Gables West Avenue

Living here makes me healthier.
I can’t comment on long-​term management changes or inaccuracies of online posted floor plans, but I could have never expected how much my life would change, for the better, moving here.
For background, I’m an Austinite. I was born and raised in this city. I went to school in this city. I got my first apartment just north of the campus area, and I thought that was as good as it gets. How little I knew. After graduating, I got my first job downtown, and I resolved to live downtown. After experiencing sticker shock, I buckled down and told myself «at least one year.»
The Gables West Avenue were somewhat far down on my list of choices at first. They seemed kinda pricey and the exterior isn’t exactly a looker. But the location was prime, and once I discovered that they hid the smaller, more affordable, units in the back of the listings, the stars aligned and I signed my lease for 11 months (which was the cheapest for whatever reason).
I’ve now been living here for 5 months.
I walk to work every morning (amazing).
I go to Pure Austin Fitness across the street 3 times a week (Amazing).
I shop at Whole Foods for groceries or pick up some of their prepared food by the pound (AMazing).
I walk to Walton’s Fancy and Staple when I wanna grab a delicious Spinach and Arugula salad or Ham and Egg sandwich (Amazing and AMAZING).
I pop over to Royal Blue grocery to pick up treats late at night (so gooood).
Living here makes living easy (though not cheap).
I lease one of the units with the code AXMR. I obviously can’t speak for other units, but the usable space in my unit is fantastic. The kitchen is a generous size, which is great for someone demanding on their kitchen (like me). In fact, everything in the unit is a generous size except for the sleeping area, and who really needs that much room in there anyway? My only complaint about the layout is that I wish the washer/​dryer hookups were closer to the gigantic walk-​in closet instead of in the normal-​sized pantry, which I can’t really use as a pantry anymore.
Plus there’s the Seaholm development going in. I don’t live on that side of the building, so I can’t comment on construction noise, but the north side of the building gets very little noise from the Bowie construction (which is almost complete).

Gables makes dishonest promises to clients for making them sign up! The leasing office lady promised me to waive $ 250 admin fee (which was substantial for me as I was only leasing the unit for 6 months) and asked me to rather pay $ 250 as security deposit which would be refunded later. I did exactly that and she put that in the welcome letter as well. But in the lease she didn’t put it. I asked her the reason and she said that because lease is standard and she can’t change it but it is clearly written in the welcome letter. 6 months later when I asked for my deposit back, she says to me that lease is binding and not the welcome letter and so they won’t refund my deposit! This is clearly deception! If I had known about this $ 250 charge, I would have taken a different apartment which was second on my list.

I placed a deposit here when we were moving to Austin as we were charmed by the photos on the site. Don’t do that and make a point of visiting and seeing the units first before you decide. This is an old building despite the renovations done to it and it is apparent when you enter.
What worried us most were the hallways — they are so narrow and cramped that we almost had to walk single file to be comfortable and look like they might be hazardous in the event of a fire (many have locked gates and if you had to get out in a hurry I can’t imagine trying to run down the narrow hall only to have your way barred by an iron gate)
Unfortunately the one bedroom was not one but an oversized studio apartment. There is no patio/​balcony but a tiny cramped space fenced in with green painted wire (?) fencing on the plan we looked at. While it was being marketed as modern (naked concrete look) it was less that than very starkly bare. Felt almost like a cell; I don’t understand the pricing considering, but I guess it is the location.

Worst ever. Aside from the good location they are a disaster to deal with. We moved into this apartment and asked beforehand about the construction that was going on outside to which they responded that it was not going to be heard. Bullshit, they are literally 20 feet from our window clanging away at 7am every morning. When we asked to move out they still tried to charge us. When we complained they only reduced by half and were extremely rude. Ridiculous for the amount we are paying.

