Bryson at City Place

I was a prospective renter and visited the Bryson February 2015. My #1 overall concern was the overall smell of the place. The building hallways smelled terrible! It smelled stale, old, and all around not cared for and the overpowering smell of whatever cheap cleaner they used to try and cover the smell. I spent 25 minutes in the building and left with a headache. I could have potentially gotten over the smell of the hallways had it not begun to permeate the rooms I toured.
Also, the building was renovated in 2008 if I recall correctly, but the kitchen appliances were out of date and in need of updating – especially at their current cost of rent.
The leasing agent that I toured with was relatively friendly if not a slight bit arrogant/​over-​confident, but when I asked questions about the place appliances, décor, replacement of old tatty carpet, etc. he became somewhat brusk and defensive with me. As I was leaving he said to me that if I wanted to get the apartment I looked at I better decide quickly and sign the lease as he had another person that was looking at the same apartment. And while it may have been true (although I felt at the time that he was lying through his teeth), he said it with such a 1960s salesman attitude/​persona that it did nothing but serve to tick me off.
On the positive side, the location is great for the Uptown area.

I beg of you, please do not move in to the Bryson at Cityplace.
I lived here for almost 2.5 years. Everything was perfectly fine… except for the dog park 50 yards from our window. Or the raging live music venue 300 yards away. Or the constant construction in each and every direction. Or the constant barrage of cigarettes on our balcony from the neighbors above, who apparently do not have ashtrays (which we asked the revolving string of property managers and whoever about no less than 10 times… they were always working on it).
But hey, these are things I could live with in the city. I consider myself a reasonable person. I’m not expecting the Ritz Carlton or anything. This is city apartment living. The Bryson would have gotten an A-​OK 4 or even 5 star grade from me for my years here. People in the building were nice, apartment was decent… no big issues really.
Until we moved out. After moving out the Bryson has attempted to charge us over $ 3000 to replace the wooden floors in our apartment. These wooden floors were not brand new when we moved on, they had been used for at least a year, probably longer, which we commented after moving in and on our move in-​move out form. They had been buffed a bit and maybe polished, so they looked OK, but they were surely worn. And honestly these wooden floors were so cheap and crappy that dropping a nickel on them from head height would have likely left a minor dent.
So about a month after moving out we get a letter in the mail saying that we owe them $ 3000 to replace the wooden floors in the unit. I thought it was a joke at first. They also charged us a few hundred dollars to replace the 5 year old carpets that were in the unit. What a joke. But I could have at least lived with these charges.
Hey, I’m not saying we left these floors in gorgeous condition when we left, but to charge your tenant the full price to replace crappy wooden floors that could have already used replacing when we moved in is absolutely ludicrous. Simply taking advantage of the little guy who has no recourse against a big management company. Upon sending us the bill they were ALREADY threatening to send this to a collection agency.
So please, despite the decent prices, please do not move here. And if you do, or if you already live here, please document everything in your apartment upon moving in and moving out. This was my first time living in an apartment managed by one of the big companies and I feel stupid for not doing this now. But unfortunately I was too trusting and assumed I would not be fleeced for over $ 3000.

This has been my favorite place to live in Uptown! The staff is incredibly responsive and kind! I looked at so many different apartments with my recent move and I chose The Bryson primarily because of the office staff. They were incredibly accommodating and made sure they found me the best apartment to meet my needs and wants.
The concierge service is amazing as well! It’s so nice to be greeted by Rapunzel– she always puts a wonderful bright spot in my day and I look forward to seeing her!
The maintenance is always incredibly responsive. In fact, it’s typically same day service, which is appreciated!
The facilities themselves are always clean and very presentable. I love living here and I would recommend 10 times over!

