Archstone Toscano

I moved in a month ago from another Avalon property, and I absolutely love it here! I had a very specific Service Request that went over so well that I decided to write a review.
One of the ceiling A/​C Vents rattled and made an unpleasant noise whenever the heater was on. In the service request, I noted that the heat must be on for the maintenance technician to hear the noise. Because I have a Nest Thermostat and I wasn’t sure if its operations would be user friendly, I also noted that the Tech could call me if he needed me to turn it on remotely from my cell phone.
Maintenance Tech PHAM NHUAN called me to confirm the issue, the specific bedroom/​vent, and I was able to ensure the heater would be running by the time he walked to my unit. He was very courteous and professional on the phone, and he also greets me when I see him in the hallways. Having a reliable and friendly staff gives me peace of mind.
I returned home to find correspondence that he resolved the issue, and I can now rest comfortably without my A/​C Vent rattling.
Thank you Pham Nhuan and the Archstone Toscano Team!!!

We have lived here for over a year. There are so many problems, I don’t know where to begin. But I will simply focus on the most serious situation to date: the elevator breaks down FREQUENTLY and there is no way to get out without waiting 30 – 45 minutes for the elevator company to dispatch someone from all the way across town. Two weeks ago, my 10 year old son was stuck on the HOT elevator for 30 minutes. We contacted the only on-​site maintenance person and he refused to help without us calling it in through the 800-​number maintenance dispatch because the corporate office told him he had to be dispatched or he «wouldn’t get paid overtime» because it was a Sunday. That is NOT A JOKE! He ended up then coming out and resetting the elevator (which took 3 minutes) but not before he said NO and several residents were trying to pry the door open with screwdrivers and a crowbar.
That incident was the third (and most serious) time one of my kids got stuck on the elevator while taking our dog out. The first two times were when my 14 year old daughter was stuck for 30 – 45 minutes each time. Those were less serious because it wasn’t quite as hot when she got stuck and she is 14 and wasn’t crying and as freaked out as my younger son. When it happened, I threw a fit, as I’m sure you can imagine. We have asked time and time again for the problem to be fixed permanently, to no avail. Well, guess what happened AGAIN today! My daughter got stuck again! They didn’t fix it and apparently are refusing to do so! Thank God she had her iPad with her so she could email me that she was stuck again and it was before 6pm. There happened to be a maintenance worker passing by and he reset the elevator. But had it been 30 minutes later, she would have been stuck for 30 – 45 minutes while the elevator company dispatched someone.
I could go on and on about this community and how miserable we are living here, including the fact that they contract with a towing company to patrol the parking garage and TOW residents who park over the line without warning! We have TWO neighbors who have been towed in the last few weeks despite the fact that they parked over the line because the cars on either side only left room for a car if it parked over the line as well. But that doesn’t matter. There aren’t enough parking spaces. Parking is a NIGHTMARE!
Do NOT make this same mistake. I will continue to post updates to keep the public informed until our lease finally ends. CANNOT WAIT!!!

OK the pet poop in the halls are getting out of hand!!! Seriously, I love MY apartment but its a minefield on the way to it!!!

Lived here about 20 months and Overall I’m very pleased. Have loved staying here in the time I have been here. Office staff gets to know you and always tries to help its tenants. Very responsive to service requests both in your apartment and community problems. It is a little pricey but you pay for upgrades amenities and little touches so it’s worth it. Couldn’t be a better location to shopping and the medical center. Rice village, the heights, downtown, reliant stadium and other areas all within about 10 minutes. The whole complex is only about 2 – 3 years old depending on when the specific building opened. You have young families, to older couples to people here for medical treatment, to young business people. Overall a very quiet community that offers a lot of events for residents.
My only complaints are that the parking garage speed bumps destroy your tires. It basically feels like you’re jumping a curb every time you hit one. Would also love to have valet trash or closer trash because the only trash areas are on the opposite corners from where I am. The appliances are also on the cheaper side but get the job done for the most part.
I would recommend this complex! I will probably renew my lease for a bigger one bedroom in April. I hope it stays well maintained and up on pest control!

