West Ashley Apartments - impressions of a mom and son (Charleston: apartment complexes, leasing agent)

[Go To Girl]

We came, we saw, we conquered. We saw 13 apartment communities in West Ashley (and we went to 11 in Mt pleasant - that'll be another thread).

Because I wanted to hear about first impressions from others, I thought it would be helpful to post my own - and my 22 year old son's.

Abberly at West Ashley – Interstate on one side, Costco Parking Lot on other side. Lots of traffic noise all around. Huge club house with pool table. Lots of Buildings and Parking lots. 4 levels – elevators. Nice amenities, nice apartments. Ranked very high on liked the apartment, but low on location. Very new. Had an urban feel to them.

Ashley Crossing – apartments seemed small. Ponds with fishing. Seemed to have decent amount of green space. Amenities nice. Tennis court. Building seemed old. Questionable ratings on apartmentratings.com. A lot of very recent ones and all extremely positive – makes me wonder if people were given an incentive to rank. In an area very populated by a lot of apartment complexes.

Castlewood Townhomes – Very roomy. This was the first place we went and for a long time it remained highest ranked on my son’s list. Water, sewer, cable in rent. Bedrooms had sinks in them and then the tub and toilet was behind closed doors. Screened porch – the neighbor’s screen porch was separated by a shadowbox fencing that didn’t quite hit the bottom of the concrete pad so there didn’t seem to be much privacy from neighbors. Grassy areas were weedy, but trimmed. Office very laid back – they gave us the key and told us to go look ourselves. Kitchen had an eat-in bar inside of it – not a typical countertop that extends into the living area for an eat-in bar. This was built in and part of the kitchen.

Plantation Oaks – grounds very pretty. Complex old and some buildings were being remodeled. Club House looks like a Plantation House and they had an upstairs that was an area that could be rented nightly for visiting family to stay if you don’t have room in your apartments. I didn’t see it, but it seemed like it was pretty nice. Washer and dryer included. Next to interstate and you could hear the traffic noise from the part of the complex closer to it – about half the complex. In an area with a lot of other apartment complexes. Had both a front and a rear entrance into property. Apartments good sized – screened porches or balconies. Ponds that allowed fishing.

Sabal Palms – brick buildings. No balconies or porches. Nice floor plans with a sunroom in certain plans. Eat in kitchens. We saw both models and vacant apartments. Gated – but gate open during the day (they said it is closed from 7:00pm -7:00am. Beautiful long entrance into complex. Lots of grassy area. They layout to the complex didn’t have as much of an apartment feel to it. A bit skimpy on amenities compared to others (no business center if that’s important to you).

Windjammer – old apartments and most without washer/dryer connections, but there was a laundry room in every building. This was the only place we saw that didn’t have a model and also didn’t have any vacant apartments to show. But the leasing agent did a fantastic job of explaining things and using a virtual tour on their website to tell us about the various units. Very neat looking townhome plan. In a pretty congested area, but lots of stuff around.

Woodbridge – old apartments – some without washer dryer connections, some with. In a congested area – traffic noise from the units we saw (balconies). Some of the balconies had views of what of creek that looked more like a mosquito breeding ground – I want to say that there were not screens on the balconies so that’s why that struck me so. Full sized candy bars in the model’s fridge – SCORE!!!!

Woodfield at Southpoint – the nicest of all the apartments we saw and probably among the most expensive in West Ashley – beautiful amenities. Newer place. Out of my son’s price range, but he really wishes it wasn’t. The apartments had some very well thought out and clever features. My son really liked that they all had a built in desk nook – it was located in different areas of different floor plans. They had an option of having an accent wall pained in the color of your choice for $150. Then when you moved out, it would be painted back to the original color for not additional charge. The model we saw had an arched room divider of some kind. Granite countertops. Very tall kitchen cabinets. Balconies without screen. Walk-in closets. Sister Property to Edgewater in Mt Pleasant. Discovered after I came home that they are built very close to train tracks – I saw complaints about that on apartmentratings.com. I never heard them so don’t know how it would be myself.

