Promenade at Carillon

I called Promenade at Carillon home for 5 ½ years while I attended grad school at USF. The Carillon/​Feather Sound area is arguably one of the nicest areas in Tampa Bay and very centrally located between St. Pete, Clearwater, and Tampa. While the Promenade wasn’t perfect, I think that I can honestly say that my time there as a tenet was the most pleasant to date. The complex was among the cheapest in terms of rent of any in the area. The office staff and property managers over the years were very nice and helpful and I used to always make small chat with the maintenance guys. Also, the staff held various holiday parties/​gatherings for the apartment community which was really nice. I always felt safe and never had to worry about my belongings being stolen/​vandalized. It was also nice to see a company invest in their property, as the entire complex was being remodeled while I lived there. My only complaint with respect to the remodeling was that I picked up a couple of nails in my tires which I could have done without. It is true that Promenade and most of the Carillon area for that matter, was built upon a wildlife preserve, so there was an abundance of wildlife, i.e. birds, raccoons, snakes, and alligators. However, I never found the wildlife to be a nuisance, and in fact, enjoyed them. I think that the bigger issue was with the other tenets. When I first moved in (2008), the majority of the tenets were middle-​aged, very respectful, and kept to themselves. However, I noticed over the years that the tenets became progressively younger and less courteous/​well kept, i.e. garbage all over property, not picking up pet waste, noise late at night. I know that the property management tried to do what they could to curb this such as valet trash service, install pet park with more pet waste receptacles, but ultimately it is up to all the residents to be respectful and try to keep the place nice. With that said, I would definitely recommend Promenade to anyone looking to rent in the north St. Pete/​Clearwater area.

This place is a total dump so I was lucky that I only needed an extra place close to work for a short time. First of all, having never owned a pet in my life, I was not too happy about getting an apartment infested with fleas. After going round and round with an inept manager trying to get that resolved, I finally decided the only real solution was to switch apartments (at my expense). The so-​called «manager» (whose name I don’t recall) actually had the audacity to tell me she wouldn’t «let» me move. Needless to say, I moved out shortly thereafter. In the meantime, I was luckier than most would’ve been in that situation, since I already had another place and the flea-​bed apartment only had to serve as basically a storage unit.
Also be aware that this is the kind of place that constantly has trash piles outside of the dumpsters … I was actually being literal when I described it as a «dump.» As if that’s not bad enough, the issue is made even worse by the fact that there are dozens of raccoons that live in and around the dumpsters. Sure, they may look cute in pictures, but keep in mind that they’re practically rodents and you will have to fend off a pack of the disease-​carrying pests every time you go to take out the trash. Of course, this is not the kind of thing you’ll see before moving in since raccoons only come out at night, but even if you do, don’t let the «manager» fool you into believing that it’s some sort of normal «wildlife» benefit that affects all of Carillon. I have a family member with a beautiful apartment literally right across a fence from Promenade and that entire community is spotless ²⁴⁄₇ and never has a single raccoon anywhere, let alone packs of them. The extreme contrast between the two communities is actually pretty amazing … like night and day.
I could go on about the moldy swamp-​like atmosphere and many other issues, but I think you probably get the point by now. Too bad there are no negative stars.
To be fair, other than the unprofessional so-​called manager, the rest of the office staff was always very nice. Frankly, I felt sorry for those nice ladies having to work there.

I have been nothing but disappointed in carillon, especially since it switched to new management companies. You can no longer pay your water bill online, that I’m aware of and the apartment complex charges you twice for trash pick up but attempt to hide the costs until you specifically ask to break down the fees. Every time I have called maintenance, they either report there isn’t a problem, or that nothing can be done to fix it. For example, my oven has not worked now for about 2 months and when I’ve called them, they say nothing is wrong???
When my lease came up, the rent was raised way up– and when I inquired why, the response was they have to be more competitive with the brand new Azure Complex that just opened… But those are actually nice not trashy apartments, which Promenade staff does not seem to care about making nice.
The staff parks the golf carts wherever they want — directly in front of the stairs so renters have to walk around, and the common areas are never clean — pool dirty, etc…
Carillon is a gorgeous area and I love it, but I would absolutely recommend any of the other apartment complexes in Carillon over this one!

We moved here at the end of 2013. The lease agent showed us beautiful grounds and made a big deal out of the ²⁴⁄₇ pool and spa– big sticking points for us and the reason we chose Promenade over the Reserve down the street.
Since we moved here 6 months ago, the spa has NEVER worked. They are constantly «waiting for parts» or «waiting for a contractor» to fix it. Lately it looks like a green swampy breeding-​grounds for mosquitoes.
Our master bath is a nightmare. The water heater is tiny– two people can’t use the showers at the same time, nor can you shower and have the washing machine going. This isn’t a big deal for a lower-​cost apartment, but abysmal for a supposedly nice place. The shower has terrible water pressure, and it takes more than 5 minutes for the water in the shower or sink to get hot. This is not an exaggeration. It takes so long we don’t even use our master bath anymore. Maintenance came by to «fix» it and it’s still the same.
We pay for a detached garage (don’t get me started about the lack of parking and people actually having to park by the curbs because they are no open spots). The remote for it is absolutely dreadful and won’t work unless we’re right at the door, making a mockery of the name «remote». The keypad itself is covered with aluminum foil, what in the hell?
We used to be able to pay our rent online for free, like at any other reasonable complex, but now there is a $ 35 fee each time! If you wish to set up recurring payments, it’s a $ 2 fee each time, and you have to factor in your water bill yourself (and it changes every month).
And the icing on the cake: when we tried to set up those damned recurring payments today, the feature wasn’t available on their website. We called the office: a «glitch», apparently, and we had to call a number on the website to set it up. No number is listed on the website. So we call the office back and get that number, set it up on the phone with an agent that could barely speak English, and paid the $ 35 fee anyway to pay our rent this month. Ridiculous incompetence.
I’m so unhappy about having signed a lease here, we should have gone with the Reserve and paid an extra $ 300 for much better service/​amenities.