The Barrington At Park Place

I’ve lived here since April and will renew again this coming April, might even transfer into a 2BR. I live in the «Domain» floorplan, which is the largest 1BR they offer and it’s fairly ideal for one person. The finishes are really nice and the fact that the washer and dryer were included included in the unit is just awesome. One of the other really great things is that there is no monthly pet rent. Also, the dog park and trail is great for us. The new pool area is awesome and the new fitness center looks promising and a welcome upgrade from the one we have now. For what you get for the price, it’s really awesome. Good location too, as I can simply cross the street and be in the Domain shopping center.
Also, the office and maintenance staff are super awesome. I bother the office constantly with all the packages I get and every time I go in there, they are all super nice. Maintenance is always quick and does the job well. I’ve rarely had to place any work orders, but when I have, maintenance is on it! They even helped me jump start my car one day when my battery died.
There are a few things, however, I wish were better. The balcony I have is very small and I can’t really put much more than a small table and chair set. Also, I’m not too pleased with the quality of the carpet or the quality of the installation of said carpet. Also, a lot of the walkways get covered in mud when it rains and can be very slippery for days afterwards. Another annoyance is people not picking up after their dogs (this isn’t the fault of the property, of course, just some of the people that live there), Like if you can’t even pick up after your dog, you shouldn’t be owning a dog. Another thing is the… odd bathtub. The tub is made of plastic and painted white. Needless to say, with water constantly running over it, a lot of the paint has chipped. The tub is also very narrow which is kind of annoying because I like to take a relaxing bath every once in a while and can’t really do that here.
I know it sounds like I have a lot of negatives here, but all those things are really pretty minor when compared to how good the positives are. Overall, it’s a very nice community, and I will be happy to continue living here for the foreseeable future!

I lived here for 6 months in one of the studio apartments in 2011. There’s no point in reviewing the management just because I’m sure it’s changed since then, so lets just talk about the apartment.
The studio was nice for one person. 375 sq doesn’t seem like a lot but it’s workable for one person with a penchant for arranging rooms. Having a washer and drying in the unit was nice. There were also a lot of walk able paths in the woods next to the apartment units. It was nice.
If you’re curious, I moved in because I got into a fight with my sister over having a dog, so I moved out of her place to here. I learned the hard way (maybe I was too optimistic) that you should just not have a cattle dog in an apartment, much less an efficiency. Eventually I moved back in with my sister because my dog needed a bigger house.
The only reason I wouldn’t live here again is that I like cattle dogs wayyy too much.

Lost my job in Austin… Was willing to pay the $ 688 fee to break the lease. I also paid the three months of rent until they filled the apartment. However, now I am homeless with no job and they tell me I OWE them $ 100. According to them it smelled like smoke. I am not even a smoker. There was probably a homeless person living there because they took so long to fill it. I viewed the two bedroom and was told I was getting a one bedroom. Signed the lease… Turns out it was a studio. Attempted to call the manager Ashley for two weeks and she continued to avoid me until I used a fake name. Finally get a hold of her and have never been treated with less compassion in my entire life. A company this large can spare the «$ 150» dollar deposit (i know i paid more) if the manager Ashley had a heart. The rest of the staff is amazing.

