The Core

We lived here twice, we moved away for an overseas assignment and then moved back in after returning home. The first time we loved it and the second stint we had a very negative experience! Unfortunately the complex was taken over by a new property management company and it the new management was horrendous. It used to be a nice, clean place with respectful and courteous neighbors and staff. It has turned into a dump, we made several complaints for dog poop in the hallways and management didn’t seem to care. Maintenance was friendly but severely understaffed and not dispatched punctually; we had reoccurring issues with our sink and dishwasher backing up and even had to clean up the filth and sludge ourselves a few times when it overflowed. Worst of all we felt that the management and specifically the head manager were very deceptive and misleading. They screwed us over with fines after we moved out even though we left the place cleaner than when we moved in. I would not recommend this place to anyone and would suggest looking elsewhere in the neighborhood.

I rented here with high hopes and have been nothing but disappointed with the property management and staff. They have had multiple opportunities to do great things and they just fall flat every time. Starting with looking for every overturning to hit you with a fee then ignoring your emails. Not to mention I already had something stolen from my apartment by a maintenance person. Everyone that works here just seems complacent and ok with mediocracy.
There are so many choices in this areas… go somewhere else.

I’ve lived here for three years now. The only reason I’ve stayed is because moving is such a hassle and the location is awesome. So I’m toughing it out for a few more months until I buy a place.
Management (Berkshire) is terrible, as many residents have stated below. They are slow to respond and like the person with the door frame issue mentioned below, they are always «ordering» parts. The hot tub and grills stay broken. We live by the pool and see people daily trying to use the grill. We’ve reported the grills countless times, but they are always «waiting on parts to come in» apparently. What’s worse is that they sensor the community portal where residents discuss these issues. So they take down any negative remarks that are posted.
Our car has also been broken into here. The 1 security guard they have is not enough and not to mention, he doesn’t pay attention to what is going on at all.
We also had to call CenterPoint about a gas leak recently. CenterPoint had quite a difficult time with the maintenance guy, who said he would tend to the leak in the morning! CenterPoint was very upset with his reaction as were we, so fortunately they cut the gas off. The CenterPoint guy told us that they were just out here a month ago dealing with the same issue. Not good…
Dog poop is everywhere. Halls are usually dirty. Gates and key fob entries break often. I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. I wouldn’t lease here unless you’re desperate.

I’ve read some of the negative reviews about the management/​staff and honestly, I haven’t had the same experience. I’ve lived at the Core for over two years and have nothing but positive things to say about my interactions with the staff. They’re responsive, polite, and fair, which is an improvement over my prior apartment experiences.
In the two areas where I depend on the staff the most — package handling and maintenance requests — they’re great. In the time that I’ve been here, they’ve updated their package system to provide email updates when packages arrive, which is helpful. And maintenance requests are usually completed within the same day or the day after, followed by an email asking for feedback on the service provided.
Every apartment complex has its shortcomings, but to be fair, the staff at the Core is not one of them. In fact, they’re one of the main reasons I renewed.

