Avalon Ballston Square

5 Stars for the front desk concierge, maintenance staff, and the friendly leasing office. They are always friendly and fast.
After the recent snow storm (snowzilla), they stayed through the whole thing and made sure the building was running in tip top shape. We say hi to all of them in the hallways.
Location is pretty decent for restaurants in the area. I-​66 access and metro. Ballston mall is a personal favorite of mine, but it is closing down for massive renovations in spring 2016.

I’m giving this 2 stars only because the onsite staff is friendly and courteous (side from the leasing agents who are very rude once you live there). The building is cheap for what you pay for and the general corporate management is horrible and not tenant focused or friendly. They nickel and fine s much as they can for parking, pets, party room reservations, and almost everything else you can think of. The cleaning staff, maintenance team and front desk are very friendly and help as much as they can but are limited based on corporate rules.

Very convenient location to bars, restaurants and metro in the Ballston area. Maintenance staff is prompt to apartment needs and the concierge staff is friendly and helpful (especially Diego).

I’ve never lived in a high rise before, so I had a lot to learn and get use to. No problem here because the staff are excellent! From the leasing people to the concierge, all have been very helpful and are very friendly people. Any issues I’ve had with the apartment have been resolved effectively and efficiently. The location is terrific as well. My dog loves it here too!

Summary:
Simply love here.
Wonderful location, just 30 seconds away from the metro station.
Amazing people, friendly staff and neighbors.
Nice society, tons of restaurants and stores within walking distance.
Great amenities, printer, GYM, pools, concierge, and etc.
Affordable price, honestly not that expensive in this area.
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Detail:
1. Location:
It is right off the I-​66. You can easily go west to 495 or east to DC. About 25 minutes from fairfax, and 15 minutes from DC. Within walking distance, you can find supermarket, movie theater, restaurants, dry clean, and pretty much everything you need. Yes I really mean within walking distance, less than 5 minutes. You are literally about 30 seconds away from ballston metro station, which can takes you to a lot of places. There are couple hotels nearby (again, less than 5 minutes walking distance), which is very convenient for the guest when they are visiting us.
2. Parking:
There are spaces on P1 that are small. It only fits compact cars. If you own a large car like lincoln town car or SUV, you might have to look for spaces on P2 or P3. I’m sure there are a few large spaces on P1, but they are limited. Finding a space is never a problem, even you come home very late.
3. Amenities:
The printing center runs pretty well. They always re-​fill inks and papers quickly. The printer is fast, it can prints hundreds pages in a few minutes.
The pool only opens in the summer, which is regulated by law in this whole Northern Virginia area (I think). I never tried it personally. But you will see a lot people out there.
The GYM is really just standard. It’s not a huge GYM, but it has pretty much everything you need.
4. Pet:
I have a dog. There are many places I can take him for a dog walk. I usually just walk around in the neighbor. From my experience, dog owners in this building are very good. They do look after their dogs in the public.
5. People:
They are just wonderful. I’m sorry I couldn’t remember all their names, but let’s start with concierge. I deal with them a lot since we have a lot packages from Amazon. They are nice and able to help you resolve any kinds of problems. The maintenance guy, they come to repair either on the same day or the next day. They are very efficiently and dependable. During snow days in the winter, the snow got shoved very quickly. Finally the people in the office, they are professional and friendly.
The people who lives and works here, is the reason why I really like here. It feels safe and warm. No retards or you know, strange people. They are just good to live with.
6. Price:
First, It is more expensive than most places in Fairfax and Loudoun, it is cheaper than most places in DC. If you just compare within the Arlington or the Ballston area, I think the price is average. Because the location, I personally save a lot money on transportation, so overall not bad for me.
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Overall, this place definitely deserves a 5 stars in my opinion.