Moved my daughter in last September and things were nice. For the first few days. Then 3 days in, the a/​c wasn’t cooling and the water heater kept shutting off. Now we’re coming into our last month here and we’ve had maintenance at her apartment at least once every couple of weeks… Sometimes two or three times within the week. They put band aids on arterial bleeds and never fix the problems. The a/​c kept failing and the water heater kept throwing the breaker. Then they try to fix the a/​c and apparently the a/​c and the water heater are tied into the same circuit breaker. So now for some reason, every single day. And I truly mean EVERY SINGLE DAY the breaker trips. So if you’re not home, you come home to a hot house and no hot water. The hot water comes out of the faucets cloudy. Light switches and outlets that don’t work. The neighbors below have set up table and chairs outside their apartment door instead of on their patio and they all congregate there making it difficult to get up the stairs. And then when you do get to the stairs, the other neighbor below sits on the stairs smoking cigarettes and leaving ashes and tobacco pieces all over the stairs. When I came to see her a few months ago, someone busted out my taillight. To a cost of over $ 130. Then unless you own a smart car, good luck trying to fit your car in between the lines. It’s impossible!!! So her 2014 car she got for graduation is littered with dings, scrapes & dents. Rented here to provide a gated community for her safety & they don’t work. Open ²⁴⁄₇. Pool constantly being shut down. Then they put some kind of product in the shower surround to brighten it up, then tell us she can’t use the shower for 48 hours to allow time for the product to cure. Well it didn’t. It has indents in the surface from merely placing shampoo bottles etc. on it. It’s cracking, peeling and wearing off. And it stains beyond what comet and bleach can take out. I suggest looking elsewhere as we have. Especially if you have a young daughter you’re moving here for school. Oh and the water is constantly being shutoff!!! Please, as a mother to a young daughter, do not let your child live here!

I consider myself to be a very tolerant and easy going person which is why it has taken me 7 months to write this review after having been through at least 5 serious issues (I am looking at 8 service receipts that I can find right now) with this apartment. I also had the thought, «well these are old apartments so they are going to have issues», but boy oh boy I never thought there would be this many issues or such terrible maintenance.
Before I go into the actual issues, I would like to say the staff in the office is very friendly. They have been very kind to me throughout all my issues and understanding. The office staff does seem to really care, however, there is a lack of communication on their end between the office and maintenance. Several issues I have had needed to be serviced multiple times because maintenance couldn’t quite figure out what the issue at hand even was (though it was pretty apparent). I have come to the conclusion that maintenance at this complex is just useless and a joke. And also, all of my issues took at least 5 days to be addressed. So when they tell you 2 – 3 days, it is a lie.
Okay, so just to list out my issues in case you don’t want to read all that goes into each one. I had a rat eat through the baseboard in my kitchen, I have had mold repeatedly come back on the baseboards in my kitchen and bathroom, the baseboard in my bathroom is rotting and there are little bugs always crawling in and out, continuous bug problems (roaches and other weird little ones), twice near my front door my apartment flooded during rains, the dryer did not dry my clothes and was serviced three times before it was finally replaced, and the issue I am dealing with now is mice in my pantry and needing holes to be filled in. On top of the issues the quality of the apartment is just poor. The laminate flooring is coming up in various spots (not sticking), the carpet is just terrible quality, they claimed to have refinished the bathtub but whatever they painted it with is just this really sticky paint that is very hard to clean (so any hair gets stuck and is awful to try and rinse away, my shampoo bottles make gross marks indenting into this paint– will add pictures of this too), etc. The trash in the complex is always over flowing and water is constantly being turned off. Every time they maintenance an issue they leave a mess behind and do not bother to clean up after themselves.
The hole where the rat (or some other creature) chewed through my baseboard was an easy handle. They filled the hole, no problem. The mold on the baseboard in the kitchen — they just paint over it and it continues to come back. An ongoing issue and they aren’t doing anything to actually solve the problem (whatever is leaking between the walls). The adjoining wall is my bathroom wall where there is also mold growing and the baseboard is rotting. The rain water flooding through my front door has happened twice. They are continuously having to put weather proofing (some gooey substance) around the door frame because it doesn’t hold over time. They serviced my dryer for not drying at least three times before they finally replaced it and attached was the washer that had rust and was putting rust spots on all my clothes. The first time they maintenanced my dryer the employee left a ball of lint on my bathroom floor and the service receipt read «lint». Well problem not solved. Second time they took the unit outside my apartment leaving a trail of dust and debris throughout my apartment and outside my apartment, not bother to cleaning it and still not fixing the problem. There is a hole in my pantry where mice are coming through and having a feast – four working days and a reminder to the office, I am still waiting on this to be fixed and in the mean time cannot use my kitchen because all my groceries are on my counters. Okay, so a week later I have a note left in my apartment from maintenance saying they filled the holes, but the holes have not been filled and it does not look like they even opened my pantry door. So having to contact them again to fill the holes. Going on a week plus now before the problem is going to be solved and still cannot use my kitchen.
Anyways, extremely awful place to live. I feel disgusted every time I enter my apartment filled with mold and bugs. The price paid for the amount of square footage is absurd. Much better options in Austin regardless of soaring rent prices, KEEP LOOKING.

