Bridge at Asher Apartments — Local services in Austin

EDIT 12/30/24: just FYI for anyone who still willingly chooses to end up here, they don’t offer check out walkthroughs or paperwork for when you move out, they just take your keys and assess when you leave so they can charge you whatever they want.

EDIT 12/27/24: I went in today at 2:30 to ask for a walkthrough of check out paperwork, just to spend 15 min in waiting for someone to come out to the three empty desks (video attached) but I guess you can’t hear the front door alarm over music, or no one is working. I called and went through three different automated machines asking questions before it finally asked me to just leave a message because - shocker - no one answered my phone call. Why even be open? I’m ready to be done with this place next week, and want to make sure no one else bothers with this property. This management in the last 6-8 months is the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.

EDIT 9/23/24: the ceiling work order was marked as “complete”. I promise you it hasn’t been touched. This isn’t the fault of the maintenance crew though, it’s the office simply not caring to check in and get anything done. Oh, and they still haven’t fixed the gates almost 3 months after saying they would.

EDIT 7/15/24: attached a photo of gym equipment left to prop open the door that I saw this morning. I was attempting to go into the office, at 9am, their new hours to “better serve the residents” and both the door through the gym and the front door were locked. It’s 9:10 at this point so why move the hours from 8:30am to 9am if you still don’t open on time, answer calls, answer emails, etc?

EDIT 6/29/24: TLDR - this complex is nice because there’s no breed restrictions for dogs. The new portal for paying rent and submitting maintenance requests allows you to send the office messages, so I give that a shot. My ceiling has been chipping in one spot, put in a request 5/28/24 (been this way since I moved in, gotten worse, last request they came by about a year ago and said they’d come back - they didn’t), got a text it would be resolved in a day. Sent the message to the office in the portal a week later to follow up. 6/29/24 and no response to the message and no solution for my ceiling. So I guess don’t bother trying to contact the office unless you can physically walk in there. Also with it being the summer, the pool is PACKED, I have never seen this many people/kids at the pool before so I’m curious if all of them are residents. The only thing the office will do is send an email to remind people how many guests they can have.

Can't wait for my lease to be up, I only renewed because I'm looking for a house. Maintenance crew is typically quick and helpful. New management is not good and it's gone downhill over the last year (I've lived here for almost 3 years now). Gates are broken and their solution was to register cars for parking instead of fixing the gates so people's cars don't get broken into - luckily not an issue for me but it has been for other residents. Probably shouldn't have "controlled access" on the website when it's not. They added a new portal for pets which required a fee, even though I've had my dog here for years, I had to ask them to find a way to not charge me for a dog that I already had which they thankfully did. Even trying to pay rent, they couldn't give me a reason why the payment was kicked back for a "frozen account", although I explained to them that my bank has nothing on their end regarding this - the late fee charge was from their bank, not mine, so the apartment should be the ones to find out why their bank did that if me and my bank don't see anything on our end, but maybe that's just my opinion... The gym is terrible (not sure who y'all are that keep saying new equipment?), no one picks up after their dogs, and the rent keeps going up for a place that doesn't fix anything. The office staff constantly changes, and if you think you'll get a response to a call or email, you won't, unless they're trying to get money from you. There's probably better options if you're looking for a new...

The great thing about this place is the no breed restrictions on dogs.

The things that are not so great are:

No Parking- Limited parking spaces. Covered parking spaces are physically available...for a price. We have rarely parked next to our own building since we moved in. The paid parking spaces sit vacant everywhere. How this isn't extortion is beyond me.

Rent- is 20% over market rate to live on the side of the interstate in Austin. Sad

Noisy- Interstate 35 rattles the buildings, you hear and feel every truck and every honk all day all night. The garbage gets picked up at like 2am.

Traffic- Even with the new slaughter creek overpass, the light is not programmed, and a 4 way stop would have made better sense, so good luck trying to get out of The Asher alive during rush hour. There is only 1 way in, and 1 way out of Asher. If there is ever an emergency where people need to evacuate, heading north on I-35 is the only direction you can go. This place is an operational risk management nightmare.

Water Pressure and Billing- The hot water pressure is kind of poor. You will notice you have no control over your water bill at all, you will pay 3x more for sewer than you will for water access. The bill is pooled based on your building and alliance supposedly pays a portion of this, although you cant get them to disclose what fraction of a percentage they pay. This is most likely an Austin City Council problem, but Asher is fine with forwarding that cost to its residents. Water bills are indisputable, there is no metering, you basically have to pay whatever they ask each month and its anything but consistent. If anyone actually understands the water billing process please explain because paying 14bucks for water and 45bucks for sewer plus another 30 bucks in random fees each month doesn't seem justified to me.

AT&T runs a Monopoly at Asher- AT&T is the only option for internet. You have no other choice. The contracts are 12 months minimum and you can NOT just purchase internet alone, it's a cable TV/internet package deal or nothing.

Cleanliness- People work on their cars in the parking lot and leave oil sitting outside for weeks. While there are many pet stations, they don't get emptied or have the bags refilled consistently, so they usually pile up and it smells. People leave their trash out in the breezeways for days even though there are dumpsters less than 30 feet from each building. Management says they do grounds daily, but by whos standard is anyone's guess.

I applaud Alliance for fixing the sink hole in the parking lot and getting the buildings painted. I like the idea of backyards on the first floor units. And maintenance is prompt and courteous. Other than being pet friendly, this place really doesn't feel worth the price for an alliance run community. I guess that's the price we pay for dogs we love. Asher is happy to cash in...

We have lived her for about four months and it has been good besides a few minor things. I will start with the positive first...

The apartment is beautiful and spacious. The complex is quiet and I have not heard or seen anything sketchy. I feel safe here so far. Great place to be with what we are paying for rent. The appliances in our unit are all stainless steel which is an added plus. When we first moved in on a Thursday, our appliances in the unit were not the upgraded ones as promised, which the office took care of right away with no hassle. We had new appliances by Monday. The club house, gym and other amenities are very nice.

The complaints I do have, most appear to have been addressed after previous reviews. One was involving the pool and how over crowded it has been with the huge pool parties residents were having. The office recently sent out an email reminding everyone of the rules of the pool so I hope it will improve. One thing that was not addressed is people that don't live here appear to be coming to the pool. I live by the pool that is on the other side of the complex away from the office, and I see people coming from cars to the pool and then leaving right after. They don't appear to be accompanied by a resident at all. I see this all the time. It is frustrating as a resident who pays rent and lives here, to see people come and enjoy our amenities that they are not entitled to. It does not take much to wait by the gate to get let in because there are cars in and out none stop almost. It would be nice if a system were to be implemented to gain access to the pool, just like we have to use our remote to get into our gym etc.

Another issue I have is the fact that people walk their dog and let them potty all over the rock landscaping instead of the grass. They don't clean up after their pets droppings and it always stinks to high heaven out there and I hate coming and going from my apartment because of this. At least by my building it does. It smells like a dirty dog kennel/toilet. If you don't want to clean up after your pet, then don't have one! Don't make the rest of us suffer that smell or mess. An email was sent out about this as well recently, so I am hoping that people listen!

I like how fast management seem to address issues such as these and also any maintenance issues I have had. I hope to see more improvements.

A couple suggestions I do have is maybe a play area for children. I see this is a very pet friendly complex, and they even have a small dog park. There is no park for kids. It would be nice to have an amenity for them as well. One other suggestion is speed bumps! People fly through the parking lot as if it is I 35. Almost been hit...