Reviews

My fiancé and I lived at Arabella together for 3 years after my fiancé had already lived at Arabella for 2 years prior to that. The best part of Arabella is the location. Location, location, location. It is insanely convienent to local restaurants, bars and shopping. George Wallace Park is a short walk away and it was our haven for the time we were there. Arabella is appropriately priced, as well. It is definitely on the cheaper side as the tech center goes, which can be a benefit. The units are older than a lot of other complexes in the tech center, but updating and remodeling has been attempted. There is no central AC and with the older units, their heating system uses boilers and even when they turn them off in the summer, heat still seeps from the heating grates. The stairs leading up to the apartments are in serious need of repair everywhere. They have tried to “fix” them with new boards here and there but this apartment complex would greatly benefit if they could figure out a way to replace the stairs entirely. The pool area is wonderful, it was kept clean for the most part. The hot tub was an amazing touch and we definitely miss it since moving out. I’ve seen a lot of comments on here about the new management, AMC, and while our opinion for specific reasons is that the old management was much better, the employees of AMC at Arabella were always friendly if we needed anything. The service requests however, were fulfilled slowly and we didn’t like how they didn’t leave any note or acknowledgement the work had been completed. If you’re looking for a cheaper, semi-affordable apartment complex in the tech center, Arabella is for you. If you’re planning on living the tech center life and spend more time out adventuring and experiencing the night life, Arabella is for you. We enjoyed our time there, good and bad, and look back fondly.

Since the new management took over, things went downhill. Ignore the older reviews. The old management was straight up amazing. Could've not been a bigger difference. They never updated my lease end date in their system after repeated requests. Because of that they wrongfully charged me late fees that since been reverted, but they reported me to a credit bureau so I have to dispute that now even though I have never been late on rent or utilities. They have also increased a service fee without giving an appropriate notice according to the lease and added bogus cam charges out of the blue that were not in the original lease. They have refunded those too, so if you are reading this and have questions about the cam charges, go get your refund (it took weeks to get mine despite their promises). Management is straight up rude in your face once you have a lease with them and has zero communication skills. Old buildings and absolutely awful management. Stay away!!! Update: they used my good review of the old management on their web site and I had to mail them Cease and Desist notice to get it removed.

I would give anything less 1 star as well for this. I was waiting to get out of this place before giving my review. Since the new management AMC has taken over this place, it is a hell in DTC. They have comprised on maintenance of common areas - the place looks pathetic and they never clean the common areas within the apartment building. The common stairway and walkway is filled filth, dog hair, cobwebs etc. Are you expecting the tenants to start sweeping the doorways and stairs, when you are charging us ridiculous CAM fees? Utilities bill keeps increasing with never heard before charges and fees. All the charges have been raised dramatically by 5-10$. When you ask for an explanation, they straightway give you an 800 *** number to talk to the third party utility bill calculating company, like AMC is not responsibility at all. The new staffs at the office is way better in terms treating tenants with respect but they act like puppets and are of NO ABSOLUTE HELP OR ASSISTANCE. You will see an increase in your rent without notice and the Manager will post a "late fee" notice on your apartment if you demand a bill/invoice for the additional charge. They just want you to pay it without changing your lease. Also, the MANAGER acts dumb by just pointing to a confusing clause in your lease agreement that allows them to increase rent and impose additional charges at anytime. Definitely not worth any amount of rent they advertise. It is a run down place and poorly managed to loot tenants unfairly. They have no business sense of CUSTOMER SERVICE and absolutely no brains to think that good service is only going to give them tenants renewing their lease ... Oh well! they aren't interested in it. All they want is loot as much as possible for single lease term and be done with you!!!!! TERRIBLE PLACE< SAVE YOUR MONEY, STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE>

