Alexan Waterloo — Local services in Austin

Review from the perspective of a resident living here for over a year (Floor Plan A3 facing South)

I'm compelled to write this review after living at Alexan Waterloo for over a year because there are some things I love about living here, as well as some negatives that really make it difficult to recommend to others.

Pro (Living Space) With the apartment space itself, I'm actually very happy about the space. This is coming from someone who lived in a walkup apartment in NYC for 4 years, so the living area and amenities were big positives. I also understand that washer/dryer & a dishwasher is standard when looking for Austin apartments, but it has to be said that the build quality and apartment features are definitely a positive. Having a Nest to control my AC is a nice to have, as well as a very large walk in closet. The only real drawback of the living space is the location (next to the highway) which makes the balcony very noisy. That was a letdown for me because I wanted to enjoy my outdoor space, but the highway noise made it so I rarely sit outside. At least inside it's well insulated for noise.

While I'm happy with my living space, there are some downsides that have really made living here difficult which I wanted to shed some light on.

Con (Elevator) Firstly, as I'm sure other reviews have touched on, the elevator situation is an issue. It's actually been an issue since I first moved in (I think a couple months after AW first opened up to residents). When I first moved in, I couldn't even take the elevator to my floor since there was an issue with resident access above floor 10, and it took forever to get someone from the elevator company to get that fixed. I think I dealt with this problem for the first couple months of my lease term! It seems like there is always at least one elevator down, sometimes two which makes wait times super slow. Worst case I was waiting for an elevator for close to 8 minutes in the basement garage. One time it was so bad I just decided to take the stairs. Those problems are compounded when it takes a month or longer to get someone out to repair the elevators.

Elevator access also requires us to use the HID Mobile Access app. We have to use our phones to scan and select whatever floor we need to go to. In my experience it's buggy and inconvenient to have to open the app every time on my phone to use the elevator. There's a setting to allow you to just tap your phone without unlocking or opening the app, but for me it's hit or miss at best and has been completely broken for the past 2-3 weeks. If you want a physical key card instead, I was told it would cost $100. I'm not sure why we can't just have a physical fob for this (like Avenir across the street).

**To be clear, the building claims that service times for elevator repairs are long because the service company is not based within the city, and an employee needs to be scheduled and sent over which takes a long time. They also claim that this is an issue for other buildings, but I felt the need to address it.

Con (Guest System) Related is the frustrating guest pass system and guest access in general.

My girlfriend visits frequently, so I am often creating guest passes for her so she can park and use the elevator. The system generates a QR code for her to scan at both of those entry points. It seems like any pass beside a day pass does not work (I.E. every time I created a pass for 3 days on weekends, the QR code would not work). Sometimes her daily pass has issues scanning in the elevator, and sometimes there are issues at the garage entrance. It seems intermittent.

Con (Guest Parking) I wouldn't recommend AW if you have frequent guests or want more than one guest over. Guest parking used to have a good number of spots until Texas Trucking Association moved in, now there's only a handful, they're all compact spaces, and they're almost always full. If a guest does not park in guest parking, they'll be towed under apartment rules, and they're starting to strictly enforce towing after establishing resident...

I lived here from June 2022 through December 2023, living in two units total. I even referred a friend to the building early on. At the start, leasing was pretty good and personable (Greystar). There was a terrible coffee shop in the lobby that nobody liked and that eventually closed down. The elevators constantly went down, usually 1-2 of the 3 broke every other week. I remember I once waited upwards of 5 minutes for the single working elevator to arrive, then 5 minutes of stopping on every floor below. It still happens today, though less frequently. Guest parking was good, though the app for guest access was unreliable and the gate often failed to open for visitors. Then towards the end of Greystar's tenure, someone stole all the tablets out of the elevators that (sometimes) allowed guests to go to their host's floor. They never replaced them.

As for the apartment units themselves, they were actually pretty good. The finishes were nice, the build quality was decent, though the veneer on the cabinetry was peeling because it's cheap. Hot water also took upwards of 3-6 minutes to kick in. The views were great, but beware: you will hear the highway wherever you are. It's much quieter while you're touring during the day than when you're trying to fall asleep and all you hear are revving car and truck engines. It was pretty bad.

Then Hanover took over, and they claimed that they were "restoring" the building to its original glory, as if Greystar did such a horrible job (I'd have given Greystar 4 stars). I never noticed a difference. It became really hard to contact the leasing office: don't bother to leave a voicemail, they won't call you back. They only respond to some emails. If they tell you that they're going to do something later, they won't. It's on you to follow up.

