MAA Midtown — Local services in Atlanta

HORRIBLE and INSENSITIVE management who does not care about their residents' safety. Would NOT suggest to anyone even if I was getting free money for it.

I moved-in in July 2018 in one of the street level units (apparently there are only 4 of these in the entire building and they do not want to spend extra money just for these 4 'troublesome' units) and had 4 incidents(in my 2-month stay) with homeless people/strangers camping out on my patio.The unit has floor-to-ceiling glass windows and the blinds are pretty much useless when it comes to maintaining privacy. I spent all my time either with the lights off or with blinds down, hiding and wondering if people outside can see me. The 1st night I moved-in, a homeless guy was sleeping on my patio(photo attached). I immediately reported this incident to the leasing office and they told me that they do not have security "OUTSIDE" the property. How is my patio outside the building property? Secondly, they told me that I chose the unit and am responsible for whatever security issues it comes with. They even told me that they do not have control over the pedestrian traffic and if someone were to walk-in to the leasing office tomorrow with malicious intent, they cannot do anything about it! They asked me to install security cameras on personal expense, since providing security to their residents is none of their concern and building a gate by the patio is not part of their "plan". 2nd week, a homeless guy tried to enter my apartment at 4.30 am, I called 911. Cops came in at 5am. Upon reporting, I was told the same story as above and also that I should call the compliance officer "next time" this happens. Why should there even be a next time? Next time, I was sitting with the blinds up, on my couch, I noticed a guy on my patio clicking a picture of me and he immediately ran out when I saw him. Last time, a homeless, shirtless guy came up to my patio, during the day, stuck his face on the glass door, made 2 hand gestures - 1st like "I'm watching you" with his 2 fingers(index and middle) and 2nd a "thumbs-up", giggled and ran away.

The leasing office offered to move me up in the same building, but the rent was at least $300/month higher. The building is so poorly constructed that the top floors are barely livable, majority of them have no natural ventilation and the ones that have a balcony, are too expensive for the tiny square footage they have to offer. Not worth the move.

Coming to the Regional Manager Chantee Gibson. Some of the things that stood out from my interactions with her: Her derogatory/racist way of asking me if I have ever lived in a city? Apparently I was behaving as a rural person who didn't know that a property in such a good location demanded many homeless people and the management is not responsible for anything that happens to their residents! Her insensitive way of putting it all on me - you chose the unit, you should've seen this coming! Her insensitive/rude/uncalled-for statement "you have too many demands" - She offered to move me within one of the sister properties, or other upper floor units without a balcony. When I told her that none of those options worked out for me unfortunately, she made the above statement. Surprising how ppl treat you when you’re so worried and need their help!!

The only good part about this community is its location. This property has only about 60% occupancy, a year after opening its doors to its residents(around June 2017). Not sure if this has changed since July 2018. But that explains why they have 2 months rent free specials running throughout! There must be a reason why people don't want to live here!

Needless to say, if you are looking for any help/kindness from this management, you aren't going to get any. I lived in Post Properties in Dallas and was so pleased with their management that I looked for Post Property homes in every new location I moved to. But due to this experience, I have lost that trust.

If you want to stay alive and safe,...

Great Location, Outdated Building, Disappointing Leadership:

(9/8/2025): I’ve lived at MAA Midtown for 3 years. While the location and amenities are great, my experience was overshadowed by a year-long odor issue in my unit. The smell was at times unbearable, made me sick, and often forced me to sleep outside of my bedroom or leave the apartment entirely. Maintenance eventually found and fixed the source — a severe moisture/mildew odor coming from my bedroom closet walls — but management’s handling was dismissive and unprofessional. It took months before they even offered to conduct an air-quality test, all while I was experiencing physical reactions and deeply concerned about whether I was inhaling something potentially dangerous to my health. Even after escalating to Marylou Scruggs (VP), the issue was ignored, minimized, and I was told my “option” was simply to move out — more about pushing the problem under the rug than helping resolve it.

