Avalon Hayes Valley

Pros:
— convenient location and great neighborhood; tons of great cafes, solid places to eat, easy highway access, nice area overall
— great front desk staff; they put a lot of effort into putting on community get togethers, and they’re really nice people overall
— nice, new appliances; the apartments are close to brand spankin’ new, so everything inside is nice and works well
— very nice neighbors, and great dogs
Cons:
— very strange layout, which means you have close to zero privacy inside your apartment if your windows face the courtyard, meaning they face directly into other people’s units across the courtyard. There is little direct sunlight in certain units that face the courtyard and you can see/​hear/​smell everything.
— no ²⁴⁄₇ doorman, which is an issue when you have one-​off problems and/​or packages… would expect that level of service for such an expensive place
— garage door opener is very odd… almost slams into your car hood, so beware when you’re trying to park
— fire alarms went off fairly frequently… such a pain in the ass

This building is a disaster. Constant false fire alarms and boy are those alarms loud, my ears have started ringing. No 24 hour doorman despite Serious breakins and security concerns. Multiples cars were stolen from the underground lot which they have the gall to charge people nearly $ 500 a month for!
Poor apartment design. Weird smell I can’t get rid of in the apartment. No AC or even fan. Flies everywhere in the summer. Crappy layouts… the whole place is made for handicapped people so the bathrooms are enormous for no reason and cut into living space. We pay around $ 60 a month just for garbage and sewage fees!!! And what that means is we’re woken up at 4am twice a week when the insanely loud garbage man shows up which we can hear loud and clear since the windows aren’t properly insulated.
All this and more can be yours for the highest price in the city. Oh and they’re raising the rents sky high for the coming year.

Not at all worth the rent. With the constant false fire alarms, gross hall ways, and poor construction, it’s hard to understand how these apartments can warrant 5k a month. The staff is cool, but the hallways are never cleaned! People leave empty pizza boxes all over the stairways and trash around the complex.

Be ready to get woken up a lot. Fire alarm gets tripped a lot here. I live across the street. It’s sensitive and must have an installation issue cause it’s gone off a couple times in a few month span yet no actual fire. Usually at an inconvenient time at night or in morning and deafens the neighborhood so it will most certainly deafen you. Takes about 15 minutes for fire dept to respond to the false alarm and all residents to gather outside. So you’ll get a nice earful and unwanted drill practice before you can go back to bed. Hah!

The value for the price is ok– Clean, good maintenance staff, nice terrace, gym and the in unit laundry is a plus for me. The neighborhood is also great!
I am however very disappointed in the package service. The office is frequently closed and often changes hours from what was originally posted. When people are paying extra for overnight delivery and it cannot get delivered it is a huge problem, and that happens often here. You will eventually get your stuff, but if and when the office is open when the delivery occurs and if and when you are able to pick it up.
I am also not happy about how the heaters turn off at 11 pm on the terrace– this is our space we pay a lot of $ for, and we should be able to use it whenever we want. I often work weird hours and want to have a glass after work at 10 pm on the terrace and I cant– so its an amenity I thought I would use a lot when I moved in (during the tour they said 24 hour access– I guess I should have asked if it would be in functioning condition the entire time too???) but I haven’t used it much due to this fact.

Pricey, but in terms of location, amenities, and sheer bourgeois-​factor, it’s hard to beat in hayes valley. but it’s pricey. i can’t emphasize how pricey it is. pricey. very very pricey.
Location is great. Distance to public transport is great. Distance to the rest of the city is great.
Just don’t expect to put a ton into savings unless you’re working in tech

