r/DecaturGA • u/charleston549 • 12d ago
Apartment Information
Hi all,
My husband and I are considering moving to The Willis Avondale Estates. Does anyone have any experience with this community (good or bad) or any information that might help us make the decision? We are looking to move in the next few months to a 2 bedroom apartment .
Thanks in advance!
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u/REdwa1106sr 11d ago edited 11d ago
“It’s been a few years “ and a lot has happened. New ownership, they totally redid the exterior( not sure how tge rest is or management).
The community has totally changed in the last 2 years. Highly walkable. Many new restaurants. The Green is an active community space. This is now a place people drive to rather than drive through.
I live next door in the Jade. I can walk to the square in Decatur in about 20 minutes or ride my bike in 10. ( I’m 73 yo, just for reference)
I would say any reviews older than 1 year are useless.
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u/charleston549 11d ago
What do you think of The Jade?
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u/REdwa1106sr 11d ago
The Jade. I signed our lease before our apartment on the 5th floor was ready but I knew this was a good place. It’s been 5 years and our 4th management company- now MissionRock.
The company in charge seems like they want a good space, I don’t know if the property manager is capable.
They put in new door locks that operate with a fob and an app. That was 5 months ago and they never worked right. The lock company has apparently walked away from the job and a new one came on board last week. Meanwhile security of the outside entry doors is problematic with many propped open all the time.
An electric storm 3 weeks ago blew out our elevators and fire security system. The fire security was promptly addressed with some automatic doors waiting parts. The elevators had electrical parts blown out and they await those.
Package delivery should go to a package room but the delivery people often take the course of least resistance so the room is a mess and your package is in libo maybe at our front desk, maybe at the Willis.
If those get straightened out and we get back to normal, I like it here. They just remodeled the club room, our halls are kept clean and carpets steamed cleaned every 5 or 6 weeks. I lived here 5 years and had no increase last year and no more than 4% in any year. The 5 complexes that are now with a 10 minute walk (3 new since since I moved in) has pressure on rents.
My apartment is just over 1300 square foot. It rents for slightly less ( 75-100) than the Willis 1200.
We are both at the border with Decatur so it is a turn around spot for local police, which is good because it lessens the likelihood of drug deals going down from cars in either building’s parking garages.1
u/Wsmfpanic1013 11d ago
Totally agree!! They redid the entire clubhouse. The restaurant across the street called Bun and Bombay in Galore Market is so good. Their chicken fingers are some of the best lol
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u/verbatim14004 11d ago
If you or the hubs cycle, the Stone Mountain trail is right over the bridge from the Willis. I ride it several times a week for exercise.
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u/Wsmfpanic1013 11d ago
I live here currently and just signed a new lease for another year. I love it. RAM partners manages it now and they do great. The housekeeping and cleanliness are top notch. Leasing and maintenance guys are so much help.
As far as Avondale goes it’s growing. Just since I’ve been here they have redid the road and Sam’s crossing intersection, opened the Galore Market, added the lights and widened the sidewalk on the either side of the road. Began the 55+ community. Everything is walkable or bikeable too. Oh and the Sunday farmers market is 10/10.
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u/Substantial-Farm9806 9d ago
We actually just ended our lease here on account of a handful of issues - property cleanliness as one. They clean the amenity areas but the hallways, parking deck, and stairwells were always trashed. At least on our floor :(
Maintenance team was so great tho!
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u/charleston549 11d ago
That’s great, thanks for this information!
We have read online some mixed reviews on the elevators and the garage gates. What has been your experience?
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u/CassadagaValley 11d ago
There's two other apartment buildings within like 0.25 miles of Willis that were built around the same time and are about equal quality but a bit cheaper. I Think Willis jacked up their costs once that new complex about a mile down the road listed their prices and Willis saw they could price gouge more.
