Camden Lamar Heights Apartments — Local services in Austin

From the moment Kyle (partner) and I walked in we were greeted with patience, respect, and enthusiasm. This is how a leasing company should function. From touring the beautiful property and seeing the spacious and unique one bedroom designs we knew that Lamar Heights had exactly what we would want from a luxury apartment community. There was never any point were we felt rushed or pressured into applying for a unit (honestly there is no need for gimmick sale pitches, the property speaks for itself). I honestly felt a human connection with every member of the leasing staff (which is tough to experience with corporate rental properties).

My boyfriend had a million questions/ inquires into the company and the unit. He's an engineering type so he needs all of his meticulous questions answered before he feels comfortable signing any dotted line. After we decided we wanted to be a part of the Camden family they were accommodating to any move in day changes, deposit drop off, and unit changes. We were always welcomed to come in for any further questions or if we just wanted to look at the unit for measuring purposes. I hate to say, but as a couple, we can be a handful to deal with, but the staff here never made me feel anything but welcomed.

Shelley, she is awesome, quite simply; the bee's knees. Very warm and competent. She was a pleasure to work with and honestly such a gem to have in an office setting. Us choosing Camden has as much to do with you as it does the property itself. Keep it up!

Nick, he was actually the person we signed our leasing contract with. Was thorough, efficient, and extremely pleasant to interact with (which are three tough qualities to have simultaneously). Made the entire signing process easy and exciting. We discussed valentine day (because that was our move in day) plans and where good places to eat around the community were. It felt like home not just a business deal, made us feel like we were valued not just a number. Way to Go Nick!

Brittany, you are professional, kind, and a great people person. You have always had a kind word and made the application process much less nerve racking. I was nervous about an unexpected change in move in dates (moved from end or March to Feb 13th with 2 weeks notice) but you were so compassionate over the phone/email that I knew we were in good hands. Thank you so much for being so patient with me and emails. High-Five !

I know there are two other leasing representatives in the office whom I have not met but if these three are a reflection of your office I would say you guys are on the right track. Management should definitely be proud of this team and understand that the this property is doing a spectacular job at representing the company. Kudos to everyone!

Our unit overlooks the pool, which is beautiful at night and provides a great breeze during the day. I have yet to really turn my A/C on. Our 1/1 is spacious and the layout is not the cookie cutter lay out most apartments offer. The washer and dryer....y'all....they're awesome! Its so quite and are BRAND SPANKIN' NEW. Speaking of quite, the dish washer is virtually silent. I had to check a couple of times that it was even on, yes! I hated having to turn up the volume because the dishwasher sounded like dinosaurs fighting (true story). We had a minor issue with our fridge but the maintenance staff was on top of it and I had ice before I knew it. The maintenance staff is very friendly and always greets me in the hallway with a cheerful hello! The bathroom is perfectly laid out and the brilliant designer that worked a linen closet into the bathroom is genius. The music that plays around the pool is not heard from within my unit (which is important since Kyle does sound mixing and needs silence on days he's working from home). THE KITCHEN IS BOMB DOT COM (oh yeah, 90s reference for you guys).

Thank you so much for welcoming us into the building, we love our space, and love being apart of the Camden Community! I'll be sure to update with more happy reviews as we continue our chapter...

Updated Review I’ll keep the text of my original review down below (originally posted in August of 2016), but I’ve pulled a star from this review based on some simply disappointing developments since I’ve lived here.

Why: If you're seeing this post, you're likely interested in moving into Camden LH, and on paper, that makes sense - great central location, new construction, and a name brand in multi-family living.

The problem of late has been an utterly impermissible spike in theft of property, valuables, and even outright auto theft of late-model vehicles. Dated as recently as two months ago, you can likely find a review of CLH whereby the poster linked a video of his Covette’s wheels being stolen over the course of 90 seconds. This happened in our parking garage - I know the poster - he found his car on cinder blocks. This isn't new and has become a seemingly accelerated trend. I don't fully fault CLH, but it's tough to offer a pass given their anemic response to this trend.

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I’ve always had an easy time ignoring the reviews on here that complain about Camden for being too “corporate.” I’ve now lived in a few different Camden locations and have been treated incredibly well. This location falls in step with the expectations that were set when I lived in Camden City Centre of Houston, TX.

Camden Lamar Heights is an excellent place for young-professionals seeking a central location in Austin. If you’re considering an apartment with this cost, your expectations would include a great pool, a proper workout facility, a quiet night’s sleep, high-end finishes, and quick access to the basics (grocery, food, restaurants & bars); Camden Lamar Heights delivers on all of these expectations, but in varying degrees. I’ve listed the Good & Bad below... I haven't found any "UGLY" yet, but I'm never opposed to updating a post when I find justification.