I have a studio here and can absolutely recommend the building if you’re looking for an easy place to live in SF.
Location: The location is great for me. I walk 2 minutes down Octavia in the morning to have coffee and read the paper in the local parklet (complete with Ritual Coffee, Smitten Ice Cream, and the Juice Shop, etc). Sometimes I go the other direction and walk 10 minutes over to catch the views at Alamo Square Park. There are about 50 restaurants within a 3 block radius. Several exercise studios. Many local boutiques and design stores. Good access to public transport via MUNI and BART. And you’re right at the entrance to 80 and 280 if you need to get to the east bay or peninsula.
Price: Considering the location, the amenities, and just the ease of everything, I have found it to be worth it. Someone is always here to accept my packages, the nicely appointed gym is open 24/​7, guests can park for free in the underground garage for up to a reasonable (maybe 4 hour?) amount of time, the very large roof deck has a gorgeous view and timed heaters, dogs are welcome with a pretty minimal additional security deposit, there are zipcars parked in the building, etc. It is a lot to pay for a small space, but you’re paying really for the ease and simplicity of everything. No more worrying about things breaking (a great maintenance team is on site), packages being stolen (they’re all labeled, stored, and you get an email reminder), or parking when you’re desperate (you can get a designated space or use the visitor parking for shorter amounts of time).
Move In: First of all, getting approved to rent here is such a wonderfully simple process. They basically make sure you have enough income or assets to pay the rent and have good credit and that’s it. Then you pay a VERY reasonable deposit. No need to provide letters from your employer, your tax returns, 3 months rent up front, or any of the million crazy things I’ve had to do to rent in other buildings. Move in was also easy. Easiest move I’ve ever had. Sal and Alyssa and Nathaniel are all so nice and work very hard to make everything as seamless and simple as possible.
Apartment: I’m in about 500 sq feet in a studio. The first time I saw it, I thought «Oh boy, I don’t know about this…». But I was won over by the easy rental process, the location, and the great views and light (I face the Laguna side). The layout of the studio is pretty good and very intuitive. The bathroom is very large (I think it might be ADA complaint, as there is plenty of room for a wheelchair to get in as well as to turn around easily). The kitchen is lovely with nice white cabinets and new appliances. And who can complain when they have a washer/​dryer and dishwasher in-​unit in the city. Definitely a first for me and don’t think it will get old for awhile.

My husband was put up in an apartment at Avalon Hayes Valley during an internship with his company. The apartment is in an ideal location in Hayes Valley, you can walk to everything you need — great restaurants, parks, markets, even Safeway/​Whole Foods is only a half mile walk.
The apartments are contemporary and essentially a blank canvas for you to make your home. The amenities are fantastic: a good size workout space with all the essentials for a great workout, a rooftop patio that has an amazing view, with several different lounge areas, timed heaters, timed fireplaces, music and gas grills. Plenty of space to entertain. On a nice night, you can turn the music down, and listen to live jazz across the street at the park. This building is super dog-​friendly, and the rooftop deck also has patches of green (succulent) areas where your dog can relieve itself.
Security is top-​notch throughout the property, including the underground parking garage. The staff in the office is more than accommodating and accessible — they want to make sure you have the best experience possible. Connected to their office is a «library”-type space; a quiet area where you can get some work done.
I highly recommend Avalon Hayes Valley.

Alrighty, here’s the deal. You’re going to pay a lot of money for a very, very tiny space here. Be absolutely sure you can handle the size before you commit. THANKFULLY, they offer a 30-​day period where you can give them a 30-​day notice to vacate and you get your deposit back. However, you HAVE to stay in the apartment for 30 days after that until you can move out. You also have no choice but to pay the $ 120 cleaning fee at the end. While this is nice to not have to worry about cleaning the apartment, it would also be nice to have the option to save $ 120 and clean the place yourself.
The floor plans are really odd for the 1 bedroom units. There are sliding doors that act as «walls» in their 1 bedroom units but really it just feels like a studio. At around 540 sq. feet, they may as well be. The sound if you face Oak street is a bit annoying though the windows do a decent job of cutting the noise. Unfortunately the street is almost always busy and people love to honk their butts off.
The amenities are not bad — they place is still under construction but the gym is operational. The roof top is nice with grills and fireplaces/​heaters. They provide you with a bike for the day if you want but if you get it stolen you owe $ 900 (way more than the cost of the bike). There is actually a really cool library with lots of books you can read if you want. Getting packages is pretty simple but sometimes a bit obtuse.
The staff is very friendly — Sal and Alyssa have been great.
My personal recommendation is that if you are looking at a LARGE 1 bedroom or above and have the budget, this place is in an awesome location with good staff and I feel like once construction is over it will finally feel «complete».