The District at SoCo — Local services in Austin

Renter Beware: The best days of my time here were when I signed the lease and when I moved out (and even move out was awful). I've quite honestly waited a few weeks to write this review because of how livid I was.

To put it bluntly, The District is lipstick on a pig. At first glance it looks nice. The flooring, kitchen, and appliances are all new enough which was important to me when I was looking for an apartment. So considering everything I was getting (or so I thought) for the price, this seemed like a nice enough place to live for a year.

INSECTS The ROACH problem started day 1 of me living at The District. I wasn't happy but bought some Raid to address the problem. I tried to give benefit of the doubt and thought maybe the apartment had been sitting for a while and that me moving in, they were beginning to move-out. Well the problem persisted. I put in a maintenance request to have my apartment sprayed. The request was met relatively quickly which was kind of the only nice thing that happened with the incessant bug problem. Well the roaches persisted to the point I would find 1-2 a day for a while. I noticed they were throughout the entire building too. You may be enticed by The Districts valet trash service. It's really nice and prompt. However, I think they get very overwhelmed and struggle to fully manage the trash maintenance of this complex, because I walked by one of the trash shutes one day & it was over flowing. Like a small room piled with trash...and that was just one floor. So it became very apparent where the roach problem was coming from. I left a review stating this because I was tired of living in squalor because of surplus trash. Well, management wasn't too happy with my review and sent a series of strange emails about finding a time to pick up a package (which had never happened before or after) and after disregarding those emails for a couple of days my FOB not so coincidentally shuts off one day while I took my dog outside and I find myself in the leasing office being told I'm making false allegations and to take the review down. I stood my ground because me holding them accountable for their piss poor building management is not my problem. Truth be told I would have NEVER signed a lease had I known then what I know now and I thought anyone else with my same expectations should know.

They consistently try to breeze over the roach problem by calling them water bugs. This particularly annoyed me since they were plain as day roaches and water bugs bite whereas roaches do not. So either way, they needed to address this problem. District sent someone out to spray again after the review/began to manage trash better The roaches slowed down in the winter but still continued. The roaches picked up again in the Spring and progressed to the point of me finding them in my dishwasher, shower curtain, sink, drawers, etc. A routine extermination was done, still roaches. Then approximately 3 weeks prior to my move out I had a random MOTH INFESTATION in my bed on a Friday night. I emailed The District immediately as these were cloth eating moths and I had to work the next day and all of this was happening at 11pm at night. They couldn't get anyone out until Monday.

PACKAGES They were a circus when I first moved in. Sometimes they'd be at your door, sometimes in the leasing office, sometimes in your mailbox...it was up to you to figure out. Then they got the Amazon lockers that were pretty cool and that helped. They still managed to lose 2 packages valued at $100 during my time there.

FOB/KEY/Security Depending on the day it may or may not work. This annoyed me because if I wanted to walk up multiple flights of stairs to get to my apartment I would’ve saved a couple hundred bucks and lived at an apartment without garage floor/FOB entry. This happened wayyy too many times to count.

I’m running out of characheters & this covers the important parts but there is much more to this. They take zero accountability for their actions and it’s not ok. I just want transparency for anyone else who was...

I’ve lived here for almost a year. The place has become so much better ever since my first initial review all the way back in late 2024.

Let me start by saying that the maintenance team has always been on top of their game in getting any appliance fixed very quickly. I’ve never needed them to repeat a previous repair on anything done in the past, so that should speak for itself.

Over in the leasing office, you have Chasta and Baylee. Chasta is the leasing/property manager, and Baylee is the leasing assistant. Baylee is a very sweet lady that has helped me with the minor things that I’ve brought to her attention. The more complex items have to be handled by Chasta, and much like Baylee, she is just as kind and warm-hearted. When I have found myself frustrated with something or another, I would go talk to Chasta about it, and resolutions to the problem would always be found, whether it be about noisy neighbors, faulty switches, etc.

Regarding everything else not yet mentioned:

1. The unit I rent is about $1,375 base rent for 1 bed / 1 bath (you can find the prices on the District website). Utilities are separate charges, facilitated by Conservice and Austin Energy. However, I’ve noticed price decreases on rent recently all around Austin due to all the new construction, and this place hasn’t been immune to market forces. At the very least, I can state that my rent has never increased while I’ve been here, if that’s any consolation. If you’re seeking a unit that is under $1,000/month and you’re not willing to get a roommate or two, I’d look elsewhere.

2. The walls are a bit thin, so, yes, you will hear your neighbors stomping above you and neighbors to your left and right if they play music loudly or just have very loud talking voices. That said, I have found that knocking on their door and meeting them face-to-face is the best way to resolve any noise problems. I’ve done that myself multiple times, and my neighbors have been very mindful and quieter going forward. In the rare event a neighbor isn’t cooperative, document everything on video and present it to Chasta. She’s on top of her game in making sure everyone follows the rules here and keeps the peace.

3. The toilets here don’t clog. I figure I should bring that up. A lot of other apartment complexes can’t say the same about their plumbing.

4. Speaking of plumbing, I’ve never had instances of water backing up out of the toilet and flooding my living space. There have been no recorded instances of black mold (or mold in general) growing inside the walls or ventilation elements, no leaking pipes or dangerous gas ruptures/leaks, no rat/pest/bug infestations, etc. The most inconvenient thing that has ever happened to me here is a light bulb going out. That’s how chill it is.

5. Closet space is ample. However if you’re bringing a whole country’s worth of clothes, it may not all fit in there if you’re renting a 1 bed/bath unit. I can’t speak for the bigger units—I’ve never seen what they look like, nor their closet spaces.

6. The laundry machine and dryer are a combo piece. That said, the laundry machine is the one thing I don’t particularly like, as it has that annoying agitator in the middle (the cylinder piece thing) that reduces the amount of space I can stuff things into. This makes washing large, bulky bedding and pillows exceptionally difficult at times. But, it is what it is.

7. With regards to the public facilities, there is a pool. There is also an onsite gym, but if you’re looking for Gold’s Gym level variety, you won’t find a squat rack or deadlift platform here. But, there are leg extension and seated leg curl machines, a chest/shoulder hybrid press machine, cable stations, dumbbells, and even a leg press. The cable station also allows pull-ups. I’d say it’s about 70% of the way there in having everything I need.

8. I’ve never had anyone break into my apartment. My car has never had its windows smashed or tires slashed. It’s very safe here.

Overall: 5/5 stars. Outside of my laundry machine nitpick, things have been...

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