Lamar Union — Attraction in Austin

Please save yourself the trouble and do not live here. This property used to truly be the best property with a team that made sure its residents were taken care of but since our building has switched managements it has gone downhill. Our doors have been broken for over 2 months meaning anyone can just get access to our apartments, packages, & vehicles at any point in time which is unsafe considering the amount of unhoused and current violent attacks in our neighborhood specifically

We’re typically allowed 2 guests per resident when using the pool to ensure there’s enough space FOR THE RESIDENTS WHO PAY OVER $100 A MONTH IN THE AMENITY FEES. Since Embry has taken over they not only don’t enforce the bracelet policy, they will blatantly make excuses when asked for security to remove people. They said word for word that the visitors were ENTITLED to be there when one resident showed our guard 6-7 OLD GUEST WRISTBANDS which means she did not rent out wristbands as it states we have to on the door of our pool & violated the rules of the pool by having more than 2 guests per resident which instead of management & security handling so that the actual residents could use the POOL THEY PAY FOR, they have instead allowed it to become a public party pool filled with strangers as long as they can point to a resident & say “I know them!”

They’re liars. Very bad liars. The leasing office called to get my vehicle towed which once again I’m a resident & have permission to be parked there as my vehicle was immobile. When addressing the issue with the property Manager Miles he flat out lied to me and even began to get upset with me regarding how “the leasing office doesn’t call to get people towed” even tho the tow truck driver told me it was the leasing office along with the surrounding businesses. He was adamant on it, condescending & rude only for him to have to email me apologizing saying that IT INDEED WAS THE LEASING OFFICE THAT CALLED TO GET ME TOWED.

Sign here if you want to pay $100 a month to fund a public swimming pool & gym with the inability to use them!

Definitely 100% live here if you want to live life on edge since there’s a man with a machete, a man with a sword, & a man assaulting both men and women roaming our neighborhood that has been VERY PUBLIC ON THE NEWS meanwhile our property is still not being secured.

Since they’ve taken over, i’ve gone back to walking with my pepper spray in hand at all times which is frustrating

(original review prior to Management switching from Greystar to Embry): I’m gonna be real honest when I say that I HEAVILY get affected by the environment I live in. I have never lived at an apartment longer than a year as I normally find issues or a lack of security but truthfully speaking, I don’t wanna live anywhere else.

When first moving in I had a few personal issues with residents not always leashing their dogs however the residents here are very approachable and since the residents & I have coordinated with each other to make it a happy environment for all, I seriously have NO COMPLAINTS.

When I tell y’all the website does not do the property justice I MEAN THAT!!! It is a STUNNING property that is always kept clean and secure. We have 24 hour security on site and it’s not like other complexes where there’s just a number you can call, our guards are actually on site patrolling around the complex & handle issues with urgency which I appreciate and didn’t find at prior apartments.Additionally residents & guests are required to wear wristbands at the pool & if we are not then we are asked to leave which I really appreciate since it ensures no outsiders & enough space for residents.

As a girl who has PTSD from being held at gunpoint and worse at a prior apartment complex, Lamar Union has gone above and beyond to make me feel safe and comfortable (despite the times I came off as difficult)

Lastly the leasing team is just actually next level, they are so personable & empathetic it really does provide that extra feeling of being at home. Thank y’all for...

Oh gosh I’m so torn as I write this review. Lamar Union has the potential to be amazing. We have several amazing restaurants right in the community, Alamo Drafthouse, bars in walking distance, amazing views of downtown, centralized location to everything, beautiful apartments....but there are definitely some drawbacks to living here.

The Gates and elevators in building 1 are constantly broken. I’d say at least one elevator is down at least 50% of the time, and recently BOTH have gone down for several hours or even days a couple weeks ago. What makes this suck so much is there are no stairs from the garage to the apartments. You have to walk up the ramp, walk around the building lobby, then go up the stairs to the second floor, then you have to walk around to one of the corners of the building to find the stairwell that will take you up to the higher floors. If you live on a higher floor, it’s a straight up journey to get from your car to your apartment or vice versa. What a stupid design. But back to the elevators. I’m not exaggerating when I say that BOTH elevators have been down no less than FIVE times in the last couple months, which is completely unacceptable. I complained to the office and they blame the elevator company and also gave me a speech about elevators being complex machines that can break down, which I found to be insulting. Quite frankly I don’t care who’s fault it is, but we pay way too much money to live here to not have functioning elevators, especially when the stairs are not an easy alternative.

