Blackstone Apartments

Stay away unless you desperately need the convenience of the location as a music or civil student
Jul 13th, 2022

I lived in a non-renovated 2x2 from August 2019 to July 2019; it's worth noting that this was my first time renting in Austin, so it's hard for me to say how this place stacks up with the average student housing. PROS: -Pests; I saw less than 5 roaches during my time there, but the majority of those happened in my final weeks there. I also began seeing leaf-footed bugs around this time. -Ample parking, although the parking lot is tight and can be difficult to navigate -Utilities included -Didn't have trouble getting our security deposit back at the end -Relatively quiet area; a few mid-sized parties were thrown when expected (Halloween, etc.) CONS: -There was a ~4-5 month period of time in between applying and signing the lease when no information was given to us as to whether or not we had an apartment -Management was hours late to my move-in time; this stems from the fact that the apartment is managed from Houston, with the manager residing (at least, at the time of move-in) in Houston. -Management disappeared in the final months; we had one functioning washer from March until July for the entire complex -management also had a very high turnover rate. I can recall at least three different mangers from the time of visiting the apartment to moving out -Payment is not convenient; money orders were required to be mailed to Houston -The oven was hot garbage; turning it on would melt the glue off the knob, causing its operation to be quite painful -Garbage disposal "functions", but not well enough to avoid semi-regular sink clogs
Aug 25th, 2020

Jan 31st, 2020

I did not end up living here, but i would strongly recommend anyone against it. My roommate and I were told in order to lock in a rate of $1500 for a 2x2 (utilities and parking included) we needed to sign a preleasing agreement by December 1st, 2018. During the time between then and the beginning of May, 2019, we contacted their staff several times to ask for updates on our contract. Here's what went down. -The original apartment manager that we spoke with went on leave, and her replacement could not find any of our original forms. -they did not reach out to us, we only found out because we asked them about it -when we finally got our lease in May and tried to set a move-in date, it came out that we were not, in fact going to get an apartment for $1500, because the only one that was available had undergone 'emergency renovations' and was now an updated price of more than $1800 -when i tried to get in touch with someone in person, i found out from a current resident that they've moved their entire base of operations to Houston and residents were being made to mail checks there -during all this time, they had not cashed our deposit, but when we backed out of our lease, they did issue a refund TL, DR pretty scammy, too good to be true, just don't
Jul 18th, 2019

The location is ok, but I am having a terrible experience after leaving the apartment and trying to have my security deposit check back. First thing: I gave them a $1,000.00 and they made up things to reduce the amount I am having back to $879. They are charging me for cleaning, but I returned the apartment in better cleaning conditions then it was when I moved in (come on, there were cockroaches on the floor! They should be ashamed to charge for cleaning). Ok, I wont make a case for that, just give my money back. Before signing the lease, I asked Elise, the manager, if it was ok to fill the check in my cousins name (he lives in DC) because I knew that I would leave the apartment straight to the airport to come back to Brazil. So I wouldnt be in the US to get the check, I wouldnt even have a bank account anymore. She said no worries, it would be fine. A few weeks later, I went to the office again to talk about this specific issue and again Elise said it was ok. A couple months later, they closed the office and every communication with the buildings administration should be made by email. I sent them two emails in different occasions asking again if it was ok to make the refund check payable to my cousin who lives in the US for good. Again, two different employees (Cherri and Denise) said it would be ok. Now, I am back to Brazil and they wrote me saying that they sent the check to the address provided but in my name, because they cant make a check to a different person thats not the tenant. The thing is: back to Brazil, I dont have an american bank account anymore and I just have nothing to do with an american check in my name! I saw this problem coming and tryied to avoid it many times talking to different managers, who told me not to worry. Now that I am 5,000 miles away they say they cant do what they agreed to do four different times. It looks like they just dont want to give my money back. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. I have a lot of colleagues going to Austin every semester and they are always asking tips for housing. Blackstone Apartments are in my black list!
May 6th, 2019