I lived here for 3 months while my place was being fixed from a flood. I was happy to move out for several reasons.
Most residents are in their 20s, and weekends at the pool seemed like quite a scene (with lots of eye candy). The «bro» scene seemed to be in full effect as well.
Numerous times upon entering the building and veering to the hallway on the right, it smelled foul (throughout the whole hallway), almost definitely because the trash room is there. That’s not something I want to experience upon walking into my building. I told the concierge several times. It definitely got better over the past month, but don’t be entirely surprised if there’s some stank as you walk through the hallway.
The garage situation could certainly use improvement. Almost all the spaces along the wall are very narrow. If you care about your car getting dinged, then definitely do not park in those spaces. I’m not sure what the hell the designer was thinking when they drew those spaces out. Additionally, there seem to be several residents who are unable to park their cars properly and end up taking up multiple spaces.
The gym is decent, nothing amazing.
There is a general store (that plays horrific foreign and pop music) — convenient, but their markup is high.
Some asshole on the lower floors can’t (or refuses) to shut his dog up. Everyone who had a unit facing the courtyard could hear this dog. Multiple times early in the morning, the thing was barking up a storm. I seriously considered getting a bb gun with a scope. That’s inconsiderate.
Great for a first place out of college. If you can afford it, I’d look to move to a nicer place (and Ballston definitely has a few shady folks hanging around).
Overall, the place served its purpose.
Petite girl in the leasing office is cute.

Pros:
Low first year rent
Allows dogs (as of last year)
Grills
Pool
Gym
Balconies
Close to Ballston metro, Route 66, and cvs
Friendly people but not too friendly
Maintenance will fix anything within 24 hours
Online bill pay & maintenance requests
Courteous and responsive staff
Free computer use and printing
Clean and updated facilities & apartments
Safe neighborhood
Cons:
Water from sink often smells bad
Lots of college kids/​young professionals who party during the summer (but they turn down the music by 11pm)
Expensive guest parking ($ 20/​night) and for second car ($ 175/​month)
Rent goes way up when lease renewed

I’ve lived here for a year. In general, it’s not a bad building, but it is a corporate owned apartment and has some shady practices. I love the location near the Ballston metro. When things break, they are fixed fairly quickly, and for a large building like this, it’s very quiet. However, the apartments are old. Mine looks like primo 80’s or 90’s. The cabinets in my apartment appear to have some sort of seeped in mold, so I had to line every shelf in the place. There is almost no storage. I have a two bedroom with one tiny coat closet and one closet per bedroom. The rest of the storage is in a narrow cabinet in my bathroom, that I can’t have open if the door to my bathroom is open.
The amenities are somewhat of a ploy to get people to move here. The pool is only open from June-​Sept — although DC is warm much more than that. The gym usually has at least one broken machine, and it’s VERY small for the number of people living in the building. The doorman is nice, if only because I don’t have to be home when amazon sends packages.
The parking is somewhat affordable, at $ 50 for the first car, and $ 150 for the second car. It works out great if only one person has a car. The other fees in this building are more ridiculous. The «move in» fee is $ 600 and non-​refundable. The pet fee is also high for the area — $ 500 non-​refundable AND $ 50/​month. In most buildings, that $ 500 is refundable. There is some $ 200+ reserved parking space fee. I feel bad for the idiots paying for that. If you drive down a floor, you can usually find the same space right next to the elevator free.
At least once a year they schedule some «mandatory maintenance» which I’m convinced is just a way for them to look into your apartment to make sure you are complying with all the rules — to see if you have pets, broke anything, ect. If you ruined something — don’t you worry… you’ll get a bill.
Because they get so much money from move in fees, they don’t care much about keeping the same residents. I got a whooping 10% rent increase. I was informed about this increase 10 days before I had to inform the building if I’m staying or going. Unlike most landlords who require one month of notice, this building requires 60 days. I spoke to three different people about the dramatic increase. Finally the apartment manager said she would call corporate and call me back. Of course she never did.
I dunno about this building. I feel like they try to hook you, and then once they took a bunch of your money, they throw you back out again. Having always had a private landlord, it’s hard to reconcile why this building has to act this way.