I lived here for two years. I had no major problems. Staff is friendly and getting a parking spot is easy. Washer and dryer is a perk. Rent is also fair for that location. I would recommend this place.

and this just in mold…
are you kidding me more roaches. after they have sprayed so many times. this place is disgusting. Don’t move here !!!

Moved in short term (6 mo.), have been here 10 yrs. The location is phenomenal; access to everything and all directions. Management has been accommodating and excellent to work with. It was a older property on the edge of town, but with the advent of the Domain across MOPAC the world moved in next door. The property was sold and is in the final stages of a major upgrade, apartments first, then environment. Maintenance has not been a problem for me. It was in good shape for the price and when help was needed it was quick and well done. I would expect more flowers, trees and luxury amenities if I paid what other area properties are asking, but I’m a single guy involved with many outside activities. My place is clean, comfortable and very friendly, located in a most ideal part of the city. I’m a really happy tenant.

I have been a resident for 5 years and so far its been a pretty decent place. It would be even better if we could install google fiber into our homes though! Please corporate, hear my ply! If another resident feels the same, please leave a tip!

I have lived here since March 2014. Great location

Everything was stellar and efficient– right up until move in. Office was seeming to be thorough, professional and competent.
They were unprepared for move-​in at time discussed. W/​Ds were in my unit despite having explicitly discussed having my own appliances as a reason for considering this space, and they wanted me to pay my movers for the removal, but movers would Need them to sign the required waivers as I had. I waited for them, as I waited for my key for an hour only to have to leave empty-​handed to meet my movers.
There was no seal on shower head. It spewed water everywhere… all over the newly remodeled cabinet and floor.
This morning, I awoke to find the vent fixture in the bathroom having a steady leak.
I want to believe this place is heading in the right direction and not just making a superficial facelift. We’ll see!

They will rip you finically horribly! Management is highly rude! Do not move here!!! Bathrooms are below par and like other reviews mold grows. Issues with tree roaches.

