Starlight — Local services in Austin

I moved out last month. The place isn’t the worst, it’s fine as far as apartments go. There are some inconveniences to note..

I moved in when they first opened and there was a total of 14 cars in the entire parking garage. They told me they only allowed one vehicle per LEASE. 1 car per unit. 2+ person households should ask before signing if this is still the case.

The elevators are often times inoperable for whatever reason, not sure what the issue is with them but when people say they’re always out of order, it is seemingly a weekly occurrence.

-these elevators are not particularly accessible for moving large items (dumb design for apartments where people are constantly moving in/out) with the main elevator (not big, full of mirrors) being the most accessible but you either need to go through the leasing office, down a flight off stairs, or through the parking garage. Now, the garage is an issue all in itself..

-the garage is completely inaccessible for moving trucks or trailers. Drive down the parking garage ramp and to the right are the gates… which leaves either you or a moving company to have to walk everything down to either the main elevator (by leasing office) or the “service” elevator which is behind the gate all the way in the back. So you will constantly be messing with the gate, having to hold it open (which cars have been stolen/broken into from this garage so maybe not the best idea) and it makes the move in/out process a bigger pain than it already is.

if you drive a full sized truck that gate location/angle will quickly become annoying. You either have to make a full loop around the retail parking to align yourself, and then hopefully dodge the cars all parked directly in front of the gate, or angle your truck in just the right way to get in/out without scraping your truck or hitting someone else’s car. If someone else is coming or going at the same time, there’s just not enough room and it gets very old very quick.

the fire alarms will randomly go off, sometimes with a warning and sometimes no warning. Is this a new building issue? No idea. But it does create alarm fatigue and people don’t know if it’s actually fire or not, and often ignore it which poses a safety risk. (Think about how often they have to go off for people to not take them seriously)

the service they use for package deliveries (Fetch) is AWFUL. They wont scan your packages in within a timely manner (somehow this happens with important things you need overnighted like, let’s say, important documents someone sent to be signed) and sometimes not at all. After several instances of having to track my own packages through their corporate contact or driving all the way up to the location, I stopped using it altogether and never had anything delivered through them again unless it was something huge that they could not possibly lose (furniture sized)

Aside from that, the apartment units are normal Austin apartments.. unless you have a corner unit facing the interior, you probably wont be able to fit much of anything on your porch.

All in all, apartments all have negatives and drawbacks, but these are the things I found to be the most annoying while living there. First world problems so it could be worse, but it could be better.

However, my biggest issue is with Greystar and the way they took over. We were given less than 24 hours notice that management was changing with a letter on our doors in the evening of 31JUL2024 that they would take over 01AUG2024. It was extremely sudden and very weird. No warning or notice before that. The sudden switch led to logistical issues. It seems to have sorted itself out but that was a red flag for me personally.

Greystar has a pretty negative reputation for getting security deposits back, as of right now they are past the 30 day mark on returning mine. They say it can take up to 45, but if you read all the reviews here and on other Greystar properties you will know why I’m keeping track. This is the reason for the low review, that being taken out of consideration I’d...

My perspective: I lived here for 15 months and moved out about 2 months ago, so I have the end to end experience including the transition from Willow Bridge to Greystar. I was also a regular visitor for two months prior - my boyfriend lived here, and I stayed periodically. I liked it so much I moved in myself in a separate unit.

Pros: Maintenance: always responsive and fixed my issues, but that being said, I had almost no issues the entire time I was here. Everything was in great condition and nothing broke down. Leasing/property team: Overall fantastic. I traveled a lot while I was there for work and personal reasons, and they would check on my unit for me, pull my trash can in while I was out of state so I wouldn't get fined, and answered my emails quickly. Shout out to John in particular! Location: LOVED the location. Amazing coffee and Michelin bib gourmand breakfast tacos just across the street, tasty pizza next door, a convenience store like one block away. So close to so many good restaurants in east austin. I had a 15 minute commute to downtown where I worked, The Good Mueller HEB was like 6 minutes away. Move Out: I am not well organized. I kept my key fob and mail key for like 3 weeks before I remembered to mail it back in an old amazon package, and they were so nice and never fined me for it. When I pulled off a command strip in my bathroom, a piece of the wall came with it. I was like well, okay. that's a problem for future me. I STILL got most of my deposit back, which shocked me. I am not joking. I don't know why. I thought it was super reasonable and honest of them. Noise: The person next to me really liked music with bass. The person on top of me apparently liked... dragging heavy objects around. But the walls are not paper thin in my opinion. Noise insulation is average, maybe above average. Events: Their guest events were really sweet and well thought out. Free flowers and cards on Mother's day, hosted happy hour at the new bar across the street when they opened, free tacos in the morning, decorate your own cookie house thing contest? Very cute and actually events you want to stop by to see. Amenities: Above average. Gym is great. Public Transport: I never used it, but there are bus stops right outside, and if you walk about 1.5 blocks there's the metrorail thing that goes straight downtown.