Bolton’s Landing – We thought it could have at one time have been a sister property to Sabal Palms because the floor plan layout was identical. They said no, but they both did have the same builder so that’s why the same. Was higher end than Sabal Palms. They had 1 building that was non-smoking. Saw lots of kids there riding bikes and outside playing in the parking lots and some green area next to the apartments on a weekend (no kids were playing on the playground they had). Movie theater on site. Nice amenities. Not much green area – no balconies or patios, but had sunrooms in certain units. Pretty new property. Speed bumps very enormous. My son drives a camry and even coming to a complete stop to go over them, his car bottomed out and hit the bumps HARD. Granite countertops. Eat-in kitchen. Bolton’s Landing is a new development so the entrance into the development is elaborate with a large fountain. Expect a lot more construction in the area, although the apartments are done. There is more than one way in and out of the development– Bees Ferry (which is about to undergo a major widening project) and Highway 17 (right turn only – a median).

Berkshires at Ashley River – We only made it inside the clubhouse with this one. There was 1 leasing agent, a person in the office, and another couple waiting when we got there. We sat down. The agent’s voice echoed throughout the clubhouse and he said a few things to the original guy that was a bit off-putting to me. She was pointing out something in a contract and told him – now read that carefully because I don’t want you coming back later and saying (changed her tone to a whiny tone) – well I didn’t know that (strike 1 – I told my son then that I didn’t like her – he said, well we can leave, I said, no this is for you so we can stay). The guy in the office left – and without even getting up, she yelled from her desk – whoever is next – get in here. We said that the other couple was and they asked us if we had an appt (we didn’t) because they had an appt for later and were 2 hours early. She said again – well whoever came in first, just come on in (strike 2). They came in and we could hear her talking to that couple. She was talking about rents and explained how they adjust daily depending on availability. Then she started talking about how busy they were the last couple of days ago and how many units they’d rented. She said – you can’t play the market when it comes to getting the best rent. I had a lady the other day come in trying to do just that - when she thought the rate would drop, she should have come in 3 days earlier because it was $20 a month less so it was stupid. At that moment, my son said – I don’t like her either mom. I said then, do you want to go, he said yes. Strike 3. We figured that as rude as she seemed to be when talking to POTENTIAL renters, she was probably ruder when she had your money. In an area with a lot of apartment complexes.

Middleton Cove – Older apartments – large complex, very spread out. Seemed to be 2 sections with a pool in each. Screened porches. Washer/dryer connections in some units. Model was nicer than I expected – we only saw that one. Rap music being played in the background in the office. Leasing agent was a grandmotherly type lady – seemed to be very personable with all the residents as we rode around for our tour. She said she had lived there for 5 years. Part of it overlooked the marsh and there was someone sitting out beside it enjoying the view. In an area that has a lot of apartment complexes.

Heron Reserve – Nice amenities, nice apartments. More expensive than many others. The layout was like there were different buildings clustered as “neighborhoods”. Dog park. I didn’t notice this so much at other places because my son didn’t have a pet, but I know others had one, but we drove past and leasing agent pointed it out. Screened porches. Living room in the unit we saw was sunken – I think she said that 2nd and 3rd floor was like that. Nice model – I had no doubt other apts looked the same.

Shadowmoss Pointe – Has both townhouse and traditional apartment floorplans. On apartments, the stairs leading to upstairs units are inside and carpeted – open front door and there are stairs. Upstairs units are slightly bigger for the same plan because of the stairs to upstairs taking up some room on downstairs (if that makes sense). Models nice and complex relatively new. Relatively small complex. Seems to have a lot of social things for the residents. Models were nice and roomy. Same amenities as many other places, but on a much smaller scale. Big thing was a railroad track directly behind the complex – the back row of townhomes and apartments were literally within a few feet of the tracks. There was a fence dividing it. Leasing agent said that it goes by quickly and they don’t blow the horn and that very few residents have moved out because of it. But it does go by at varying times and all hours day and night. One didn’t come by during our visit so we couldn’t judge for ourselves. I saw bicycles hanging over rails on balconies. One thing I found amusing – there is a funeral home right in front of it. You turn on the street leading to it – you see a hearse parked at the funeral home. In the same line of site, you see the entrance to the complex with a banner that says Welcome Home. I thought – “in more ways than one”.

