District at 54 — Local services in Raleigh

This will be lengthy but in depth!

I'm currently living in my 2nd apartment here (both ground floor). Figured it was time to review. So, regarding all the low ratings for this place - there is a reason they are there. I can't lie. There have been many issues with the fire alarms in the past, but I personally believe the team has done what they could to resolve it. And it seems to no longer be an issue. I think residents forget the staff are people too and have lives and can't just snap their fingers and fix it. They did their best and it hasn't been an issue for a few months now. Regarding the (lack of) heating and dirty water, I've never had any issue with either of those in both of my apartments. Not saying they didn't happen to others - just not me. The current biggest issue, I think, is the parking deck. There are MASSIVE trucks that stick so far out of the spot that it makes it near impossible for two cars to pass one another. To make it worse they park in the few spots (and handicap spots - i'm talking to you mr. white truck) where you turn corners and immediately see their truck sticking 3 feet out of the spot and have to swerve to not hit it. Staff has said they'll be incorporating mirrors to make the corners safer (back in January), but still waiting for those. In addition, I DO NOT recommend getting an apartment on the side of the complex that is facing the Hyatt. The car meet on the last Sundays is EXTREMELY annoying, in addition to just regular foot traffic which you can hear clear as day. Not District's fault obviously, but just trying to give a heads up. Get an apartment on the other 2 sides.

Now, the good! The staff is super friendly and does their best to resolve issues in a timely manner. The (NEW) maintenance team is great, helpful, fast, and tries to teach me what's wrong. The amenities are pretty standard. Gym is a bit smaller but it never gets that busy and I had no issues with being able to work out. They also offer a sort of "garage" attached to the gym and pool that can open up to a sort of patio-like thing. It's got a little "infinity" rock wall - pretty cool honestly - and one of those weighted tire flip things along with some ellipticals. The pool, and the areas around it, are very nice and offer a grill, cornhole, and a TV - though I'm not sure how to get the TV to work. Probably user error. The events seem nice (haven't been to one yet) and they usually have around 2-3 per month. There is also a speakeasy near the front lobby that you can reserve and host gatherings at. It's pretty nice and right next to the golf simulator for some added fun.

Overall, I think the reviews of this place do not do it justice. Reminds me of something I was told when researching college professors - "People who have good, or average experiences will probably not leave reviews. But people who had poor ones, will ALWAYS leave a review." With that being said, I WOULD recommend living here - just choose your apartment...

Things I like about living here: The location is great

Things I dislike about living here: The fire alarm. It goes off constantly for hours at inconvenient times. In the past 2 weeks, it has gone off 3 times. The first was at 12am and lasted for 1.5 hours. Thankfully, my roommate and I were able to take her car to the hotel across the street and wait for it to go off because it was freezing outside, and the alarm is so loud inside that it’s unbearable to be in your own apartment. The second time was in the middle of the day around 12:30pm and lasted for about an hour. I work from home and missed a meeting because of it. The 3rd time was last night starting at 10:15pm and lasted over 2 hours!!! Once again, my roommate and I considered leaving the apartment or sitting in our car outside due to the noise, only to find the garage style doors that let us in and out of our parking deck were not working so we were literally trapped with no way to get our cars out. So our only options were 1. Suffer hearing damage, or 2. freeze to death in the 25 degree temperatures. Not to mention the countless times the alarm has gone off for “testing” or “maintenance” in the past few months I’ve lived here.

The parking deck. There are garage type doors to let us in and out of the deck using a sensor that we put in our cars. Twice since I moved in 6 months ago, these doors have stopped working because of power outages and I guess the fire alarm? The first time was at 7am and no one could get out to go to work. It was chaos. My roommate had to have her coworker drive and pick her up because the issue wasn’t resolved until after 10am! The deck is also very narrow and has no mirrors around corners, I’m shocked no one has hit me yet trying to get in or out.

Power & internet outages. There have been numerous power outages and internet outages for seemingly no reason, and we get no explanation from management besides the occasional apology email. I work from home with no option to go into an office so this has been a huge inconvenience.

The package room. It is so disorganized, it seems like couriers just walk in and drop the packages wherever they want, making it difficult to find yours among all the piles. To exit the package room, you have to hold down a button while opening the door at the same time, but instead of the button being right next to the handle like you would think, it’s on the opposite side so it’s impossible to do while holding anything (like a package, which is the entire reason you’re in this room) because you need both hands.

To sum up, I don’t recommend...

Very lengthy but everyone must read this. My boyfriend has been living here since 2023. When he moved in, in NOVEMBER, He did not have heat for the 1st 3 months, but they still illegally charged him rent. Then, there was a leak in his closet which ruined all his clothes, and the management did nothing , did not even help clean it up. Then, come to find out, after a weird smell in the water system of his apartment , that the water was contaminated and undrinkable or healthy to use. It would leave stains on the dish wear and smelled of mold. When complaining to the management, they said they couldn’t do anything and moved him to a new apartment, TO WHICH THEY IMMEDIATELY PUT UP THE DIRTY WATER APARTMENT FOR RENT AGAIN WITHOUT FIXING THE ISSUE. As for the fire alarm issue, i’m currently writing this while the fire alarm is going off ONCE AGAIN for the 5th time in a month. The fire department gets called and they can’t do anything about it. When the fire alarm went off at 11 pm until 2 am multiple times in a week, no one from the leasing office would answer and they claimed they didn’t even know what was going on. (look at photos for reference) . It was freezing weather outside and a leak happened in the garage to which keeps setting off the alarm and they can’t even be bothered to fix the issue and would let the water freeze on the floor. Everyone would wait in their cars because it was freezing outside. I literally do not know how this place passed the Department of housing inspection. Everyone should report them that lives here because this is absolutely ridiculous especially for the amount of rent you pay! Also, they illegally towed his car FROM THE GARAGE even though he had a resident sticker and made him pay 250$ to get it back. This is by far the worst apartment I have had to experience . Do yourself a favor and save your money and headache and...