Nicole R.
Yelp
UPDATED THOROUGH REVIEW:
My lease is coming to an end, and I'm deciding whether or not to renew - I thought I should update my review!
PROS:
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my apartment so much. It's beautiful inside, I like the layout and color scheme, I love my balcony and the UNBEATABLE view of the city lights and the courthouse (there is some construction right now though, so this will disappear soon sadly...). I love that the SunRail station is right next door. I love going on bike rides around the cool little neighborhoods just east of the building. I love being able to walk to the bars downtown. This was the perfect building for me this year because of the location and because it's fairly updated inside. The rooftop is nice as well! I love the security guards - they are cool and extremely kind people. I also love Robyn and Jacqui from the leasing office, they've been really helpful and kind and pleasant with resolving issues and helping me figure things out, especially when I make really silly mistakes! I like sleeping by the sound of the train. It's a really special location, even if it isn't considered the safest. If you're used to a big city environment, or even craving it, I would recommend this place as one of the closest things you'll get to a big city experience in Orlando - this is my opinion as someone from Toronto who travels a lot. Once you're moved in, there's no real structure set up for residents to give feedback, but the property owner does respond to bad reviews and occasionally steps in to resolve things, which I really appreciate, and that's part of why I'm updating my review.
CONS:
Apart from the people I just mentioned, there are some other members of the staff team there who can be rude in my experience, and who don't care at all about your experience. They basically try to do the bare minimum, seem very fake, and don't care if you walk away unhappy.
Secondly, I almost never use any of the amenities. There are hardly any machines in the gym, and the pool almost never gets any sunshine - most "luxury" places do a little better in these departments. The rooftop is a good time, and the lounge is pretty, but the music playing there 24/7 (which is supposedly impossible to adjust) bothers me too much, so I just avoid it - plus it closes at 10pm which is a huge bummer... Sometimes there are also homeless people wandering in and out of it, but that's just what you get downtown, so not a big deal to me. Now that I've done more research, I've found that there are other places (though to be fair, not many) that have 24h private study rooms, nicer 24hour lounges, 24hour free printing, sunny pools, etc., for similar prices. On another note, the move-in process isn't super smooth. They don't try to make it easy for you at all (I actually just overheard a guy getting frustrated about how he was trying to move in but the staff were making it really difficult...). The furnishings aren't high quality (1/3 of my cupboards came off their hinges the first time I used them and the tub was stained with grime that took hours to scrub away when I moved in....) but of all the things to compromise on, this one didn't seem too bad to me.
Overall, minus a few frustrations/compromises/disappointments, which you will find everywhere in some form, I've really enjoyed my time here and it's difficult to decide if I want to leave or not, though there are a few more luxurious apartments out there with seemingly more motivated staff teams for similar prices. The real advantage of this place is the location, if you're looking for a cool spot downtown with nice apartments! Especially if you don't care much about amenities! I also have to say, I think I got really lucky moving into the best unit for that magical view, and living on one of the top floors helps avoid a lot of the complaints raised by people living on the first floor, so keep this in mind as well!