Avalon Ballston Place

Great aprtment. Lived here for 3 years and moved out only bc we couldn’t afford the 2 BD here. The staff is nice. Maintenance crew is efficient… shout out to Biniam for great work! 24 hrs concierge so package pick up anytime of the day even at 10 PM! Location is great. It’s away from bro bar A town and Clarendon so don’t hear a lot of drunk people on weekends… do hear a few but not too bad. Sound proofing in aprtment is above average. Yes you maybe able to hear your neighbors kid crying or slamming their kitchen cabinets shut. But don’t hear much other than that. Maybe we just had quiet neighbors. Also can’t hear upstairs neighbors walk… only when they dropped something on the floor which is so rare. So overall a great place!

This place is excellent regarding fixing any maintenance issues. Technicians Biniam and Rodney are fantastic. They immediately take care of any problem while most rental complexes are notorious for being lax.

I love living here. The team is top rate, especially Rodney, Biniam and their maintenance staff.
They are always willing to go above and beyond to provide superior service. Sandy is also extremely helpful at the front desk. I’ve never seen her in a bad mood! The Avalon folks are talented, efficient and thoughtful people.
I’ve lived in three other rental buildings in the DC area and Avalon is the best! They treat me like part of the family.

I LOVED THIS PLACE!
I was proud to call Avalon Ballston Place home for 11 years! Move to DC in 2004 and decided to treat myself to a luxury building for a year. Year after year, I couldn’t justify leaving, and I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t get a job opportunity somewhere else. Here is why I liked this building so much:
— Clean! Well-​kept building. Looks way better than most much newer buildings.
— Really close to Metro (near two stations, actually — Virginia Sq or Ballston). Be in DC or Tysons in minutes.
— Amazing view!
— Rodney and his maintenance staff are amazing.
— Sandy and her front desk staff are incredible. So helpful with ANYTHING you need.
— Covered parking for about $ 90/​month. (Between that and the metro, rarely needed to wash my car.)
— The pool is like going to a resort each weekend. By far the nicest in the area. Seasonal, but management usually keeps it open for a few extra weeks if the weather’s still nice.
If I ever move back to Arlington, hopefully my same apartment will be available.
By the way, no incentive or benefit by writing this review. They treated me so well for so long, I felt compelled to write a glowing review.

I’ve lived here since January 2005. Management has changed hands three times. I was worried when the building management allowed pets on every floor. Fortunately for the community, pet owners seem to be responsible for their pets. Two things that haven’t changed: the excellent response time for service and maintenance requests and customer service at the front desk.

This is an amazing apartment complex! I have lived here with my fiancé (and terriers) for a little over two years. I have experienced exceptional customer service. Sandy and Taahira are super amazing front desk concierge! They always have a smile on their face that brightens my day! We have had very little issues but the maintenance team is also very help and friendly when we need them! I highly recommend renting here!

Pretty great apartment at a convenient location. Price is a little on the higher side, but is comparable if you move in off peak. The amenities are good and the front desk though!?! They are great and Taahira is the best! i recommend

Super friendly and considerate staff;, great property with wonderful amenities— fabulous home for the last 3+?, years!

Have been living here for almost two years. Today, I just received a sofa and couldn’t make it on time but Sandy, from the front desk, helped me out to get it into my apartment safely and efficiently. Love my life in this building…

My spouse and I lived in Avalaon Ballston Place for a year. We signed up for a second year and moved to a larger unit. We love almost everything about the place. The location is great, within walking distance of Clarendon and Ballston. The apartment are quite nice with many amenities. The staff and management have always been pleasant and helpful. Maintenance requests for the apartment are handled extremely well and very quickly. The grounds are nice but carpet in the interior hallways needs an overhaul. I have not experienced any elevator problems. And I don’t have a car so I can’t comment on the parking garage. The pool and hot tub are nice but I wish they were open longer hours and more in May & September. The gym and business center are fine but the gym is often full at prime times. The apartment doors are a bit thin so noise from the hallway tends to leak through. The prices are slightly high but I think, overall, it is still a great place to live.

We have lived here for about 9 months. There are constant maintenance problems in the buildings, elevator repair seems to be done on 3 of the 4 during peak rush hour times on a weekly basis, and the front desk staff is always changing so they never seem to be able to answer issues. The worst part is that in the last few months they have begun renting out units as hotel rooms. Concierges spend most of their time helping the new guests, rather than the existing residents who actually live here. It’s quite annoying to have people constantly pushing the wrong floors on the elevators, acting like they are terrified of dogs in a dog friendly building, loads of small children who do not live here at the pool and in the fitness center, and all of the common areas are now constantly occupied by luggage or large foreign families waiting for flights or taxis. I wanted a luxury high rise and ended up in a youth hostel.

I lived in Ballston Place for many years while it was managed by Charles E. Smith/​Archstone. It wasn’t the most affordable building in the neighborhood, but the management was good and the community itself was kept up nicely. In 2013, Avalon took over the building and in all the years and cities I’ve rented apartments, I’ve never had a more horrendous living experience than the one year I lived under the Avalon régime.
To start, the building was pet free for many years. Shortly before Avalon took over, the policy was changed and pets were allowed. The walls in this apartment complex are thin and my luck, someone with an out of control dog moved in next door. The dog would bark at all hours of the day for at least a half hour at a clip, waking me up on weekend mornings as well. This went on for well over a year and the management did nothing to resolve the issue. In addition, hallways and other common areas during this time took a nosedive, leaving the building with a very unkempt look unworthy of a «luxury» property.
If this wasn’t enough, the paint on the roof of my car was damaged by a leak in the garage. After a discussion, the building management only offered $ 50, which hardly covered my repair expense. Avalon didn’t have the courtesy of contacting me with a more reasonable offer to cover my expenses after I rejected their offer. Shortly after this incident, I returned from vacation and came home to a letter under my door telling me that I was not going to be offered the option of a lease renewal. I came to find out this was a direct result of the arguments I had with the management office with regards to the incidents I experienced. I was also direct debited a legal fee lumped in with my rent without prior notification. This was dishonest and unnecessary, as I was not planning on renewing my lease when I returned from my trip.
It’s quite apparent that Avalon doesn’t care about long-​term tenants (seven years in my case), but it seems to have little effect on their business model of short-​term residents and corporate apartments. This is not a welcoming community to live in and the corporate office is staffing the properties with programmed robots who know little about property management or the ability to size up difficult situations. The people running this community are unwilling to work with residents in an effective and timely manner when problems arise. Communication was terrible when it came to having email and phone calls returned by community management. A newsletter under my door and building happy hours do not make up for untimely service that both I and other residents I knew in the building had experienced. On top of this, Avalon has outsourced maintenance requests and billing issues to a call center, further distancing the management from any involvement with residents. This became a hassle when navigating the process of moving out.
I enjoyed living at Ballston Place while under Charles E. Smith/​Archstone, but I could not have been happier to leave after Avalon took over. After talking to several neighbors in the community, it seems that I’m not the only one who has become dismayed with this property management and have moved or will be moving in the near future.