Avalon Del Mar Station

DO NOT MOVE HERE. Please see my previous review for this apt complex, as this is an update with new issue (s)on top of the already existing/​previously listed…
So, I tried to use the broiler 6÷5÷16 for the first time since I moved in mid Feb, and you will never guess what happened! The broiler in their «luxury» appliances does NOT work. (I put luxury in quotes, as I do not know anyone who would consider a cheap, broken electric oven with a crooked stove top to be luxury.)

We have lived here for a long time, since it was called Archstone. We would like to take a moment to update the review and express our gratitude to the wonderful people who work here.
Danny Guatemala is a very friendly and knowledgeable maintenance person. He responds to our maintenance requests promptly, and he asks us how we are doing and even about our pet every time we see him around. We can choose to buy a house and move out but we would be afraid not having Danny around to take care of our place!
Richey Martin also is a very reliable maintenance staff, who’s taking care of us for many years. When our dryer finally stopped working after a few attempts to save it, Richey fixed it in an hour or so like magic. We really appreciated that he left us a thoughtful handwritten note saying he would ask his manager to order a new dryer for us if it’s not fixed. We never asked for it, because our dryer is still working just fine since then!
Alex Deras is another reason why we stay at Avalon Del Mar Station and haven’t gone anywhere else. There seem to be quite a few pets in our building and hence a frequent ‘messy’ situations. Alex must be cleaning each floor and elevator more than just once a day, because all those messes disappear quickly and I never see it twice. Our building is always clean because of Alex, and I can’t thank him enough for that.
On our first trip to the leasing office in years, we met with Ethan Lo without an appointment. He was smiling and 100% willing to help us with our questions about the lease. He made us feel very comfortable. Although his answer was not exactly what we had hoped, we were still content because Ethan explained the company policy and the logic behind it. We appreciate his honest communication, and respect his capacity to carry a rather difficult conversation with poise.
Avalon Del Mar Station is probably the best apartment complex in Pasadena for its convenient location and the hard-​working staff. If you are looking for an apartment in Pasadena, you should definitely give them a shot!
Lastly, we would like to repeat ourselves to thank all of the staff for taking care of us for many years.

The location is great and the service is AMAZING! Particularly Danny, who is super cheerful and always available to help you with any need for your apartment. Some of the units are close to the metro and you will hear the train bell, which is the only downside, but the other units are fine. I have been living here for 3 years now and would definitely recommend it!

just commenting about the service as a tenant: locked myself out of my place on a weekday evening around 7pm. called the national hotline and was not holding my breath. however, within 15 minutes a woman called me to say she was on her way. She unlocked my door and was very pleasant. plus, they didn’t charge me. I think her name was Alyssa or Adriana… very nice.

I love living here! The location is great! The Staff is always very friendly. Maria is always very friendly. My service requests are always handled right away and they’ve even gone out of their way for me. I lost my keys down the elevator shaft on a holiday night and they sent someone right away to help me get in to my home. Danny has always been super friendly, helpful and prompt from day 1! Super cool guy who takes care of most of my service requests. Mirna and Alex always have a big smile and keep the place spic and span which I totally appreciate. Onorio and Richey have also taken care of some of my service calls; always very quickly and efficiently and are super nice as well. Overall, I think it’s a great place with an awesome staff. I love it here!