They then restricted guest parking to a max of 3 hours, and also tried to charge $119/lease for "unlimited light bulb replacements". Seriously?

But a few incidents occurred that were pretty frustrating to deal with:

My hot water went completely out. I had maintenance come out, they said they'd look into it, and nothing happened for a few days. Having been forced to take cold showers during that time and getting pretty annoyed, I complained (in person) that it still wasn't fixed, but since it was Friday afternoon, the front desk didn't care and said I'd have to wait until Monday since maintenance was out on weekends. I was without hot water for 7 days in total, almost at the limit to where I could have legally broken my lease. And I totally would have.

I was charged a cleaning fee after move-out, even though the apartment was clean. They claimed it was required to be completely detailed after move-out, which my lease didn't specify, and for which I have never been charged with a Graystar property in the past (3 units in total with them, including the first unit I was in at Alexan Waterloo). $225, the cost of cleaning the entire unit, because of: water spots on the shower door and sink and some leftover dirt in the fridge. Nothing that was caused by "negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse" (quoted from my lease). I could fight it, but they're determined to nickel and dime for everything and I don't have the fight in me right now.

The moral of the story is that Alexan Waterloo is overpriced. For the high rent and $250 of hidden monthly fees that they don't advertise ($125/mo amenity fee + $125/mo parking), you'd expect more attention to detail. The area is just okay. Management is frustrating. Having visitors is a pain. But look, you may be fine here. I didn't really have noise from neighbors because of the concrete, maintenance was responsive except for the hot water issue. If you don't really care about what you get for your money, then it's fine. But the longer you live here, the more you notice the incompetencies. A surprising number of residents that I talked to didn't renew....

Interesting how many five star reviews are from people who have either recently had a tour, just moved in, or don't live here. Come back to us in six months guys. You may find you've changed your tune.

I live in a lovely apartment unit in some ways although not without significant issues. A lot of the materials are cheap... my kitchen cabinet finish is peeling off already because of heat from the stove. My water filter has needed changing twice during my tenancy (I have been here a year), last time they charged me $50 sneakily despite me saying 'don't change this if you're going to charge me' and me being the first tenant in the unit.... but so many issues with the building.

The new management company, Hanover, came in blowing their own trumpet louder than was necessary promising that they were going to be a total night and day change from the old company (who were, admittedly horrendous), and they've changed very little, certainly not for the better, and in some ways have gone backwards.

The amenities which used to be free first come/first served now need to be booked/rented - nobody ever seems to use the speakeasy which was a shame and a cool spot to WFH sometimes - now you need to pay $500 for it. I'm not clear if this a fully refundable deposit, a rental fee, or if it's partly refundable, but it's frankly ridiculous whatever it is. Same with the catering kitchen.

The rooftop pool looks amazing when you tour the building, but don't be fooled; they don't heat the water as they promise when you tour it so its virtually unusable outside of May-Sept, the gas is frequently out on the cooker units on the roof and the fire pits, and the whole roof is badly designed on a basic architectural level with the entire pool being shaded most of the day due to the pointless large concrete beams which almost exactly block the sun's passage across the sky. I'm up here now as I write this and it is early afternoon; there a bunch of people (it's 87 degrees) and nobody is in the water because it's freezing cold. Not helped by the sun not being on it and obviously them not warming the pool. The recliners don't recline and the furniture up there is overall a bit of an L.

Recently the recycling chute was out for a month or more, when you tour they will tell you 'everything is built to condo specs' and try to tell you noise isn't an issue yet you can hear the clown horn from the construction opposite multiple times a day particularly early in the morning, as well as the music from various local bars.

Amenity charge of $175 a month and they don't offer any window cleaning.... Yes - as a previous review said the parking situation is ridiculous and they are absurdly militant about it. My friend was towed despite it being a holiday weekend, in the middle of the night (11-5am) when the trucking company spots were totally unused, the gate the car park stopped working and somebody's car got smashed - but they charge you $150 a month for a spot...

The elevators are crap.

On the plus side are the maintenance and front desk teams who are very warm and helpful, and the apartment as I say is largely pleasant. I don't think it represents great value here but there are worse places I'm sure.

On reflection, I should have gone with Avenir over the road but I'm here now and would consider staying if they addressed some of these issues, partly to avoid the stress of moving for both myself and my animals and also because the location is great for my work but overall a really disappointing experience living here so far. Maybe they will change my mind over the next few months. I hope so as I'd like to stay and avoid the cycle of moving from place to place and there are some things to like about it. With summer coming up maybe the pool will...