Jefferson 1001 Ross

I am being asked to pay an admin fee in the amount of $ 125. Upon visiting the property and receiving a price quote, I was never told anything about an admin fee. It was first mentioned to me on Saturday April 30 (the day before my move) by Claudia, the new apartment manager. I explained to her via email that this was the first time I received any information about that fee. I had already paid the $ 100 deposit and $ 50 app fee. I had even signed the lease already. No one ever mentioned any other fees besides the $ 925 rent. She emailed me stating that everyone has to pay the fee and that it was listed on the floor plan I received. I let her know that I never received said information. I also stated that I’d be happy to make the payment if she could provide me with documentation showing that this was a required fee and that I was made aware of this. I have reached out numerous times to Claudia via email and I have yet to receive a response. I have had two notices placed on my door stating that I have a balance of $ 100 on file. The inconsistency is an issue for me. I don’t understand how I’m expected to pay, first, $ 125 and now $ 100. I haven’t been in this apartment for a month yet and this has been the worst apartment experience I’ve ever had.
Upon submitting my application, it took two weeks for me to be approved because no one had submitted my application manually in the office. I was told by office staff that I was to hear back within 2 days. I called numerous times and left multiple messages with the answering service. When I finally received an answer, the young lady in the office submitted my application and I was approved within minutes. She told me that the office staff never submitted my application. This type of turnaround is ridiculous.

I have lived at 1001 Ross for just over 2 years. There are certainly pro’s and con’s to living in any apartment, so here is my experience with this one.
The location is fantastic. You are just a quick walk to Victory Park which is great on game day. You are a few minutes walk to Klyde Warren as well as the Arts District. Also, the value for the price paid is by far, the most economical price point downtown, especially for the size of the units. I have lived in a 3 bedroom as well as a 2 bedroom unit and they were great!
You are also right on the DART line and you can literally walk anywhere in the Downtown area. It’s very convenient.
The parking situation leaves much to be desired. I have a great parking space in the back, where the larger spaces are. Others are not so lucky and have spaces against pillars. The spaces tend to run on the small side and damage is imminent. Visitor parking is tough. You must have a parking pass from the office and they are only open until 5:30pm. It can be hard to get there if you work until 5pm. No pass? You get towed.
Packages are very frustrating as you have to sign out the package from the office and during the holidays they turn packages away because they do not have the space to store them.
The common areas tend to smell of animals and weed. The stairwells are gross and there is literally ALWAYS animal poop on the stairs. I have even seen people walking their dogs in the garage and leaving the poop.
The tenants, at least on my floor, are not the nicest and I believe a lot of the units are rent controlled.
The office staff has turned over many times in the last 2 years. It’s hard to tell who is permanent and who is a temp.
Maintenance is AMAZING and your problems are fixed almost immediately.
The water bill runs about 2 months behind and tends to be very high. We pay around $ 75 a month which seems steep for 2 people in an apartment.
You can pay your rent online, which is very convenient.
Finally, safety and the aggressive panhandlers. It’s a mess. The City is doing a great job of cracking down on this but every day there is someone begging outside the CVS for money. They get so bold as to tell you to go in and get cash back. Safety in the parking garage is scary. It is dark and the gate is broken weekly. My belief is that if you are required to pay for parking, then safety needs to be covered in the garage.
The safety officers are jokes and run around scanning barcodes to show they checked into the building as opposed to actually patrolling the space.
2 years ago there were several home invasions where doors were kicked in and people were robbed. Several cars have been burglarized and visitor parking is regularly having damage to the cars due to small spaces and break-​ins.

Living at this apartment has turned into quite the nightmare. I think the only positive I have experienced is that the rent is low. As for the negatives…
1. It’s unsafe, I can not walk around or feel comfortable leaving my building after dark because there are so many homeless people around and they have a tendency to sleep in our parking garage. When I first moved in, there was a homeless man bathing in the fountain outside of the leasing office. That should have been the first sign to get out. Also, the front door to access the building is broken meaning essentially anyone can have access to the apartment and management has done nothing to fix this.
2. Management is terrible. We have had ants, clogged drains, and a broken dishwasher. Has any of this been fixed? Of course not, because management never seems to be around and refuses to answer their phone or respond to emails.
3.The place reeks of weed, dog pee, and there is always trash on the floor. I refuse to even bring friends over because it is downright embarrassing,
4. Back to safety. Over Christmas, I left my car in the parking garage and when I came back I realized someone had tried to break in and stole two bags full of men’s clothing out of my car. Did management do anything about this? No. Do they even have cameras in the parking garages? Of course not.
5. If you have a pet good luck! There isn’t any grass remotely close meaning that there is not any place for your pet to use the bathroom besides the stairwell in the apartment or on the sidewalk outside.
6. The gym is a joke. There are two ellipticals, one of which is broken and a couple weights. Enjoy your workout.
7. Parking is awful, the spaces are too close together meaning if you don’t have a compact car, you’e out of luck.
If you don’t care about poor management, safety, cleanliness, bugs, and broken appliances then you will love living at Jefferson 1001 Ross.

