-
2005
1 response
*** this is a bit older of a review, read section at very bottom for further update *** I guess I'll start out by saying, yes this location is great if you work in the greenway plaza area which is why I picked it. Most of the places located close to greenway plaza were either way overpriced (anything with the word luxury in the title, which is like 95% of them wanted $1000 for 650sq ft.) that I looked at, or were crappy (sendera at greenway or apartments near it) with people of not the same lifestyle (I consider myself a young professional and prefer to live with people of the same age group or work style). The people who live here are mainly young professionals.
The apartment complex lookwise is above midrange and has some beautiful trees (like the ones near rice). I lived in the area with the only pool for the gables citywalk apartment. Just as a sidenote 'Waterford Square' is linked to Gables Citywalk (Gables owns both).
The main things that annoyed me and my girlfriend were the people who decided to use the pool at 1-2a.m. on weekdays. Basically there is a bar little woodrows (sp) that is located close to this apartment complex. I believe a lot of the 'I haven't graduated college' or 'think I'm still in college' types like to drink at. Late at night these bastards decide to continue the party when the bar closes at the pool. The pool is in an atrium so the slightest sound echos significantly. Obviously since these people are drunk they scream extremely loud and often don't end parties till 4-5a.m. I had to take the law in my own hands by calling the cops at least 6-10times in the last year to have cops break up the parties or yelling at the top of my lungs that I was going to call the cops if they didn't leave the pool. Management's lack of control over the pool situation (since they get copies of the report from police) annoyed me. It would of been nice to see a notice go out to remind people of the pool usage hours.
I can accept a reasonable amount of noise during normal hours, even a hour or so after pool hours but the 1-2a.m. weekday parties at the pool drove me and my girlfriend nuts.
The other bad situation about this apartment complex is parking. Don't let the 'resident only' labels on parking spaces trick you. Gables does NOT tow. People know this and take advantage of this, I'm fairly certain some residents have 3-4cars (in a 2 bedroom apartment). When I moved in I was told to make sure to put my sticker in my window or I'd get towed.
Well, after a few months after moving in (I guess after they filled up some more) I could never get an internal parking space within half a mile of my apartment after 6p.m. The area I lived there are like 50 spaces in a U shape that surround the building. Of those spaces, half or so are covered parking which requires you pay like 100/month (total rip off in my opinion) to use. I reported like 5cars that were in violation of the 'no sticker, we will tow' policy. I'm then told by management that 'oh those resident only spaces are allowed to be parked in by non-residents also if the parking lot isn't full (like during the afternoon). The policy isn't something that's enforced. Supposedly, guests are supposed to move out after hours to give parking to residents, yeah right, like that happens.
You could park in the street, but the street sucks because the cars have been broken into on several ocassions.
Conclusion: Besides the problems above, the community is nice. It's usually quiet and it has a great location. It's worth the 800-mid900$ price range. But recently due to gas prices people are moving into the city more so they're asking for like 1000 for our current apartment. If that's what they request you're almost better off at a luxury apartment if it only costs you like 50more a month since you'll get nice things like garden tubs and other extras.
Management is really nothing special. Standard corporate people who don't really do anything 'wheeling and dealing' if you know what I mean.
Bad Things: *Lack of management control over residents who continually violated pool rules. *2 months required to give moveout notification, totally rape you on month to month costs. *Parking, and Parking Policy
Good things: *location *Not on a bus route (I hate apartments that are near bus stops) *street is very small, very little traffic so besides the drunks in the pool late at night from time to time it's very quiet.
****UPDATE: One thing I forgot to mention is how they ****ed me in the end. So I went month to month, you know, pay the unbelievable rate of almost double your rent with no contract but the freedom to leave whenever you want without any penalties as long as you give 30days notice. I wasn't sure if I was going to move or not (getting a new job) so I wanted that convenience fine I'll pay double rent. Well, I finally found out I was moving and gave my 30days notice. Well, even though I was on 'month to month' they said they *still* required 60day notice (total BS) and basically ended up screwing me for another months rent. The thing is how can you fight that' I went through all staff in the office *AND* the manager and they all said the same thing, 'too bad you owe us another 1500bucks (two months worth of rent)'. I tried calling the regional managers, no answers and no calls returned. How the hell are you supposed to handle this situation' It's all in the apartment complexes favor, they screw your credit and give you a bad reference. Overall this would make me never recommend this place again. I'll never rent from Gables or a Gables owned company again.
Recommended: NO
Overall Rating
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User Responses
From:
Anonymous
Date:
11/02/2007
I agree completely with this poster. I too was screwed by the contract. I signed a 1 year contract. They gave me this whole story about how the contracts are written for maximum consumer benefit and how consumer friendly they were. Not sure which "consumer" they were talking about (probably referring to their "consumption" of my money) but the contract totally effed me.
I needed to leave early so i initiated the appropriate steps for a break-lease. 60 days notice, an $830 "reletting" fee and final water etc. Well what they failed to mention until i dropped my notice was that i would still have to pay my rent if they couldnt find anyone to take it. Interestingly enough, they havent found anyone so i'm stuck paying double rent until they do.
If you live here be very careful about choosing your lease terms. Month to month, 6 month or 12.
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