Mucho dinero does not equate to quality at this location. I’m sitting in my very expensive apartment listening to my next door neighbor’s base vibrate my entire apartment. This is the 2^nd day in a row, and the 10^th week in a row that I’ve complained about this to management and called security. The security patrol is a joke, the maintenance crew is not dependable and once you sign your lease, you can depend on the leasing agents to not want to do any work in your favor. They can’t even be apologetic about any issues that arise.
The washer makes a loud whistle any time you run it. The dryer was taking several cycles to dry anything. Complained about these issues for more than 6 months before the dryer finally quit working. Submitted a maintenance issue through the website and no one ever responded. Finally went into the office to complain and one of the maintenance people showed up to check it out. Another week went by before another trip to the office to find out if we were going to get a dryer that functioned. Was told that they could come by on Tuesday to replace the dryer. Unfortunately, I had major surgery scheduled for that day so we asked for Thursday and they agreed. Two days after having had a double mastectomy for breast cancer, I’m laying in bed listening to the maintenance man right outside my bedroom door argue with my 71 year old mother that they did not have a dryer to replace the non-​functioning dryer. My senior mother finally went down to the office and told them that they need to go buy a dryer that day. Lo and behold, a dryer was finally found — they took a used dryer from one of the empty apartments to replace the used one in my apartment that no longer worked.
Expect to be awoken at least once a month or more on the weekend to the sound of people on the street at 2am-​3am screaming at each other. Also expect to be awoken hearing the constant barking sounds of dogs on the street that belong to these people.
The underground parking gets really old really fast, especially when there’s a long line every day from going and coming out of both entrances/​exits every day at rush hour.
The elevators frequently go out of service and are not repaired for days. A couple months back one of the elevators in my building was out of service for more than a week.
Postal delivery is scary. I’ve come across my packages sitting out in the open of more than one lobby.
Again, the high rent price does not equate to any kind of quality of living or quality of service. The 6 month survey that they sent me — I marked everything at the lowest scores possible, and I never heard anything back from anyone regarding the negative feedback.

Well the saga continues, finally after being robbed with their «MTM» pricing of nearly 2x my apartment, I decided to renew my lease (didn’t have any options, would have preferred to leave) for the Month of April, signing the lease in March. You would think the lease would be effective April 1^st, since I did not have a lease at the time of signing a new lease. Wrong. They want to charge me the MTM price for the first 22 days, and the new lease rate (which is 100 dollars higher than when I moved in a year ago) for the remainder. I feel like this is totally unfair, and I am hostage in this situation. Nothing in terms of community improvements has happened either. Just the other night, a couple was making out/​fondling each other/​drunk on my stoop. Homeless people continue to camp out along the perimeter with no one doing anything about it. Trash is everywhere. Nothing has gotten better or been addressed. I had requested a small fence be put on the stoop which would deter people on my property, and they said they would not consider that, and people have asked before, and it was too difficult, etc. No one is doing anything to make this place better, they just want your money. Prisoner for another year. I just looked online and the exact same/​similar unit for a new renter is $ 2275/​mo, for which they are asking me to pay $ 2399/​month, a $ 125 dollar difference. The robbery continues.

Let me start by saying this review is based strictly on my tour of the facility and leasing practices exercised by Avalon Communities. I was fortunate enough to have met with Maria, to whom I give 5 stars for her professionalism, her sweet demeanor and most importantly, her honesty.
I’m the type of person who likes options. And I was drawn to this property because of the many amenities and transportation options; clean pool, super clean and updated equipment in the gym, game room, etc. And since it’s right in the heart of Old Town Pasadena, the transportation, restaurant and shopping options were perfect. So far so good…
I looked at 3 or 4 units; all 2 bed/​2 bath. Maria was so great in accommodating my request to see more units in different buildings. The floor plan on the first few units were nice, but I fell in love with the floor plan of the last unit. It was 2 story, had a balcony and new carpet. However, the kitchen appliances were not what I expected of a unit charging over $ 2800/​month with pet rent (electric stove… old school electric with burners, not the updated smooth top). The refrigerators were a little dated as well; not even stainless steel. In addition, the paint was obviously of lower quality because it felt gritty when I ran my hand over it. There were also some dirty hand prints on the walls and some grit in the showeer. Not a deal breaker but not particularly impressive either.
Because the location was beyond ideal (within walking distance of my daughters school) and high walkability score, I felt I could overlook the appliances and paint the walls with something of higher quality. Again, I was thinking in terms of location and convenience. But the deal breaker came when I asked about the end of the lease: what’s the liklihood of the rent being raised after the lease is up? Answer: anywhere between 5% and 20%. And it goes up every year thereafter. So for anywhere between and additional $ 140 and $ 560 per month, I can remain in the unit once the lease is up. Even if it remained at the 5% level, that’s still over $ 200 per month extra after the first 2 years.
For some crazy reason, I kept trying to justify the expense and figure out how I could make it work. I loved the location so much that I was willing to pay the potential hike. However, after reading some of the reviews on Unilocal and
, I’ve decided to look elsewhere. Had the reviews been better, I would have taken the plunge and taken a risk.
Hopefully the negative reviews will have an impact on this management company. If they change their way of doing business, I would definitely reconsider. In the meantime, I would not recommend this property to anyone who doesn’t have a solid level of disposable income.