The Good:

The pool has its busy days on the weekends, and is specifically popular with the young-professional crowd on Saturdays. It is great place to meet new people.

The workout facility is rarely busy, and unlike most apartments that I’ve lived in, you may find it completely empty at most hours (outside of 3PM-7PM).

The finishes are on par with the expectations that you’ve probably set if you’re visiting a Camden. I’m largely impressed with the quality of construction, and besides a few engineering oversights, the new construction is fundamentally good. As a kicker, I’ve noticed that all windows are double-paned (great for noise reduction and insulation) The Bad:

You will find other apartments in Austin with lower costs, and more flexibility to offer promotions.

The “Technology Package” is a required inclusion that delivers standard definition TV and 18MBPS internet for around $100 a month; as if stapling a millennial to cable contract wasn’t bad enough, Camden compounded their misunderstanding of my generation by only offering SD. If you’re not sure what SD is, I’d suggest that you hop on the Magic School Bus and revisit that jaw-dropping moment when OJ made his getaway. Fan of scavenger hunts? Try to find an SD TV in this era – bonus points for a Zenith. The fact is that you can use your current TV to receive the signal or upgrade for another $10, but you’ll be required to have a one-off bill with AT&T every month. The summary of my frustration: If the inclusion is required, negotiate a better price than I can get on my own, make the offerings modern, or let me opt out. My previous experience at Camden included HD, faster internet, and carried the same price.

The parking lot is exactly as described in other reviews: a thrill at every corner! Traffic sweeps tightly around narrow turns, and the entrance to the garage is largely constricted. Many weekends the entrance will be left open due to issues with the mechanical structure.

My experience with maintenance is very light, so this judgement may be premature; however, it is worthy of noting that maintenance took over a week to address my...

I lived in Camden Lamar Heights from 8/19 to 5/20 in the Bluebill model. Below is my very honest review for Camden, and I hope you can read through it before you make the decision to rent with them.

Pros:

Maintenance team is responsive and helpful. A maintenance request can be made online and the team arrives soon to fix the issue. They are discrete and fast. I have no complaints for them.

Indoor amenities are nice. The ceiling is 10-ft high. The appliances in the apartment are modern and easy to use. The kitchen is thoughtfully-designed.

Staff from leasing office are friendly and responsive.

The community website provides a great opportunity to communicate with other residents, report any issues with the complex, and buy/sale furniture.

Cons:

Disorganized management, especially during move-in and move-out.

There is only one freight elevator in the whole complex. We unfortunately lived on the other side and it was a huge pain to move around our stuff. However, the most disappointing thing is the disorganization from the leasing office.

When I moved in, the office double-booked the storage unit. My key didn’t work on the storage unit they assigned me, so they sent the maintenance team to re-key it. It turned out to be SOME OTHER RESIDENT’s storage unit with their personal stuff in it. Imagine just sitting at home and the leasing office secretly opened your storage unit to some strangers?? It was extremely unprofessional.

When I moved out, they double-booked the freight elevator and had the audacity to ask me to stop blocking the elevator during MY scheduled time so that the other people can use it. Then what is the point of reserving the elevator? The next day I tried to rent the dolly and was told the dollies were stolen.

Moving-in and moving-out are already stressful, and the office definitely made it much more miserable. The office is fully aware of these issues I had but never contacted me to address these incidents. It makes me feel that they don’t really care about their residents.

Technology package is a joke.

They advertised the mandatory $98/mo package includes cable and good internet. The cable is NOT HD. It is unbelievable that an organization would force their residents to buy non-HD cable. The internet is OK but definitely not great. When we were all trapped at home during the pandemic, we are stuck with the horrible internet and non-HD TV. You get the idea.

Safety issues.

The entry to garage was broken half of the time when I was in Camden, meaning anyone can enter the building with no problem. Though it never happened to me, many residents reported car break-ins and package thefts on the community page, and Camden did not make much effort to address these safety issues. It took them almost a month to fix the garage entry.

Outdoor amenities are not as nice as they advertise.

The gym is of medium size for such a big complex. The yoga and cycling classes were broken when I was there (The office did not keep paying for the classes). The three grills in the pool area are barely usable.

During the pandemic, Camden closed all outdoor amenities, which is understandable. However, they made zero effort to improve our stay-at-home life. To me, they could have offered to upgrade our forced tech package, but they did not. They did have some “relief fund”, but it is not applicable to people like me who didn’t lose my job. Eventually we decided to move out. They charge a mandatory $90 cleaning fee (no matter how well we cleaned the apartment ourselves) and an early termination fee (one month’s rent).

In general, Camden is not a bad place to live. It does have nice indoor decor and amenities. But if you care about safety, or if you are looking for an apartment that truly cares about their residents, I would not recommend Camden...