Sorry for the long thread, but I do hope that someone will find these a little bit helpful. I would have liked to have had something like this in one place. I haven't written anything down for Mt Pleasant yet, I will eventually. Overall, my son liked West Ashley better than Mt Pleasant. For a single young guy, he didn't find that it was worth the couple of hundred of dollars in the difference in rent to justify the address. My brain is completely fried from seeing 24 properties in a little over 2 days. I may be able to pick my brain more for more information if I get specific questions. There wasn't one place that my son couldn't see himself - except Berkshires at Ashley River and that was because of the leasing agent. He is not at all picky - he lives in a dorm now so anything would be a palace. I would have been fine with all of these too - his choice. The agent at Heron Reserve harped on crime in every area except her own, but I had checked crime stats in all these areas and wasn't particularly concerned about any place we looked.

[missjade]

Did you look into the Ashley Grove property at all? This was incredibly helpful! Thank you so much.

[MINIcoopKJG]

What a great thread! I wish this was here when I was looking to move to the area. I am looking forward to your thread like this on the Mount Pleasant apartments. Castlewood was second on my list to go look at if there was nothing open where I am. A woman I had worked with lived at Castlewood during Hurricane Hugo. She never evacuated and stayed in her apartment. I think it was fairly new then and she said nothing happened to her apartment from the hurricane.

Did your son decide on which place he would like to live?

[Go To Girl]

We didn't look at Ashley Grove - I didn't have it on my list - I don't remember why now - it might have been the low ratings on apartmentratings.com. Although I tended to take those with a grain of salt so it might not have been.

My son's tastes changed as we looked and he moved his price point up as well. His dream place would be Woodfield at Southpoint. He also liked Bolton Landing and Sabal Point. He doesn't ever envision himself being one who will sit outside. He goes to school in the mountains and loves snow and cold - he wears sandals in 25 degree weather. So he's not looking forward to the heat of Charleston. So the no balcony didn't bother him on those plans. As for me, I'd like the balcony. Another thing about Bolton Landing was the no smoking building - they actually had an opening in it and he was tempted. But he's not going to rush into anything. He took all of the literature back to school with him and is going to mull it over. Mt Pleasant had completely non-smoking complex - Paces Watch and he LOVED that idea. But he just didn't feel like he was getting as much value for his money there. The 3 complexes he liked the best in West Ashley were the most expensive, so he is wanting to weigh whether he really wants to spend the extra money on those complexes. If he was going to have a room mate, he'd probably for to Woodfield in a heartbeat. But he's starting a new job in June and he doesn't know one single person in Charleston so he just doesn't know.

[Go To Girl]

Just looked at some photos of Ashley Grove - too bad we didn't see them. The photos show a lot of features he liked.

[karolinagrl]

I am supposed to be moving in that area later on in the year and I can't tell you how much I appreciate this post! When I start seriously getting deep into apartment hunting, this is going to be so helpful. Thanks!

[Go To Girl]

Here is the link to the Mt Pleasant thread https://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...s-mom-son.html

[missjade]

The ratings are actually pretty good from what I remember! I didn't pay much attention to them the first time I looked, but I checked back after they started renovating. I'm nervous to get my hopes up too much though. I'll be looking in a couple weeks, and I'll let you know!

[CrusherCountry]

Woodfield at Southpoint . . . do you recall what the rents were for 2br & 3br? Their website is kind of useless as all it says is to call for "current rent."

[DJShymansky]

I want to say they were up around $1100-1300 when I went through there a year or so ago. I don't know if that's changed.