After posting my initial review, MAA’s Resident Care Team replied publicly (please see their reply directly below this review), asking me to email them directly and promising a response within 48 business hours. I complied — and then heard nothing. A full week passed with no reply. I followed up again, even CC’ing the Senior Vice President, yet still received no response. This only reinforces what I experienced firsthand: MAA’s leadership does not care, avoids accountability, and is more concerned with optics than actually resolving resident concerns.

Beyond that, residents should be aware of other concerns. If you’re a biker, be prepared to store your bike inside your unit, as the bike room has insufficient racks. At one point, I had to lock mine on a smaller rack in the parking garage, only to have it stolen while I was traveling abroad. Security overall is questionable — the main garage door is frequently broken, leaving it open to the public. I’ve personally seen homeless individuals in the garage, and one even walked into the package room and stole someone’s flat-screen TV delivery.

Lastly, while less frequent recently, the elevators have historically been unreliable, with at least one of the three main elevators out of service at a time, causing long wait times.

For a “luxury” community, I expected accountability, respect, and fair treatment. The building is nice (though a bit outdated), but leadership failed me, and future residents should know that when serious problems arise, they may not get the support they deserve.

Update (9/22/2025): After I posted my review, MAA’s Resident Care Team originally replied publicly asking me to email them directly and promising a response within 48 business hours. I complied — and then heard nothing. A week later, I followed up again and even CC’d the Senior Vice President, but still received no response. Since then, MAA has edited their public reply on Google to erase that promise and replace it with a generic “Thank you for your feedback.” This only reinforces what I and others have experienced: leadership does not care, avoids accountability, and is more concerned with protecting their image than actually resolving...

I have now been a resident for 8 months. While the leasing process was okay, living here has been sub-par and definitely not worth the cost.

TL;DR You can find a better complex elsewhere for the amount you'd be paying here.

The bad: Elevators seem to be getting repaired often, many times down to a single working unit and taking almost 10 mins to get an elevator. Parking garage entry door broken for almost a month, sensors that allow garage entry are stubborn and do not work half the time, only one parking spot per bedroom, and there is no guest parking although the garage seems half empty most of the time. Stairmaster was broken for MONTHS with no communication about it being broken and other gym equipment hasn't been well maintained. The floors on 17 (and I hear other floors) look TERRIBLE and stained for "luxury" living. The floor to ceiling windows are never cleaned on the outside. For "upscale" living, the tech at the front doors to allow entry is very outdated and there is no indication of it being replaced. While the concierge staff is nice and generally helpful, they are required to do security rounds every hour so half the time, they are not even at the desk to answer the door if needed and you still have to go down to lobby. They are usually gone for 15-30 mins it seems and this is every hour (at least at night). There is a fee for EVERYTHING. Numerous pet fees, community fees, parking fees, 2 water fees, 2 sewage fees, utility fee, etc. Add $100 - $500 a month for these. Communication from the leasing office is terrible and robotic, relaying the same cookie-cutter message each time. Communication about amenities that are not usable is always late, sometimes a week after usability has stopped or sometimes not communicated at all. I had to submit multiple work orders upon moving in that should have been addressed prior to my move-in date, including an item being stuck in my sink disposal.

While most of these complaints have been communicated, all of them are addressed with either "we are addressing that later [insert arbitrary timeframe here]" or "we fixed this but made no reasonable improvements to make sure it does not happen again."

I also have not ever been late on rent - even by a day. There was an issue with the portal/setup and I was charged a $100 late fee only one day after the rent was due (due on first, late on second of the month). While this is indicated in the lease, I requested some leniency since this was a simple mistake and has never happened in the past, but they refused. Yet, residents constantly deal with the issues outlined above and we never see a refund of the community or amenity fees. Basically, don't expect the management here to work with you at all. They only care to continue to take your money even though the community is poorly maintained.

I most likely won't be leasing here again. It simply is not worth the cost when I now know the Midtown area better and can make a more informed decision about the quality of service vs. cost in the area.

If you don't believe me, read some other reviews. They will echo a...