Modera Midtown — Local services in Atlanta

TL;DR: Avoid, there's better places to live in the area.

In this review, I'm talking about the good, the neutral, and the bad.

Here's the good: The location is very close to food, groceries, Georgia Tech, NCR, and other Midtown work buildings. Plenty of parking is available at this community. The water pressure and the continuous hot water. The internet availability (extremely fast here) Maintenance is mostly responsive and does what they can to try to help. They legitimately care. The walking track on the 7th floor is a nice perk. The view from our home was pretty nice.

Here's the neutral: There were break-ins numerous times to vehicles in the garage. Thankfully, my car was never broken in to; however, there was multiple strings of break-ins. (This is neutral because this is Atlanta). Modera hired security which walks around with bulletproof vests and guns. Not sure if they're effective, but they are there. The insulation is mostly good to where you don't really hear your neighbors in their day to day with the exception of a heavy object falling on the floor above, or, a neighbor throwing a rager.

Here's the bad (there's a lot): The car noise is extremely loud. Look, I'll admit that it's my fault because for some reason, I never considered the fact that a building built 150 feet from a massive interstate would be as loud as it was, but, be prepared to give up all sleep for your entire lease length due to loud cars. There's also a lot of air pollution (again, oversight here) due to the interstate. The balcony is supposed to be a light grey - the black in the cracks is actually from the pollution of vehicles on the interstate and it can be pressure washed away. Your indoor air quality is a massive health risk and Modera replacing the filters once every year is not enough. There's a million things that are more reliable than Modera's elevators, including Comcast. There's been at least two distinct instances where there's been only a single elevator operating, and there's been multiple instances where only two are working. Even to this day, one of the elevators continuously cancels calls and you have to exit the elevator, let it reset, then hope it reopens the door at the floor you're on. Every resident's front door can be opened with nothing but a paperclip. Go look up "LPL Schlage smart lock" and watch the youtube video - this is such a major security risk to every resident. What makes things worse is that I've shared this with management months ago and as you can predict, nothing has been done. On the topic of security, there's more security in the MARTA Breeze card than there is in either the parking tags, the front door keys, or the elevator keys. In fact, if you want to make your own front door key, you can simply buy a Flipper One or a Chameleon Ultra and clone it. Our AC broke twice, and in both cases, there was no good solution for them to cool the home as there wasn't a window that could be used with a portable AC unit due to the way the windows open. The paint they used in the home is extremely cheap, so cheap that it flakes off the walls from just using the shower. The pool is usually closed after a holiday due to ragers, and they've now "enforced" a wrist band policy. Enforced as in they aren't actually enforcing it for non-residents, kids, or parties - only residents. The package room like many others have called out. I've had so many things lost or stolen, it's sad. So many broken things all around the community - doors (2F garage, front door, side door), gates, management, boiler unit, fire alarms, etc.

Management has done very little to make things right including ignoring multiple rent abatement requests for a variety of reasons. I wouldn't be so critical if they actually took the time to apologize, compensate me fairly, and fix the problems on a reasonable timeline. The only way they can fairly fix this now is by compensating me for my troubles and we all know that's not happening.

I'll post pictures later today to validate...

Move-In: Told leasing I was driving cross-country and would be arriving on a Sunday evening. They assured me that my keys, parking passes, etc would be ready to go by the time I got there & would be sitting with the concierge team. To my dismay, nothing was ready to go, the concierge had no idea, and the leasing agent in charge was not able to be contacted. I had to wait over an hour and a half for someone to be contacted so I could at least get into my apartment. The key fob provided is supposed to let you into your apartment and all amenities, as well as hallway entrances on your floor... I couldn't even access the entrances. A majority of the elevators were out of service & one person got stuck in one the first night I was there & the concierge had no idea what to do or who to call.

Unit: The unit was a good size, however the finishes were all basically Ikea-grade, very cheap & low-quality. The walls & ceiling were paper-thin and I could hear every step, intimate bedroom activity, and conversation of my neighbors.

Community/Amenities: The whole reason I chose this complex was because of the amazing amenities (specifically the 2 rooftop pools). The pools were not heated so it was too cold to go in and then in summer, the pools were always close for maintenance or being drained because people would break glass in it. I never got to use them. The dog park on the 29th floor is covered with feces & the strong smell of urine... pretty unbearable & I am grateful I didn't have a pet that had to be subjected to that. COCKROACHES EVERYWHERE.