I have lived here over a year and waited a while to post a review, but I will go ahead and do so at this point.
Most of the reviews that I read are very overdramatizing any issues this place has, honestly. First of all, the cost of rent is very reasonable considering how much it jumps up just 2 or 3 blocks on the other side of Woodall Rogers and into Uptown.
In addition, many of the reviewers have commented on the level of outside noise from fire trucks, marathons, and other downtown events. To that I say, if your concern is noise, I would highly recommend not moving to a central business district (or Uptown or really any place within 3 miles of the core). A little bit of noise is one of the obvious downsides of living in an urban environment. The apartments are constructed quite sturdily of actual brick (in the typical historic West End style), and I’ve never heard anything more than the usual outdoor noises, which I’ve really had no issues adapting to.
There are definitely not a ton of parking spots for visitors, but again this is downtown, and not a huge surprise. There is a plethora of very low cost and well lit street and lot parking nearby.
The homeless are indeed fairly aggressive in the area, however; I have traveled extensively and will say that Dallas has some of the most aggressive homeless population I’ve seen, whether you’re in downtown, uptown, oak lawn. The location doesn’t matter. They will stop you for money. It’s best to ignore them and move on. This downtown location is not any worse for that.
Here is what they do well, and that is why I have stayed for over a year: again fairly prices and they are very well managed. It’s rare to find a complex so well staffed and organized. Anytime we have maintenance issues, they are addressed same day. No questions asked. The staff is courteous. You can interrupt any time of day to pick up packages.
In addition, the DART light rail and the MATA trolley lines are incredibly close by. This is a great area to park your car in the garage and really not have to jump in it all weekend. There are a nice amount of entertainment and dining options to walk to on Main Street. In addition, the aforementioned trolley line zips you to uptown where there are more bar options as well as a several grocery stores, including a brand new Whole Foods. The Katy Trail and American Airlines Center are mere blocks away as well. Easy to walk to.
While not perfect, this place is pretty decent if you’re wanting to live a more urban lifestyle in a very sprawling metroplex.

I have known a few friends that have lived here before. The gym and business center as well as the apartments themselves are very nice.
However, the visitors parking situation is unlike any other I have ever seen and completely unsafe! The spots are too close together. I almost always get a door ding or scraped bumper every visit.
And last night confirmed I will not be back. Me and 2 friends went to visit someone who lived there. We each drove separately. I was walking a female friend to her car as we left and the other friend (male) was walking to his when he witnessed a man being held up with a gun in the visitor parking back by the rest elevator. The pointless security guard oblivious to the entire thing. Please be careful, the visitor parking area is not safe!

This is a review of the leasing agent — not the apartment. We took a tour because we needed a place in downtown that will allow aggressive breeds. Online says they accept all breeds and have zero restrictions. Bad area or not, we have a massive dog — ain’t nobody going to bother me when they see my beast.
So, we came in and saw a party of three waiting on a Saturday morning. For some reason, they staffed ONE person to work on the single day that most people are free to apartment shop. So we waited, and waited. The party ahead of us took their tour while we were handed a single page ‘brochure’. The brochure listed that restrictions apply for pets. Uhm, what? We chose this place because of their lack of restrictions.
Husband saw this and asked for breed restrictions and she said, «Uhm. We just follow the general Dallas apartment restrictions.»
Husband — «What? There’s no such thing. Every apartment sets their own restrictions.»
Girl — «You can just Google it and it’ll pop up.»
Husband — «Okay, so you want me to Google Dallas Breed Restrictions?»
Girl — «Yeah.»
She took the others on a tour while we Googled. When it was our turn, we asked her to print off the list because we couldn’t find it. I kid you not, home girl printed off a list of almost 100 breeds that are, in general, aggressive. Most apartment complexes have max 6 of breeds.
We told her that ours is a mix of the breed in the list and she said, «Oh, that’s okay. Just downplay that.» Yet when we looked at the contract, we will have to pay $ 100 to DNA test our dog — Uhm, what? You’re going to test what our dog is but we should just ‘downplay’ it? And risk getting evicted?
Goodness gracious. This girl is something else. She speaks like a mouse and cannot answer anything for the life of her. I don’t know how she was hired. Nepotism? Quid pro quo?
We bolted.
Not being confident enough in herself when trying to obtain new tenants means that her company treats their employees like shit and now they are afraid to be liable for anything they say.

