2222 Smith Street

I’ve only lived here a couple of weeks, but it’s been great so far. The location is very convenient and walkable. The staff is incredibly nice and was very quick to help/​respond as I was moving and relocating to a new city.

I have been at 2222 for a little under a year, but feel that I have some insight into the building as I have rented a single bedroom here and a double. I’ll try to keep this helpful but succinct!
As other’s have said, you’re in the heart of midtown, so location is fantastic. Both the one bedroom and two bedroom are generous with space. The building is still pretty young and so in good condition, as are most appliances and common areas. Service requests are taken care of very quickly and they take care of the public spaces.
Other reviews have mentioned a faulty elevator. I haven’t witnessed the elevator break since I’ve been here, although the thing moves at a glacial pace so it can be annoying to use. Management changed the gate code policy, so that each tenant has a unique code, so non-​residents need to know someone who lives here to get in.
Isn’t it horrible when you view a place and when you inquire about the demographic, the leasing agents will ten times out of ten say, «its a mix of people»? 2222 is predominantly (in my experience) corporate apartments and young professionals. I have also encountered students, young families with and without infants, and middle aged people.
Most importantly, I have had very positive interactions with 95% of the people. There is a small population of people who aren’t as courteous to neighbors as they could be (eg. blaring music at the pool during summer weekends, beer pong in the pool, etc). However these residents constitute the minority and don’t cause huge problems if thats not your kind of thing.
My final comment is on the management. Every employee from the man who does repairs to the manager are exceptionally kind to residents. Before and after signing a lease (twice) management has smothered us in kindness and taken care of our needs. When you live in a place like Camden or other large properties, you’re one in a million, when you live at 2222, you’re one in a few dozen, so the management can really give you the attention you need.
I’ve had qualms that I went to management about and their response was quick and beyond what I had expected. Additionally they hold resident events that are actually kind of fun (I’m not the kind of person to do meet your neighbor events). I would give a special thank you to Kelesia who has been very helpful.
Definitely check it out if youre looking for a place to live in Midtown/​Houston in general.

I’ve been living at 2222 Smith for the past 4 – 5 months, so I thought I’d share my thoughts this place so far:
Location: Phenomenal. Probably one of the best locations within Midtown for walk-​ability for errands, restaurants, and bars/​lounges. The small town within the big city. Very active and lively location because of all fun places to eat or hang out with friends and family.
The apartment unit: Well taken care of. Very clean when I moved in. All appliances, water, electricity functioning properly as well. Standard maintenance throughout my stay thus far (light bulbs, a/​c filter, etc).
Amenities /​Maintenance: I feel that these can go hand in hand. The courtyard is a very comfortable place to hang out not only because of the fact that it has a pool, plenty of seating, cabanas, grills, a covered patio, and an outdoor fire pit but most importantly because every single one of these items are MAINTAINED to be clean usable at any given notice. The pool and seating stays clean and the grills and fire pit stay functional. Granted I’ve been here during the fall/​winter seasons only up to this point, I have taken advantage of those few sunny warm days thus far!
Leasing Office /​Management: This last one is what made me bump my rating from 4 to 5 stars. This category brings the previous items and everything else all together because management can either make or break your experiences throughout your lease. I have been very pleased with the management of this property thus far. Lisa Everitt has been the head property manager throughout my lease here and has done a fantastic job. She and her team were very helpful and patient when I initially signed my lease. They have been very prompt with maintenance request (no matter what apartment you are in, things are always going to break and cause inconvenience) for my apartment and property related issues. Lisa is very personable, loves to meet and get to know the community, and has community socials/​events usually on a monthly basis (which is an effort that I particularly love to see for a community). Best of all, her and her team do all this with a smile on their face and don’t make you feel like they’re doing you favor.

Great place to live, couldn’t ask for. Better community! The apt complex is perfect and the apartment manager is an extra bonus. Lisa knows everybody’s names and apt numbers, hosts fun events, and is always waiting with advice, a hug, or whatever you need! It is so nice knowing there is always somebody in the front office happy to help you, and it wouldn’t be the same without her. Thank you for everything Lisa! If you want to live in a great location with a smaller atmosphere where if you want you can become great friends with your neighbors, this is the place to be!

Lived here for 6 months (due to work). The location is amazing! The apartment is literally right across the street from Spec’s (you share a parking garage with Spec’s employees), and kitty-​corner from Pub Fiction & Third Floor on one side, and Little Woodrow’s on the other. The pool in the courtyard is always clean (can’t say that for every pool in Midtown).
When we first moved in, we had a lot of issues with lightbulbs being out and various things that needed maintenance. They took care of everything pretty quickly, but we were surprised they didn’t check everything beforehand. The elevator is broken at least once a week (AT LEAST).
There’s a ton of space in the 2BR apartments, and people were always impressed with our apartment (size, location, and our view of the pool).
It seems like a lot of people know the security code for the front gate, which is convenient if you are expecting guests, but not so great for security. The garage gate was also broken (stayed open permanently) a few times, but I didn’t experience any issues as a result.
They had recently changed leasing office managers when I moved there (July 2013), and I never had problems with the office, other than the fact that the new manager didn’t necessarily know everything, but always called other properties managed by the same company to check her facts. But she was learning a new job, so I can’t blame her!

While the location is indeed great, the service is awful. The building management staff are terrible to deal with and their attitude is extremely bad.
Elevators frequently break down, the parking garage operates with a mind of its own, and the staff are completely incompetent, making living here a bad deal.

These apartments are in a locational sweet spot that can almost make it possible to imagine Houston as a real city. A single block separates the apartments from a Randall’s, a Spec’s, two pizza places, and at least 5 nightlife places. For downtown-​working young professionals, I think this is the best location.
Unfortunately, there is more to an apartment than location alone. The staff here are nice and they mean well, but it smiles and promises of future responsiveness don’t really fix incompetence. And getting anything done about anything outside of a maintenance request is often a Herculean effort. Infrastructure isn’t great, with gates breaking frequently and the elevator on the permanent fritz. Management was content to leave the parking garage security gate and camera system broken and unprotective of tenants’ property. It wasn’t until a rash of car thefts (including my own, which happened 6 months before I wrote my original review) and attempted breakins occurred that anything was done about it. Nice.
My earlier review stands as a great short-​term view, and I encourage anyone looking for short-​term to consider these apartments. However, if you’re thinking more than a year or so, you’d probably be better served looking elsewhere… a lot of the things you rationalize as being temporary, like terrible staff, you realize with another year are actual mainstays. Or, in Microsoft terms, they aren’t bugs, they are «features.»
Amazing location, but thanks to my now-​expired second lease, I’ll be looking at other options.
The bottom line: 5 star location hamstrung by 1 star competence. They charge top dollar here; it would behoove them to provide top service as well.