Hub on Campus Blacksburg — Local services in Blacksburg

Edit: I called after Nikki responded and she did not try to resolve the issue. She just listened and said they will do better. Zero action or accountability. The people here DO NOT CARE!

Beware of positive reviews, they give incentives to residents who give good reviews. I lived at The Hub during the 2022-2023 school year. My experience was awful and here is why:

Upon moving in, my room was dirty. The floors were dusty, the shower head had mold (look at the pictures), and whoever repainted my room splattered paint on the floor, table, and appliances.

The Hub claims to be a luxury furnished apartment, but the couch was cheap, and the desks were wobbly. The floor had noticeable bumps and it is easy to trip on the uneven flooring. Furthermore, the insect screen on the living room window was ripped. I put in a maintenance request, and it took more than 2 MONTHS for someone to drive to replace it. My lights went out and they never came to replace them by the time I moved out 3 MONTHS later.

In December, they closed the gym due to a pipe busting. It was not fixed for a whole semester, and they gave everyone a measly $100 ledger credit.

The electricity at The Hub is broken. My breakers tripped multiple times every day. All I had plugged in was a PC. They tell me that the Town of Blacksburg has an ordinance which is why they use cheap arc fault switches. None of my friends at other apartment complexes had this issue. (Hint: Saving money)

The garage is very narrow and there are no mirrors for turns. Many students drive recklessly. Furthermore, they claim that the garage would become a security garage, but it was always unlocked and there were no cameras. My car was keyed, and I asked The Hub for video, but they told me that there were no cameras. Another person working for The Hub told me they do have cameras, so I don't know who to believe.

I would receive packages days after it was marked delivered due to lack of mail locker space. These packages included frozen dog foods which were spoiled by the time I received them. I was sent multiple certified letters that were signed for by the front desk staff. They lost 2 of them in a row. These letters included time sensitive legal documents.

The courtyards were always littered with beer bottles and broken glass. The sidewalks had dog poop from irresponsible dog owners and the dog park had large holes that were never covered up and dogs would trip while running around.

However, the hallways always smelled awful, and the maintenance workers would openly take smoke breaks in the garage. Furthermore, one of the white workers called me a very racist and derogatory word against Chinese people. In all my time in Blacksburg, I have never experienced racism until one day in my own apartment complex.

When it was time to move out, The Hub tried to overcharge me. They claimed that the couch was scratched by a cat and needed a full replacement. The couch was scratched and used when I came but I failed to document that in my move-in request due to all the other issues I documented. I asked them why it needed such a replacement when they can just replace the zipper-based outside layer. The building maintenance manager then switched the story and claimed that it had a strong pet odor. I deep cleaned it with cleaning solution, and I asked him to sign an affidavit to affirm what he said, and he refused because he lied. Go figure. He was extremely rude and walked away without resolving the issue. In addition to this, multiple other residents I knew were also being extorted in their move out costs.

From the beginning to the end, my experience with The Hub Blacksburg has been awful. From the poor-quality furniture to closure of amenities, from the long maintenance times to broken electricity, from the blatant racism from workers to the obscene move-out charges, the Hub seemed to do everything wrong for a "luxury" apartment complex. Would you live somewhere that needs to offer gift cards for reviews? Sort by recent and look at all the other reviews, my experience is not an...

NEW STUDENTS BEWARE! THE HUB PAYS AND GIVES INCENTIVES FOR GOOD REVIEWS. READ YELP. MY BAD REVIEW IS TOO LONG FOR GOOGLE. ID WRITE AN ESSAY IF I COULD

5 minute walk from the elevator to the 14-16th buildings in an endless hallway. Having friends over? You better walk that 5+ mins and navigate where they are when they're hopelessly lost. Have even seen residents get lost in this literal Hell maze. Imagine that just to leave and enter your apartment. Every. Time. And what can they do about that problem? Nothing. It's permanent and inherent of poor design. They don't say this stuff when giving you the tour.

Live in a unit surrounding the courtyard? Good luck sleeping if that matters to you. Sound bounces so easily and into your window during nights. What can they do about this? Nothing. It's a permanent and inherent problem. They don't say this stuff when giving you the tour.

No soul, no thought, no craftsmanship in any of the walls, floors, electronics, etc.. Look closely at caulk work, the way accents on the walls and floors don't line up or are jagged, how there's constant water leakage/soakage in the parking garage (is this even structurally safe?!). Shower heads and pipes wobbly and leaky, garbage disposal is quite literally garbage, A/C in my unit didn't work in the spring/summer for a week+ even after multiple maintenance requests. Personal roommate's room fan/light didn't work and maintenance came through to flip the breaker and shrug then leave. Never fixed to this day. 2+ maintenance requests.

