One East Pleasant — Attraction in Amherst

I am writing to share my incredibly disappointing and frustrating experience with the management of 26 Spring Street, operated by Amherst Innovative Living. Positioned at 1E Pleasant Office, Amherst, MA, this management team has shown a shocking lack of competence and empathy. On July 4th, 2024, there was a fire in Unit 415 that resulted in extensive water damage across the entire 4th floor, forcing all affected residents to relocate. I lived in Unit 405, and the management arranged a hotel stay for just 10 days, which they could charge to insurance. After this period, they abruptly informed us via email that we had to leave the hotel without offering any other accommodation options. When I attempted to discuss this situation with the manager, Alex, she completely ignored me and was extremely rude when I tried to speak with her. Liz, Alex's assistant, was equally discourteous, telling me to leave my apartment and refusing to engage in any meaningful conversation. Consequently, I have been paying for my own hotel stay since July 14th. I was away for a few days and upon returning, I found an email from the management offering two options: either cancel my lease and move out or relocate to their sister community, 11E Pleasant. Since I was planning to leave soon, I opted to cancel my lease and requested a refund of my June rent, deposit, and last month’s rent. Despite informing them that I am leaving the country, they stated that the refund would be processed within 30 days, citing state regulations. Additionally, I cleared out my apartment and asked the management to donate some of my appliances to people in need, given that I am moving out of the country. They refused, stating that if I left anything behind, I would be charged $25 per bag of "trash." This is particularly galling considering the apartment was already severely damaged from the water flood. The management at Amherst Innovative living, and consequently 26 Spring Street, lacks basic human decency and professionalism. Their team is composed of young, inexperienced, and utterly incapable individuals. The building, despite being new, is now in a terrible state, yet they charged exorbitant rates for what they touted as "luxury" apartments. This management team is nothing more than a group of kids running...

The actual apartment building and units are nice (very cookie cutter but the layout makes sense, appliances are fairly new, and overall clean). I liked that you needed a key card not only to get into the building, but also the elevator. There would always be someone at the leasing office during office hours, and the folks were usually nice. I love that they decorated the place for Christmas!

The downside, however, was parking and Alex. While maintenance was usually quick, Alex was always so, so very unnecessarily rude. No matter how nicely you phrase your emails (or even see her in person), she’s not nice. Parking wise, they don’t often have openings/availabilities to go with your unit and I ended up having to street park, but the meter only allowed payment for 2 or 4 hours at a time, so you had to constantly renew parking or you’d for sure get a ticket, that is if you get a street spot. Of course, the lack of availability isn’t their fault, but parking is definitely something to keep in mind when signing without a spot. Lastly, I ended up relet my place about 1/3 way through my lease (for personal reasons) and it was stupid. I really like that they allow relets (because that legally transfers responsibility to new tenant instead of a sublet), but they charged me $1000, which is a lot for just sending me a set of paper where the only edit they had to make was fill in my and the new tenants name and move in-out dates. This felt kinda like robbery, especially for a place in middle of nowhere. Also, it get super loud at night- frat row is close and there’s always loud college kids running by. Oh and if you have neighbors that smoke and you can smell it, don’t expect them to do anything when...

I have heard a lot about other tenants’ moving in trouble and I do notice that the place is not perfect. The internet goes down sometimes when there’s rain, the construction is never finished, the gym is still nonexistent, my flat is still missing a tea table and a lamp, on my moving in day we found our studio to be a lot smaller than on the floor plan, etc.

I am giving this rating because:

We talked to the leasing agent Dylan about the problem with the original studio we had on our first day here, and we were able to change our lease and move to a one bedroom apartment. We were able to check the condition of those rooms available in person before we made our choice, so we didn’t experience most of the troubles some other residents may have experienced.

We have everything we need. My roommate and I are quite satisfied with the merits of the location, a nice mattress to sleep on, a comfortable couch, working and smart electronics, warm water, and practically constant room temperature even when then air conditioning is off.

I believe this rating is fair in my case. The developer is unable to fulfill everything they promised, thus not a perfect 5 star. But as for how far my need is met, I would...