Stay away. Wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy.
EDIT: After we moved out.
I was away at a funeral when our lease ended. My boyfriend took care of the move out process. When he went to the office to return our keys, he requested a walk through of the apartment. Erin, in the front office, told him that they «don’t do» walkthroughs. He responded that he wasn’t turning in the keys until someone went through the apartment with him to verify the condition of it. I’m not sure who did, but they said it looked great and that they could start showing it within a week, and that the only damage was where our cat had chewed the blinds, which we were aware of and expected. Fabulous. Then when the manager went through, she said the carpet needed to be replaced. She offered to write it off if we ate our $ 250 pet deposit. We just wanted to sever ties, and were willing to pay for it. Not worth the headache.
The only good thing about this complex was the amazing, sweet maintenance man who was in our apartment once a month. He needs a raise, a promotion, and will be getting a huge thank you when we move out! Hell, he should run the place! Always prompt and cheerful and sweet.
When Austin Energy came by when we were gone once, they left a copy of our key IN OUR DOOR. That was nice to come home to. I called APD and had them go in my apartment before me. Seriously– that’s grounds for a lawsuit.
FLEAS FLEAS FLEAS. The grass is INFESTED with them. We kept our pets on Frontline Plus, even our rabbit was on flea medication and he stayed inside. Spent around $ 150 a month on flea preventatives, flea baths, flea dips, and preventatives. And we still. Had. Fleas. Every time I would walk my dog, he would come back in with his little white ankles covered in fleas. They were horrible. They bit us. They bit the cat. They bit the rabbit. It never stopped until we moved. And moving apartments and not taking fleas with you? Impossible. Thankfully our new complex is in the process of fumigating our apartment with all our belongings in it for fleas. When I talked to the front office about treating the grass outside, I was told that they couldn’t find a pest control company to do it, which is total BS. This is Texas, and companies would jump on that because it’s expensive, which is why The Barrington wouldn’t do it. But, on the plus side, they’re renovating their leasing office! Don’t know about you, but that seems a lot more important than a flea infestation.
The carpet is cheap, thin, and had several thin patches even though it was «brand new» when we moved in. Threads stuck out of the seams and around the baseboards. Tried to steam it and part of it almost fell apart. It wasn’t even tacked down by the door. Turns out it only has a lifetime of 3 years, which means it’s nasty after one. Awesome.
I have never lived under someone so loud. I don’t know if she’s herding ponies or weighs 12,000 pounds, but she knocked out lightbulbs in our ceiling. The offices first response was oh, we’ll replace the bulbs. Not the point. We tried to move units because we couldn’t stand it, and they had the balls to tell us it would be $ 300 to change units because of HER heavy feet! We started banging on our ceiling and following her through the apartment with a broom and that seemed to do the trick after over a month of dealing with the office.
The mud. Oh my lord, the mud. The reason we tried to steam the carpets was because there is no grass near our building. Every night when the sprinklers would gush because they never fix the broken heads, the mud runs over the sidewalk and consequently all over the nice expensive carpet.
MOLD. Our shower wasn’t sealed properly. Not only did the surface of the shower flake off and look like crap, it wasn’t sealed. I had to call Wingate management to get them to fix it, because the front office doesn’t give a rats ass. There are no vents in the bathrooms, which, btw is not up to building code, so the walls are covered in mold if you shower with the door shut even once. The air conditioner was full of mold as well. Check out the pictures I’ve uploaded of our shower and the wall.
Several switches in our apartment don’t do anything. The building is not set up to run cable without wires across the floors. Cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen were missing parts of trim when we moved in, and never fixed. The cheap laminate flooring is like walking on paper; you barely scuff it and it scratches. Water heater, dryer, and garbage disposal all had to be replaced. All were from the 1980s. OLD appliances. They should have been replaced a long time ago. The dryer overheated and burned holes in a load of our clothes.
Not worth the money. Look elsewhere.

Privacy is not given, roaches are everywhere, cops always in view at night, and people with relationship issues always yelling. If you like Austin Energy, Pest Control, & Maintenance coming in your apartment without notice or warning than welcome to the Barrington. If you don’t live with someone be safe & dead bolt your door! Roaches are coming through the boards in cracks in the walls. The police always seem to be doing a drug busy every night I go out, cause when they leave people are running to their cars & jetting out. My neighbor was broken into, so we take extra precautions when gone.

I couldnt be happier now that I am out of that apartment. Where do I start… this place sucks. First of all, if you like cops at your complex all the time for some drug related or other criminal activity. I have also never seen so many cockroaches in my life, so gross. I had a dog and paid the fee and when i moved out they tried to charge me $ 800 for new carpet because it smelled like a dog??? excuse me… thats what I pay a non refundable deposit for. They change people in the office all the time so you can never get a straight answer from them. Luckily, I’m a paralegal so I just drafted up some b.s. and I made them drop their argument. Regardless, dont move here. its creepy, disgusting and a waste of your money.

I moved into one of the renovated units in November. I am not favorably impressed with the management company. They expect 60 days notice if you plan to move out yet they give very little notice if they need to enter your apartment for anything. I can see if it is something unexpected that comes up suddenly but I got less than 48 hours notice that major stuff would be happening in my apartment over the course of a week. This was something that would have taken advance planning on their part but they chose to let me know on Sat. afternoon when they knew they would disrupting my life for a week starting on the following Monday. Unacceptable!
The young woman who is my leasing consultant acted like she was my best friend when I was going through the application process and now she acts like she doesn’t know me.
The property is old and overpriced even with the interior renovations. As soon as I have the opportunity to move, I will.