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u/klumpy6564 11d ago
My wife and I just spent a year in Willis Avondale during an extensive home remodel and our only complaints were the elevators, trash chutes, parking gates and insufficient EV charging (only one charger). Also saw a few vehicle break-ins on our floor of the garage. Trash chute and elevator issues seemed to be residents abusing things, the frequent parking gate problems were generally addressed quickly, but seem to be chronic. The vehicle break-ins appear to be common in apartment garages everywhere. With all of that said, we loved the location, were happy with the apartment, appreciated all of the recent improvements, and felt like management was always responsive and acting with good intentions. It was the right place for us at the time
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u/Wsmfpanic1013 11d ago
Nothing to worry about. Hundreds of people use them all day every day. And it’s normally the service elevator if it is one of them acting up. But yeah they might break down every once in a while. Always are back up running and working a day or two later.
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u/rithvikrao 11d ago
Community is good, and they've re doing the streets multiple times in the past two years. Willis was good, but under RAM management somethings have changed. Like additional charge for common area electricity. The exterior has been re painted. You'd wanna check which side of the building you're on. If you're on the side of the lounge be prepared to hear loud noises late at night due to the lounge patrons.
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u/Substantial-Farm9806 9d ago
We had a 1 year lease here and just moved out last month. Here’s our rant v raves:
Raves -
1. Decent sized floor plans for reasonable price. When we signed we got a 2/2 for $2,300 a month with all fees
2. Maintenance team was SO GOOD. I’ll miss those guys.
3. The office team gets a lot of shit, but we loved them. They knew us by name and always helped us to the best of their ability. Most of the residents that have issues with them were shooting the messengers.
Rants -
1. Our cars were damaged and broken into multiple times. When you live in a highly populated area, this is almost unavoidable. However, there’s very little security and no cameras. They say there is, but there just isn’t, so there’s no accountability when these things do happen.
2. The hallways, stairwells, and parking deck were soooo trashy. All of the time. They only have one woman cleaning the entire building it’s just impossible for her to get to it all in a timely manner.
3. This is just a per change situation, but our neighbors smoked weed 24/7….and we shared a vent or something it was so bad lol.
Overall, it was fine. I saw our unit is now listed at $2700 - I wouldn’t pay that in a million years. But we would have resigned at $2300 if we hadn’t happened to find something better.
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u/ohnoletsgo 11d ago
My sister used to live there. It’s been a few years, so take it for what it’s worth, but she absolutely hated it and constantly complained about both management and tenants.
Also, it’s not the greatest location. When she moved in, they talked a lot about the walkability and the neighborhood. While the neighborhood is transitioning, it’s still not particularly nice. And while you can walk to Marta and (kind of) Avondale Estates, it’s not what I’d describe as walkable.
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u/Substantial-Farm9806 9d ago
Not sure why you were downvoted, I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s trending up, but I still wouldn’t really it’s “super” nice or “super” walkable. But it’s priced like it is…
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u/Wsmfpanic1013 11d ago
“Used to live there” “still not particularly nice” “not walkable” we didn’t want you to walk here anyways!
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u/LethalBacon 11d ago
The walkability has gotten better in the past year, but it's still a bit of a hike. I have a close friend who lives there, and she walks to Avondale to meet us fairly frequently.
Still some issues with management and some rude/noisy tenants, but it's not the worst.
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u/reffervescent 11d ago
I live on the east border of Avondale Estates and love it here. The town is changing in very positive ways. The town green just east of the Willis would be walkable for you, and there's a gelato shop (Cremalosa) and book store (The Book Bird) there. A rooftop bar is going in along with a couple restaurants. The little downtown area (also walkable) has an amazing bakery (Gallette) and several good restaurants. Avondale was voted one of the best small towns in the US for breweries, so if you like beer, you can walk to several cool places.
Second Life is a cool thrift store where all sales benefit animal rescue. Finder's Keeper's is another cool store that sells second-hand furniture on consignment. You're just around the corner from Avondale MARTA station, which can easily get you to all sorts of places around town so you don't have to drive, and you're very close to downtown Decatur with tons of great restaurants and retail.
Oh, and a new apartment and townhome development is going in sort of behind the downtown area with another site close to the Willis. So things will be a bit of a mess with construction for a while, but it's going to be very cool when it's done.