Atlas Apartments — Local services in Oakland

If you're reading this to decide whether or not you want to move to Atlas, I'll tell you right now the answer is unequivocally, yes. My husband and I have lived here for a little over one year now (moved from San Francisco to Atlas in Oakland at the end of May 2020) and are blown away by several key factors here: the staff, apartment design features (interiors and exteriors), amenity spaces and the apartment events.

The staff:

Joseph was the first person we met at Atlas and helped us throughout the entire leasing process last year. His energy was super contagious and even though some features of Atlas were not yet complete/opened at that time (due to the building being in new construction AND the pandemic) he was able to bring us completely on board with his excitement in the upcoming (but now open) spaces and features. Other members of the leasing staff (Addison, India, Alfonso) and management, (Amy and Selwyn), are the best team I've ever encountered. Our maintenance staff as well is incredibly responsive, friendly and a key role in keeping everything here so beautiful.

Concierge staff is 24/7 and once you move in you'll be quick to recognize these friendly faces: Roosevelt, Richard, Brayan and more! Not only are they all incredibly helpful in answering questions involving the in's-and-out's of the building and its features, but this team is so ridiculously kind and patient and somehow know every. single. resident. here (and there are a lot of us...). They are some of the first faces you'll get to know and likely will be the individuals you talk to everyday (whether that's just to chat or ask questions).

Apartment design + amenity spaces: Every single color, light fixture, piece of furniture, and even down to their insanely popular coffee machine, is intentional. My friends tell me they feel like they're at a 5 star hotel or luxury resort.

Their gym? Chef's kiss. Cancel your Equinox membership.

The 41st floor has a huge game room, separate movie theatre lounge and an absolutely stunning cocktail and private dining lounge. I don't want to spoil the surprise but fairly certain your jaw will drop once you see it. The 4th floor also has amenities like a co-working (WeWork-like) space, pool, hot tub, grill and event space. There is also the 3rd floor (outdoor) pet park that undergoes extensive cleanings multiple times a day, and is next to their pet wash room.

Apartment events: The events here are so, so fun (and there are a ton to choose from). Not only are these a great way to meet your neighbors (everyone is incredibly social here), but it's also a wonderful way to learn about local businesses in the area. There's a mix of food / cocktail events either in the amenity spaces (where the spread is, again, chef's kiss) or hosted at the actual restaurants / bars themselves! Supporting the local community is so important to me, and I'm sure many others, and Atlas has done an incredible job in making sure we get to know the community we live in. In addition to food events, we've had things like dessert and wine tasting events, pub crawls, monthly first Friday events hosted by a neighboring bar called The Golden Bull (which is apparently owned by one of the members of Green Day!), 2x weekly Swyft HIIT classes and 1x weekly Swyft Yoga classes, painting and cooking classes and more.

I will also mention just how unmatched the level of security here is. 24/7 building security patrolling the perimeters and inside the building. Your packages are secured in a lockage storage system and the parking garage is equally as secure and patrolled by building security. I haven't had any issues with our car here - I accidentally left my wallet in my car overnight and my car was totally fine (and the wallet was still there!).

If you couldn't tell, my husband and I love Atlas. I could go on and on about this place and how amazing it is, but you'll just have to see it to get what I'm saying. If you're still debating - just look at the other 100+ 5 star reviews on this place and see how it...

Changing my rating since I wrote it when u was absolutely new to the apartment after being pressured to write a review. After living in this building for 15 months I can objectively give this place 2 stars. I'll start with the positives. Pros: This building is probably the best designed aesthetically pleasing building in Oakland. Amenities are top level, the views on the 41st floor is the best you'll get in Oakland.

Community events: they have a few community events and workout classes for free that's nice. First Fridays and other events allow you to meet the neighbors.

The Atlas app Is pretty active and several ppl use it as a marketplace or to learn from eachother, or make eachother aware of certain things that the building fails to do.