I lived at The Barrington for 6 months (just moved back to Austin). I had a very good experience there living in one of there newly renovated apartments. The property management team there was fantastic. All the people who worked in the front office were very responsive to any issues I had. All problems were fixed in a very quick timeframe. Most people don’t think about those things when they rent, but it really made a difference for me. I own and manage many rental properties myself in the Austin area and was impressed with how they managed this property.
GOOD THINGS
— I lived in one of the updated apartments and really enjoyed it. For the price it was very nice.
— Good management team. I interacted with everyone there from the people who run the front desks, to the accountant to the manager as well as the work crews, they were all very good.
— The location is very good considering how close you are The Domain. Your less than 5 miles from an HEB. There’s a 7 – 11 and Exxon Gas Station within 100 yards of the building.
— You can get to Mopac in less than a minute. You can get to 183 in less than 5 minutes. 35 in 15 minutes. Parmer in less than 3 minutes. Capital Texas Parkway in less than 5.
— The pool is good and isn’t heavily used even on hot summer days.
— Has a nice, shared common area.
BAD THINGS
— Fair amount of dog poop on the lawn… many people don’t pick up after their dogs.
— Parking spaces in the front buildings are pretty narrow. Coming back later in the evening (in the front buildings) you’ll be challenged to find a spot.
OVERALL
Considering the good and the bad, I would certainly live here again.

This place is disgusting! Do not move here!
I decided to move from another state to Texas a year ago. I found this apartment by searching online and the pictures looked nice and the office staff was very friendly, so I said, okay Ill move here due to location and cheap rent.
LITTLE DID I KNOW… when I moved in… ROACHES EVERYWHERE! It took them 2 months to finally get rid of them! I’ve had water leaks from my neighbors upstairs and had to deal with the old, open ass stench for weeks! The stains are still on my ceiling because maintenance is too lazy to fix it. I still have holes in my walls from the roach treatments as well. Water lines bust frequently causing 4″ floods in the kitchen/​living room and soaking the carpet which causes another week long stench you must deal with because maintenance takes forever to fix the issue. I get random notes on my door stating that I haven’t paid rent and I am due to be evicted, when I clearly paid my rent on time. Dog owners never pick up their dog crap so BEWARE OF THE GRASS. When it rains, the water floods the sidewalks and you are unable to cross unless you want wet, muddy, fecal infected shoe/​socks. The aftermath of the rain is a mixture of mud, dog crap and shrubs that coats the sidewalks so you are afraid to walk through them. The sprinkler system is a complete joke. They don’t spray like they should. Instead, they gush out like a hose and are almost impossible to dodge when walking by and they create floods just like the rain would. One of the maintenance men sells dirt weed to the people who live here while driving around on his golf cart. There are no baseboards in the apartments, just crappy carpet that connects to old sheet-​rock that looks like it is rotten. Mold underneath the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. Loud neighbors that stay on their patios all night long and keep you up. Maintenance doesn’t want to «fix» anything, they only want to «patch» something up to fix the problem temporarily. The water is constantly being «shut off» for some odd reason and the water bill is shared here. That means if someone leaves their water running for a month straight you must pay the price. The dumpsters overflow constantly and smell like a pile of corpses.
My suggestion… look a mile or two outside this area and you can find a better apartment complex for cheaper. This place is getting expensive due to the renovations which brings me to another point. Since I moved in, I’ve had to lose sleep every night because I am hearing the Mexicans tear apart floors, walls, appliances, etc. They play crappy Mexican music and speak so loud that is seems as though they are trying to piss off the public. Nails and renovation residue all over the place. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a nail in my tire because of this place. My first month here I had someone break into my car and smash in the window to the other 2 cars parking next to me. Nobody parks in a straight line or in the lines for that matter. Non-​handicapped individuals park in handicapped parking spots all day everyday and is never ticketed. I really have nothing good to say about this place besides the fact that I had AC and heat during the hot and cold months. The shower was painted and caused hair and lint to stick to the paint. It’s impossible to clean because whatever cleaning rag/​sponge you are using sticks to the paint so it looks like you have black mold all over your shower even though you just cleaned for ten hours.