Look beyond the tour unit and the central spaces. Ask to see the rest of the buildings. You'll see everything is always dirty. Entitled and bratty residents (what do you expect here) leave trash everywhere. Hallways, stairwells, garage, common spaces, etc. littered all the time.

Think about how the space you're in for half of the day, and paying $1000/mo is actually cruddy and of poor craftsmanship. I've seen cheaper apartments with better rooms, better amenities, more space, better environments for cheaper.

Last year had friends have dirt lumps under their 'wood' floors, causing unevenness and random bumps you could feel with your feet. Somehow passed Hub's 'quality assurance'. Imagine that happening to you.

Gym's too small for all the residents. It's literally like 300sq. ft. Doesn't have most of the equipment you'd want other than bare basics. If i remember correctly, not even a proper squat rack. If that matters to you then now you have another subscription/membership to pay for, or in other words YOU'RE WASTING YOUR MONEY AND PAYING MORE because the gym's inadequate by design. What are they gonna do? Expand the gym? No. There's no more space. This is gonna be an eternal problem.

Last year it was closed for more than half the lease term, and all they decide to give is $100 off on one month's payment. Ripped off. Paid for my own gym membership anyways.

If the amenities (common spaces, pool, hottub, etc.) matter to you and you think it's worth spending one of Blacksburg's highest priced leases, then go ahead. If you don't plan to use those DAILY, it is nowhere near worth. They charge $1000+ /mo yet they try to pinch their pennies and screw you over constantly. Damage claims when moving out racking up because window cleaning = $50 for one window? Since when? Minor dust or your shower head leak some mineral deposits? $50. Replace a fridge? Charge $2400 for a $1000 fridge. I kid you not that is real, ask me how I know. Since when does it cost $1400 in labor to move a fridge? In SWVA?!

Do you wanna get scammed at every turn and twist? Deal with headaches when talking to unresponsive and unhelpful front desk? Try to ask for management and a face to talk to, and see how they try to deflect and avoid that. No I do not want to write an email and wait 2 weeks for maybe a response. Let me talk to someone. This happens every time. Go to a smaller apartment complex with a more personal landlord/manager. They will fix your stuff way quicker and give...

In case you want a summary of the below wall of text: LIVE AT THE EDGE. The Hub is the residential equivalent of a Siren's Song, charging exorbitant (and rising) prices for average-sized apartments by justifying themselves with the “best amenities the area has to offer.” In reality these amenities are broken far more often than they are working due to cheap construction, leaving you overpaying for a poorly-built, average-sized apartment. In every category, The Edge simply proves to be a better living option for the average student looking to live within this price range, especially with management significantly raising rates in the coming year.

For the duration of this past year I have been a resident within the Hub on Campus Blacksburg community. From the outside, the Hub advertises itself as luxury living, and you can certainly see why.

Although, while everything was fine at first, upon returning from Thanksgiving break the complex seemingly took a nosedive from which it completely and utterly failed to recover. Throughout the next few months the Hub, through either sheer incompetence, cheap construction, or perhaps the absolute worst luck the world has ever seen, lost functionality in every single one of its amenities. Despite turning on the pool heaters prior to Thanksgiving break, residents returned to find both pools and all but one hot tub covered for the season. This remaining hot tub broke soon after as well, with management that they "were waiting on a part," a part which, by the end of the school year, still had not arrived. Every gas campfire with a single exception was broken from rust damage or missing the knob to turn it on. During winter break a pipe burst in the lobby (bad luck or a product of cheap construction? you decide) which resulted in massive renovations needing to be done. These renovations completely shut down the only remaining amenities, notably the entire gym, for the remaining half of the school year, with absolutely no communication as to when it would be fixed. Given that a primary reason I (and many) chose this complex was in response to the advertisement of the amenities it provides, having all of them inaccessible for such a long duration is frustrating, to put it lightly. At the very least, any form of communication regarding their status/repairs would have been appreciated.

Given this, I reached out to management to request a rent reduction until these offerings were restored. This request which was swiftly rejected – citing that the apartment had the right to “close amenities for any reason at any time.” While this is technically true, it felt disingenuous and a slap in the face given the problems the complex was facing. Eventually management conceded. Offering a 1-time rent-reduction of $100 in response to the complex’s failing construction. However, this raises further questions. If they felt liable to recompence for the outages on a single occasion, doesn’t it follow that such reductions should’ve occur until the amenities are restored. To offer otherwise felt more like “take our money and be quiet” than anything else.

This is all aside from the actual construction of the apartments. Walls are paper-thin (I can hear my roommate talking in his room when I’m room, despite being all the way across the apartment with both of our door close), storage space is minimal, and much more.

For approximately the same cost, The Edge is a much better kept apartment complex, with similar amenities, larger rooms, better construction, and unbeatable location. From an objective standpoint, it is simply the superior option. Plus, despite all the aforementioned difficulties the complex has faced, they are still deciding to raise rates for the next year - a slap...