We have lived here for 6 months now and just moved from Florida to Southern California. I take the Gold line to work so being this close was appealing. I was worried about the train noise, but I have gotten used to it over time. You can’t hear the train hardly at all, HOWEVER you CAN hear the crossing warning lights as they are very loud. If you are a light sleeper, this may be difficult. If you are wondering if you can hear them, the answer is yes. That being said you give that up for the convenience. The apartments are very nice though and enjoy living here.

Speak to Maria Bellamonte if you want a well-​considered review of which units are most to your taste. I moved from a first floor loft to a 6^th floor studio, and both were perfect for my needs at the time. The train a few feet away from you is ambient noise that didn’t bother me at all on the first floor and is inaudible from higher floors.

My wife and I moved to Pasadena a year ago and chose to rent an apartment at Avalon Del Mar Station. Overall, our experience of living there was positive, however, I have to give them 1 star due to their illegal retention of our security deposit after we moved out.
We are clean people and took good care of the apartment while we stayed there. Upon our initial assessment (standard in California), the maintenance technician noted that the carpets would need to be cleaned and the walls needed to be painted. To me, this is normal wear and tear, but I figured there was no point in arguing about it, so I signed the form and figured I’d pay the $ 410. Three weeks later, Avalon mailed us an invoice for $ 1,247. Here are the problems with this. Under the California civil code, the landlord can only add charges against a security deposit that weren’t included in the initial inspection under 3 conditions of damage:
* That was identified in the initial inspection statement and that the tenant did not repair or correct; or,
* That occurred after the initial inspection; or
* That was no identified during the initial inspection due to the presence of the tenant’s possessions.
At the time of our initial inspection, we had vacated the property, though we were still the legal tenants as we were continuing to pay our final month of rent. All of our belongings had been removed and we were no longer living there. Thus, we could not have caused any damage after the initial inspection, and our possessions could not have been hiding any damage since they had been removed. Avalon, however, had decided that now they would replace all of the carpet in the apartment and charge us for it, having never given us the fair and required opportunity to dispute that claim or try to remedy any marks ourselves.
Further, I noticed on their invoice that they had the carpet people come in on January 13^th, 3 days before our lease was actually up. I was given NO NOTICE of the landlord or cleaner’s intent to enter my property. California civil code requires that I be given 24 hours notice of any entrance into my property. Under the civil code, this is landlord intrusion.
I have copies of all of our paperwork and I will be fighting to get every cent of our security deposit back.
Avalon will do their very best to get money out of you at every stage and apparently will even stoop to doing it in violation of the civil code.
I cannot recommend anyone stay here.

Back story — We had been living in Valley Village for a dozen years — and had the best neighbors ever. It was a fun family neighborhood where we knew everyone. — Due to our landlord’s death — we had to move quickly — and tried to replace that same family we had built — but they were and are irreplaceable.
We decided to go the other direction and move into someplace more urban. Because we have a younger daughter, We didn’t want to live downtown. We found Avalon — or maybe it found us!
The amenities are gorgeous. Timmy and Maria are amazing. Get this — they set out a wrapping paper station to make sure everyone was covered for the holidays!
I had a couple of very minimal problems with a hinge and the sink and they fixed them on both occasions — in the same day (even though they were just cosmetic!). The facility is kept in gorgeous condition. I love the pool and gym. (I wish there were a hot tub.)
True to the other reviews — there are homeless. That is city life. It is a problem — but a social one — not one from the Avalon staff. My daughter feels really safe — which is really important to us. If you choose the city life, you are going to get every part of it.
They have awesome double paned windows — so you can’t hear the metro — but we get all of the benefits of having it at our feet! Besides that — there is a park to walk our dogs — and they are welcomed in the Avalon and in the neighborhood. There are hundreds of restaurants and bars and stores. My yoga studio even has a sister studio down the way!
It isn’t cheap — but it seems to be comparable to others — but with beautiful amenities and an awesome grounds and office staff. Can’t beat that!

i love the location here, very convenient to metro, highway 110 and pasadena old town. Staff here are great too! especially Maria!!! She is always so helpful, passionate, and makes this place even more homy. She truly cares the living quality of us, and let us feel more connected to be a part of avalon del mar. Thank U Maria.

