Chapel Tower Apartments — Attraction in Durham

It's getting better here.

When we first moved in we had a lot of issues with children looking in our windows (the first floor apartments are halfway underground, so the windows sit at ground level), but the kids in questions seem to have moved. In the summer, residents of first floor apartments get a very early wake up call every other day or so from maintenance workers trimming grass with weed wackers; since the windows are at ground level, a weed wackers would be running roughly 5 feet from my sleeping face (with a window between us) at 7:30. There are a tooooon of renovations going on, and it's quite consistently loud. My ceiling started leaking when a renovator made a mistake in the apartment above me. They aren't careful with their nails, either; I had five nails in the tires of my car due to maintenance workers dropping them in the parking lot. Walls are extremely thin. Our sink has started flooding at least three or four times in the past year, spewing sewage-smelling water and refusing to drain properly. In the past they've fixed this rather quickly (the whole building contributes to the quality of the pipes, so if someone above you is flushing coffee grounds down the sink, the first floor apartment feels the hurt), however we've currently had a work request in for four days on this issue and it hasn't been resolved. Pet fee is a little ridiculous. Windows are extremely dated and don't lock very well. Make sure there are locks on the windows when you move in, there weren't on several of ours. Our bathtub leaks from the bottom whenever someone takes a bath (not a shower). Virtually no bathroom storage, not a ton of kitchen storage. No closet lights, only two overhead lights in the whole apartment.

I will say that it was awesome to move into brand new carpets and brand new high efficiency appliances, all of which worked great. I think that some of the repairs in the building are cheap and faulty, though. I've read a lot about bug problems in the comments, but we haven't really had that issue at all, in the whole year that we've been here and without needing to be particularly sterile. Parking is a non issue. The pool looks clean although I never used it. The garbage situation has improved tremendously, folks come pick up every day from small trash receptacle that we leave outside the door. Recycling needs a lot of work, we still have to take it to a big dumpster on the far side of the property. Office staff have always been very nice to us. Neighbors can be a little loud and leave a lot of beer bottles and trash around, but are always super nice when you talk to them about it. No robberies since I've moved in.

All in all, I just felt like the rent was far, far too expensive for what we were getting, especially with much nicer small houses renting for less in East and Southeast Durham. Even a small house in Trinity Park rents for not much more than an apartment here. They tried to raise our rent dramatically after the first year, and the only way that it would have been at least close to what we paid initially was if we opened an 18-month lease, which simply wasn't worth it. Maybe affordable for Duke Students, but I don't doubt that a lot of the residents that came here for affordable housing are...

I lived here from Aug 2020 to Aug 2022, in a 1 BR 'Morreene' style unit. It was a good starter apartment for me as a recent graduate with a low paying job. Also good for students.

I ended up moving because as of Aug 2022, the price was not worth what I was getting in terms of space, service and amenities. Same budget but willing to spend a bit more for comfort.

Major maintenance issues got fixed in a timely manner - however not always with good quality. At the very least, no appliance was ever unusable.

Safety was good, there was an inside deadbolt lock which I appreciated, fire alarms checked regularly and pest control came upon request, so I was satisfied with that. I must recommend a camera and alarm for your unit - Chapel tower staff only announce themselves sometimes; once there was a staff member who came to my unit for no apparent reason, shuffled stuff around and left. I inquired at the office about it, submitted the video and to this day still don't know why they came and what they did.

As for amenities and services: -Gym was not well maintained, things were often broken (equipment) and out of stock (equipment wipes, hand sanitizer, toilet paper). The (4) dumbbells are also square shaped and really weird. I ended up paying for a membership at a real gym. -Pool was pretty small but OK, kept clean. Can only use for about 3-4 months/yr. -Parking is a bit rough. And your guests WILL get towed. No sleepovers. -I did NOT like the valet trash service, because they hardly stuck to their schedule and we could not opt out. One of them came banging on my door at 11 pm at night, telling me to OPEN MY DOOR (I'm a single woman???!!) to tell me to get a different colour bag for my recycling - even though the I had what the office specified: clear bags. The office would then try to fine you if they did not pick up your trash and it was left outside through the day. It should be staff+residents against the outsourced service - not residents against staff!

Office staff was usually OK. It seemed they had a lot of turnover. Maria was nice and usually able to help out with major things. I would not bother to go to the office with minor things - it won't change and often they talk to you as if they have something better to do.

If you are strapped for cash and maybe need an easy commute in Durham, I would say go for it - they wont hit you with weird fees or mid-lease price hikes. What you see is what you get. Students and low income working folks would do well here.

If you want comfort, space, and quality services, head elsewhere.

PS if you are getting 1BR, get the 'Erwin' style; the 'Morreene' style is awkward, disproportionate, and weirdly spaced. And where they have the dining table in the online floor plan - trust me,...

Chapel Towers is by far the worst apartment complex I know of. All apartments are going to be sort of noisy... yes... that is unavoidable, but this apartment complex is loud all the time. Loud music, kids screaming at the top of their lungs and kicking balls off of people's cars and the garbage cans outside and running through the stairwells doing the same. The number of pests you see are disgusting no matter how clean you keep your apartment or how many sprays or baits you use to kill them. The windows, walls, and doors are not sound proofed or insulated properly so expect high electric bills as the outside air will either heat your apartment ridiculously or freeze you out. Wiring hasn't been updated since the 70s and they are still using aluminum wiring so expect lots of sparking, non-working outlets and numerous other electrical issues. For example, I purchased a brand new Christmas tree and plugged it in. It lasted 2-3 minutes before the outlet fried the tree and kicked off power for half of the apartment... and nothing else was even on! NONE of the breakers tripped so not only did my property get damaged but I was worried about fires. I called the main office and they said they would send someone. One hour later... two hours... you get the point... I hadn't seen or heard from anyone. Several hours later I called right before closing and had to become less than nice to see a response. That takes me to the office staff... their system could use some work. I used to pay my rent every month with a check that I took to the office and put in the hand of one of the workers with my apartment clearly written on it. Much to my surprise that my boyfriend came home to an eviction notice on the door for non-payment while I was in the hospital with a newborn. They didn't have a "record of me paying." They had no record of the payment but refuse to write you a receipt in the office. This didn't happen just once, but TWICE and the office staff became very rude and insinuated that I just didn't pay. Fortunately, I moved to paying it online and much to my surprise... no more eviction notices! Overall, save yourself the stress and don't move here. This place is nothing...