Move-Out: I ended up moving down to FL with family & left my apartment vacant for 7mo... finally I got to finish the lease (seeing as they basically wanted $8K to break the lease) & confirmed with the leasing office that I needed to reserve the loading dock & freight elevator in order to load up my U-Haul. On the day of my move-out, the elevator was locked & the loading dock was closed. Frantically, I ran to the leasing office to figure what was going on and they told me that the freight elevator had been reserved for the entire day by someone else. They finally found my email of the reservation confirmation and said that I could just use a common elevator that would take me to the garage & then I would have to walk under the garage security bars and security roll-top door to get to my truck. Finally, they got the other resident to turn the access over to me so I could load up, but we weren't allowed to use the loading dock... I was forced to park in the street & got a ticket for it. To top it off, once I got access to the freight elevator, I was able to get all of my furniture loaded & then the freight elevator broke. I was forced to use the common elevator and go through the security arm/rolltop door which closes automatically once you go outside. The only way to get in/out of the big roll-top door is to manually hit the 'open' button to access the back alley/street. That was the only way I could get out & then got yelled at by security/concierge that I would be fined if I touched the garage door again & was rudely told I needed to find another way... which there was none other than to go out the other side of the building and walk all the way around. Ended up having to stay in a hotel for the night because I couldn't everything finished.

Staff/Concierge: The most unfriendly & unhelpful people I have ever met - the concierge is third-party and has no idea about anything on property other than to tell food-delivery people to take a picture of the wood and put it on a table in the lobby; other than that, they are useless. They are now taking my $300 deposit for 2 months of utilities (for January, which should have already been paid & February), paint/patch the walls, and now want an extra $400 to replace all the carpet (they were replaced when I moved in and they were not damaged when I left). I disputed the charges, but the office won't take my calls or answer my emails...

I am writing this review from a perspective of a Georgia Tech student.

Location With respective to Georgia Tech is "alright" depending on where your classes are. If you're a business major then Modera is the perfect spot for you. However, I am an engineer and most of the classes are in the heart of Georgia Tech. I have to take the trolley so that means I leave my place 30 minutes before my classes start. Walking to the nearest trolley stop takes about 5-10 minutes from when I lock my door to the actual stop. It's close to Georgia Tech Amazon and a bunch of other shops which is neat. Being right across Publix is a HUGE plus.

Pros: 24-hour concierge. There is always someone at the front desk able to help you. Lobby area is really nice and secured. You need a key to get into the lobby. Responsive leasing office. They reply quick to any concerns you have-repairs, bills, etc.

Amenities. The amenities are lots and the community area is HUGE. Located on the 7th floor is a bar where can be hosted events. There is also a ping-pong table, board games, and other games. There is also ample "lounging" space where you can study if you need a change of place from your apartment. A conference room if you have guests over and need to do a group project. Also located on the 7th floor is the gym. The whole community area has that very nice looks to it. It is very high-end and first class feeling.

Gym: The gym is REALLY nice. It is opposite from your typical "hotel and apartment" gym where it's really cramped. Here is the equipment that they have: Ellipticals, treadmills, TRX-band workout area, dumbbells and flat benches for them, stairmaster, row machine, leg curl machine, smith machine racks with a bench for it and plates, "home-gym" where you can do cable-flyes, tricep pushdowns, pullups etc,. stationary bikes. I think there is more but this is what I can remember at the top of my head.

Upstairs there is a place you can do yoga. Yes, I said upstairs because the gym has two floors. not an L.A. fitness, it's size is very large compared to do that of other apartment or dorm gyms. Equipment is brand new too. There are also bathrooms for this floor which are nice and well-kept. In fact, the entire 7th floor is well-kept and cleaned constantly.

Room: I have the A1 500 square feetish one bedroom. Bathroom is nice and spacious. I have a balcony with a nice view. High-end theromo state. My room also comes with valet-trash pick up where you can just leave your trash in the hallway and someone picks it up. In regards to internet, you can choose your provider and they give you a list to choose from. I choose google fiber.

Parking: Guests pass are available from the front-desk if you have guests over.

NO fire-alarms. I have not encountered a fire-alarm since I moved in the beginning of January.

Two Free months! Takes effect the 3rd and 4th month.

Cons:

Amenities: There are a few amenities that are not completed yet on the 7th floor which includes the pool, outdoor projector theater, and the dog-park.

Gym: I made a membership to L.A. fitness despite having a nice gym at Modera. This is because the gym is lacking a free weight bench press, a free weight squat cage, and a free weight military barbell press cage. Although they have a smith-machine is nice but not sufficient for serious gym-goers. L.A. fitness is a block away but an inconvenience of having to walk there. The gym could have been perfect if they added these two things.

Parking: Parking passes are expensive and there were break-ins as of this writing.

Moving-in: Since they are still doing construction, you have to plan moving in your furniture accordingly since you have to use the service elevator. This can be a hassle because it will probably take 2-3 days to "completely" move in. It took me 2 days luckily. I am not sure if others will have the same deal.

Room: My bedroom came with no lights so I needed to buy a...