Elevate at Southwest Station — Local services in Eden Prairie

We've live here about a month and enjoy living here. I haven't rented in over 30 years, so it is certainly a new experience, but decent. I would give the staff five stars; they are friendly and responsive. The building and the apartment get four stars. First the good stuff:

-Again, the staff is excellent. Very friendly and responsive, including the maintenance crew. -Our unit is a two level and has an outdoor patio on the upper level and this is very nice. Almost 170 sq. ft. It has a gas grill and plenty room for a decent size table and/or chairs. -The building is well maintained and caters quite well to dogs (I have two). There is a fenced dog run that is convenient (it could use some lighting though, for those evening trips) -Common areas are well thought out and nicely done -Exercise area is on the smallish size, but has plenty of equipment -Even though the building is on a busy intersection, it's quite quiet. They obviously are using plenty of wall insulation and very good windows.

Now for some of the not so good stuff: -Although there is amply parking in the garage and out, the spaces in the garage are quite tight. Larger vehicles will struggle. We had to try several spaces before we found one that would work (thanks to Kayla at Elevate for suggesting we try several).

-I was somewhat disappointed in the apartment itself. It is one of the few two story units and I believe is supposed to have some higher end amenities and it does, but they're not the best quality, or not well thought out by designers. For instance, they have soft close drawers throughout, but often they don't close all the way by themselves. It's a nice feature, when it works. It would also have been nice to do soft close on the cabinet doors, but apparently that was not to be.

The kitchen island is nice, but much to big for the space. The quartz tops are a very nice touch, but I think they were making it large to accommodate people for meals; it would probably accommodate six. But with a nice space directly adjacent to the kitchen and center island, probably not needed. I would have preferred more storage. I would have taken more storage cabinets over the wine refrigerator, any day.

As mentioned, there is a nice space next to the island, where a dining table fits ( we can fit 10 people) and its obvious that is what the designers were trying to do, but there is no light on the ceiling. Other apartments I saw, had a chandelier over this space. At night, it feels almost like you're eating in the dark, even when all kitchen lights are on. I also have some issues with master bedroom and bath, which are on the second level.

The master bedroom is decent size, with a pretty spacious walk-in closet, but the closet is finished with the wire shelving, which is functional, but not very attractive. Other nice complexes I visited, had units with similar square footage, less rent and much more nicely finished closets.

In addtion, there is an auxiliary heating/cooling unit attached to the wall in the bedroom. It's an eyesore, even when they try to make them look like they belong. Apparently they were concerned about the second level being too hot or cold. I moved in in November and have never needed the auxiliary heat. Not my cup of tea. Where they could have used some auxiliary heating, is in the master bathroom. There is NO heating/cooling ducts in the bathroom. It gets cold in there, especially if you keep the bathroom door closed or partially closed. Unfortunately, there is not way to heat it up, unless you plug in a space heater into one of the four outlets. I'm just about ready to do that.

Maybe I'm being too picky after owning homes for so long, but the apartment itself has been disappointing. It has some very nice features, but is less than what I was expecting, especially considering how much more the rent is for this two level. I'm still giving it four stars though; it's a nice place with...

Please read closely, you'll notice that 90% of the reviews were left after a maintenance request, as surveys are sent out requesting a good review. On another apartment review site, it's quite obvious management was upset about the few poor reviews and left a fake one to even it out.

There is good and bad to this place, but overall, I can't recommend it for the price. The specials make it reasonable, but come renewal time, you can expect the rent to go up significantly. The only reason I stayed is moving is such a pain, but I've finally been pushed to my limit and need to admit this wasn't a good choice for long term.

A few of my issues: noise in the hallways can be heard clearly in the apartment, barking dogs all hours of the night, some pet owners have aggressive dogs and literally pull the leash extra hard to keep a dog from coming after people in the hallway (and please note, I love dogs and have one myself! Be responsible if you are a pet owner, it's all I can ask.).

Parking garage is very tight and difficult to get in/out. Traffic is very congested in general in the area as well as the parking lot, due to the number of stores and the bus station. Fortunately, the light rail construction is over... that was a complete nightmare in itself.

The maintenance could be improved a heck of a lot and the maintenance man who contacted me was surprisingly rude. Management could have a better attitude when contacted as well (try listening rather than talking, it would go a long way!) The passive-aggressive tone is unnecessary. The way things are typically fixed here is to put a band-aid on it or tell you it's not actually broken or non-functioning. I should not have to put in the same request more than once.

The dryer doesn't work properly. It limits the time for how long to dry as it's pre-programmed and no matter which one I use, they still come out wet. I simply want to put the clothes in, select time and temp and press start. This is not an option. The washer is nice, though. I can't complain about that.

Water pressure is better than most apartments, but it's only a little warm by mid-day. I shower later in the day and have gotten an actual hot shower maybe less than half of the time.

Package room is convenient with secure lockers, but there are packages laying everywhere on the floor and one of mine was stolen since Amazon doesn't use the lockers.

The gym is well equipped, the halls and common areas are kept very clean so it gives a good illusion, in my opinion. The apartments look good on the inside and have large balconies. There is a lot of cabinet and closet space and the carpet in the bedroom is nice. I wish there was an option for carpet in the whole apartment, as it echoes even with furniture in it.

The other day we received a scathing letter on our door accusing "our side of the building" for smoking weed in the apartment. After I got done laughing, I really was annoyed. I don't smoke anything - at all - and don't appreciate the accusatory tone in the letter. Is this all you have to concern yourselves with? "It's a non-smoking building" yea, have you walked into the garage lately? People smoke cigarettes right by the garage entrance, so I get a nice whiff of that when driving in.

There are a lot of apartments with the same appliances, cabinets and heated garage parking for a much lower monthly amount. If you're only looking for the EP zip code, then this is the...

This place has been absolutely fantastic. MUCH better than my last place of residence. It's definitely not cheap however your actually getting what you pay for here. The apartment itself was very clean and all appliances were working VERY well on move in. 0 scuffs on the wall and no random bad smells. I havent heard a single peep from my neighbors (sometimes I wonder if im the loud neighbor its so quite).

The office staff is amazing and very attentive. Repair team is fantastic. Our washing machine seal came off and when he came to repair it he didn't really know how to fix it right off the bat but took the time to figure it out and make sure it worked properly (give that man a raise). Everything is indoors and easy to access as well.

There's LOTS of stuff around you including some great food options. Lots of jobs walking distance for anyone who does not have a license or a vehicle. Theres a local Walmart and a Costco that are both EASILY walking distance even in the snow. The mall is extremely close as well.

Very pet friendly place. We have a hard time finding places to live as people hear guinea pig and generally turn us away. Elevate has been very welcoming and did not mind at all.

0 shady practices. I think there's like a 15 dollar monthly fee or something like that for making sure the public amenities get fixed when they break? Absolutely happy to pay that as it definitely shows. Everything is very clean and well kept.

10/10 would reccomend...