I would give anything less 1 star as well for this. I was waiting to get out of this place before giving my review. Since the new management AMC has taken over this place, it is a hell in DTC. They have comprised on maintenance of common areas - the place looks pathetic and they never clean the common areas within the apartment building. The common stairway and walkway is filled filth, dog hair, cobwebs etc. Are you expecting the tenants to start sweeping the doorways and stairs, when you are charging us ridiculous CAM fees? Utilities bill keeps increasing with never heard before charges and fees. All the charges have been raised dramatically by 5-10$. When you ask for an explanation, they straightway give you an 800 *** number to talk to the third party utility bill calculating company, like AMC is not responsibility at all. The new staffs at the office is way better in terms treating tenants with respect but they act like puppets and are of NO ABSOLUTE HELP OR ASSISTANCE. You will see an increase in your rent without notice and the Manager will post a "late fee" notice on your apartment if you demand a bill/invoice for the additional charge. They just want you to pay it without changing your lease. Also, the MANAGER acts dumb by just pointing to a confusing clause in your lease agreement that allows them to increase rent and impose additional charges at anytime. Definitely not worth any amount of rent they advertise. It is a run down place and poorly managed to loot tenants unfairly. They have no business sense of CUSTOMER SERVICE and absolutely no brains to think that good service is only going to give them tenants renewing their lease ... Oh well! they aren't interested in it. All they want is loot as much as possible for single lease term and be done with you!!!!! TERRIBLE PLACE< SAVE YOUR MONEY, STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE>

The worst apartment complex in DTC. It is very outdated and poorly managed, but they keep raising the rent and utilities bill after you sign a lease with them. Their explanation is some crappy clause in the agreement that allows them to do so. Utilities bill in summer comes around 100$ and in winter they raise it close to 180$. Their common area maintenance charges are ridiculous. For this price, you could find a unit in one of the many new and modern apartments in the same area. STAY away from Arabella apartments, it is a con and unfair management running this place, never sign a lease with them. UPDATE: I went to the office to speak with them; completely different attitude and response than their fake sympathetic response here. I was told once you have signed the lease, they have all the rights to increase rent and charge me extra. I am also being penalized with less security deposit amount in return. Has anyone else been ripped off of your security deposit with these people?

If I could give this place a zero star I would. AMC management sucks! It was the best before they got here! Cons: -central AC that doesn't work well -a shower that is like Russian roulette with scalding heat and snow melt cold randomly happening -misc. fees: CAM fees and other fees randomly added. A few of the other tenants and I sat down to compare which fees we were getting (we all rented around the same time) and all of us had different fees for vastly different prices. -stolen rent: First weekend new management was here, they had a temp come in. Supposedly he never showed up but his key mysteriously appeared in the drop box where EVERYONE's rent, around 70,000 dollars was stolen. The management company tried to blame the residents, putting eviction notices on everyone's doors and stating "why would you use a drop box that's not safe" even though some of the other properties they manage have drop boxes. Then they reported people even when they were working with financial institutions to try and figure out how to get their money back from the cashed checks and liquidated accounts. -pool not open for over 6 months: claimed we have a 24 hour pool but didn't open it for six months because a light was broken. -maintenance doesn't always come through: apartment flooded and maintenance didn't but up fans or anything and just put up new dry wall. When I have called several maintenance requests, they only sometimes get put in because some of the management has no idea what they are doing. disorganized: they had to audit the garages because they didn't even know who was renting them, amongst other things. -money grabbing: have fees for everything and only write us when they want good reviews for doing nothing and when they want us to resign. -doesnt care about safety of residents: a naked man followed me into my apartment and when I alerted the complex, they did not tell other residents to be careful. also numerous car break ins/ stolen cars -wants us to report on other residents: sent out a news letter that wanted us to photograph other residents as proof that they didn't pick up after their dogs so that they could get fined -nasty carpets that don't get replaced in between tenants -no regulation of parking: there is never any parking even though some cars are just sitting there for months broken down. The managers were parking in resident's designated spots. Pros: -lots of restaurants around -pool (when open) -good grill -close to light rail -decent living space -fairly quiet at night