I lived at the Gables for five years before heading to a nice little rental house in Crestview. The obvious best part about the Gables is the location. You can walk to Whole Foods, West 6^th bars (and E. 6^th if you’re feeling dirty or want to see the latest Master Pancake at the Drafthouse), and you have easy access to Town Lake. The private parking garage is nice, but the downside is that when people are coming over, you just have to pray they can find street parking. I’ve had to «save» spots in the past with my car, and then moved my car into the garage when friends arrived.
The office folks are generally nice, and they always responded quickly to my maintenance requests. The only time I ever heard any type of noise in my place (courtyard view) was when there were concerts at the old power plant.
It’s a bit pricy, given that you can live next door at the 360 building for what they’re trying to charge for some of the units. You could also move down 5^th to one of the newer Gables for cheaper. Still, I’d recommend the place.

I found Gables West Ave to have very good staff and services. The leasing staff was always friendly, professional and very prompt. They also held events every few months for residents and clearly went out of their way to be helpful. Maintenance was very punctual. Facilities were generally kept clean and functional (the exception being the CoinMach Laundry machines which often didn’t work). The only issue we had was that for a while the swimming pool equipment was quite loud for our pool-​side unit. The location is obviously terrific for urbanites and especially if proximity to the hike-​and-​bike is valuable to you — can’t beat the location for that and proximity to Whole Foods. We lived there for about 2 years and were sad to leave.

Not a bad place to live, but definitely has both up and down sides. Overall I would say 2.5 stars but since you can’t do half stars I will bump it up slightly.
First the upsides:
1) You are walking distance to Town Lake, Wholefoods, Pure Austin, and all of the downtown bars and restaurants (though the 6^th street bars are a little far).
2) Not many college kids. Mostly young professionals. Some families.
3) Except for my very first night I have rarely if ever heard loud music or parties (though sometimes at 3am you can here people coming in from the bars).
4) Has a private parking deck. No sharing with people that pay like at some other complexes downtown.
The downsides:
1) WAY, WAY, WAY to expensive for Austin, Texas. I moved from NYC and found the place on the Internet. The price seemed reasonable, but I was still clouded by the high prices that are everywhere in Manhattan. This isn’t Manhattan, though you may think it is based on the price.
2) THE TRAIN: The freight train (and sometimes Amtrak) that travels through Austin makes a sharp turn right by the apartment complex. I did not know that trains when they turn make a deafening loud noise as the squeal on the tracks. Well they do. And if your porch door is open you have to close it to hear your TV even if the volume is all the way up. If you are outside it can feel like your ears are going to explode. After a week you learn to sleep though it, but during the day it is terrible. And on the weekends trains come by every 30 minutes approximately.
3) Construction: Not on your building but every where around you. When I moved here they were still building 360 condos and the Millennium. After completion there was no break because on the other side they started building Spring Apts. Now in addition to Spring there is another one going up (maybe another Gables). And from the sound of things the old power plant area is going to have another building go up. Construction is loud and pretty soon the view will be all surrounding high rise buildings.
Overall I stayed here for just 15 months. I did a year lease then begrudgingly went to month to month because I knew I was moving out of Austin soon. If I had planned on staying in Austin for an additional year I would have moved out after my first lease ended (month to month they increased my rent $ 300/​per month), but stayed because I didn’t want to move twice. If you really want to live downtown, it is a viable option based on location to everything. But if you are just looking for a nice place to hangout there are better places in Austin.

Staff stops caring once you sign the lease. Overpriced. Facilities in disrepair — my apartment flooded!
Engages in disreputable business practices — the leasing manager requested that I move out early, and once I made arrangements to do so, a month later changed her mind and demanded full rent, even though I vacated the apartment as requested.
I would highly suggest looking at other downtown living options.

i love this place. in fact, you’ll love this place so much that you’ll want to move in. seriously… amazing, clean, unique lofts and traditional flats. it’s fairly priced for downtown austin, which is pricey in comparison to the rest of the city, but it’s worth the peace of mind that dwelling in such a pleasant and peaceful habitat will provide…