Woodlake on the Bayou — Attraction in Houston

Honestly...it depends on your apartment and it’s location on the property. I moved in back in June and decided to wait before doing a review so it’s not just “new move-in” concerns. I like my apartment and the parking is ok, at least it’s covered. People who complain that there is no parking are the ones who have more than 1 car in a household, and they usually have to park anywhere that’s not covered parking, like a visitor would. My apartment was recently renovated, new appliances, new countertops, resurfaces tubs, new hardwood floor (most have carpets). 2 of my neighbors have moved because of their carpets...when it rains it floods pretty bad downstairs. For my apartment, in certain spots in the front by the window and if it’s really heavy rainfall sometimes it floods in the kitchen! If you can imagine, when it floods and you have carpet, if it’s not taken care of immediately it molds and mildews and is generally a pain. So while I don’t have it as bad as the folks who still have carpet downstairs, it’s still not ideal to have to think about how flooded my apartment will be if it’s been raining all day. Also due to that, the nice floors will eventually buckle and need to be replaced due to all of the flooding. Aside from the flooding, if I have any maintenance, they usually take care of it reasonably like within a week. If it’s longer than expected I’ve gotten a call from the maintenance or office stating why (have to order part, etc). As far as bugs, I have gotten a few critters, mainly by the windows or doors so I make sure to watch those areas and do what I can to prevent it, and that was mainly in the warmer months. Since Fall there haven’t been any, but in general there's been nothing so bad that it’s just unbearable. Some people complaining simply don’t do all the preventative measures they can. Also, if you by water, expect more bugs! Occasionally I can hear my neighbor when they go up/down their stairs, (that’s expected) but besides that no noise complaints here! Some of the people here with dogs are simply lazy, like they’ll let their dog poop on the sidewalk...when a grass area is literally 2inches to the left or right. That’s my only concerning thing about the location of my apartment, since it’s right by the pool people take their dogs for a walk around it, and somehow end up with the great idea to let their pup poop by my door, grass or sidewalk, and not pick it up. So be prepared to step in poop pretty much anywhere. They charge a $42 amenity fee with all rent, and that really needs to be changed, since we can’t use the pool all year, and the sauna in the locker rooms don’t work. Speaking of the pool, now that it’s winter they keep it SO clean now that we can’t use it! But in season... the pool was questionable on cleanliness, and they would occasionally lock the gate for the smaller one for weeks at a time, to force people to use the larger pool by the office. I went swimming for the first time to the large pool since they locked the smaller one right in front of my apartment...was approached by a weirdo who turns out, didn’t even live here! How do I know? After I dismissed him, he left from this apartment complex, to go to the one right across the street. Literally anyone can get to those and big people, keep the smaller ones open. Even when people are using the smaller ones it’s not a problem for me noise wise, they’re just having a good time, but if you like quite don’t move by a pool. I believe there was a power outage back in October or so, but it was over the weekend and I was out of town so I can’t really give much feedback on that other than, they did send email updates as they could. I’ve never had an issue with the staff, they’ve always answered any questions even if it’s them following up with me on something. They also have really fun, really great community activities and the resident rewards to various places around town. So overall, I do like my apartment, first 6months here have been alright, there’s still room for improvement, but I do wish I found this...

My 11 month lease is nearly over. I've lived at another Richdale community (Tuscany) and had a great experience with them, so when I decided to move into this Richdale property I thought I'd get more of the same. I was wrong.

Pros about the Unit: Layout of the loft is good. Extra storage under staircase is nice. Plenty of cabinet space in the kitchen. Back patio is a nice size as long as you keep up with maintaining the overgrowth. Lots of natural light due to all the windows.

Cons about the Unit: It is very difficult to keep the loft warm downstairs during the winter because of all the windows. There is no downstairs ceiling fan so it gets warm pretty quickly during the summers. While it's nice having a washer machine in the unit, you can hear the water pipes (loudly) when you or your neighbor is washing clothes and since it's right off the bedroom it disturbs your sleep. I use T-mobile and calls would drop and texts would be undelivered from in my unit. My calls wouldn't drop if I stood outside on the patch of grass where people walk their dog (pretty frustrating when trying to get Xfinity on the phone when internet goes out and call keeps dropping).

Pros about the complex: There are many tiny pools. There is a gym which includes a Smith Machine and a separate room with treadmills. I never heard my neighbors, only the chirping from the bayou.

