Any Austinites living in Riverside?

I'm currently living in Jefferson Commons at Town Lake (the newer JC). I like living in apartments more than I liked living in Jester last year, the only problem for me is the rent I'm paying. Me and my roomies signed (a 12 month lease) last year right around this time just so we could get the exact apartment we wanted. If we would have waited a bit longer we could have saved a lot of money on rent (and signed a 9 month lease). I think I'm going to wait until the beginning of next semester to sign somewhere...

 

Melrose of Austin is hands down the best. Or at least it was when I went to UT in the late 90s.

 

I lived in College Park Phase I sophomore year, and Sterling my junior and senior year. So here's my take:

1. You or one of your roommates will have your car broken into.
2. You will hear sirens throughout the evening.
3. When the hot tub's a rockin', don't come a knockin'
4. Low income thugs will be roaming around your parking lot.
5. HEB Riverside is a piece of sh*t
6. Crowded campus shuttles.
7. People hang out on the balcony all hours of the night.

The good:
1. Plenty of cool neighbors.
2. Don't have to drive far to go to apt. parties.
3. Always something going on.
4. Cheap rent.
5. Good selection of chicks.

If you have to choose one, I'd take Sterling or Melrose. Melrose has good security, and Sterling's got good management. Oltorf is a lot better than Riverside, as it's a lot less ghetto. But there are some new low income rent-controlled apts going up on Pleasant Valley extension south of Oltorf, so beware.

I would avoid the JC at all costs -> hear some bad things about mgmt. Check out aptratings.com for resident reviews.

 

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/new...ounts.Surround.Ut.Students.Death-553200.shtml

 

Dude, I remember when that happened. It was during my 5th year senior campaign! That was messed up how they beat the guy to death.

 

Like I said, late 1990s.

 

For the record, I lived at Coppertree for 1 year and University Heights for 2 years (both off Oltorf)... Both great places to live (actually went 3 years without having my car broken into... it wasn't until I moved to the so called "nicer" apartments off of Parmer Lane that I had my first personal experience with an automobile break-in)

I loved my experience at both apartments and living on Riverside... and I loved HEB Riverside (until I graduated and realized what real grocery stores should be like)...

 

if you go there you'll notice the apartments look almost empty now. they way overbuilt the area so its not as great as it was party-wise. my old building at melrose looks half-occupied. also, melrose is not named melrose anymore...its campus estates, sounds ghetto to me. i play ball there sometimes though. i think families have moved in there too.

 

I was at University Heights for a year. The actual apartment was nice, but would probably go with Melrose if I had a choice because of security issue with the notion the club incident was a freak occurence.

 

i went to a riverside part saturday night wouldnt you know. girls everywhere. all wanting a piece of pele.

anyways have fun living there. and stay out of trouble.

 

I lived in South Oaks in the late 90's... not quite off Riverside, but on up the hill. It's the one you can see from the highway. Not party central, and relatively quiet unless your unit is close to the freeway. It is kind of weird having your street address on IH-35. It was a fairly good deal for one of the nicer apartments out there. The others back there are more expensive. It's not really ghetto up there.

Never had any problem with the grocery store... not sure what people don't like about it. There is also a good, cheap, greasy selection of fast food on Riverside.

Moved up to north Austin so I could get off the UT shuttle route and get better deals (and not have a roommate); finally went up to Parmer and had the exact same experience as drapg (<i>that's</i> where my truck got broken into). Though it was OK other than that.

 

Lived in Melrose, almost every kid is trying to live college like in the movies - party party party party party party party party and on like that forever.

 

is there any other way?

settling down is for when you get old and lazy after college, like i have become at 26.

 

Damn, I used to live at Melrose and didn't know about this.

Anyway, I currently live at the Village of Riverside. Both it and Melrose (especially Melrose a.k.a. Campus Estates) are nice complexes, but the area of town they're in is not good. Car vandalism has been a problem for years up and down Crossing Place. And then there's the ghetto HEB at Riverside and Pleasant Valley. Overall I enjoyed my years living on Crossing Place but once my lease is up this summer I'm moving to a nicer part of town, probably somewhere up north or northwest.

 

I'm thinking about getting an apt. at Metropolis, but I am hesistant. It blows away almost any apt. in Hyde Park, but location, location, location.

If I can talk my roommate into it, I'd love to live in the south 1st/ Barton Springs area. But, it is more expensive.

 

Currently live off of Riverside and personally the location doesn't bother me. I've had some friends who have lived at Melrose, and I've heard some pretty bad things about it, although there's always bad ass parties there.

 

I personally lived at Melrose for the past two years (currently living near campus). The first year wasn't too bad, but that second year. . . the whole area begins to wear on you. The traffic on 35 & Riverside, the traffic getting to Crossing Place, the crime, bad fast food restaurants, and Melrose jacking me and my roommates on rent. I left Melrose with a bad, bad taste in my mouth (didn't get any deposit back despite meeting all requirements for doing so). Also, the murder that has been referenced was in the parking lot where I parked, I couldn't even move my car because of the police investigating the following day (ironically, the guy who is standing trial for the murder was an R.A. for Dobie the year I lived there).

Personally, I wouldn't recommend the Riverside area to anyone, but that's just me. I have known, and still know plenty of people who have resided in the area and have no complaints. As for the complexes that I am familar with, Crossing Place Apts, is the newest of the bunch, Melrose is run down and underpopulated, the Village does have nice residences, but the community isn't as big as the other complexes. I have rarely heard negative comments about Jefferson Commons, but it has been there awhile too. Metropolis, on Pleasant Valley, IMO is just weird - I had some hippy lesbian friends live over there and the parties usually attracted a strange crowd.

At any rate, unless you have a predisposition to living on Riverside, don't, there are plenty of apartments/condos on Red River and North Campus that can be had for similar prices.

<i>-Turbo</i>

 

Sad about the crime. I lived on Riverside in the early 80's and there were no problems and we didn't have all of those giant fences.

 

I live in Berkshire Hills, just off of Wickersham between Oltorf and Riverside. It's a pretty quiet atmosphere away from all the super huge complexes. Rent is decent, and the bus is right outside my complex. And it's not completely composed of college students, which I like the best. Pinto Creek, Coppertree, Chevy Chase Downs, Waterchase and Mesa Hills are some other complexes on the same bus route as mine if you're interested.

I couldn't tell you anything about Melrose or anywhere else north of Riverside. I've had friends live there, but I wouldn't. I don't mind being there for short periods of time, but IMO they're just MASSIVELY overgrown dorms. I just don't like the atmosphere. Most of those places come furnished, so if you have furniture, get storage or forget it.

BTW, what Turbo said about Metropolis is the same I've heard. It does have a kind of hippy/gay/artist/weirdo feel to it. But all the people I see going in and coming out seem to be OK. From what I hear, rent's really freaking cheap there.

But as always, GO THERE AND MAKE YOUR OWN OPINION. One man's badass living arrangement is another man's hellhole.