I’ve been renting apartments/​houses around Houston for 6 years. Most places I’ve lived did have some negative reviews, you can’t please everyone, but I had never had a bad experience or any issues with management. So, I chose to ignore the negative reviews of The Core and I wish I had not!
The first month I lived here, my apartment was broken into. Do I think this is managements fault? No. Do I think they could have prevented it yes? Do I think they learned from it? No. It took one month of me nagging to get the frame of my door replaced. Eventually they told me they had made a mistake and ordered the wrong one and that was the hold up… which would have been fine if someone had just communicated that. They were very slow to respond to my emails/​calls. They did install a more secure frame and covered the cost of it, which I appreciated – but honestly, it was the least they could do. Many people have said «it’s Houston, break ins happen». Which is true, but I’ve rented lots of places in Houston that did not have theft issues– it can be prevented. Id feel better about it if they had made any changes after that incident, but they really haven’t.
Nothing was done to up the security, and a few weeks later cars were broken into and a few were stolen. Some residents were discussing this in the resident web forum and I mentioned the security issue of the recent break ins and my hope that they would do something to fix it. Some residents started discussing the break ins and management deleted the entire thread in what clearly seemed like an attempt to keep word of the break ins from spreading. According to these Unilocal reviews, there has since been another break in. Still no added security measures. The gate breaks OFTEN and is left propped open which defeats the purpose of the one security measure we do have.
My AC broke 4 times in one month. The 4^th time they finally replaced whatever was causing the root problem.
Many of the key clicker entries around the property don’t work. I cannot enter the gym from the inside of the building, I have to walk outside and go through the pool area because the key FOBs haven’t worked for a few months.
I expected because of the cost of rent, that not many college students would live here. But I must be wrong because there are often people out at the pool all hours of the night during the week. I’m not talking 10pm I mean 2−3AM. It’s not so much that their obnoxiously loud, it’s just that it echoes so bad. I’ve talked to my neighbors around me and they’ve said say they have not heard it, so I must just be a light sleeper. I bought a fan for my room and that’s helping. Management has put locks on the pool to keep people out after hours, which is nice that they did something. I guess people are climbing over? Light sleepers beware, you won’t want a pool view apartment.
Pros…square footage. I’m getting a decent amount of sq ft for what I’m paying – but it hasn’t been worth all the headaches.
The girls in the office are nice. They’ve always tried to help me when I’ve gone down to talk to them. But I think the property management issues are outside of their control. I’ve heard complaints from other people who have lived at Berkshire properties as well.
I was so hoping to not have to move again in one year. But unless something changes drastically, I just don’t see how I could stay. Save yourself the trouble – go somewhere else that is not a Berkshire property.

I have lived at the Core for six months now and overall, I am really happy with the price I pay and what I get for it.
Things I love:
— Location — Driving ten minutes to work is worth very much to me. Plus, having access to a lot of great places to eat and drink means we spend a lot less money on Ubers and parking.
— Apartment — The size of our apartment (one bedroom) is perfect. Double vanity sinks, a kitchen that allows me to host parties, and a great little office nook. The patio is a good escape and the closet is big and easy to organize. The square footage we have for what we pay for is a really great deal. I advise to check apartment prices every week, because sometimes they go down in price and you can lock that price in months before your move in date.
— Staff — I have never had a negative interaction with management or staff. In fact, every time I’ve had an issue or problem, they have been very accommodating and kind.
Things that I don’t love:
— Security — Our apartment was broken into a few months ago and it was definitely scary. But it honestly made us more aware of our surroundings, setting the alarm, and installing a StrikeMaster door frame reinforcement (
) which the management totally supported, and reimbursed us for. With recent car break ins and theft, we’ve gone extra steps to try and ensure the safety of our cars. But it definitely bothers me that we don’t have a secure garage. As someone who fully intended on renewing my lease, I’m struggling with the decision now because of the safety in the garage.
To address a few things from other reviews:
— Noise — I don’t really feel like I notice excess noise at all. Maybe I’m lucky, but I’ve never lost sleep over a neighbor in any direction or the pool. That being said, the pool definitely echos (my patio faces it), but it is mostly during the day and even at night no one has music going or is overly disruptive. I’m actually surprised at how mellow this pool is during the weekend summers.
— Management — Honestly, theft and break-​ins happen everywhere in Houston. We have one of the highest crime rates in the US. People were shot at during a drive-​by at Kung Fu a few months ago. However, I think that blaming management isn’t really the answer. Should they install cameras? Absolutely, and it is my understanding that they have in some areas and are expanding it. Should the security guy be more useful? Yes, and he now roams around the whole parking garage every Thurs. Fri. and Sat. night. Should management answer concerns and be more vocal about their plan to fix things? Yes and yes!
So still trying to decide on whether to renew lease, but it’ll depend on how security changes in the next few months. I hope they are able to fix some things, because I love the apartment overall!

I’ve lived here for 1.5 years. I’ve been very happy with how the Apartment Manager has handled my requests/​questions or issues. She has went out of her way to make me feel like a valued resident.

Good location, but the fire alarms go off in the middle of the night on a regular bases. And property maintenance isn’t the best.

Update: As an update, a rude person named «k k.» who apparently lives down the hall from where we lived wrote me on here saying she didn’t believe anything I said about the putrid mice issue we had in 2421. Denial is a b***h…see picture above k k. You would think people living in the core would want to know about the issues others are having doors down from them, but no. Instead of being concerned for her own health and living situation this K k. person took it upon herself to lash out at me and my horrible living situation when all I was trying to do was get the word out in an apartment community, because that’s the right thing to do. The Core– building a community of a**holes.

