The Block on Leon

DO NOT LIVE HERE. YOU WILL REGRET IT.
First off, my sister and I are freshmen and we unknowingly signed this lease thinking it was a good idea. We were so foolish. These are the problems.
1. Since move in day the floors have always been dirty in the apartment. Always. I have used a swifer jet mop multiple times to clean the floors and they are still dirty. We always wear slippers or shoes in the house.
2. The elevators never work. 80% of the time they do not work. I personally have gotten stuck in an elevator. (Thank you kind stranger who literally yanked the doors open so that we could get out). If they do work, they are nasty. For example, this week there was an oreo stuck on the door, spit on the ground, and beer bottles everywhere.
3. There is vomit, trash, spilt beer, and a variety of other things everywhere.
4. The people at the block are NOT helpful. They do not care about you. I called to tell them about vomit, they sent me to voice mail. I then, two hours later, went and told them in person. The two workers there said they already knew and that they were too busy and were going to do it later. That was a lie. They did not clean it up. Two days later someone did. Overall the leasing office people do not care about you, they just want to trick you into signing a lease. These people will lie straight to your face, they have done this to us many times.
5. We have a huge bug problem. In the last month alone, they have sprayed three times. It has not helped at all. We have had our dad and step dad spray twice. So in total, people have sprayed five times and nothing has happened. Bugs are still here. We see one every other day.
6. It is insanely loud. (Duh) I mean its a college apartment complex. But be warned, the walls are paper thin. Partying and music can be heard every weekend Thursday-​Sunday non stop. You will also hear music at all times everyday. People skate board in the halls constantly and you can hear them. People always sing while walking around. Noise complaints are useless because the leasing office will do nothing.
7. The washer and dryers often break. For the first three weeks of being here the washer didn’t work. Since then, they have broken on and off.
8. The doors are always open. This means multiple things. The front door usually is propped up so anyone can walk in. Everyone knows the key code to get in. Also, sometimes the front door won’t unlock with our keys for some unknown reason. The gates to the parking garages are both always open. Anyone can get in. This place is not secure.
9. We have a balcony facing inward looking at other people in our apartment complex. I have no idea why we even have this. This isn’t really a problem, just a point to be made; just because you get a balcony doesn’t mean you will get to see anything but your neighbor’s apartments.
10. The block allows pets. This is good for pet owners but bad for everyone as a whole. Some people just let there dog run round the apartment without the owner even accompanying them. There is fur from pets in the elevators, and dog crap all around the entrance of the apartments (on side walks and grass).
11. One thing that I liked about the block was that they had a downstairs work out room. Well, they recently took the work out rooms away. There is now one gym in the leasing building. In its place they put a study room. I have no idea why they would do this because we can study in our own rooms.
12. It SMELLS EVERYWHERE. In the front entrance, in the halls, in the garages.
13.The flood. In the garage there is always huge puddles that consume cars and all walk ways to get to your car.
16. During thanksgiving and Christmas break the elevators were broken and they don’t fix maintenance problems. It is a ghost town, your problems won’t be solved.
17. Fire alarms have gone off for no reason and they have given no explanation.
18. They send emails when maintenance people are coming to change filters. They are suppose to email you in advance before they break in to your apartment. Unfortunately they have always, without fail, emailed me only after the maintenance people have come.
19. Mold. I’m serious. I found mold on my bathroom sink getting into the water I use to brush my teeth. I found some spots behind the pipes for the sink. Maintenance came and they switched out some parts of the sink. Then they spray painted the wall.
20. It is super expensive.
PLEASE look else where. I would give zero stars if possible.

I could say so much about The Block but all you need to know is NO. Don’t do it. Go somewhere else, anywhere really. Ridiculously overpriced, the office management is just sad, elevator literally never works, the hallways always smell awful, dogs (possibly humans) pee/​poop/​vomit every corner you turn, walls are too thin both within your actual apt unit and between you and your neighbors, just no. Oh and our dryer pretty much didn’t work all year but yet they never really fixed it when we asked.
I lived at both The Block on Leon and the one on Rio Grande and Leon’s a lot less sketchy but neither was a good experience. At least they stopped letting tow trucks in as they pleased though. My car was broken into and towed out of my own parking spot at the Rio Grande location. $ 100/​month parking was such a deal! Oh the memories!