DON T MOVE HERE AT ALL COSTS. We initially moved into a 2 bedroom in February 2012. Management at the time was nice and helpful, which is partly why we decided to stay another year. For the second year, we moved into a 1 bedroom to conserve space. About a month after we moved, management changed and that’s when the trouble began.
NEGATIVES:
Bad office management and staff: So bad that the good quality maintenance staff that was there when we moved in was run off. Having talked with them personally, they said that they no longer wanted to be there because of the management change. On a separate occasion, I was told the same EXACT thing by the cleaning staff who we had come to know over the past two years.
Pool: Pool is out of control with people who don’t live at Bryson. If you insist on having pool rules for residents, enforce them. In one example, the Concierge had invited her friends to a Bryson pool party, and there were more people there for her than actual residents.
Gates to parking garage: is it so impossible to have these working ²⁴⁄₇? The gates to the garage were always coming down with issues.
Renovations: While I appreciate what they are trying to do here, get it together Bryson. One day, we had a note on our door announcing that they planned to paint resident’s doors from X time to X time and that during this process they would be leaving our doors propped open, but not to worry there would be hall monitors to make sure no unauthorized persons went into the residences. Except, yet again Bryson FAILS. My boyfriend came home early this day from work, and it happened to be the time they were working on our floor. Due to the proximity of our apartment to the stairwell, we take the stairs as opposed to the elevator. Upon entering our floor, not only was the door to our floor (from the stairwell) propped open when it is usually locked, there was NO hall monitor. AND, our apartment door was propped open with no one watching. Thanks BRYSON!
More security issues: My across the way neighbor experienced an interesting series of events. Somehow, someone was accessing our floor and putting the strangest items in front of his door. Dead flowers, a golf bag, poker chip holder, dining room chair with no legs, newspaper list goes on. This happened for a few days straight. When I came home one of these days, my neighbor was outside his home with two police officers and the then property manager (there have been a few since I’ve lived there). Apparently a homeless man was accessing our floor and putting these items in front of his door. Needless to say, this made me feel SUPER safe.
More: Lights in the stairwell went out, and we would notify the management team. We had to tell them countless times before they would be replaced. This is a huge safety issue! Additionally, there were homeless people who would come into the stairwell from the outside and would stay the night (granted this was before the existing management team was in place, but goes to show this apartment complex has major entry/​security issues).
Awful Move out process: We were nickel and dimed for every small thing upon move out. BEWARE residents. When we moved out of our two bedroom, we had NO issues and NO extra fees. I’ll note that we have two dogs. They have nails, and yes they scratch wood laminate floors. This is why we pay a pet deposit. Yet, somehow from moving the first time, where we had no issues or extra fees, this move out is SOO different. We get nicked $ 600 for scratches on the floor. Again, did I say we paid a $ 500 pet deposit? I also have a large 9×12 rug, which covered 85% of our wood floors, so this pet damage was limited to a small area in between the kitchen and the bedroom. Plus, we were told by the current property manager that the last management team probably didn’t walk our old unit which is why we didn’t get charged. He kept changing the subject when I would compare our old apartment move out to this one because it destroys his credibility with all of these ridiculous charges. Second issue: When we moved in, we had new carpet placed in the bedroom. Supposedly, there was enough damage to this carpet, as assessed by the «carpet people,» that it all needed to be replaced. Conflict of interest much? I have a king size bed, which covers a majority of the room. The damage they are referring to was in the highly trafficked area of the bedroom, and it was no more than normal wear and tear. Third ridiculous charge: Replacement of dry wall $ 100. One of the pictures they sent us was of the wall behind a bathroom door that was hit because of the lock that sticks out on the door handle. Otherwise, I personally filled each and every hole with wall dap. Fourth: Somehow there were holes in the screen door. Must have been from all of those wild parties we had. Honestly, never noticed holes, but their word against ours, so we lose.
Conclusion: Live somewhere else.

I have lived in uptown for 6 years and either through moving myself or gong to friends places have seen a fair share of the uptown apartments. I really like this place. The staff is friendly and they schedule events frequently for the residents. I have never seen a single bug. I have an apartment which faces the pool and have slept through the dj being there before.
I agree that there are a ton of new places now open and would probably check them out if looking, but this complex is friendly, has a lot of updates going on, and reasonably priced. I would make sure to keep on top of the rates when renewing as they can charge a bit more than they should. But all the complex’s here in uptown seem to.

