Avalon at Edgewater

I am a former (dissatisfied) tenant and I watched this fire unfold from the Trader Joe’s shopping center across the street. I always knew this building was cheaply constructed, but to see it go up in flames so quickly was still alarming. When I lived there, we had fire alarms go off at least three times a week. It got to the point where I wouldn’t even leave my apartment because I knew it would be a false alarm. Unfortunately, that should never be the case. I’m also not sure what the sprinklers were installed for if they didn’t even work properly to contain the fire.
All in all, I know a lawsuit will be coming for the Avalon and I have zero sympathy. The management team was good at recruiting new residents, but unfortunately, nothing was ever put back into the building to improve it’s quality.

So we perhaps might be the oldest residents at Avalon at Edgewater. We moved here in 2006. Since then, Avalon has been a home to us and their staff like a family. They are very warm, kind and ready to hear you out at any time.
Their maintenance team is very efficient under a hands-​on maintenance manager. They attend to all maintenance requests very promptly and work is done in an efficient professional manner.
Facilities like the gym, indoor pool table cum TV room, community room are some of the places you can hang out in winter and our favorite swimming pool and beautifully kept courtyards with bbq facility are our favorite spots during summer. Yes, sometimes the main gate has issues, but they try their best to rectify that.
Overall a great place to live! If you have young children its right next to a great elementary school and minutes away from major shopping mall (Edgewater Commons). It’s a very convenient location if you are working in the city. There is an option of ferry or the bus. The bus stop for going in the city is just down the road from Avalon thus making it very convenient for travel in all seasons.
I love my Avalon. If we ever move, I’ll be moving with a very heavy heart to lose all these facilities and their staff which is like an extended family to us. We will always wish good for Avalon and encourage our friends to come and try living here and checking it out themselves.

We moved into the Avalon in August of 2011 and never looked back. We spent months looking for the perfect place that would fit our lifestyle and we were definitely very particular.
After meeting with Pablo at the leasing office, not only did he answer all our questions, but he put any worry we had at ease. The statement for the Avalon used to be «time well spent» and they’ve lived up to that at every step. Everyone that works here is incredibly kind and empathetic to any issue you may have. So much so that I would gladly hire any of them to come work for our company.
They are constantly taking care of the community whether it’s upgrades or just simple cleaning.
I’ve read the other reviews and couldn’t find it further from the truth. Although there was a recent management change, it has since changed back and even throughout that time, I have never experienced anything close to what these bad reviews are saying.
If you never really want to worry about your apt, Avalon is the perfect home.

I really have tried to accept this place and it’s challenges however…
Horrendous management at this Avalon. Sure they ‘listen’ like they have been trained to do in some corporate training session somewhere but they really could care less. Among the constant problems: the garbage room is overflowing with garbage and it stinks (this seems to happen at least once a month and if I could post a photo you wouldn’t believe it). The gates are ALWAYS broken (main gate is broken as I write this), the fire alarm goes off all the time. There is a lot more but it doesn’t matter, Avalon doesn’t care and I just want to make sure I warn people about this place!
I now know why locals always give me a sympathetic look when I tell them we live at the Avalon. They know how bad this place is and cannot understand why anyone would live here.
I am counting the days until my lease is up so we can move to a decent building in the area. Seriously, what a joke. If they spent half as much energy on maintaining the place and really trying to improve things they would not have to try so hard to bring in new tenants.

We have been living in this community for about 2 ½ years and can honestly say we have had the WORST experience in the past year or so. The first year we lived here we really had no complaints aside from the occasional elevator breaking down or the front gates not working for a few days. HOWEVER, the past year and a half have been BRUTAL. Management was changed and the new «Customer Service Manager» doesn’t give a CRAP about tenants — only the new people who are looking to rent in the community. We have had mold in our apartment, leaky ceilings, broken furnaces, broken A/​C Unit, etc. etc. and have had to fight tooth and nail to get these problems fixed. After our first year and a half of living there, we asked if we could have our walls touched up with paint and our carpets cleaned and we were told we would have to move to another unit if we wanted those things done which is RIDICULOUS. If we were to move out they would have to do those things so what is the difference? In terms of the community, you have to pay a $ 500 non refundable pet deposit upon move in PER PET. And that is not all, each month you pay $ 50 per pet but you are not even allowed to walk them within the community, they have to be walked along the back and side roads and are not allowed anywhere else. What are we paying this monthly fee for if we cannot even walk our dogs in the courtyard and let them run and play? The actual breezeways/​entryways, elevators and hallways are a joke. The carpets are never cleaned in the hallways and are always stained and dirty. Elevator floors and walls are never cleaned — in fact they just put big black rugs in the elevators and left them there now for over two months without any type of cleaning. BRILLIANT. The pictures they tried to hang near each elevator bay are all in terrible shape, half have fallen down and were never put back up. The trash rooms are rarely cleaned and if you do decide to pay $ 100 a month to park in the parking garages, get ready to stare at everyone else’s trash and to have to drive over it at times because they let it overflow so badly. The entry gates and parking garage gates are constantly broken and when they are working, dont be surprised if Avalon puts a large trash dumpster in front of them because they are too lazy to schedule regular trash pickups. I will say however, that the fitness center and the offices inside the Russel building are always spotless and pristine. Hmmm. I wonder why that is? I could go on and on, and if you would like further information or other opinions during my time living here, feel free to email me at
. I am happy to share.