My next complaint is about the dogs and their owners. I have a dog and we take care of him and pick up after him but so many people don’t. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen where a dog has peed or pooped in the elevator or the lobby and no one bothers to clean it up! Not to mention the building 1 courtyards where people walk their dogs. They are DISGUSTING!!!!!! Not only do both courtyards smell like dog piss, but so many people do not pick up after their dogs. I’m so glad I don’t have an apartment facing the courtyard because it’s smells so bad all the time. It seems as if they could do something about the smell but they don’t.

Aside from not cleaning up after their dogs, the neighbors kinda suck too. Just in general, no one seems to care about taking care of the place. A few weeks ago, someone spilled an entire 2 liter bottle of Big Red in the lobby and didn’t bother to clean it. It was on the floor over the weekend and turned black from dust before maintenance staff cleaned it on a Monday morning. Every Friday/Saturday night in the summertime when people use the pool, they TRASH the area! Oh my god, I usually go around 9 or 10pm after most people have left and there are beer cans littered all over the pool deck, along with bags, and coolers and all kinds of stuff left behind. Picture a frat house after a massive party. It’s gross and nobody cares enough to clean up after themselves.

My last issue with this place is The Guild. So I guess Lamar Union rents out some units to a company called The Guild where people get to rent those units like a hotel. They’ve even set up shop in the building 1 lobby with signage and a person there every day to check them in. Everyone who lives at Lamar Union has had background checks done on them and I don’t like that there are people who haven’t been vetted coming in and out of our apartment building all day. I don’t know who my neighbors are because they’re different everyday and that seems like it’s a safety issue. How are we supposed to report suspicious persons if there are always strange people staying there? I just don’t care for it very much.

I’ve always been able to see the good in every situation, but as I write this review, both elevators are down, again, and I just made the journey from my car to my apartment so I’m just annoyed. Our lease runs out at the end of June and I look forward...

Let me preface this with the fact the we lived here for 2 years, and moved in when it was brand new. Hardly anyone lived there, and we were the first in our unit, and basically the floor we were on.

Karlos and his team soon left and got replaced by new people. To which over the 2 years the "manager" and staff changed so many times we lost count. Every time you go in it was a different person who had 0 idea what was going on, or they just didn't care. So many times we would report something or ask something and get told one thing, then something else by another person. Nobody knew the answers to the property apparently. There were many times we paid rent and got notices we didn't pay, when we proved it they would say oh our mistake must be someone else. Easy way to ruin someones credit.

The unit itself when we moved in was great. Then we got neighbors in every direction. You can literally hear everything. You can hear the person above you peeing, and the people next to you at night. For a 2k a month "luxury" apartment I shouldn't hear you pee. Also packages got stolen constantly, so if you want to keep your items you have to pay to use lockers.

The gym equipment would break constatnly. It's also kinda lame if you want to workout and you live in building 1 or 3 because you have to go all the way down and cross the street or go underground through the parking garage and back up. The dog area constantly smells like pee, I feel bad for the people with patio's in that courtyard. When we moved in they told us it was irrigated and so when dogs went it would get flushed out, etc etc. Then when the new management came they said it wasn't and fined you if someone saw your dog going in there. What?

I lived in building 1 with 2 elevators. To which 1 is constantly broken, sometimes even both. The kicker? They don't have stairs that connect with the bottom of the garage so you have to walk up the ramp and into the building. Carrying groceries up 4 flights of stairs because your "luxury" elevators are always broken is seriously a pain. The entry gate of building 1 was also ALWAYS broken. At least twice a month and sometimes for 1-2 weeks at a time to repair.

My car was hit and damaged the back along with the light and I spoke with a staff member about the "security guards" we have and to see if there were camera's. One assured me they would look at footage, then when I checked back the other girl said there were no cameras? Multiple people got towed from LU even with their resident stickers, and many also had windows broken in. The security guards will also yell at you if you park on the top floor, even if you're waiting on a person. He just stood at my window taking photos of me and my car until I left. CREEPY.

Don't forget the constant dog pee or poop that is in the elevators, halls, and outside. People leave trash in the halls, write/punch through the hallway walls, water damage from the hurricane was never fixed, it was a disaster. There was puke outside on floor 4 in the hall for months before it finally sort of cleaned up. Plus 3 piles of puke in the garage that never got cleaned up.

When we moved out they told us we owed $400 to replace the bedroom carpet, yet we got no deposit/pet deposit back. It is not $400 for the chincy little square for our room. We appealed and asked for proof and pricing of the carpet, they just said if you don't pay you are sent to collections and refused to handle it properly. Spend your 2k elsewhere than this joke. Also, they give prizes and contests for residents who give 5 star reviews. So I would be leery about what to believe.

Edit: I also had several photos posted including the puke in the halls, garages, etc but somehow they are gone....