Avalon Garden City

Somehow the rating is 4.6 when all the substantive reviews are bad. To recap the state of this property and be a warning to all:

-no security or appearance of security. this property is a magnet for crime/criminals in an otherwise safe area
-walls are paper thin. you will hear every conversation (in the best case scenario) your neighbors have
-dumpsters are regularly overflowing and smell in nearby units
-they will send out a lot of emails to "address" issues about smoking or off-leash dogs,... but nothing is actually done to address the issues and they continue to persist
-management is completely MIA and your only method of communication with them is through ticketing - admin tickets fall on deaf ears until you make a big enough stink about an issue (even then you will barely get a reasonable response from someone in management)
-prices are high and you can get more for your money elsewhere

-the only neutral thing here is maintenance responsiveness, but you can find that at any decent rental property for the same amount of money, so don't let that one aspect overcome the plethora of issues that exist here Lee mas

This property has a lot of security issues, and no one is addressing them. We have been tenants for about two years and have seen the FBI, riot gear and graffiti on garage doors and have never gotten as much as an email about security measures from the property. We have been noticing more and more issues, and we have attempted to reach out to management (we are told they are understaffed), put in tickets (that just get resolved), and have been trying to contact corporate (no answer). We are out... of ideas as to how to raise this issue to the relevant management team and don't know what else to do. This property is severely understaffed, poorly managed, and just expects residents to pay rent without ever receiving proper attention to what are very real issues. Lee mas

I'm personally a fan of Avalon living but this particular property is an absolute disaster from so many angles. I urge anyone planning on moving to this property to read this carefully first..

1. PAID PARKING? - My biggest gripe, I paid for a "reserved" parking spot for my vehicle and AT LEAST 7 different times (i sent pictures to the management in real time) over a year and a half there were cars parked in the spot. The signs that say they will tow you away are nonsense, they do absolutely... zero about it. It happens when it's snowing, when it's raining, and when the spot is most needed. My girlfriend has gone into the leasing office and was actually threatened that if she leaves her car in front of the car in our spot that SHE would be towed. If you find yourself living in this disastrous property do not pay for parking.

2. POORLY BUILT - It's hard to believe they would build this property so poorly. Doors close by themselves and everything is falling apart. The ground under the washer and dryer is not stable and more than twice there were tremendous leaks going down into the main bathroom completely browning the ceiling and making for an unsafe environment.

3. RUGS - You will get there, you will ask for new ones, they will tell you "No", then they will charge you for your rugs on the way out. And what's worse? There are rugs covering every single area of the apartment except for the kitchen area where the fridge is located. So you literally have to eat at your table and if you drop food off your table it's on to a RUG! Disgusting.

4. MAINTENANCE - Nice guys, I like them but yeah thanks to the way the buildings on this property were built there are some tasks maintenance will simply refuse to do. For example: The light you turn on as soon as you walk into your apartment is oddly located above a staircase making it difficult to change and it's very high up. When my bulb blew (why not use led bulbs so they DON'T BLOW?) but when mine went I called maintenance to change it and when he got to my apartment he said "I'm sorry I don't have the right ladder to change that bulb". I said but this light needs to work it's attached to the first switch you hit when you walk in we need to be able to turn the light on! He replied "Buy a lamp i'm not climbing up there and risking injury". BUY A LAMP REALLY? Lee mas

What you must know before you rent. The once "inactive" train line that runs predominately behind the town homes is VERY ACTIVE. The MTA is using that track for training and positioning of materials for the third-track project. The amount of noise is deafening. Usually 6 days a week from 7am till 5pm. Also the occasional 2am positioning of rail cars. Running diesel engines that vibrate the windows are common. Mostly the noise is large machinery lifting long rails up and dropping them into open... rail cars creating thunderous crashes or pulling the rails from the rail cars with screeching scraping sounds. Avalon management has been less than upfront with many things in this regard. They have had zero communication with us tenants. They are not actively working with the MTA (confirmed with the MTA Public Relations head) to be an advocate for us. A representative from Avalon would not answer or comment as to why they haven't been advocates for us or tried to monitor the situation at all. He also refused to answer if they are warning potential renters of the situation. He kept repeating, "sorry you feel that way". I find it disgraceful in a situation where most are now working from home and the noise is so bad you cannot participate in conference calls...not to mention daily headaches from the constant noise. The track is less than 30 feet from the back of the town homes. I had requested a sound engineer to take decibel readings as they seem in violation of what is allowed in a residential area. Avalon will not tell you the truth, they have no empathy for the situation and will do nothing about helping and most disgraceful - they will not warn you before you sign the lease. I specifically asked to be let out of my lease early they made a very small concession that still required thousands of dollars in penalty. Talk to the people living in the town homes before you consider renting. The MTA has confirmed that this work will only intensify more and continue for a long time. Lee mas

I wrote a review a week ago and just wanted to give an update. Now 8 months pregnant with twins, I unfortunately have NO proper update from Avalon. That being said, I want to keep sharing my experiences.

I keep getting told from management that they are reviewing what our grievances have been but frustrated and confused as to why since I've stated extensively and clearly since we moved in 3 months ago..

Some experiences you might have if you move here are:
- Major maintenance issues being... neglected
- Train work at all random hours. Sometimes 1am, sometimes 7am, etc
- Be given the run around by upper management
- Having an appointment for a maintenance issue to be resolved and no one shows up and not given any clarity as to why (this has happened more than a few times)
Lee mas