I would like to add my voice to those who are saying great things about Avalon Del Mar Staion in Pasadena. I have lived here for one year. The grounds, location and particularly the customer service of the staff are all first rate.
Beginning with the staff of the leasing office which includes Narasha, Connie who has moved to another location, Maria and Timothy. At one point or another they have all done something for me. No request is ever to small or to large, their focus is always on customer satisfaction. I give my highest possible rating to Ricky who always keeps the building and grounds in top notch shape. Special thanks to him for so guickly fixing my AC during the last heat wave and also from leaving his home to come and let me into my apartment one night at 2:00am when I locked my keys inside. The cleaning staff does a nice job too and as with the others alwAys service with a smile.
I would recommend Avalon Del Mar to anyone.
Steve

The good: Amazing location in Pasadena, beautiful pool, awesome gym, Metro stop downstairs, best restaurants just steps away! Most apartments have killer views, too. Maintenance guy (Richie) is super nice and fast.
The bad: We really really really want to love living here. But there have been too many issues that have soured our experience. 1) An expensive item sent to us and held at the leasing office was stolen before we could pick it up, while under Avalon’s custody. They refunded us the amount of the item, though, so that was nice. 2) Our son’s bike was stolen from the parking garage. 3) A package of mine ready for pick up at the mailboxes was sliced into and then returned to the mailboxes. 4) Some west facing apartments get REALLY hot during the summer — running 20 or more degrees hotter than the thermostat reading. We have been given the run-​around by management and maintenance regarding this issue and it was only somewhat resolved after almost SIXTY days of interactions with the team. Still not happy with the resolution, but emails to management are now being ignored.
We UNDERSTAND that stuff happens. We are flexible with certain things — but the stolen package and temperature problem is why I cannot give a rating of higher than a few stars. We pay too much money for an apartment to be 85 degrees inside at 6 pm during the summer. Too bad — they could have easily earned our business for another few years. :(

Having an after hours crisis that hadn’t been resolved, was a bit frustrating. The following morning…
Natasha to the rescue… calmly listening she assured me she’d have
someone come by right away. In fifteen minutes Danny an Onorio. were
here. With a smile and great attitude they solved what was a difficult
challenge.
I thank you so much Natasha, Danny, and Onorio for responding in
such a kindly manner.
Elaine

The leasing staff made my experience awesome! I was on a short term lease and from start to finish everything was stress free.

This rating is for the leasing/​management office staff only. First of all, the staff there are very friendly. Especially Connie, she is also very resourceful and quick thinking. Long story short, I had several mishaps when I move-​in due to my own ignorance; oversized furniture, changing move day due to third party issues… to name a few. Connie was godsend. With her help, I managed a last-​minute same day change of apartments within the complex including switching internet connection! The office also kept an eye on my misguided mails! All maintenance requests were done in timely manner and courteously. I’ve stayed at other similar apartment complex in the area for years. Avalon Del Mar complex has the best crew any community could hope for. 5 stars for the office crew, the maintenance team and the location.
I would, however, minus one star for not having a grill in the common area (it’s metro station’s regulation, not their fault) and no freight elevator.

So, I adore this place. The location is amazing and staff is super nice & responsive. It is city living — so I do laugh when people mention noise or cost. There are so many amenities and you can walk out your door to great restaurants, shops, cafes, gyms, etc. You don’t even need a car if you did not want one since everything is walkable and you literally live at a metro station. I would and have totally recommended this place to friends!

See photos, We received an opened envelop 2 weeks before we moved out addressed only to our unit number. When we opened it we found out that the office mistakenly sent a «move in letter» too early to the new residents. The problem is they had their base rent attached to the letter. I used white out to protect any personal information, however, I also attached our lease renewal offer which was 200 dollars more than they offered the new residents.
Any current residents, please reference this when they give you the «we have no control over the market prices» pitch for why the rent has been raised more than 10%.