Do NOT live here. There are many new buildings both recently constructed and upcoming that are EXTREMELY higher quality and the same high west campus price.
I have lived here for 3 years now in one of their top end loft units and still hate it with a passion. I have not moved simply to avoid the hassle but always wish I had; this is the worst apartment complex you could possibly live in as far as west campus goes.
Pros:
— Very responsive/​effective maintenance staff; Gabriel is very helpful in the front office
Cons:
— Mold is very present in most units and it is simply covered up with spray on paint
— Residents/​guests urinate and vomit almost every weekend in the hallways and elevators
— Elevators are broken about 75% of the year, every single year, and they will NOT replace them. Expect elevators to work mondays through wednesday, come thursday they will be broken by drunken ragers.
— Nice rooftop terrace, but there is no furniture (Ever) or pool; and the main building pool is so filled with debris and booze it is virtually a sitting cesspool
— Almost every resident/​apartment WILL be partying wednesday through sunday throughout the entire year, noise complaints will not solve the problem; the problem is exacerbated by the fact that the walls are extremely thin, can even hear people’s conversations in neighboring apartments sometimes.
— Rent is far too high for the quality /​standard of living in all block apartments
— Washer machines will stain your clothes with small dark oil spots due to either the quality of the machines themselves or the quality of the water that runs through the complex
— A strong odor runs through the entire building, hallways, apartments etc.

Nice because it’s the block. Cheaper than all the other blocks. 2 blocks further from campus than the other blocks, but that’s not a problem with a bike. Spacious living areas in the 4 bed — 2 bath corner room configuration. Quiet in weekdays when I study, fun on weekends when I party. Good guy-​girl ratio. It’s also not made up of all bros like you think it would be. Gated parking. Needs more covered bike racks. Also, a small workout room and no pool, but I use the running trails on Lamar anyway. Marble countertops, cherrywood cabinets, Berber carpet, how much better does it get for a student?

The Block on Leon. Frat children of the corn rejoice!
First let me say, The Block on Leon is not the worst place ever. If you find a decent rate, it’ll be fine.
The block charges an obscene amount of money for a room, but I guess thats there business. I believe my one room, with roomy, was $ 900ish with parking and cable. Now I know Austin has a little higher prices in the UT district because of the demand, but I find this a little high.
However if you wait, they run deals right before fall semester starts. I ended getting my room for $ 700 a month (more reasonable) off a craigslist add. Although it was an extremely misleading add that you had to be careful reading the fine print.
Apartments are suppose to come with «free wi-​fi». Now this being a newer building (from what I can deduce), you’d expect the wi-​fi to be working decently. Well it doesn’t. The first 6 months of tenancy was horrible. Internet almost never worked, and when it did it was slower than my dial-​up connection 7 years ago. They installed some new access points and it has got better, but its not totally reliable. I asked to have my rent bill credited for this inconvenience and they refused (surprise surprise).
The elevators are also a *#&@ joke! Around the holiday season, the rear elevator went out. I was gone for almost a month and when i returned it was still out! WTF! A month later, I called and they said that it had water damage. SO? FIX IT IDIOTS! Well it was at least a month or two later until it was fixed (banging head against wall at this point). Its not a HUGE deal, but carrying up groceries by yourself up the stairwells and across the complex gets kinda old. Not to mention there were a few weeks when the front elevator was out as well.
The front has an access pad that everyone knows the code to. Not a huge problem, but tenants also feel the need to leave the door propped open. The handle has been ripped off the door a couple of times, and their idea of fixing it was just bolting on a pull handle. Every time I see it I just laugh at the half a$$ job this company believes to be expectable.
The garage is also an interesting topic. I have a very tall vehicle. It fit in the garage quite well. Well sometime a few weeks ago they installed a massive clearance indicator. Thankfully I had purchased a different vehicle just before this idiotic move, otherwise I would have been forced to park on the street.
The interior hallways are pretty nasty most of the time. Your going to be living with drunk 19 year olds here, get use to it. People vomit in the hallway, drag their dripping trash on the ground, and believe the hallway is their personal garbage. You’ll learn to love that sticky shoes sound on your way to work.
The rooms are pretty big (mine is at least) with huge closet and bathroom. The bathroom does have ‘low volume” water nozzles. This is to reduce on The Blocks expense (they partially subsidize the water bill). Its a good idea in theory, but really it sucks when you want to use it. Let me turn on the faucet and I should have a glass of water in a couple of minutes!
The maintenance guys are pretty quick however. If you put in a work order, they are usually there the next day.
The front office, besides the people who don’t believe accounts can be credited, are very nice.
The location is pretty convenient to campus as well. About a 10 minute walk to the clock tower, and 2 minute walk to the WC UT bus route. Backs up to walking trail/​frolfing course as well. It does get kinda loud during football season (frat houses playing loud music), but its not really that bad at all. Right close to lamar as well.
The Block (series of apartment complexes which is itself owned by another larger entity) also trys to promote «block parties.» This is odd because the majority of renters here are under age and the «parties» are advertised as drinking fests. Interesting… I’ve heard some interesting stories.
If you can get an apartment at a discounted rate, it pry is worth it. Otherwise I’d keep looking.