Paper thin walls. Literally next door to a fire station that is constantly leaving the station with sirens blaring. I asked about this before moving in and they said that it wasn’t an issue. LIE!
No parking for guests unless you have a pass that is given to you by the office, which, just to note, keeps bank hours. Opens at 10am and leaves by 6pm. Most of us have jobs that require us to be there by 8am and fighting traffic doesn’t put me home until after 6pm. If you are lucky enough to find this golden ticket of a visitors pass, the parking in the visitors parking is made for power wheels vehicles only with an occasional spot meant for a Smart Car.
In the downtown area, there is a large homeless population roaming around. Having said that, most properties have security measures to deter these people from entering the property. 1001 Ross does have these measures in place… but… they don’t work half the time. i.e. the front door was hardly ever locked… EVER. During the winter months you get the opportunity to say hello to some local transients sleeping on the benches and in the hallways so some might take that as a + because you get to meet new people here.
In addition to all of that, every single marathon race, concert, protest, homeless guy screaming in the street, etc. can be heard at all hours of the night. If you enjoy sleeping in past 8am on the weekends… finds somewhere else to live.
I will say that this place does have reasonable rates given a downtown property but as with anything else… you get what you pay for.

I want to preface this by saying that I believe in taking negative reviews with a grain of salt because people tend to write them when they’re angry. That being said, I want to tell you what I wish I had read on Unilocal as someone who moved here from out of state.
First, the positives:
The apartments are gorgeous with open floor plans and modern fixtures. I signed a lease the moment I saw the spiral staircases in the lofts. The walls between units are well-​insulated, but you can hear street noise and people talking in the hallway very clearly. The maintenance staff is courteous and friendly. Any issues I had were fixed in a timely manner. I was honestly very happy for the first 4 or 5 months I lived here.
Now for the bad stuff…
This building is located in the most dangerous part of downtown. I am not exaggerating; look at the map of violent crimes and burglaries in Dallas. I am frequently yelled at by the many homeless people who sleep, vomit, and urinate (yes, I have seen homeless man butt) on the side of our building. I have started carrying pepper spray at night.
The rent here is quite expensive, which I honestly would not mind at all if the (new) property manager took any material actions to secure the building. The key fob readers that unlock the external doors have been broken off and on since I moved in almost a year ago. To address this, they started switching over to a new fob system in December 2014 and they still haven’t finished. The FRONT DOOR TO THE BUILDING is usually wide open during the night. [It has that mechanism that holds it open if you push it all the way open, ya know?] This is problematic because the grand stairway at the entrance leads up to the second floor elevators and stairwells which DO NOT require key fob access, not to mention the apartments on the 2^nd floor. The other day, we found a homeless man sleeping in the 4^th floor trash room. In the last month alone, we have received no fewer than 3 notices on our doors explaining that some apartments and many resident’s cars had been broken into and that the police had been contacted. To be fair, they did add another security guard to the night patrol. Now there are two advisably unhealthy rent-​a-​cops scanning QR codes around the building while actively avoiding eye contact with passer-​bys.
Finally, the hallways are often filthy. They ask to DNA test your dog at move in, but there is no mechanism in place to confirm whether or not current residents have pets. As a result, there has been dog poop in the carpeted the hallways at least once a month since I’ve lived here. Additionally, there are 3 cameras in the whole building– that’s to cover 18 hallways, 4 stairwells, and an underground parking garage, so there is no evidence of whom is allowing their dog to defecate in the halls. Furthermore, there is no video record of the folks who keep vomiting in the elevators.
I apologize for all the negativity, but I am truly frustrated that living here didn’t turn out how I had hoped. I do not feel at all safe here and, needless to say, I will not be renewing my lease. On one final point, I have managed to make half a dozen or so friends in the building, none of whom plan on renewing their leases. Should you visit the leasing office, you may want to ask what percent of residents at the Jefferson do renew their contracts. Best of luck to all my fellow apartment hunters out there!
P. S. Does anyone else think it’s weird that there are 7 other reviews of the Jefferson (mostly negative) at the bottom of the page that are hidden because they «currently not recommended»?

I’ve lived here a month and I LOVE my apartment. Despite living in downtown, it’s very quiet, and I live by the pool.
My leasing agent was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the others, but despite being busy, has done everything possible to make my life here more comfortable.

If I could give this place negative stars, I would. This place is terrible and unsafe to live at. Although they claim to have security monitoring the property, I hardly ever saw anyone and the couple of times that i did, he was just chilling in his car. In a year and half, my car was hit and run, stolen, and towed from within their «gated» garage. My boyfriend’s car was broken into not once, but twice. The building, especially the stairwells, constantly smell of dog piss. I seriously do not think they were cleaned or hosed down even once in the time I was there. If you live on the side where the aquarium is, heed this warning… the animals make noise ²⁴⁄₇ and you can hear them loud and clear. I think my last straw was walking outside one morning and a police officer asking if I knew anything about the homeless man that had been stabbed to death in the alley just a couple of hours before. If safety and your well being are a concern, DO NOT move into these apartments. They do nothing to increase security and the property is trashed all the time. Oh, did I forget to mention the community pot smoking spot outside of the garage elevator downstairs?

Great place to live!