The Ridge Apartments

I lived here for a year 2014 – 2015
Honestly speaking, I mainly picked this place because it was the nicest apt in the Far West area & the apartment floor plans had a bigger bedrooms (vs living room) than others in the neighborhood. We got an apartment that was newly remodeled; laminate wood flooring, tile back splash on fireplace and in kitchen. I noticed we had brand new appliances (bc the stickers were still left on the microwave) bedrooms had brand new carpet, faux white wood blinds and brand new ceiling fans. The bathroom looked really nice as well!!!
The longer I lived here the more I realized what we were paying a month, just wasn’t worth the quality of the apartment! ($ 1400 2B/​2B) The water pressure was super low, when we ran our dishes in the dishwasher, there would be times when our dishes were not fully cleaned. Showers kind of sucked. Bathrooms are teeny tiny (I’m a small girl and I could probably reach both walls extending my arms out) — I mean I knew how small that bathroom was to begin with but just after paying so much month after month and then adding the water fees, and trash fees etc I wasn’t too impressed.
I do agree that the walls are super thin. I had about 6 of my co-​workers over for a Secret Santa party that started around 730, around 9 – 930 the manager came by to tell me that we were being too loud and needed to quite down. Oh BTW this is a Saturday night, no crazy drinking/​games/​party rager. So I turned down the music so much to the point where I couldn’t even hear it anymore but still wanted background noise. about 15 mins go by and one of the maintenance guys who live on property came by to say there was a «noise complaint» — Total buzz kill! After that, I felt like I couldn’t even invite friends over without getting a noise complaint which is silly considering how much money I am spending and we all know this is an apartment complex — Not a private house.
One time I did find that mold was growing in my room (at like 10pm when I got home) BUT literally the next day the crew came by and handled the whole thing. I had an apartment with a W/​D unit hookup however, my and my roomie never ended up buying a W/​D so the doors were closed the whole time. The apartment above us had a leak in their W/​D and just vacated — So the leak came down to our apt for probably about a week I’m guessing? I had been staying at my boyfriends periodically so when I stepped inside my room I noticed it was wet and some mold growing along the base boards. Called the office let them know, they came in completely took out the carpet/​base boards AND cut out the wall in the W/​D unit that was growing mold to replace it all.
They raised the rent up by $ 60 come time for renewal and we just decided it wasn’t worth it.
Loved the 2 pool options, and convenience though! Hope this helps with some balanced pros/​cons for potential residents!

I’ve been here for 6 months now, and the place has really grown on me. Yes, the non-​upgraded apartments are old and worn-​down. The office staff, though, is very friendly and really tries. Maintenance is top-​notch. They have a lot of units to maintain all the time, and they are a super group. I’ll stay here for the all-​around great staff. It’s a quiet, relaxed and friendly community.

I lived in 3 different places at Austin, and the staffs at the Ridge are hands down the best! I lived there for 6 years and I moved because I got work elsewhere.
Yes, these are old building and units, so they have old-​building problems, so do almost all apartment complexes in the Far West area. I don’t want to go into details about what issued I had, but I can assure you at least NO bed bugs or fleas problem for me. Some issues I had were annoying, but the maintenance staffs were very responsive. They almost always fixed stuffs in one day. Juan, the chief maintenance guy I think, was very friendly and helpful.
The managing staffs were all friendly too. Once you lived there long enough, they remember you and which unit you live. Some even remembered you very quickly, which was nice.
After I moved out, I didn’t expect to get a full refund on my deposit, but I got all my deposit!!! The money I spent on cleaning maid was well spent (I was just too lazy to clean it myself. My apartment was actually really clean). They made a mistake on the refund check, and I called them to solve the issue. The manager handled the issue but I also emailed her to follow up. The email response I got was way better than I expected. I actually didn’t expect an email response or a cold response because I no longer live there, but no, the manager responded timely and she was very helpful.
If you are a UT student and want to live in Far West area, I think the Ridge is the one to go to. It’s more expensive than others because of the location and the unit conditions (they remodeled many buildings and the complex facilities), but you get what you pay for. All 2 bedroom units and some 1 bedroom units have washer/​dryer connections, which is super nice because you can have your own W/​D in your apartment. Their waiting list is usually really long, so get on the list as early as possible especially if you want to move in in the summer.
I should have taken a star off from the review because of the issues I encountered, but good management and maintenance teams added that one star back.

I really like living here. My boyfriend and I have been here almost two years and it’s been a great little apartment. We have a small two bedroom in one of the updated units. It has nice fake wood floors, a great backsplash in the kitchen and updated features. The complex has nice amenities and it’s right down the street from the best HEB ever. The neighborhood is nice and quite and there are always tons of people going for walks. Also, the office staff is super friendly and helpful. I’ve never had a problem with them and highly recommend The Ridge for a reasonably-​priced, decent place to live. Unless you like to have loud parties… then don’t move here, go live near campus.

I won’t beat around the bush
1) Rude management. Very very rude.
2) Very old units. Also, you can hear your neighbors because wall made with paper
3) gym definitely needs improvement. Very small, tiny and smells very bad
4) additional costs. Add + $ 100 extra to your rent. (WATER, sewer, street cleaning etc)
5) they are closed at 4:30 pm!!!
6) DRUNK WORKERS. They are probably from Mexico. Always try to speak with when the drunk. Be careful !!!
7) the most apartments don’t have washer and dryer inside, but they have terrible laundry which is always dirty and the machines eat your money!
It’s up to you know!!! Go to Acacia apartments, much better and cheaper!!!