A recent email from the Core Management Staff:
«…We regret to inform you that we received reports that two vehicles were stolen and one broken into Saturday morning, April 4^th, 2015… However, no further information is available at this time…»
OMG– WHERE DO I LIVE??? MY LEASE END DATE CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH!!!

Don’t live here! this past weekend 4 cars got broken into on the 3^rd floor of the garage and one truck got STOLEN out of the garage. That was just this weekend, since I’ve lived here (September 2014) at least 10 cars have had their windows smashed. Management clearly doesn’t care enough to spend the money to install cameras in the garage. Given the fact that there is a security guard all night at the garage gate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the responsible party is actually a resident, that or some really crafty and patient criminals. We don’t feel like our belongings/​cars are safe anymore. At first we were just scared of break-​ins but now we’re afraid that our cars will get stolen right out from under us. Sad to say parking on the street would probably be safer.
Don’t risk your car, don’t live here.
Update:
As if The Core wasn’t already bad enough, my apartment got broken into this past weekend.
Really, don’t live here.
JULY 6 2015 UPDATE
July 4^th has come and gone and things have only gotten worse.
We went down to the pool in an attempt to enjoy our 4^th of July, at the pool… which we pay rent for and left less than 10 minutes later because of the sheer madness that was going on.
We go down to the pool at least once a week and I can safely say that I recognized 3 people out of the 100+ that were there? There were broken bottles, food was strewn around the pool area, it was LOUD and people were climbing the awning over the pool to jump off of it. I ran into other residents on the sky bridge once a fight broke out down on the street that also agreed they didn’t know any of the people in the pool area. The police had to come disperse the NON RESIDENTS from the street outside our windows.
Our rent isn’t cheap, but it might even be justified if BASIC amenities were being provided. There are problems with the trash rooms being filthy, mice and roaches everywhere, the garage door being broken sporadically, the list goes on. Maintenance requests don’t get fulfilled until a 2^nd or 3^rd request is submitted and moreover, I personally don’t feel safe living here. Between the car break-​ins, stolen cars and trespassers, I would never recommend The Core to anyone, not with the current state of things.
This morning the management posted on the resident portal that «cameras are being reviewed» to access fines pertaining to the incident this weekend, which is very surprising considering that I have heard from more than one resident that after incidents of theft and property damage have happened on the property, camera footage was «not available.»
Our apartment was burglarized a few months ago WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING and we filed a police report. We didn’t report the incident to the leasing office because another resident told me how unhelpful they were when her apartment was broken into, namely no access to video footage and no answers. Clearly, there needs to be more transparency and cooperation with the residents. Management is nice but the problem is that they are clearly understaffed coupled with a lack luster effort.
Maybe corporate doesn’t realize the huge liability that could have been incurred this past weekend with all the people at the pool, they are truly lucky that no one was hurt. What happened to the security cameras that were being installed in the garage? What happened to the TWO security guards that were supposed to be patrolling the garage? I haven’t seen them in weeks and before they disappeared, they could often be found on the roof of the garage in their golf cart, obviously not patrolling the garage. Perhaps corporate will care about the residents of this property once their bottom line is being affected, because this property is a lawsuit waiting to happen if nothing changes.
Management has also been censoring the «community portal» where we are supposed to «get connected» and «communicate» in order to keep those unaware of what is going on in the dark. I understand not wanting to scare people but censoring residents on what is technically supposed to be another «amenity» is not effective, honest or productive.
Please save time, effort, money, and headaches and DO NOT LIVE HERE. Literally the only good thing about The Core is the location.

I am VERY glad that I no longer live here. I won’t waste too much of my time dissecting every crappy flaw about this place. Just see other reviews preceding mine and you’ll get the idea. So, I’ll keep it short.
Thin walls, loud and at times immature neighbors, unfriendly staff, dirty hallways and common areas, and so overpriced for what you get.
This place has changed management at least twice during my time there and both management teams were equally crappy.
I’ll reiterate what everyone else has said: DON’T LIVE HERE. Put your hard-​earned money toward a place that’s actually worth it.

