Lofts at Lakeview Apartments

I am a fan of these apartments on the corner of Lasalle and Erwin roads. We moved here just over a year ago. The floor plans are innovative, and ours is quite roomy for a 2 bedroom/​2 bath apartment, around 1500 square feet. It lives easily and well for us. And there are people of many ages here. We sometimes meet them in the fitness center. The inside garage parking on the level of our apartment is great. The office staff is super helpful, and the maintenance guys have been spectacular on the few times we’ve needed help. The location is ideal – lots of things walkable close like the best pizza at Enzo’s, great sushi at Sushi Love, good down home eating at Nosh, great tapas at Six Plates, a very helpful Optix for optical with fashion frames, a very nice hair salon at Garden Salon, super breakfasts at Another Broken Egg, Smash Burger for lunch, a notary at the UPS Store. We can walk on Duke’s west campus across the street just to walk or to go to gatherings there. We’re not far from Ninth Street and Duke’s east campus for activities there as well. We’re also not far from the West Durham Post Office on Kangaroo Drive and have easy access to I-​85 and Durham Freeway. It’s easy to work around the stoplights on Erwin by using Lasalle and Hillsborough roads. And the nearby Erwin Road extended to Chapel Hill is a great rural way to get to Chapel Hill venues.

The apartments are nice and convenient and the staff is great. Unfortunately, the owner of the building, Sentinel Corp, has been EXTREMELY difficult to work with. When I moved out, Duke energy continued to bill me for power until the new tenant moved in. In the interim, Sentinel should have covered these charges (I was no longer a tenant and my lease term had expired), but they will not reimburse me for these charges.

We moved here from San Francisco Bay Area and so far we are loving the Lofts!
About 7 months ago during our visit Ashley from the management office was really nice and showed us the display apartment which we fell in love with.
That was a D floor plan so we went on the wait list for D (wait list is $ 50 per member of the household on the lease but Ashley helped us out in a way in which we only had to pay $ 50 and pay later to process our appication)
Throughout the wait list we go phone calls regularly from the managers on what was available and eventually we settled on a G floor plan because it met all of our requests.
The G floor plan has more than 1000 Sq feet with open concept, hardwood floors, 13 foot ceilings, updated amenities black stove, oven, fridge. Huge bathroom with bathtub, and washer and dryer. The bedroom is slightly smaller than what you might expect but it was the right size for us.
Also, there is a 7 floor parking structure in the back which is very convenient. There are trash chutes on every floor — easy.
The amenities at this place are also top class
Pool Table
Shuffle board
Gym with all the equipment which I think is 24 hours
A yoga room with classes
Coffee and hot chocolate bar
Study room
Conference room
PS3 and X box room
A private 36 people movie theater… yup that’s right your very own Movie theater!
The pool is salt water which is a supposed to be healthier for you. And there are study and eating areas all around for group study sessions.
A huge plus is the that there are several restaurants right next to it for when you don’t feel like cooking:
Chipotle
Noodles and Co
TGIF
A good Mediterranean restaurant
and more
You have to be over 21 to live here I think and have to show a certain amount of income or asset.
That’s all I can think of for now. If you have any questions and need advice from and resident, then shoot me a mail.
Cheers

Perhaps it’s because I haven’t had to deal with anyone beyond the leasing office, but I actually absolutely LOVE the lofts. My apartment itself is beautiful, with new appliances and high ceilings. The amenities are wonderful — the pools are always great spots to relax and the common areas are perfect for hosting big events. The fitness center is nice and there are actually classes (with a fantastic trainer) offered during the week. Sure, you can sometimes hear your neighbors but I don’t think it’s any more than in most apartment buildings. My rent has been consistent during the time I’ve lived here (about a year) and I really like the ease of paying it online. The leasing office is extremely nice (Carlie & Jeri are so sweet/​helpful) and I’ve found them very accommodating whenever I have a question/​concern. Maintenance comes as you request — so if you mark it as a high priority, they’ll come very quickly (I had an issue with my doorknob that was resolved within 12 hours). Parking is private and the only time I’ve seen someone towed, they were in a reserved parking spot. Overall, if I could stay at the lofts once I finish grad school, I would. Highly recommend.

Sandra is totally right. The management here is one of the rudest group of people I’ve ever encountered. Each month they would notify me about new (hidden) «charges» that I owed. For example, when I moved in, they did not tell me I had to pay a move in fee, and then all of a sudden, after I had been living there for almost two months, they told me I owed a $ 100 move in fee. They said I should have paid it the day I moved in. I didn’t appreciate this charge coming out of nowhere, especially when I asked them the day that I moved in to calculate the amount that I owed so I could pay everything on time.
This is just one example of many qualms I’ve had with the management office. Sandra is right – they try to suck as much money out of you as they possibly can. They are totally unaccommodating and WILL end up screwing you over one way or another. And not to mention, their rental rates are already very high, so you will end up losing a lot of money if you choose to live here! And side note, don’t bother ever filing a maintenance request. It will take them FOREVER to get around to fixing your problem. I had burnt out light bulbs in my apartment that never got fixed the entire time I lived there. You pay sky high rent for rudeness, sub par service, and to get screwed over. Believe me – it’s not worth it!

The Lofts draws in residents using a façade of luxury living. Don’t be fooled; there is no respect for their residents and the proof is in the management. Operating under the bureaucracy of corporate headquaters somewhere in New York, no one here is really in charge of anything (except ensuring that every apartment is paying rent). The people at corporate headquarters refuse to be liable in any way for a building that they own. This is a shame, especially in a place like Durham, where the local staff indeed tend to be amiable everywhere you go.
Although friends and I have voiced complaints about the predatory towing company that comes to boot the cars of our visitors, the Lofts have done nothing to protect residents and their welcomed guests. Instead of being amenable to our concerns, they have actually gone in the opposite direction and contracted with this towing company (infamous for its illegal towing practices) and allowed them into the private garage structure for residents. Now not only do visitors get nervous about parking, but residents themselves can’t be sure that they won’t wake up with a boot on their car. Why? One can safely presume they get a cut of the profit from the towing company. The Lofts at Lakeview (corporate) are shameless in their pursuit to suck as much money as they can from their own residents. And don’t expect much in return: Should you accidentally have your purse stolen or keys fall down a drain, there is absolutely no organizational protocol for getting into your own home after hours. At 2:00 in the morning, I was told over the phone that I could «sleep in the hallway» (true story.) Don’t fall for the plastic allure of free coffee. If I could choose to unsign my lease, I would.
*I recently amended this complaint, because I want to be clear that I take no issue with the staff. In fact, I would imagine that they share my frustration with the corporation that restricts them from taking more matters into their own hands. Lastly, the maintenance staff here is excellent, and always bring a smile to my face.