I can’t speak highly enough about HBV. I moved in almost two years ago and it’s my favorite place I’ve ever lived (I’ve lived in both luxury apartments and condos previously). The building is gorgeous...the amenities are top notch. I use the business center and the pool area (which is like a resort) often. I love my apartment. I have no idea what another reviewer was talking about regarding the workmanship...I’ve never had any issue. Everything looks/functions great. You can tell they really paid attention to the details...from the gooseneck faucet in the kitchen to having wood floors even in the bedrooms. I especially love my all glass door shower. My bathroom reminds me of one you’d get in a nice hotel.
The apartments aren’t the largest...and they are definitely pricey (I pay around $2,800 for an 850 square foot 1 bedroom). But I care more about quality than I do quantity. Simply put, this building has THE BEST location in Buckhead, period. Our view is phenomenal (see attached photo). That’s the view I have from everywhere I am in my apartment...while I’m washing dishes, as I’m sitting in bed or on my living room couch. I almost feel sorry for the people spending $2 million + for the condos across the street from us as their views can’t compare. It’s not just the fact that you can see the downtown skyline (there are many places that offer that view). It’s where our building is placed...at the perfect location right where Roswell Rd and Peachtree split. As such, we never have to worry about new developments blocking our views. What makes our view so amazing is that you look out over our resort-like pool, then over the Shops of Buckhead, with the downtown skyline in the background. It’s perfection. I never tire of looking out my window.
The staff here is fantastic, too. Especially the concierge team. Eli, the head concierge, is a true gem. I don’t know what I would do without him. Rastko is awesome, too. It makes such a difference to always come home to a smiling face...to someone who is always willing to assist you in any way you may need. As a woman, it makes me feel very safe and taken care of. Just last week I had to have a handyman from an app come install something in my apartment at night. Jody (the concierge on duty) knew about the situation and called me every 15 minutes on the dot while the guy was here to make sure that I was okay. They all always go above and beyond....they are lifesavers on a regular basis!
The only down side I can think of is the parking. It is a challenge with the traffic and dealing with parking needs of the other businesses in the building. BUT I would much rather deal with that and have multiple restaurants I can walk to. It’s part of big city living. It’s not ideal, but the pros most definitely outweigh the cons. Both Iberian Pig and Cafe Posh have turned into my “Cheers”...another huge plus of living here (as I love both restaurants food/drink offerings).
Bottom line...there is nowhere else I would rather live. I’m so glad...
Read moreAt first glance, Hanover looks like a nice place. The staff is very nice and friendly, but they frequently provide misinformation, so double-check everything. They make many mistakes on things like parking and rent, so it's important to stay on top of things and double-check them. Resident Portal is buggy and often reports incorrect financial information, so again double-check everything. Rastko was their best staff member by leaps and bounds. He was never wrong and always cared about solving your problems.
They can be very gracious and forgiving in some of their fees, while others are "non-negotiable" despite being ostensibly in their control. Maybe this is a disparity between the owners and the management, despite them supposedly being the same family of companies. (That relationship turned out to be no benefit after all.) Their between-tenants cleaning is abysmal, and prior tenants appeared to be just as disgustingly filthy, so be prepared to clean your apartment yourself before moving in and after moving out.
Many of the amenities are sorely neglected. Nice when first built but allowed to fall prey to wear and tear with almost no remedy or repeatedly failed attempts to remedy. For example, although they advertise and in theory have secure parking, the broken garage doors mean it's not secure for several months at a time. The private garages within their parking deck are nice, but evidence and anecdotes suggest they're not secure either.
Their prices are comparatively nicer than some competition when comparing apples to apples, although that may be due to the Buckhead location. Midtown is much nicer by almost every measure but more expensive. Highway access is more challenging, and traffic of course sucks. The surrounding neighborhood, more so on the north side, is replete with petty and violent crime.
The stink of weed is practically ubiquitous. They do better than other apartments about evicting smokers but there's no real active effort to root out offenders. At first, they wanted reports of offenses and showed interest in investigating said reports. A year later, they didn't, asking that the courtesy officer be informed instead.
There was no resident community of any kind or opportunities to cultivate such community (like Wine Wednesdays, online group membership, etc.), but I suspect this is deliberate on the part of most apartment management companies to prevent residents from comparing rates, making collective demands, or the like. The price paid is being surrounded by people yet connecting with very few of them. I've experienced much better elsewhere.
I'm giving them three stars for their many instances of making great effort and strides but also falling far short in many respects. They could be five stars. They could do much better if they paid more attention to the details, stopped making so many mistakes, and communicated more...
Read morePSA: just notice how all of the 5-star reviews are from people touring, not actually living here. They corner you to leave a 5-star review after you tour.
Be wary of all of the positive reviews. After your tour, they pretty much corner you into giving a 5 star review.
Let’s start from the top: the prices you see online are not what you actually pay. They are the total you pay annually/12. For example if you have 2 months free, they include that in the calculation by subtracting from the total annual rent, so you will actually pay around $400 more each month than stated on the website. They purposefully don’t disclose this. When signing my lease, Giancarlo and Immanuel were awesome. The concierge people are also amazing.
Next: communication is horrible. When you call the main office, you will be rerouted to a central office and all they do is send a note to the leasing agents to give you a call. This takes days for them to actually call you, if they even call you at all. And if you’re working or miss the call back, you just have to restart the process. The communication is horrible, so don’t plan on ever getting in contact with a leasing agent after they send you the lease.
Next: they claim to be the most secure building in Buckhead. Since I’ve lived here, the gates are always broken and always open. This lets anyone into the building.
Lastly: they had a massive water leak that affected all floors. All of the drywall and insulation in the hallways were ripped out, and there are massive industrial fans blowing 24/7 (this better not be included in my community utility bill). They claim this will take 2 weeks to fix, but any person with a brain knows this will take months. This leak also caused the elevators to stop working, causing many people, including myself, to be forced to walk up 12+ floors of stairs. They did offer free donuts in the lobby though! But the catch was you have to walk down then back up. I would love to know what floors they are actually showing tours on because all of the hallways are gone.
Overall, be careful signing here. It used to be great, but obviously the property management...
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