At first I LOVED this apartment.
The location is great for uptown. Close to Katy Trail, near tons of restaurants and shops, and have pretty decent interior (wood floors, granite counter tops, and they will paint an accent wall of your choice before you move in).
NEGATIVES:
–No gym.
–While they have been doing several improvements on the apartment, it has been quite a hassle as of late with elevators being closed and construction everywhere.
–If you have a apartment facing the pool, good luck having ANY quiet during the summer. They even bring out DJs on the weekend which can be fun at times, but not all of the time. Especially when it sounds like the DJ is in your apartment and you can’t do anything about it. I felt like I was back in college at a pool party ALL THE TIME.
— Management is rude. They don’t even greet you when you walk into the office. I have been stared at until I greeted them several times. As Stefanie said they are also nosey and gossip. Very unprofessional.
— If I had resigned they would have increased my rent $ 600. Which I thought wasn’t too bad until I shopped around the same area a bit. Found a 1 year old apartment (compared to 8 years old) for the same price I had been paying with nicer finish outs and 250 more square feet. Bye Bryson!
NOW — Even with all of those negatives I probably still would have given them 3 – 4 stars. But after what has happened over the past two weeks I refuse to give anything more than 2 stars:
***If you decide to tell them that you will not be resigning your lease DO NOT expect to get even the slightest bit of help/​service/​ANYTHING from them. As of today I have submitted TWO maintenance requests, gone INTO the office, and sent SEVERAL emails for ONE ISSUE that I need addressed in my apartment. It has been over two weeks of requesting to get this fixed now and two times they «promised» it would get done. Guess what hasn’t been done yet?***
Conclusion: With all the new builds going up right now in Uptown there are a ton of choices with better bang for your buck, newer, and better management. I would go elsewhere.

Listed as a luxury apartment but I don’t know that Id go that far to call it «luxury.» Its a nice apartment. I had an A2 Downtown facing apartment that was 765 sq ft and my rent was $ 1,300. Not bad for a «luxury» apartment. The apartments have granite, hardwood floors in the main rooms and stainless appliances in some apartments (you can pay extra for them). They’re old school and require you to pay rent by check. You have the option of auto withdrawl but they charge you $ 29/​mo for it. A bit ridiculous when the other apartments around offer it for free.
Only problem, there isnt an apartment gym. The gym below (Energy) is a membership only gym. Granted they run a special for Bryson residents thats fair, but again you’re still having to pay for a membership. The pool is beautiful, but it is a party pool. Get there early on the weekends in order to have a chair to sit in. My biggest complaint while living here was the bug problem. I always seemed to have a water bug (those giant roach like bugs) sneak into my apartment at least once every 3 months. No matter how many times they sprayed those suckers still got in. When it rains the hallways tend to get humid, and if someone is cooking, you can smell what they cooked all day long in the hallway. Its like the carpet absorbs the smell.
The maintenance staff is incredibly friendly and very quick to fix any issues you may have. They have a concierge who walks dogs, takes your dry cleaning, etc. I never used these services so it was kind of a waste for me sadly. The office staff tends to be a bit nosey. They gossip quite a bit, so make sure not to say anything to them you wouldn’t want the entire building to know. Word travels fast. ;)
Overall this is a very nice apartment. I would rate it a 3.5 on a scale of 1 – 5 in comparison to the uptown apartments.

I’ve only ever visited the Bryson to attend a friend’s pool party, so I can’t comment on the management or anything else about the facilities other than those I personally used. They had the community room reserved, which has a pool table, a poker table, a foosball table, and a shuffleboard table, in addition to having a bar, sink, small under counter fridge and icemaker (which was not functional during their reserved time, unfortunately). The community room is adjacent to the grilling area, which has a bunch of metal tables and chairs dispersed around 4 gas grills. Walk past the grilling area, and you’re at the pool, which is relatively large, and is surrounded by enough reclining lounge chairs for about 30 people to sun. The pool area is bounded on the sides with what appeared to be lilac trees, which was a poor choice by the landscapers given that the flower petals are constantly blowing off the trees, into the pool and all over the pool deck. The pool drain must be a nightmare to clean. The flowers are beautiful, but coming up from a swim with shit stuck all over your head isn’t really anyone’s favorite. The community room is definitely a great space, and doesn’t cost too much to reserve, but the deposit was almost 10x the reservation cost, which seems a bit extreme given that only residents can reserve the room anyway (and thus can be held financially responsible/​evicted if there is a ton of damage following the booking). Aside from that, the Bryson has a nice setup for having a small group of people over for a BBQ.

Overall, this is a very nice apartment complex; 5 floors, great layouts, but you do pay for location and style. For about 750 sq feet, my rent was over $ 1000/month…because the apartment is in uptown Dallas. As far as atmosphere, you get a lot of overgrown fratboys and sorority girls. I was there for 2 years and my rent went up about $ 300 from the first to the second year. I believe it was to increase at least $ 200 more if I had stayed for a third year. If you are set on living in Uptown and being a 30K Millionaire, go for it. It is a nice place to live, secure-​you fob in an out of the building and the garage, and the apartments themselves are nice.

Great underground parking. Wish you had another spot or two for guests.