I’ve lived here now for a year and a half and I have nothing much that is negative to say. I am in one of the non-​renovated apartments, so mine is a bit dated, however, it still isn’t awful. The office staff are really nice and helpful. I’ve only called three times for non-​critical issues and every time, maintenance fixed it the next day. The maintenance crew is super nice, too. I definitely feel OK if I’m not there when they come in to do any repairs.
I do wish the office would give more notice when they need to do anything, though. I get notices on my door one or two days before they come in to exterminate or inspect the fire extinguishers, etc.
The location is the best part about this place. It is easy to get around with Mopac right there. During rush hour, you do have to be aggressive when turning left out of the complex and just gun it when you see a gap in the line of cars. Or, you can always just use the side gate and drive through the Exxon gas station to get Mopac access if you are a timid grandma driver.
I’ve never had any problems with pesky neighbors. The ones in my building are pretty quiet and respectful and don’t do things like leave garbage around. There was only once I was kept up at night by a loud party and it was in the building across from me. But it never happened again after that.
The pool is really nice and there are always people there, though I’ve never used it. The fitness room is alright. Very modest, but not awful. There is also a nice trail in the back and a park within walking distance. I’ve never experienced any break-​ins and I feel relatively safe, even though my building is all the way in the back.
This is my only serious complaint:
I am a clean person, the kind of clean everyone calls crazy. However, my apartment has a problem with dragons. Not roaches. Dragons. Slaying these massive beasts takes courage, mental preparation and swift reflexes. A shoe will not do; you will need a ballista. You won’t see any for one or two months, and then suddenly one day you find yourself face-​to-​face with a trio of them. They’ve shown up only in the kitchen and once in the bathroom. Never, thank goodness, in the bedroom.
Anything in a plastic bag like bread, keep in the fridge. Anything else, like bulk items, hoard those free plastic containers in the bulk section at Whole Foods and keep everything stored in them. Don’t keep anything in a plastic bag. They will eat through it.
…I know.
Since I’ve taken these steps, sightings are definitely less frequent. The trend now is every two months or so, one pops up and scares the crap out of me.
To their credit, the office sent an exterminator immediately after I called them about it, but we all know how futile that is. Really, the building is older, I live on the first floor, the area is wooded, and around the height of the dragon sightings, they were doing renovations on the apartments around me. So while I do not like it, I understand that these things are sometimes inevitable and I don’t entirely hold it against the apartment management. I see exterminators out spraying around outside at least once a month and every now and then they do exterminating inside all the units. They do try at least.
My cabinetry is old and does have gaps where the roaches are probably getting through. The newly renovated apartments have been gutted and have new cabinetry and moulding, so I do wonder if that eliminates the problem. There are no other bugs to speak of, so that’s something at least.
Anyway, despite this, I’m still considering upgrading to a renovated apartment since my lease is up soon and I really have no other complaints. I will update this review with how it goes if I end up moving out. Or if I upgrade and it is dragon-​free.
Here’s the tl;dr:
PROS:
Location
Timely and friendly maintenance
Friendly and helpful office staff
Safe
Clean
OK neighbors
Renovated
CONS:
Rush hour
Short notice when they plan to enter apartments
Dragons

I’ve lived here for 3 ½ years. It’s pretty nice. Ashley (the manager) is very accommodating.
They’re currently undergoing renovations for both interiors and exteriors. Maintenance doesn’t really come by when they say they will, but they try. And they do fix the problem when they do come by.
The location is really convenient (Duval and Mopac) so you can get anywhere in town pretty quickly. It’s also right next to a 7/​11, so all you Slurpee fans will have easy access. The park behind the complex is also a great place for running or cycling. The pool is nice. With the renovations, it’s definitely a place to look at.