Inspire Downtown — Local services in San Antonio

Resident since Fall 2021 and here are my thoughts:

CONS Office staff is consistently rude with the exception of Michelle who is always professional and helpful. Office reps Suede and Tiajahnae act as though you’re inconveniencing them when asking questions. Tammie the main manager is always hidden in the office and rarely seen. Greystar needs to audit this location to see for themselves whether office staff is embodying company values and delivering the level of service residents are paying for and deserve. Amenity Deck pool and hot tub hours close at 10pm nightly but wouldn’t it make sense to have those hours extended until like 12am on at least Friday/Saturday? onsite security goes up and clears the deck promptly at 10am nightly, seems a little early to shove grown adults out the amenity deck. We’re paying $1300+/month, should be able to use the facilities later on peak days like weekends. Office refuses to give a second key fob to single occupants like myself. Doesn’t it make sense for me to have an extra fob? Parking garage has alot of abandoned vehicles parked idly for months at a time. No one is checking on this. Guest access is an ordeal! This location isn’t ideal if you have alot of guests or visitors unless you want to constantly send a list of instructions on how to enter this Fort Knox. The callbox at the main entrance is hit or miss with reliability. They should install a new callbox at the entrance located on Houston from the public elevator. Right now, unless you’re physically walking a guest in, they gotta walk outside to the main entrance to dial you at the callbox; this is dangerous late at night because of homeless and tweaker population. There’s constantly access issues with elevators or main entrance. They did a system change recently but there have been recurring issues and there’s always something going on or malfunctioning. Hallways have carpet that usually smell funky. The hallways are also a peach color that’s ugly/outdated. Exterior windows don’t seem to get cleaned.

PROS Communication via mass emails to residents by management is pretty good. Maintenance team is courteous and follows contact instructions when responding to requests. Building is well taken care of and main corridors like entrance smell good for prospective renters. Location is great, you wouldn’t be looking at a downtown apartment if you didn’t appreciate downtown living. Walkability factor is great. Loved their lobby Christmas decorations and the monthly events are a night...

I lived at 100 N Santa Rosa for about five years. "The Vistana" was an enviable place to live in downtown San Antonio. It still can be, but so far, "Inspire Downtown" has not lived up to the same standards.

The community has seen some recent updates, some of which are really nice (and were needed). Others have been a real "swing and a miss".

The management and maintenance teams are generally good, but don't seem to appreciate how great a place like this CAN be, and take pride in that, as their predecessors did. They're perfectly nice, though, and probably on a par with other apartment managers in the city.

Some of the changes they (or the new owners) have brought, though, have been a real pain. One of the key competitive advantages that The Vistana had over its downtown competition was ample, hassle-free garage space for residents AND guests. There still is a big garage there, but its usefulness for residents & guests has been significantly restricted, regardless of how the residents openly felt about it. (Imagine having an unlimited data plan for your phone, and then Verizon tells you "well we've decided that you really just need 10GB per month, so that's what you get now. Also we're going to make it just a little bit more of a hassle to use from now on. Oh, and the price is still the same for you, even though we're going to be making a profit from this. K, thanks!")

The community as a whole just doesn't feel any better, or any worse, than any other downtown San Antonio community now. Any sense of prestige seems to have left along with the name "The Vistana". And the way some detrimental changes have been forced upon residents makes me nervous about what else might be forced, and whether I could recommend living there to any friends who really value being treated with dignity and respect, rather than as just another revenue stream who needs to be placated.

In short, if you really value living in a high-rise, and having nice city views, then there really is nothing wrong with picking "Inspire Downtown". And if you don't know what it used to be like living there, then you also will probably not be disappointed with what it's like living there now. Otherwise, though, there are plenty of other nice, newer apartment communities in the downtown area, at around the same price-point, and with similar pros and cons....

I have lived here since January of 2023 and have never had more negative experiences living in an apartment building. The theft INSIDE of the building is terrible. I have had a package stolen from my front door and even with ring camera footage of the man, nothing from the management team has been done about it. Theft is a constant problem with numerous tenants and we are all getting extremely frustrated. There are cameras up around the building but either they do not work or they are not being monitored. CONSTANT car break ins inside of the parking garage. We pay to park in a parking garage but it is NOT secure and would be just as "safe" parking on the street. The garage doors that are supposed to come down at night haven't worked in months. The gates to get in have been open for weeks allowing any one and everyone to park in the garage for free. Even the storage units are getting broken in to. The over all security of the building is trash.

Other annoyances include but are not limited to: all guests of tenants have to pay to park constant plumbing problems BATS. There are no screens on the windows so if you want fresh air in your apartment, expect company. false fire alarms. Sometimes with no follow up from the management team. At this point if an alarm goes off, I am assuming its false or a drunk person pulled the alarm in the middle of the night. Real safe. Sketchy neighbors. People are allowed to Airbnb their units so you never know who is wandering the halls. The "dog park" is just a giant piss pad that is nauseating. My dog refuses to step paw on it. There are only 2 elevators that go down to the 1st floor and they are constantly down for repair. The complimentary coffee station is down for repairs more often than not. Maintenance and housekeepers seem to change frequently. Fiesta. Don't plan on leaving your apartment. You won't be able to get back in. The evening parade runs right in front of the building, and all streets to get home will be closed. There is no security during Fiesta festivities (or ever for that matter). Unwanted people off the streets are able to get into the building causing chaos in the elevators and on all of the residential floors.

The majority of tenants I have gotten to know since moving in, are not renewing their leases. At this rate, I...