Bad customer service. Don’t waste time on talking to any of leasing office associate. They’ll pull up information from website and read it out. Pretty useless and not informative. Also I’ve talked to few Residents about their experience with community and their biggest complains are poor maintenance service, horrible parking garage and trash situation. The parking garage door always has security breach and is malfunctioned 90% of the time. The speed bumps are not strategically built and will ruin your car tires. The trash situation is even worse. They have implemented signs in Arabic (seriously !!!) and still the residents do not place trash in trash chute. This leads to accumulation of trash and the entire parking garage stinks. It is definitely not worth the money. There are better choices in and around medical center.

This wasn’t a bad apartment complex at all. I actually liked living here. The only reason I moved is to help a friend out by being his roommate, and I wanted to move closer to my job. The maintenance staff is by far the best I’ve ever had. They get on the ball whenever you send in a request. The office staff is very, very nice. They make sure you have everything you need. Be aware of the parking garage which is awkwardly laid out in addition hearing your neighbors play video games.
What will be the downfall of Archstone Toscano is when all of the Rice students find out about this place. There were a mixture of college kids, young professionals, doctors, and retired folks living here. Not a bad place at all.

Hey Guys,
This apartment has its good points and its negative points. I live here and I’m generaly happy about it. If you’re interested in moving here, I’d be more than happy to discuss my experience. I’ll be very honest about it. In return I would ask that if you do choose to live here, if you could put down my name on the referral. They give a referral discount and it would help out since I just graduated with a lot of debt. lol. but seriously, if you’re going to check this place out and get a tour, send me a message via Unilocal and I’ll respond.

I have lived here since mid-​August and some things have changed since the earlier reviews were posted on Unilocal.The construction on the 3^rd portion of the complex is almost complete so there is now a nice sized gym with new equipment, a 3^rd mid-​size pool, outdoor grilling/​seating area and a small dog walk/​area. This is in addition to the club house room with the TVs, coffee machine and computers. Compared to the other complexes I’ve lived in, I think Archstone is rather nice — not spectacular, but it is decent and convenient for me since I work in the medical center. I agree that the rents are high for the living space you do get. At first glance, everything looks very nice, but the appliances are bottom line cheap with an aluminum finish, the cabinets are awful — upper cabinet shelves not spaced appropriately so you can’t fit any wide dishes or something taller than a juice glass on the 2^nd and 3^rd shelves and the bottom cabinets you can’t reach anything in the back because the cabinet door is cut too narrow. I really like the soaking tub in the bathrooms, but the bathrooms themselves are very dark and the hardware they chose to install is industrial-​cheap. The carpet throughout the apartment is also garbage and they will probably charge me to replace once I move out even though I am the only one living here and I do not have pets nor walk on the carpet with my shoes. I wish they spent more money on the finishings and less on the architectural details in this place (do I really care about a recessed doorway leading into my bedroom? The answer is no). I also agree that the parking garage was very poorly designed and is dangerous since there are many blind and tight corners. Even with all of the negatives, I think the best positives are the location, the leasing staff and the maintenance people.

Moved in around November of last year and I enjoy this place 90% more than my old complex. It’s brand new and I feel safe!
–Gym is always clean and very nice
–Appliances are standard, nothing over the top, but what you would expect in all apartments
–Rent is pricey BUT safety is better than most complexes in the area
— Computers and printers are great amenities! Very nice apple computers and printers that work great.
–Hear doors closing here and there, but it’s an apartment what do you expect. For the most part, when I sleep in on Friday’s off, it’s very quiet after 8 am.
–Parking is good, no assigned parking spots that you have to pay extra for. They recently installed speed bumps which are TERRIBLE. I live on the 4^th floor but now park on floor 1 or 2 because of the speed bumps.
–Stinky sewer if you face Braeswood. I face Brompton, so no complaints.
–AWESOME Coffee maker!!!
–Cheap cabinets and cheap paint on walls
–Must have FOB to enter any hallway from parking garage — great safety feature
–Parking gates are terrible
–So far I’ve seen a lot of people in the medical field living here, and other professionals and small families.
–If you work in the medical center there is a shuttle bus that picks up outside of the complex
–There is no dog park, but there are several nearby
–The hallway floors need to be cleaned more often
I noticed a lot of people on here complaining, but you see apartments before you sign the lease, so it’s no surprise when you move in!

