Catalyst — Local services in Atlanta

DO NOT SIGN A LEASE HERE. I'm not a person who writes reviews like this, but at this point, my patience has run thin.

When I originally signed my lease at Catalyst back in March, I was excited at the prospect of moving into these apartments. However, this experience has been filled with nothing but stress, unprofessionalism, and dishonesty.

As part of our lease agreement, we were required to pay the first month's rent by July 15th with an August 15th move-in date. That move-in date has now been changed THREE times!!! From August 15th to August 26th; August 26th to August 28th, and now August 28th to September 1st. We weren't notified of the first delay until four days to move-in which was incredibly inconvenient, but I tried to be understanding of the situation considering we are in a pandemic.

When Catalyst notified us of the second delay to August 28th, they claimed "Many residents have requested a weekend move-in to work around class schedules." This is inexplicable because why would we ask for move-in to be delayed further when we've already spent two weeks without being able to live in apartments that we paid for in advance. Furthermore, no one responds to emails or phone calls so it would be impossible to get in touch with management to request anything.

Now, less than 24 hours before the expected move-in they promised, we're sent an email saying that "due to unforeseen final construction issues..., and City of Atlanta approval processes" it is best for everyone involved that the move-in date be changed to Wednesday, September 1. They're also claiming in this email that a tornado impacted the elevator timeline, and there have been labor and supply chain challenges affecting the timeframe. Mind you high-rise student apartments that began construction later than Catalyst have been completed without issue, and the last tornado in Atlanta was in May.... If executive management has known these challenges were affecting the promised timeline, we should have been notified and provided with adequate options months ago.

All of us are growing incredibly tired of this run around. If construction is not going to be completed for several more weeks/months, just make us aware now so we can try and obtain alternate housing - which at this point is almost impossible since many complexes are sold out. We can literally drive by the complex ourselves and see there seems to be a ton of work left to be completed, but they claim it's "unforeseen"?!

We deserve to be compensated fairly for this experience. Those of us who are being housed in hotels are receiving absolutely nothing, and are incurring additional costs to store our belongings, do laundry and buy food, at minimum. Others who are temporarily residing somewhere else are receiving a credit of $50/day off their rent for September which is not nearly sufficient compensation for the headache. Catalyst should refund our August rent or credit it towards September, and also discount our future rent since they also claim that aside from the study rooms, the other amenities we've paid for will not be ready when we move-in. In addition, we should be reimbursed for any additional expenses we were forced to incur while being displaced. None of us paid over $1000/month to stay in a hotel, we paid for an apartment and the promised amenities.

I honestly dread moving here when the building is complete because with the way they've mishandled this move-in, I'm sure the conditions will be subpar with less than helpful staff. I would not recommend moving here to anyone, please find another complex that is honest and professional.

By the way, the only five-star reviews listed are from people who toured the mock room in their leasing office months ago... Catalyst disabled replies to all posts on their Facebook and IG pages, so we have no choice but to post our comments on Google, which conveniently Catalyst doesn't respond to although they found time to reply to the previous five-star reviews lol.

UPDATE: Floors 1-3 moved-in 9/27 but 4-5 is still delayed indefinitely w/no...

I have been waiting to write this review for a while because wow what a horrible place to live. Please please do not be deceived by the fake reviews here. This place is horrible.

I stayed here my entire 12 month lease and regret every moment. There is literally dog feces and garbage all outside. The security is inadequate for the size of the space (literally one security person per building just aimlessly wandering the halls). The hallways constantly smell like cigarettes and weed. The residents are disrespectful, noisy and just awful.

Literally, we lost access to the pool outside of office hours just because people decided to throw an insane party one day for no reason. The amenities are mediocre and there are constantly roaches and drain flies in the study areas. The bathrooms are often LOCKED in these amenities areas as well. The gym is nice aesthetically but there’s always some bonehead playing their music on the TV for everyone to hear !