I lived here for 2 two lease terms, but I have mixed feelings about this building.
It is clean and quiet with solid amenities, but it is not nearly as renovated as some of the other new buildings in the area that are comparable in price.
The staff is mostly friendly. Very helpful maintenance crew especially.
Biggest downfall is that you need to look at what you think your rent is and add at least $ 300 a month in all the things you don’t think about when you sign a lease. Like cable, electricity, lost keys, lost parking permits, and all the terrible things you can imagine going on in a tight parking deck. I also don’t understand why this building has plenty of open parking spaces and does not allow any guest parking. It is very inconvenient.

I lived here for a year and I really liked it. The apartments are spacious and the location is perfect with the metro right around the corner. I would’ve loved to stay but my rent was going to increase too much. Also I had to take my parents’ dog for a while and they don’t allow dogs in the building.
Pros:
NOT noisy, I never heard my neighbors & was able to have friends over & play music w/​o any complaints.
Pool for the summer months.
HUGE balconies.
24 hour gym.
24 hour concierge.
Mobile App to pay rent.
Water, gas, sewer & trash all done through them & charged with rent.
Friendly staff
Renovations being made on the building (painting, resealing the garage, fixing & replacing old pipes) & emails sent with any construction updates.
24 hour maintenance guarantee.
Walk-​in closets.
Washer/​dryer in every apartment.
Cons:
Appliances could be upgraded to something nicer & energy efficient.
Only 1 guest allowed per resident at the pool.
It is an older building so I had some issues with my thermostat that, after 3 months of trying to solve it probably would’ve been better handled by replacing it all together.
Water was shut off several times for repairs.
No guest parking.
Rent went up significantly when my lease was up.
No dogs

Immediately, I would advise anyone considering this building to LOOK ELSEWHERE. Having spent a year with Archstone, I can say that it is not worth the hassle, that the building is overpriced, that the quality of the rooms are sub-​par, and that the management team purposefully trick you into paying completely unnecessary fees.
Let me explain, as the leasing and management team is the most common complaint of this building.
I lived there for 12 months, always being current with payments, never once late on a payment, never having any complaints raised against me, and keeping my room and hallway area clean and organized. I was a great tenant.
2 months prior to moveout, I went to speak with the leasing consultants as to when I needed to inform them I was moving out. They explicitly told me 30+ days, and no charges would be applied. Perfect I thought. So 42 days in advance, I gave my notice.
The reason I asked is I was unsure of their policy. It was written in the lease, 20+ pages of text that as a reasonable human being I had no way of memorizing. They knew the lease backwards and forewords, so asking them should have given me the right information.
Turns out, its a 60 day notice for moveout (which, if you look around, is one of the highest in the DC area). So, they essentially lied to me, and now forced me to pay 18 days of «pro-​rated» rent. They admitted they told me the 30 days. They admitted that its 60 days for everyone. So why did they tell me the wrong information? To force me to pay fees. This is not an isolated incident. I chose this building as it seemed decent, but more importantly, I had a number of friends who lived there. They have had similar incidents brought upon them, and it is just completely foul of a company such as Archstone to use this practice to trick its tenants into paying large fees.
Please, do NOT give Archstone your business! They are tricksters who do not practice fair housing standards. They continuously say they are unwilling to work with you on matters such as these, no matter who you are or how clean your record might be.
I am in a much better building in the city where the management takes an active role in solving problems with its tenants!

Location, Location, Location. You really can’t beat this property at 1 block from Ballston Metro Station, walking distance to the «mall», lots of restaurants, a 24 hour Harris Teeter and much more.
The Concierge Staff is über-​friendly and helpful. Maintenance staff responsive and friendly as well.
The property has been undergoing extensive renovations including the parking garage (sealant, motion sensing lighting) and some of the units.
The pool is nice and is lively weekends and even during the summer weeks. Decent gym with the usual treadmills, ellipticals, free weights and a few circuit machines.
If looking for a new apartment, units facing 9^th Street should be advised of excessive noise late at night. Yes, Arlington is an urban area, but it often feels like Fraternity Row with other Ballston residents enjoying lots of adult beverage and shouting/​screaming in the streets after the bars let out. Very strange and disruptive at times.
Although an older building, some units have been totally remodeled with darker wood cabinets, beige/​tan walls and brushed metal fixtures. If not remodeled, the appliances should at least be updated!