Don’t let the fancy swimming pool, conference room, business room, and community kitchen distract you from what is trully important– your LIVING SPACE. I made that mistake. This is not luxury! I don’t call spec house carpet, fake tile flooring, CHEAP, CHEAP low-​end appliances, high-​gloss painted particle board cabinetry, small, shallow, fake stainless steel kitchen sink, and old school window blinds luxury (thekind my grandmother had). This place is just a fake illusion of luxury. When you tour the property, LOOK AT WHAT IS IN YOUR APARTMENT! Again, don’t get distracted by all the bright colors in the common areas. They are brightly decorated to keep you from seeing the apartment for what it is. You can rent this «luxury» apartment all over Houston, but cheaper.
The other reviewer was right about the dust. You will never be able to keep a clean car while you live here.
The parking garage is a nightmare to navigate. They designed the turns too small. It is very dangerous.
Lastly, but more importantly. Don’t expect to get reception here. The number one complaint from most of the tenants is the poor reception. You lose signal immediately upon entering the garage and you won’t get it back until you get into your apartment and go out on your patio. It is truly ridiculous. And, don’t count on the computers in the business center working because there are issues there, as well.
I can’t wait to leave here. What a mistake!

The only reason that I gave it 1 star is because it would not allow me to give no stars. I have lived here since Feb 2013 when they first opened. The apartment complex has gone downhill since then. First when you put a complaint in for dogs barking or making noise they don’t do anything about. There is a person on the 4^th floor that lets their dog use the parking garage for the place for them to relieve them self. I have complained several times with nothing being done. The parking garage is a hazard to drive in since it was not designed correctly. Speed limit is posted at 5mph but that might as well be taking down since no one follows it. Sometimes on a hot day you have the smell of sewage in the hallways. Not sure there is anything that can be done about this since there is a sewage plant up the street. This is coined as a luxury apartment but none of the appliances are of any quality. You have pre-​wash the dishes before washing them in the dishwasher since they will not get clean. Be ready to wash your vehicle on a weekly basis because of the dust that flowing around. I have a black car and I have to wash it twice a week because there is clear layer of dust after a couple days. Also for what you pay in rent there are no amenities. Let me repeat this statement. There are no amenities. No Fitness Center No nothing.
The 1 thing that Ghetto Palace has going for since Archstone is its old name is the service people. Marty is awesome and when you put in a service request things get done. The people in the office might not be doing there jobs but the service people are. They will go above and beyond to make sure that you are very happy with the work that they have performed.
On a final note I would not recommend this place because of the different problems that I personally have had while living here. Will I renew my lease in Jan when it comes due, probably not but we will see if they clean there act up and make this place a nice place to live instead of being a place that you are embarrassed to say that you live.

I LOVE JARED SMITH! LOL
Ok, so Jared use to be a leasing agent at my current loft when they were owned by Archstone, but he transferred to this property before Greystar came in and took over. I have always called him a traitor because he left me, but I still love him.
In our quest to find a new place to live, I remembered he transferred near the Med Center so I discussed the complex with my locator, Harold Strickland with Renters Resource, and got the thumbs up.
Chris and I dropped in with cupcakes from Celebrity Cupcakes for Jared (gluten-​free one for Jared) and enjoyed eating them with him before we went on the grand tour. I missed Jared so much, and apparently he misses my cooking, lol. He tells me that mostly all tenants are either doctors, med students or residents, and the rest are older couples. I did love the floor plans and the freaking kitchen is absolutely amazing! My only problem is the dining area in the model (which the size is great for us) was almost nothing and he have an 8 seat bar table so it definitely would not fit! Granted we don’t entertain much, but we do entertain; and our table comes in handy for his large family. Jared says he has a floor plan that he thinks we would love, but he did not have one available to show; however, he said he will let me know when it does so we can see it.
They are still building here so chances are we may end up in a unit that is brand spanking new. The pool area is incredible; did I mention how amazing the kitchen it?! LOL
Jared also tells me they shuttle residents to the med center since most of the residents work or study in the med center too!
Granted the price per sq ft is a bit high, but it is not highly insane; however, it may just be a determining factor in the end. I am still totally enamored by that freaking kitchen! If you’re in the area, please talk to Jared!