Apartment Question (Dallas, Center: house, living, restaurants)

[Lakewooder]

These are kind of hidden between Lakewood Shopping Center and Hollywood Heights (overlooking LCC golf course): Jefferson at Lakewood in TEXAS - Apartments for rent | ApartmentFinder.com

http://www.powerproperties.com/ are a little more urban - cool.

[fisher33]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate all your help and thanks as always for doing drive bys for me.

Is the Ambrose open and available now? It looks nice. Does anyone have any extra info on it? Is says they have rent specials on 6-12. Is that floors 6-12? I thought the higher up, the more expensive the apartments would be. Is this not the case?

There are so many places to look at it, it's all overwhelming. I just want somewhere nice and safe.

Thanks so much everyone.

[fisher33]

Just a quick update: I called the Ambrose a few minutes ago and spoke with the nicest person. There's a great floorplan coming open when we need it and they offer a discount to Baylor employees. She's sending me photos. Hopefully everything will look nice.

I am a little worried about the state of things/ construction when we move in. She said the pool, fitness center, garage, etc. should all be finished by the end of May. And we move June 1st. And she said construction only happens during the day and hopefully I'll be at work during the day.

What do you all think? Pepper, you said they were still pretty good into construction, do you think it would be too inconvenient to live there w/ all that going on or does it look like they're close to finishing when they say they will?

The rent on the Bachman floorplan is usually $1170 and due to a special and the Baylor discount, we'll be paying $927. That's pretty good I think. You all think the location and look of a new place will be worth that?

Thanks everyone. You all are lifesavers.

[sk8drummy]

Ambrose Broadstone is across the street from where I work. It looks nice, A little pricey. But it's definitely close to baylor and deep ellum has a ton of great places to eat. Ambrose looks to be almost finished. They finished brick/stucco about 2 weeks ago. It has window and doors. I'm sure they probably have a model apartment already (since there are balloons in the garage entrance. The only concern I have is it's touching the easement for a DART line that's under construction. It's nice to be close to a DART station but it might be a little noisey. However, they don't run too late at night so it probably wont be an issue. Come check the place out and eat at Monica's while you're in the area!

[fisher33]

Do you think it will be safe where it is? Is it nice looking around the area?

We have already visited once and were trying not to visit again before we moved in June. We're in SC.

Do you work at Baylor?

You think $930 is pricey for the way it looks?

Are there things to do in walking distance? Is there any green around? Grass, trees, anything? haha.

Thanks for the help.

[Lakewooder]

The DART line will not be open for another year, so I don't think the noise would be a consideration. Also I have some rental homes which are near a DART line and it's not a nuisance.

As far as places to walk -- just north of Gaston is Swiss Avenue: Wilson and Beilharz Blocks - all redone by the Meadows Foundation: http://www.mfi.org/display.asp Historical Swiss Avenue- Dallas, TX - VirtualTourist.com Wilson Block (http://www.preservationdallas.org/new_site/tours/wilsonblock.php - broken link)

There's a very charming park, Central Square, with a gazebo. Also just north of Live Oak is Exall Park, which has a recreation center and is surrounded by Bryan Place. In Deep Ellum there are many restaurants, galleries etc. My classmate owns Retro Style Mid-Century Modern Furniture Knoll Herman Miller Dunbar a great place to browse between Monica's - aca y alla and AllGood Cafe You could also easily walk to Dallas Farmers Market and Downtown. There is a dog park in between so if you are up to petting someone else's...


You could also check out these on Lower Greenville Cityville Greenville | Dallas Apartments -- no noise problem if you are in the back - great place to walk to bars, shops and restaurants and not far from Baylor. Cityville At Live Oak Apartments at 1333 N. Peak St Dallas, TX 75204 (214) 370-8002 presented by Cities4Rent is even closer to Baylor - some places to walk there also.

[fisher33]

So is the Ambrose is actually in Deep Ellum? It looked kind of dead and scary when we drove through - is this the case? Even google street map paints a bleak picture, but I know that was taken a few years ago.

I know you probably only write reviews if you're really unhappy about something, but when I read the reviews for all these places online - they are all almost bad. It makes me nervous...but if I were a tenant, I would probably only look for an outlet to write something if I were angry, but now that I know I will make a point to write something nice if I like my apartment - which I hope we will.

I think that's partly why I'm drawn to Ambrose - no reviews! haha, but that's not necessarily good either, I know.

Thank you Lakewooder.

[fisher33]

Here's some photos of the Ambrose if you'd like to take a look. What do you think? ambrose.barnaud.com

The floorplan we're interested in begins with photo 36.

[fisher33]

we made a pro/con list. would you all mind taking a peek and see what you think? it's pretty much a dead heat and we're having a hard time deciding what to do. any additions on either side are welcome to help us make our decision. we're considering ambrose if we do go the apt. route. good choice?

Apartment
+

• Safe
• Close to Baylor
• Places within walking distance
• Amenities
• Price
• Utilities cheaper
• Parking (one spot)
• New
• Free maintenance

-

• Noise
• Smaller
• Only one parking spot
• Risky (safety and treatment)
• Construction
• Furniture
• Have to tell homeowner (but haven't sent back lease yet, but we already verbally agreed and we would feel bad about telling him)

House
+

• Safe
• Roomy
• Nice
• Green
• Quiet
• Furniture
• No more looking
• Parking
• Good location
• Seen it

-

• Price
• Makes us miss lucy
• Yard upkeep
• Utilities higher (more to pay for too)
• Further from Baylor
• Older
• No free maintenance

[pepper131]

Ambrose has a couple of things going for it - next to Rush patisierre and Cafe Brazil. And the Dart Rail, but you'll probably be moving out when it opens up. Across the street is an animation studio called Reel FX (I think). Plus...it's RIGHT by Baylor.

But yes, I'd consider this Deep Ellum...and it's along Malcolm X Blvd - a street I'm not too fond of since it's a direct connection via a bridge to South Dallas and the Austin St Shelter on Hickory St. Some of these folks filter into Deep Ellum; although patrols have stepped up. Our former mayor, Laura Miller, made a statement saying how unsafe she felt walking around Deep Ellum a couple of yrs ago with her teenage daughter...this was a couple of yrs ago remember.

I haven't been down there too much at night. I'm usually in Deep Ellum during the day - Rush and the All Good.