Cons For such a beautiful building, you'd think safety is the number one concern. They consistently put useless safety measures in place. We are allowed a guest list and not all staff is aware of what the actual rules are. One time my friend told them he's on the guest list and it was late at night they said Atlas have no such thing and kicked him out. Mind you there is a system in place to hallow guests to your apt for emergencies if it's noted. I let management know and they said they'd follow up but never did. Another time my bf and I got robbed at gunpoint next to the building in broad daylight, we came inside and security is chilling watching something on the phone near the elevators inside. Not a single security outside in sight. I let the front desk know so I can receive the camera footage since there were 3 cameras in the area it happened they said they can only release it to police and never checked on me or followed up again.

In the 15 months I've been here maintenance hasn't been a great help, im.starting to realize that they are just there for emergency. I've had to have my dishwasher and refrigerator replaced. They other day my apt smelled like burning rubber which other residents and even front desk acknowledged the smell. It was so bad I had to leave my apt and open everything to get the fresh air out. Maintenance came and tested for gas even though I said it smelled like burning rubber and not gas. They closed the work order and never said what it was or if they found anything.

Cleanliness in the building is pretty bad. The dog park floor always smells terrible. The trash is always all over the place, sometimes the hallway carpet smells like it's damp.

Respect, some of the front desk really are helpful and respectful but there is quite a few that have an attitude to do their job or help. It makes it impossible to ask a question to certain ppl and I typically have to wait for a shift change to get help.

Neighborhood, I no longer walk my dog outside. The crime here has drastically gotten worse in 2023 and if you are on citizen app you'll understand why. If you aren't you'll still understand why. There are community programs to help keep the neighborhood sage but it seems this building is not concerned about the community.

Several ppl will tell you do mor expect to get your deposit back and I now see why. Even if there is a small scratch on the wall they'll charge you. They expect to see the place as though it is brand new. They also charge additional for cleaning. Even though I haven't experienced this part yet based on maintenance inspection where i wasnt even fully moved i expect to see something since thats what they...

Update (Sept '22): Atlas/Greystar ultimately issued the remainder of our refund in response to this review, about 3.5 months after we moved out.

TL;DR: Atlas/Greystar still owes us a refund 2.5 months after moving out. They have transitioned from giving vague reassurances that they’re working on it to completely ignoring us. At this point, I have a hard time believing they’re acting in good faith to refund the money we’re owed. They seem to be stalling and ignoring in the hopes that we’ll forget about the $700+ they still owe us.

We moved out in mid-May and had gone to a higher month-to-month rent in mid-March. In April, I’d sent multiple (ignored) emails to Atlas and called (no call back) to get the higher rent updated on our account. We gave our notice in person to the assistant manager, Lawrence, and asked that he correct our rent rate before we moved out. He assured us that he would. I followed up on this several times over the following days/weeks, each time with Lawrence assuring us that he’d take care of it before we moved out—he did not.

We checked our online account shortly after we moved out to find that Atlas applied prorations for our month-to-month rent…BUT USING A HIGHER, INCORRECT RATE! I immediately emailed Lawrence in the hopes of catching this before they issued our refund—no response. I called a couple of days later and was assured, “Those numbers aren’t finalized,” and that we’d get a statement before the refund was issued.

Unsurprisingly, we didn’t receive a statement and they did overcharge us. We received a check in the mail in mid-June, which was dated 26 days after our move-out date—not compliant with CA law which requires security deposit refunds to be returned within 21 calendar days. The check didn’t come with a statement or explanation. I emailed Lawrence noting my prior attempts to preempt this, that the refund was obviously insufficient, and asking for a copy of our final statement.

Lawrence responded with the statement and said, “I apologize for the lapse in communication here. I will work with my general manager to find out where the error is in your account and get back to you as soon as I can.” The final statement confirmed that they’d overcharged us in rent to the tune of about $500 and made another accounting error resulting in overcharging us another $260. I summarized these errors to Lawrence and waited. 2 weeks later, I asked for an update—“…my general manager has been out on medical leave for the last couple weeks and I am trying to work with one of our regional managers to assist in getting this taken care of for you.”

2 more weeks passed and I emailed asking that our refund be provided by 8/5 and I included a copy of the document showing the correct month-to-month rate as well as a spreadsheet showing what the correct refund should be—no response. 1 week later, I submitted a complaint on Greystar’s website—no response. So, now in August, we’re being completely ignored by Atlas/Greystar, who indisputably...