Potential Cons: (sorry) Your Neighbors: they aren't allowed to say this, so I'll say it: there are a lot of college students here. That's not bad in and of itself because they are super sweet, but some side effects include vomit sometimes in public areas, dog poop/pee in places, having to shut the pool/hot tub down after a long weekend because it's a public health menace to society, etc. Management tries to keep up as best they can, and I get it. It never really bothered me. Communication: could be better. if something happened (doors break, elevators break, etc) we didn't get a ton of proactive announcements or updates to let us know progress. Guest parking: bad bad. There are so few spots indoors and I often had to park on the side of the street 1-2 streets over if I got there late when I was a guest. Even worse after the restaurant opened. Parking in general: Might just be me, but always felt so narrow and claustrophobic. Willow Bridge Transition: A complete dumpster fire. But once the new team got ahold of how to maintain the property it was okay in like a month. If I had rated within that month though, I was so irritated I would have given 2 stars. Moving in/out: Logistically very annoying. The parking garage's ceiling is too low, so they have to usually park at the school next door and haul your stuff down several hallways/elevators - my people charged me a long walking distance fee which was reasonable.

I left because I moved out of state. If I moved back, I would consider moving back here again if I wanted to live in East Austin. It was a...

I toured this apartment complex with Summer B. in August of 2023 when it had just opened up. I toured apartments on behalf of my girlfriend and previously worked in property management so I made sure to ask all the right questions.

I asked Summer if there was guest parking in the garage. She assured me there was but never showed me the parking garage structure. They've decided to strip away all the visitor parking in the garage to give to the retail spaces. Street parking? Forget about parking near the building after 5PM.

I also asked Summer to confirm that the counters were sealed quartz countertops. My girlfriend had similar countertops in her prior apartment which is susceptible to staining of any kinds. Summer assured me that the counters were sealed. Found out fairly quick that wasn't true. They will stain with anything you set on it, even if you use specialty cleaners.

My girlfriends apartment is subpar for the price she pays. You can hear all of your neighbors. Do you face the train tracks? Well good, cause that'll be your form of white noise at night. Rooms are poorly put together, no transition strips between the bedrooms. The hallways are littered with areas of stains from what I can imagine is dog pee since this place has the most inconsiderate dog owners. The finishes in the apartment are cheap. Trim in the apartment is chipping away already. AT&T fiber that you are forced to get (you have no other options) is not set up properly within the units. (No connection via ethernet)

I've personally seen people let their dogs defecate in the garage and their owners not pick up after them.

My girlfriend is counting down the months until she doesn't live here anymore and I feel bad for even recommending she try this place out.

Parking is trash. Hallways are gross. Pools are littered with inconsiderate and loud obnoxious individuals. Guest parking is horrible.

Oh and lets not forget how tight the entry to the parking structure is. You might damage your car just trying to get in if you don't enter at the right angle.

Do your research. This place isn't it unless you want to live with a bunch of inconsiderate people who don't care about their neighbors or surroundings and want to pay high rents for low quality.

UPDATE 12/11: My partner is finally giving her notice and it's very clear this complex took advantage of their new residents as their new rents are more reflective of the quality. My partners apartment is $2,280 for a 1/1 on the 5th floor. Her apartment is going for $1,790.00 now that it's back on the market. That's a $500.00 difference. The office still won't let her out of her lease.

Anyone who pays MARKET RENT at this complex is unhappy. No one paying $2000+ for a 1/1 is happy about the constant trash and sewage smell present in the complex. This place still sucks.

MOVE OUT UPDATE:

My fiance moved out the 2nd week of January, we had the apartment professionally cleaned and repainted. She was told the apartment was in perfect condition and they’d never seen an apartment look that good after move out. She was pretty hopeful for a return of her $300 deposit but it was funny to find out there was a $30 balance owed for utilities for a time period she wasn’t even residing in the home… To top it off, they never even notified her that any balance was owed til a phone call today. You won’t get your deposit back, even if your apartment is in perfect condition. They also charged her a $3.00 fee for a admin fee for 03/01-03/31 but she moved out mid february. Just all around avoid this place. Living here isn’t worth the move in...