Cons about the complex: There are many tiny pools here throughout the complex, but none ever seem clean enough to use. The gym is missing many free weights. Unfortunately during my stay it was not available 24/7 for nearly 3 months during the winter because apparently someone was vandalizing the fire extinguishers so as a security measure management changed the hours to match the office hours...which happened to be WHEN EVERYONE WAS AT WORK! (No pool access and no gym access didn't stop management from still charging the Amenities Fee each month.) If you happen to be a Direct TV subscriber and don't want the cable package, doesn't matter you can not opt out and will still be charged for it. The parking spot you pay for gets taken by other guests who can not find any parking. The parking here for guests is terrible. I had a covered assigned spot that was taken up twice and once by maintenance! Luckily my unit wasn't too far from the parking garage, but even then the parking garage is in the back of the complex and holds about 30 cars and its full every night. People have no other choice but to park in fire lanes or in your spot. If your apartment is located at the front of the complex, your guest would take quite a walk. What's silly is that right next to the garage is a burnt down apartment unit that's just sitting there with caution tape around it. It's wasted space, quite an eye sore and can't be safe. The driveways are full of pot holes too. They refilled the ones at the front office, but nothing has ever been done about the rest. And the security gates are almost always open. When I signed my lease I was told they are closed when the office closes, but that was clearly a lie. Maybe they're getting stuck when someone lets themselves in, I don't know, but I've used my gate clicker maybe four times the whole time I've lived here. My guest never have to call to be buzzed in. In fact, I don't even know my gate code because I've never had to buzz anyone in, they just drive on in. There is no guard sitting at the gate. Only for a short period of time were there any security guards in there, but that was only because a report of two white males walking on the property with guns out was reported. After a week or two the guards were gone again.

If you want to live near Memorial, but not have to pay high rent (I paid $935 a month in rent plus $38 amenity fee for a one bedroom 1 1/2 bath loft on an 11 month lease) then sure pick Woodlake on the Bayou. You may be better off spending a few dollars more for something with a...

Edit as of 8/13/25 My car was broken into, we have the biggest joke in “security” this isn’t the first time this has happened either

Honest review after living here a year and renewing my lease Let me start by saying that it’s not completely awful. As long as you aren’t having any issues with your apartment etc it’s a very nice place to live. It’s quiet it’s maintained okay. I think overall you will not find the prices for the size apartments they offer especially in Houston. I like the price for the space I have. Now for the cons The amenities they offer i feel are useless and should be optional when it’s comes to internet etc because even tho they “offer it” it’s the cheapest of cheap and I ended up upgrading and paying extra for it anyway We are forced to pay for “valet trash” but the people can’t even be bothered to actually take the trash 80% of the time. I have a doorbell camera. I’ve watched them look at my stuff and walk away. Mind you I’m not the only one with this issue. I have a friend who also lives in the complex and they can’t be bothered to take her trash either. Pray to the gods you don’t have an emergency after hours. I had a literal lake in my kitchen around 7/8pm and and nothing was done about it till about noon the following day. They have emergency maintenance but you’re just forced to leave a message and HOPE they come out that night. I can say if you have problems that going into the office is your best bet because most of the people in the office so treat you like your stupid if you just call but if you go in they are a lot nicer I’ve had some issues with bugs but it’s an apartment it’s to be expected. Nothing some traps haven’t fixed Now for the apartment itself I was a like irritated when I moved in because the only carpet the replaced was the master bedroom. The stairs and secondary bedroom were the old carpet. It was obvious. The carpet on my stairs wasn’t even tacked down properly so I had to fix that myself. After my kitchen flooded I had to move the stove and it looked like the cabinets had had water damage in the past so fingers crossed I don’t get a mold issue because I just renewed my lease. Don’t put anything with any type of weight in the walls because they have the thinnest dry wall ever and things will just fall off the wall unless in a stud. I just recently had issues with my ac leaking and when they cleaned it out it looked like it was never done before I even moved in. Because where I had a drip before (the last year)it magically stopped when they had to blow it clean. Washer and dryer are decent. I had to get my washer replaced early on because it broke and my dryer currently partially works (I have to run it about 3 times per load)

Overall I’m not unhappy. I wish we didn’t get charged for useless things that don’t get done. And I wish they had better maintenance. I also wish we didn’t get charged a fee for using the app to pay rent on. I’ve been in places that used an app and there was no extra up charge. While a minor charge still very annoying nonetheless. My advice, do a THOROUGH walk through of your apartment before moving in and make sure they fix anything they need to. They will show you staged apartments in a tour and you will get a different apartment upon move. Their show apartment is nice and has all the bells and whistles but whatever you move into will need some work and they will try to avoid “fixing” it at any cost. There was no reason for my carpet not to be replaced completely since the hallway carpet was fraying and falling apart when I moved in. All in all it’s what kind of headache you want to deal with. Like I said when I don’t need maintenance things are great aside from things inside that I don’t even care about anymore. They will blame all damage on me regardless and I probably won’t get my deposit back when I do eventually move. But it is what it is. I’m...