I am counting down the days until my lease is up and I can move out. I have lived here for about 6 months and the management has already changed and they have both been rude and most of the time, unhelpful. There has been multiple break ins and last week when I walked in the garage a tahoe was missing all of its tires.
My absolute least favorite park is my upstairs neighbors. I don’t know if this place just has terrible floors but I can hear every single step they take. They must hate to relax because I swear they walk all day, every day. I think I am going a little insane from it.
The only positive thing is that they have dog parks. But along with that, people don’t pick up their dog poop and they let the trash cans overflow with poop bags before they change them.
Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend living here and I definitely won’t be resigning my lease.

You are lucky if one of the 8 gym tvs is ever working. The pool is nice and the major draw to the place. But it does get closed down on weekends for no particular reason. The walls are thin so your neighbor can get annoyed if you watch tv past 10:00 pm.

Update: The Core has new management as of April, but we haven’t seen much of a change. In fact, they had no way to report noise complaints for the entire month of April and they extended the hours for the pool.
We moved out at the end of May. We had internet installed in our new apartment and I asked about the issues we had while at the Core with our internet cutting out all the time and how slow it was. The technician said it was likely bad wiring in the building, which I believe because the internet at our new place is faster than what we are paying for and doesn’t cut out. We are using all the same equipment (we own our modem).
Old review:
I’ve been living here for 8 months now and I do not plan to renew my lease once it’s up. I will give it this caveat — I am probably not the target demographic for this place. If you are in your 20’s and single and enjoy pool parties every weekend during the summer, well then this may be the place for you. But I am in my 30’s, living with my boyfriend and I have a job that I kept when I moved to Houston that allows me to work from home.
Here are the reasons why we chose this place over other apartments we looked at:
1. our apartment is huge!
2. lap pool (for those days it’s too hot to run)
3. close to Buffalo Bayou and Spotts Park so we can easily go running or play basketball
4. the patio
5. lots of restaurants and other things within walking distance
Those were the main reasons. Everyplace else we looked at was fairly comparable (or so we thought).
One we moved in it just gradually became a long list of things we didn’t like:
1. The pool. The lap pool is full of cigarette butts, and who wants to swim laps in that!
2. The patio. We thought we would use our patio all the time, but we never use it because we are on the bottom floor and the people who live above us like to throw their cigarettes, beer cans, and random other trash off their balcony. And the maintenance crew doesn’t feel obligated to clean it up (can you blame them?)
3. Recycling. They tell you there’s recycling but it’s pretty worthless. You have to fit everything into a special blue trash bag, which isn’t all that big. And you have to get these special blue trash bags from the office and they only give you 3 at a time which is ridiculous because we have far more recycling than trash and go through 3 a week!!! And because these special bags are the size of regular trash bags, if you have large boxes after moving in, or order stuff online often, you have to cut up all your boxes into small pieces to get them to fit. They have a garbage chute but it’s only for garbage, so you are pretty much out of luck for recycling anything large. There used to be a recycling center a block away, but it closed recently.
5. Noise. So like I said, I am not the demographic for this apartment building. I go to bed early and I work from home, so I often feel like the cranky old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. We have frequently called in noise complaints on our upstairs neighbors who like to have parties. We have talked to the office about it and the most they have done is to send polite letters asking them to be quieter. It helped a little, but not much. We have the noise complaint line on speed dial.
6. Cockroaches. They formed a welcoming committee.
7. Management. Someone else commented about the receptionist being nice and offish at the same time. Completely agree that this seems to apply to most of the office staff. They seem nice but also patronizing. And the worst part is that the other review is from 2011 so I’m quite sure it’s not the same person.
8. Security. Recently there have been several break-​ins. I have to say I am not surprised given that the doors to the building often do not latch making the security fob features useless. Also there have been a lot of issues with the garage gates and they are often left completely open.
9. Dog crap. It’s everywhere
10. Parking. People park wherever they want. Regardless of whether it’s a handicapped space or blocking a door to the building. (Again, I am the wrong demographic for this place but seriously people are inconsiderate!!)
11. The kitchen layout. The placement of the dishwasher is odd and makes it difficult to put away dishes.
12. Dark. Our apartment is a bottom floor corner unit that looks out onto the pool. For this reason, we get very little natural light.
13. Other random things. One month we got an eviction notice for failure to pay rent DESPITE HAVING PAID RENT. We talked to the office about it and their response was «oh, I thought we sent out a larger number of eviction notices than normal this month». REALLY?! They aren’t the brightest…
So if you are looking for a party scene, this may be your place, otherwise I recommend you keep looking!