The ridge is a nice place to live in. It’s very safe, quiet and conveniently located near HEB and UT shuttle bus stop. The maintainance is rapid and responsive, usually fixed the next day or sometimes the same day. The maintenance guy is professional and helpful. Leasing office ladies are also helpful. The fitness center is nice and operated 24 hour. Never had any problems with the neighbors. Residents here are mostly UT students and I have never heard any noise here. I love that the laundry machines are operated by card instead of coin. fitness room and laundry room both have card access which is very nice. The best part about the apartments is that the rent is resonable.
They will increase the rent by 10% though.
However, with all those good things in the community, It’s not perfect. The buildings are very old, 1970s or something. We got very old appliances like the fridge. The bathroom is really really tiny. Floorplan is also not good enough. Almost no natural light in our living room or bedroom. The pool has always been full of floating leaves with no one taken care of except for the short summer months.
Overall, I would recommend this community and will update my review when I move out.

tl;dr — ⁰⁄₁₀; would never apply here again.
Worst. Customer service. Ever.
I applied for an apartment on a Saturday, provided all my documentation the following Monday morning, and received two phone calls the same afternoon: 1) informing me that I don’t make enough money to afford the apartment (which is incorrect; I was clear about this, but ignored) and 2) I have to find a cosigner who makes 5x the monthly rent b/​c of my «lack of rental history.»
I exhausted my resources trying to find someone who would cosign for me and feel absolutely humiliated for going through this process.
On Tuesday morning, I let them know I’ve made alternate arrangements and that I’d like to just cancel the application. The leasing agent said she’d have to speak with her manager to figure out how to get the refund over to me since she didn’t know how that part works.
She called back in afternoon and said, «Sorry! I messed up on the application and sent in an incorrect income amount, but now you’re 100% approved!» I explained, again, that I’ve made alternate arrangements and, now that I realize this situation is entirely their fault, I want a refund of the entire amount including the application fee. «I’m still new to the job and getting used to things,» is the excuse I get.
I insist on getting a 100% refund, so she transfers me to her manager who talks down to me, talks over me, and becomes audibly aggressive («STOP ARGUING WITH ME,» were the words that she used). It was painfully obvious that she didn’t care about the customer and only cared about «policy».
So now I’m less $ 60 for dealing with incompetence.

I have lived here for almost a year now and just renewed for another year. It’s not perfect, but no complex is. For what I get for my money, I can not find anything to beat this place. For around 1K a month for a ²⁄₂ with connections there is not too much I can complain about. My unit is not «upgraded» but I still have nice wood look flooring, crown molding, and lots of windows! If I had to say one thing, it is the electric bills are pretty ridiculous. When they did the renovation they should have replace the doors and windows. Aside from that, I love the fact that I can walk to HEB, the library, the post office, a drug store, a Starbucks, and some fast food/​restaurants. The property is zoned to Doss elementary which is one of the highest ranked schools in AISD which my son loves. The neighborhood is very active with walkers, bikers, buses and shuttles but still quite and safe. There are a ton of apartments on Woodhollow Dr. and I visited most of them. The Ridge is hands down the best so if you are apartment hunting do yourself a favor and stop here first.

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I would give no stars if I could!
Don’t live here. I took a chance on this place despite all the negative reviews and now I am paying the price. They charge you extra for pet rent but I have no clue what they do with that extra money. There’s dog crap everywhere — even on the sidewalks!
Also, they have tow trucks patrolling 24 hours a day so if you’re even a hair parked over the line they will tow your car AND you’ll have to pay $ 200 to get it out (they did this to me during the holiday season when there was no one even left in the complex because they had all gone home for winter break — it’s unbelievable what these people will do for extra money). They didn’t even notify me so I thought my car had been stolen. Turns out they towed it at 3am! Why are they towing cars at 3am!!!
The apartments are expensive and super tiny. I live on the second floor and the people above me must be sumo wrestlers. I hear every step they take and I can hear all their conversations, especially at 2am when I am trying to sleep. Plus, they smoke cigarettes outside and drop them on my front door step. I hate this place and when I asked how to get out of my lease they told me I’d have to pay close to $ 1000 to do so. There are a ton of other places to live near here — take your chances with them vs. causing yourself undue stress.

We have just moved in here (last week), so my rating may change over time. However, I think The Ridge is going to stay at a solid 4-​star rating.
The complex is very nice — not perfect, but nice. Across the street from the FW UT shuttle (and first stop on the route!), very clean laundry center, and I love the business center, since we haven’t gotten an internet connection yet.
— The laundry room uses the «card» system rather than quarters, which I don’t like
— Two of the people in the front office can get a little snobby sometimes
+ Dishwasher
+ Bathtub
+ 5 minute walk to HEB, post office, various restaurants, CVS, corner store
— — — — — —
After nearly a year of living here, I’m lowering the rating to 3 stars.
They replaced all the lightbulbs with the energy-​saving ones, and they’re supposedly putting in more efficient toilets. Which is GREAT.
The problem? They very consistently give less than 24-​hour notice for things like:
— Power washing the windows, which meant plants had to be taken in
— Construction work, for which anything hanging on the walls had to be taken down
— Replacing the lightbulbs, when they started coming by pretty early in the day and just let themselves in; apparently it took too long for us to wake up and get to the door.
— Replacing the toilet, which means pets have to be confined and the area around the toilet left bare.
Don’t get me wrong — I am very happy to see them taking steps that are environmentally-​friendly and will probably save us money. However, they always very conveniently deliver the notices right around the time the main office closes for things that are happening at 8 or 9am the next morning. Surely they plan weeks in advance for these kinds of things: why can’t they tell us at least a full day beforehand?