The Guthrie North Gulch — Local services in Nashville-Davidson

I enlisted the help of a realtor to find a suitable apartment for me to move to two months before my lease ended at my previous apartment. We toured the Solis North Gulch location with Sophie and really enjoyed the experience. I couldn’t wait to move to my new residence.

After confirming the apartment with a view overlooking the capital building with a $400 security deposit and paying a prorated rent of roughly $200, my mind was put to ease knowing that I had planned accordingly for a fabulous new home.

It is mid-October, 2018, and moving day finally arrives. I had my things packed and loaded into the U-Haul ready to go. After checking in with Sophie and getting the keys to my new apartment, I continued into the garage to being the unloading process. By now the screen door should have been installed on the balcony and I was looking forward to enjoying the view and fresh air as I made this new residence my home.

To my surprise, upon entering the apartment I noticed that the floor plan had been reversed. As I approached the balcony, I also noticed that the capital building was nowhere in sight. THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE!

Moving is stressful enough as it is and I thought I had done everything in my power to mitigate the risk of any oversight. WRONG! In a state of disbelief, I went back to the lobby to inform Sophie of this mixup. Until I produced a photo which I had taken while touring the apartment previously, she was confused. And that confusion was followed by annoyance - I was keeping her from a social event.

She then proceeded to call the property manager and was able to issue me an apartment with a similar view to what I was expecting. The one I toured and “secured” with said $400 deposit had already been rented. I was at the end of my lease at my previous apartment building and had planned everything to accommodate a smooth transition to my new residence. Now, I was thrown into a state of panic and homelessness.

Fortunately, I was able to arrange an extension of my lease for a few days at my previous apartment. There was no way I was staying at Solis after this gross oversight and negligence. I declined to sign a new lease and actually found a better place with a much better view as a result of this mishap - a blessing in disguise.

My only request is that I be refunded the $400 security deposit and prorated rent. I was denied a refund by the property manager because I was the one “breaking the lease agreement” but they would arrange for the prorated rent to be mailed to me in a month. A whole month.

It is now January, 2019, and I have yet to receive the refund - it has been over two months now. I do not understand what is taking so long, but I have lost faith in Solis/Greystar altogether. I feel like I was part of a bait and switch scheme as I was shown one apartment with a realtor and then given a completely different one despite a two month reservation.

Given that gross oversight, I guess I cannot be surprised that Solis refuses to return the $400 security deposit as well as the prorated rent.

Please heed this warning if you are considering moving to Solis North Gulch. It is an attractive property until you trust them with making this residence your home. Is this the kind of experience you would want during your lease? If this is how they treated me before and on move in day, how would it be like dealing with them on any other issues that may arise?

Perspective...

Tried to charge me arbitrary move-out fees for clean up. Talking with one of the managers, they admitted they don't have an objective way of calculating move-out fees, they just assess the property and make up a number that seems to fit. They refused to send me real receipts for any of the expenses they incurred for cleaning the apartment and instead insisted I owed them nearly $1000 for moving out (after taking my entire security deposit). They simply sent me a PDF with random line-items that said "Cleaning - 3" and the number that followed was just some subjective assessment that was then used to multiply by some random rate of like $100 to clean the apartment.

Shortly after, I received an ominous phone call from some lady who didn't even tell me who she represented (Guthrie, 3rd party debt collectors, no idea) saying that I should pay the bill and that if I were to take this to court, I would most likely receive the same result and we should save ourselves the time. No idea who this lady was because she wouldn't properly identify herself.

After I refused to pay until they showed me real receipts, they continued to send the same email that I owed them money and when I refused to pay for the 3rd time, they sent it to collections. They claimed a spill on the countertop was irreparable damage, they claimed the carpet had to be entirely replaced.

They make up random fees that you owe them at the end of your lease and then sell your 'debt' to debt collectors for free money. They insisted I caused huge amounts of damage yet due to negligence on their part, I was still receiving text message notifications on my mailbox/package box. I saw they had someone in my apartment within 2 weeks of me moving out because I was receiving notifications about new packages being delivered. Funny how I caused such incredible damage yet they were able to schedule cleaners, repairmen, tour the apartment, and rent it out within 2 weeks of me leaving.

Beyond that, the new management seemed completely incompetent. I requested multiple times from a manager to give my notice and they said that I would need to sign a form but the manager who I needed to sign that form with wasn't there. The manager promised to notify the head manager on 3 separate occasions yet I had to keep bugging them over and over again across a 2 week timespan. This is while they were charging me nearly double rent on a month-to-month basis because my move-out plans the month prior had fallen through so I needed an extra month. Perfect time to gouge me for money.

The build quality of the apartment is shoddy. I lived on the 4th floor and I could hear every single step my upstairs neighbor took. It was so loud that my walls shook everytime they took a step and I even confirmed with my next-door neighbor that they heard it all the time too because our adjoining wall was constantly echoing these booming noises from the people above walking around. It sounded like I lived beneath a staircase that people were constantly stomping up and down on.

This place is not worth the money or...

Update (January 2024): The Guthrie came under new owners and new management Summer 2023. Greystar had pretty much let the building go to sh*t, but Carter-Haston is slowly making improvements. The garage gates have been replaced, all of the common area carpets have been shampooed, hallway walls painted, etc. The gym flooring has been replaced and all equipment deep cleaned. We recently transferred into a larger unit and Abbi, Robyn, and Anna made that a breeze! One or more of them was available and ready to help at all times. The maintenance team is always on-the-ball as well and are currently working on some minor repairs in our new home. All of the employees are friendly and resident-focused. There are subtle, but noticeable improvements all of the complex and the building overall is in much better hands now. The dog parks are still mud pits when it rains, but hopefully those are on the list for future improvements. Yes, you will hear every step the person above you makes, so if that would bother you, I definitely recommend getting a top floor unit. You don't hear the units you share walls with on any floor though. Overall, things are improving at The Guthrie and it’s a great place to call home again!

March 2023: As a current resident of The Guthrie North Gulch, I cannot recommend it as a good place to live, though it certainly used to be. Prospective residents beware. The location is extremely convenient and in walking distance to Frankie Pierce Park (and dog park), Publix, restaurants in Capitol View and The Gulch, etc. The on-site management team is available and helpful for most needs of the residents. The maintenance team is extremely responsive, knowledgeable, and friendly. However, there is a long list of known issues at this property due to the owners not willing to fund necessary improvements to date. To name a few… 3 of the 4 garage gates are broken and remain open to access for anyone to enter the garage. There have been multiple break-ins (more today) due to the ease of access to the garage, and then into the building. The on-property dog parks have broken gates, and are mud pits when it rains. They are also open to access to the public. Do not trust the images you see on the website. The dog park has never looked like the renderings you’ll see there. There are also no Pelotons in the gym, unlike what’s pictured. The hallway carpets are disgusting from trash and dog feces stains, and in desperate need of replacing.

Overall, this property has steeply declined over the past couple of years, and continues to do so. Current residents have opened maintenance requests for improvement, and though they are not outright ignored, improvements are not being made. Meanwhile, rent increases year after year. The intent of this review is not to cast blame on any individual or group. However, if I were a prospective tenant, I would want to know what I was signing up for by those who know firsthand. I’ll gladly update this review when/if...