My friend lives here, and it’s very spacious. It was built only a year or two ago and is cited as being a sort of up-​and-​coming place in an up-​and-​coming neighborhood. I think they tried really hard to make the place look modern, especially common areas. They used oversized décor in sort of a burnt orange/​red color. For Houston, maybe this is cool, but for a New Yorker such as myself, I think their idea of modern, or just of style in general, is a little late 90s Cracker Barrel. The hallways are so open and wide you can hear yourself echo.
The receptionist is nice and offish at the same time — kind of strange.
They have pools, a gym, a pool table, and a ²⁴⁄₇ coffee machine that is free… a definite bonus.
There is not much air flow or space in the gym. They do have fans, but not having the windows open only means the fans are pushing the sweat smell around the room faster. They could definitely stand to clean the gym more often or at least spray some Febreeze when nobody is using it. There are 2 water fountains in there that are constantly covered with white spots from people’s sweat. I know it’s a gym, after all, but the receptionist is sitting there starring out the window enough that she could go wipe some things downs in there. There also isn’t much space to just lie around and do stretches. There are TVs at most of the machines, but no batteries in the remote controls.
There are TVs all over the place in the common areas that are turned on that noone is watching — kind of gives me some insight into the amount of rent they’re charging.
There is an elevator, but it is not centered in the building, so if you live at the other end, you wind up taking the stairs all the time, which is great for excercise, but they built the stairs outdoors, and it is freezing in Winter.
The garbage chutes are in a separate room, presumably to minimize the smell into the hallways, but this grand idea just backfired because I am guessing they use this fact as reason not to maintain them. Again, I know they are garbage chutes, after all, and they are not going to smell like roses and fresh fruit, but I don’t see anybody doing anything to maintain them or minimize the smell. There also is no recycling, which is typical of this part of the country, but in a place going for a modern look and appeal, they really should get on board with recycling.
Some of the reviews I’ve seen for this place note that the common areas light up at night, and lots of people are there being social. This is simply not true, unless it only happens in the Summer, but it’s definitely a good set-​up and a good try. I hope the intention eventually catches-​on.
I think my friend is the first one in the apartment. They still haven’t hooked up the water hose to the dishwasher, and he is too busy at work to even remember to tell them about it, and now the dishes are piling up, lol. On another note, there is nothing modern about the inside of the apartment. The shower doesn’t have any unique features, there are no gadgets, the fridge doesn’t serve water and ice on the outside of the door (although the inside of the freezer does have a noisy ice maker that will wake you up at night if you forget to turn it off before you go to bed).
This was a crititical review so far, but the place of course has its positive sides. It is very large. The doors are tall enough for the tallest human on earth (although they didn’t think very hard about which sides the hinges should be put on), there are lots of closets (for one of them, «walk-​in» doesn’t do it justice — it’s larger than the office), and the best part of all is that there is a washer and dryer in each individual apartment. There is plenty of cupboard space (although much of it is above the stove and gets spots after cooking with covers even once — just from the steam, etc.), and the countertop is marble, although I can’t help but add that it’s the ugliest possible marble they could have picked out. The lights are pretty, and there is a spotlight set-​up in the kitchen area looking to be from Ikea but it is nowhere near bright enough to reach the living/​dining room area, and the light there is left severely inefficient, to say the least, which is annoying in light of the wasted electricity on the unwatched TVs in the common areas. The place is also remarkably quiet, I must say.
There is a covered parking garage — you might save on your car insurance for that. There is usually one or two parking spaces left on the the street.
The neighborhood leaves much to be desired.
For someone who wants a lot of space and who doesn’t have a really keen eye for what kinds of modern style are overplayed and long since passed by, but who just wants the «oh, ah» effect during the priceless first 7 impression seconds of a place, this is your place.