The walls are so paper thin you can hear any argument outside which happens quite often on Northside Drive. You can also hear cars racing everyday , disrupting your sleep. Fire alarms go off constantly at inconvenient hours and last for upwards of 30 mins. Residents often walk their dogs unleashed proudly. There are also often homeless people hanging around in the outdoor furniture (this furniture is unguarded by the way). Additionally, the entrance doors are often broken and there’s garbage EVERYWHERE!

If there is one thing that’s half way decent about this apartment is that maintenance is usually fast on fixing requests but that is it! This is not counting the time maintenance had literally locked me out of my room and broke the lock on my door.

The units are also extremely small and cramped for four people. The kitchen lacks a pantry or any adequate storage space. On the tour they only show you the two bedroom layout.

Oh and one of the other horrible features about this place is the whole using your phone for entry. It’s completely an over engineered idea! If your phone is dead or not a smart phone , YOU CANNOT ENTER YOUR APARTMENT. This presents a massive safety issue. It’s a gross oversight for a large city like Atlanta ! I would often have to leave events early or buy phone chargers/power banks to ensure I could enter my space. When I asked the leasing office if they had any other options they said no.

The furniture they provided was god-awful. The bed is very squeaky and is prone to breaking. This also applies to the table and other furniture in the apartment. Everything is so low quality and cheap. You are much better off going to an unfurnished apartment and buying your own furniture! It’s much cheaper that way anyways! This place is not worth nearly 1200 dollars a month! That’s not even including the OUTRAGEOUS parking fee of 125 dollars a month.

Overall this has been an absolutely horrible experience! Whatever you do please do not move here! Any option is better. I’ve lived in many different kinds of housing and this was the worst one! Beware...

REAL REVIEW: My experience with Catalyst so far has been more hectic than satisfying. I’ll start off from when I moved in September last year. The unit they gave me had the most out of shape furniture. Scratches all over the kitchen chairs, sofa chair, AND the large couch. I placed a request to get them replaced and only the couch was replaced. This month they tried charging me for damages to those couches, because for some reason they get new staff like every semester it seems like. Next, my dishwasher has this terrible smell that they have yet to fix. Additionally, it took more than one maintenance request for my dishwasher to be fixed and to run PROPERLY. Unfortunately, majority of my dishes were already molded before the dishwasher actually started to run. Which leads me to my next concern, mold. There’s mold at the top of the kitchen that they have zero urgency to fix. The mold traveled into my closet AND my bathroom and parts around the kitchen AND my roommates bedroom. I threw away TRASHBAGS of personal belongings and my. roommate also had to get rid of items as well. I’m also sure there’s mold in the dishwasher because the smell just won’t leave. My lights in my unit are always going out. The hallways AND stairways all need a power wash. There’s actually a scary amount of cobwebs and spiders in the hallways, above doorways, and in the stairways. The gym is completely unsanitary and definitely hasn’t been cleaned in months as well as the yoga room. It smells like sweat and dust and if it’s being cleaned regularly it should never smell like that. The elevators are just flat out dirty. The fire alarms are ALWAYS going off and they’re very loud. The pool hours have changed due to parties. There’s a gate on Building 1000 that’s been broken for months. They come in unannounced very often which is very uncomfortable and weird if you ask me, I was actually getting out the shower when a staff member came in earlier this week. Most staff are helpful. There is one staff, Sydnie. She’s extremely unprofessional and her demeanor and attitude is just ugly. She always has questions vs listening to the concerns of her residents and she also has talked about me personally to my roommate for “complaining” about the unit so much and has also mentioned my name in other areas in which she didn’t know those individuals knew me. No matter the deal they give you it’s not worth signing your lease. There’s zero urgency in catering to residence and you’re better off getting your money’s worth somewhere else. They don’t keep up with the outside of the apartments or the units whatsoever. They just come spray cleaning products when a new resident is moving in. This apartment complex as a whole is staffed with lazy and...