The Arts Apartments at Turtle Creek

The property manager, Jenny, was super friendly and professional with me while I toured the grounds. The units had a lot of character and spacious patios. Definitely a nice place to live.

Been living here at The Arts since October 2013 and enjoying it greatly. Having read past reviews, The management and maintenance seem to have made great improvements.
I personally prefer living upstairs and in this case was a great call considering the huge storms we had in October flooded many down stairs apartments. Management and maintenance were quick on their feet when this occurred, changing carpets and relocating residents as soon as able. Since then, it seems, they have redone most of the drainage around the complex to prevent this from happening again. The walkways around the front buildings have been redone with all new drain systems, where most of the water seemed to have came from.
My rent is a little pricey, but the community is nice and small and the entire complex is gated. My countertops are nice granite, my fridge, stove top and dishwater are fairly new. Yet to have problems with AC. Maintenance promptly fix my ceiling fan when a blade broke.
Over all, I’m enjoying my time here and expect the next 6 months to be nothing less than great.

DO NOT live here. [In respect of personal privacy– no names are mentioned in this review. In regards to current & potential RESIDENT SAFETY– THIS INFORMATION IS VERY IMPORTANT] The management has put my boyfriend, myself & all of its tenants in danger allowed a dangerous criminal, with a rap sheet as long as my arm (including sexual assault on a child), to live on the property even after it was brought to their attention that he was verbally assaulting, attempting to instigate physical fights, threatening, harassing, & intimidating my boyfriend & myself. Oh, and if that doesn’t make your stomach turn, he’s a little nugget from the property owners’ own website– «We carefully choose properties that, through minimum investment and our experienced and unique management, we will be re-​positioned to a level that will comfortably compete with A, A-​, and B+ properties. We have implemented this strategy via our Home Décor Program, which has proven to be both successful and cost-​effective.» Dilapidated properties in low income neighborhoods are dressed up with wood-​look vinyl flooring & cheap veneer cabinets– all in the name of being successful & cost effective! In summation: high profit margins are more important than resident safety. Oh yeah & there’s no overhead lights/​fans in the bedrooms…

I’ve lived at the Arts for 6 months now and I can’t wait til my lease ends.
Location: This place is on the outskirts of South Austin. You can get downtown in about 15 minutes by car but I think the rent is way too high for a place to live that’s just north of William Cannon. Although I live alone (I pay $ 855 for a one bedroom), I should’ve done more research because I could have found something a lot nicer for what I’m paying. The closest HEB doesn’t have a deli which sucks so I used to go to the one just a little bit further and that one is better but still doesn’t compare to the one at the Hancock Center (45^th and Duval). Now, I drive out to the one on Brodie and William Cannon, and although inconvenient that one is MUCH better. Also, since I’ve lived in this area I’ve been pulled over 3 times — there’s a lot of cops in this neighborhood, I think due to lower income families which tends to bring more crime.
Safety: The Arts made me feel really safe, especially for living alone and being a woman — up until last month. My car got broken into but what made me really uncomfortable about that situation is that only certain things had been stolen, which made me feel like the perpetrator knew me and knew what they were looking for in my car. Although this community is gated, there is a door next to the gate which has been broken into so anyone from the outside can reach in to open it from the inside. The door is right by the leasing office and still has not been fixed, which concerns me.
Community: After living here for 6 months I don’t know a single neighbor’s name, which honestly doesn’t bother me at all. I never really see anyone either. But I have started to realize that occupancy in this complex is suspiciously low. If I had to guess, I’d say it was about 50% occupied, which is really low especially considering that this is a small complex. Also, the «art» on the grounds is absolutely heinous. The grounds, however, are pretty well maintained. I have never noticed a lot of trash and the pool is clean. Overall, it’s a quiet community with some younger people and some older folks, most of whom seem to be single.
Staff: I’ve done most of my communication with Chelsea, who is such a sweet woman. She is always very helpful and tries to attend to my needs in a swiftly manner. The maintenance guys are friendly and helpful as well.
Apartment: The kitchen is extremely tiny. It’s a narrow hallway with no pantry that can only fit one person at a time. Also, my place didn’t come with a microwave which I thought was odd, since it does have a dishwasher. I have had a few maintenance issues all of which were dealt with within a few hours to the next day. However, my first maintenance issue being «fixed» lead to 2 other issues that needed to be fixed subsequently which was really annoying. However, the living room/​dining area is pretty spacious for a 1 bedroom.
Overall, I wouldn’t live here again mostly because of the location and the price. If rent went down a couple hundred, I MIGHT, but then again you can find something much more up to date in a more central location for a more reasonable price.

I moved into the Arts at Turtle Creek in April of 2011. From the day I came to check the place out, the staff was super helpful and very kind. Chelsea, the apartment manager, went above and beyond to help us get all we needed to move in. The maintenance staff is on top of things and works harder and longer than at most places I have lived in the past. The grounds are quiet and safe, and close enough to everything so biking and taking the bus are viable modes of transportation (the 10 bus runs right outside the apartment and will take you pretty much anywhere downtown that you need to go) It is a gated community, and the gates are ALWAYS WORKING! (a change from every other gated community i have lived in, which had gates that sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t) .They have a business center which is really convenient when i need to print something out for school. (The south Austin ACC campus is conveniently located only blocks away). The pricing is also great for Austin, and all my neighbors are friendly and very helpful. I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking to move into the south Austin area!