I moved in November of 2013 and I LOVE IT. I’m shaking my head at all the negative comments on this site, but I know everyone’s situation is different. However, I think it might be helpful to point out the following… You should NEVER sign a lease without first seeing the apartment you are moving in to. Even if you have an urgent need to move. If you moved in to an apartment without first seeing it, it is your fault, not Avalon. Even if Avalon didn’t have your exact apartment ready to see, you could have seen another similar model. If you didn’t ask the right questions, this is also not Avalon’s fault.
Now, on to my review… The management team is simply wonderful! They have kept in contact, and I sometimes drop by and say hello and they are always welcoming, caring and helpful. They honestly do want to RETAIN tenants and they appreciate us and want us to have a good living experience. I can’t say enough good things about them. Ditto on the security/​mail room people. The service company that handles apartment service complaints are FABULOUS! They come either the day of the service request or the day after. Better service I have never seen anywhere.
I have a 2BR and the place is great. The price is high, but it is great value. Some small negatives, but they would never keep me from living at Avalon… the dog rental fee per month is a bit high so I don’t love that. The one time, non-​refundable pet fee, I totally understand. Dogs do damage whether the dog owner cares to admit it or not. It only takes one accident of pee on a carpet and no matter how well you clean it, the carpet is done. So there is your $ 500, right to carpet replacement. I don’t like that people do not clean up after their pets, even though there are doggy bag/​waste bucket stations along the sidewalk on Russel Avenue. It is utterly ridiculous that people don’t pick up their poop, and this is a big peeve I have. Again though, this is not Avalon’s fault, it is the people that have dogs, whether they live at Avalon or outside of the community.
Lastly, the kitchens are somewhat outdated, and no microwave was kind of shocking to me. However, guess what, they don’t need to update kitchens, at a great expense, so they aren’t going to do it. Good for them I say if they can get away with it. I mean the kitchens aren’t terrible. I’m just used to nice granite… LOL.
That’s all I have. I love Avalon… love it love it love it.

I would rate 0 if i could. Worst management. They will smile and all up your tail when u sign up for the lease then they are gone. One positive on this management. They will listen. They listen well. But the problem is that is the end of it. No matter how many times u bring it up it never gets fixed. It is ridiculous how many negative events happened living here for 1 year… i won’t even start…

This is one of the worst managed apartment complex I’ve ever lived in. I’m currently in my 8^th month of my lease and I’m counting down the days till my lease is over. From the outside it looks great but once you move in, the problems you run into are countless.
Management is run by a third party so when you call with an emergency, they just take your message. God forbid it’s a holiday weekend, your message won’t reach management until the holiday vacation is over.
Hate the sound of industrial fire alarms? Definitely do not move in, as for some reason, when they built the complex, they made it so that if a fire alarm goes off in one apartment, the fire alarm for the whole building is activated. You get the standard fire alarm plus the big red industrial fire alarm in your apartment. I personally would not have a problem with this but it becomes a problem when the alarm for the whole complex goes off an average of every 10 days. You have crazy loud ringing for at least 30 minutes each time until the fire chief comes to deactivate it. It happens so often that none of my neighbors budge or even come out whenever this happens! I wonder what would happen if there was a real fire or emergency…

I moved in in February 2013 and so far my experience has been very good. The move-​in was very easy since the apartment complex has wide open spaces and large doorways. Management provides a checklist of things to do prior to moving in which made is easy as well. In th efirst couple of weeks, I made a couple of requests for repairs to the apartment through the website and they were taken care of immediately. It is easy to find a parking space in the garage which is indoors which is nice. Packages are also easy to get since they are open until 7pm on weekdays.
There are a couple of negatives that I would point out. First, the garbage area can be disgusting because some people do not use the chute and just dump their trash in the room. Second, although I do not have any problems with my neighbor’s noise, I can see how the walls here are fairly thin and that if you happen to live near loud neighbors, it could be a problem. Third, I do not have kids or pets so I can not comment on how restrictive policies are but I would say that these policies probably help keep the place clean.
As for management, I do not agree with all the negative comments posted here about management. In fact, I have lived in 5 different apartments and would consider this management to be fairly good.
If you are considering living here, you are welcomed to send me questions and I will do my best to reply to you. I know there are a lot of negative reviews here so it can be confusing.

First off, I’ve lived at other Avalon communities and they are fantastic, it’s only this one in Edgewater that is so terrible. We moved here almost a year ago and wanted to stay within the Avalon community, but this one has ruined me from ever living in another ‘community’ again. (Note: If you are a single occupancy with NO DOGS then this complex might work for you). If you have any pets, this is NOT the place to live. You have to pay a non-​refundable $ 500 pet deposit AND extra $ 50 per dog each month as ‘pet rent’. When we first signed the lease, they told us that you can walk your dog anywhere as long as you pick up after them (obviously). Once you move in, they immediately backtrack and tell you that your dog is only allowed in the drive way area and now they tell us that we are no longer allowed anywhere within the community and we are told to walk on the street or we will be fined! Yet they still make us pay ‘pet rent’ and the deposit for animals that are not allowed on the premises. This place is completely corrupt and the head manager that makes these decisions is completely robotic! This is not a pet friendly community, please don’t move here if you have even a small dog. So happy we’re almost out of here!