I’ve lived here for a year now and it’s been a great experience. The staff is GREAT! They all know my name and are very personable. Whenever I had a maintenance issue they came that day and I only had to call once. The updated fixtures and granite countertops are really nice. The artwork is super fun and exciting. The only problems I had with the apartment complex is that there is no fitness center, the pool is small and there are a few «soft spots» in the floor. Overall I really like it. And reading reviews from other places who have terrible management — it’s pretty awesome that this place has one of the best management I’ve seen.

I lived at The Arts for 2 years.
Pros: convenient and relatively safe neighborhood, apartments are reasonably priced, the complex is pretty quiet, the grounds are well-​managed, the apartments are fairly attractive, nice awnings over balconies, they organize parties/​events for tenants.
Cons: really high deposits, teeny tiny kitchens in the one-​bedrooms. When they repair things in the apartments, they tend to re-​use old materials which means what they fix will soon break again. They make a lot of cosmetic upgrades but more basic functions of the apartment are clearly deteriorating. I don’t feel they were fair in their deposit policy — what I put down should have well covered any damage I caused in 2 yrs. and yet they actually kept all my deposits and sent me a bill. I wish the manager had discussed the issue with me instead of sending me a bill with a semi-​threatening letter. I paid the bill however it’s clear communication between the manager and tenants could use some improvement. The pool is incredibly small, I never used it while I lived there. Staff changes often, there seems to be a high turn over.

The Arts at Turtle Creek has been my home for the past year.
About the staff:
Management: When I first moved in, the management and office staff changed quite a bit, which made me a little nervous. Chelsea, the current manager, is fantastic. I can’t say enough good things about her. She knows everyone’s names and is always friendly. When my cat got lost and I was hysterical, she closed the office and helped me walk the property calling her. She always responds to phone calls and emails in a timely manner.
Maintenance: The maintenance man is also helpful. In fact, when my cat was missing, he looked as well and found her. The maintenance response time the 2 or 3 times I needed it ranged from an hour to a couple of days, which is about average for other apartments.
Grounds: There is trash around occasionally because of lazy residents. It is picked up in a timely manner though.
My apartment: My apartment was in good shape when I moved in, having recently been updated with granite counter tops and window sills. The energy efficiency and insulation isn’t great, so I put up thermal curtains.
The other residents here are a typical mix of every apartment: lots of young single people, some families with kids, and some rather obnoxious guys with loud motorcycles and trucks. I’ve seen this at every apartment I’ve ever lived at.
Overall, this is a great place to live. The funky art work is convenient when you’re giving people directions. You can’t miss it. The only reason I’m moving out is because I’m moving into a house with a roommate.

I lived here for 13 months, and was never disappointed in the complex. Especially for the price, I sincerely recommend this place. The leasing staff did change a few times while I was there, but regardless of who I was dealing with, they actually abided by their available hours and never took longer to handle requests than necessary. I always felt safe, the people are nice, and it’s SO quiet. I had to leave because it was eventually too far south for my commute, but considering the god awful complex I live in now, I would have preferred the longer drive.
No complaints! Beautiful complex.

I’ve lived at this property since August, and it’s been an ongoing nightmare. The property itself is run down and poorly maintained. They have installed cosmetic upgrades such as the floors and counters, but the underlying structures are crumbling. We’ve been through 3 property managers already. My guess is that they keep quitting due to the overwhelming maintenance issues.
We have had flooding through our walls, which progressively got worse as the management failed to act. Most recently, we have had flooding from our toilets, sinks, and showers because of BACKED UP SEWAGE. According to my neighbor who has lived here for 6 years, this has already happened 3 times in my building. All of the downstairs units in my building are affected.
The apartment manager didn’t even bother to come check on the residents in my building. We found her lackadaisically wandering the property and invited her to come see our sewage-​drenched homes. Her explanation for failing to address the problem in person was that she didn’t «see the point» in talking to us until the problem had been solved. WHAT?!
Take my advice, friends, do not move here. You will find nothing but problems with the apartment and apathetic, inconsistent staff.

I LOVE this place. It’s funky, it’s clean, and it’s GATED! With gates that really work!
Being a north Austin dweller for years has been fun, but I thought I would try south Austin out for size this time around and absolutely fell in love with my new home. Small apartment communities from what I’ve seen, have always been more comfortable to me. I actually left my car doors unlocked while unloading my things today and never once felt like i had to worry.
DeeAnn, the front office manager is truly an angel! She is definitely someone who really loves the place she promotes. A lot of the time, the office staff does not live on site, and really act like they could care less if you rent from them, but she is different. She lives on site and sounds very passionate about her surroundings. She helped me soooo much in getting approved and moved in!
I signed the longest lease there possible and hope to keep it even longer than that!