Eastside Commons

I lived here up until late last year for almost two years and had a great experience. Both the manager (the red head not the brunette) and the maintenance staff were on top of everything once reported (also very down to earth). The eastside of Austin is becoming very trendy and the complex started renovations before I left to keep up. It looks great!

I lived here for a year about 7 years ago. They were newly «upgraded» and the neighborhood was still up and coming (read: hookers always in the parking lots soliciting my guy friends). My car was broken into, my friend and neighbor’s car was stolen and returned four different times (funny and true story!)and on more than one occasion, I was solicited for money inside the gates. That was the neighborhood then. My friend stayed until 2 years ago, so I witnessed the MANY– more than 15 management changes-​others talk about. There were at least 3 the year I lived there. Once they decided to lock the gates and did so on a Friday without making sure all tenants had a key to get in them. They had given no notice at all and I got home late and was locked out of my own apartment. This is just one example of their inability to manage property. They were terrible! Never open when they were supposed to be, coming into your apartment without notice, not fixing things in a timely manner. Terrible.
I am prompted to write this review as I just saw an ad for ESC and the rent prices!!! Holy smokes! The ad started prices at $ 1245! I don’t care how hip the neighborhood has become! The place has mice and rats and roaches. It’s loud and likely that won’t change because the walls are paper thin. The upgrades are looking about the same as when I lived there. The pool looks to have new tile, but I can’t remember. To put it intelligently, you can paint a turd, but a turd is still a turd. It’s most definitely NOT worth that price tag. Don’t do it. You have been warned.

I’ve lived here for 6 months and only two dryers have been operational in the laundry during the whole time. It takes me three hours to do my laundry every time. The water in my bathroom comes in only two ways, scalding hot or freezing cold. There are rats in the walls and ceiling. They just painted the outside so Im sure they will try to raise the rent if I wanted to actually resign my lease. Way to polish a turd.

Property Manager was outstanding in assisting our move in. Very professional and personable. Any questions we had were answered almost immediately. All details and policies were clearly explained. Would certainly recommend Eastside Commons as a definite rental location for short term or long term rental

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but living here is up there with the worst ones. The place is rundown and the rent keeps going up. They try to make you believe it’s nice by updating the courtyards, but the actual apartments are in pretty bad shape. Upon move in the paint was peeling, «wood» floors had holes, bug problem, stove was filthy, and just generally a dirty place.
The management is a joke. JOKE. If you actually expect someone to be in the office during the listed business hours, think again. Don’t bother having packages sent to your place because they will be put in the office that is never open. You can never reach someone to get anything fixed.
The laundry machines are constantly broken and when fixed people leave their shit in them for hours.
The neighbors are great. Except the guy below my unit. He was an asshole. Every time you farted he was up knocking on the door saying that he needs it to be a little more quiet. I gave up on trying to be nice to that guy. Especially since he threw parties every other night and expected me to tiptoe around.
On move out I was charged for paint and no one could explain why it happened. I was given the excuse that the prev manager was behind those charges and took the files with her. The place is run by a moron.
I’m sure my tone suggest disgust with this place. There is a reason for that too.
Don’t move here. Don’t. The area is great, but just look elsewhere. There are lots of places close by.

Poor Management, Poor Security, Poor Service
First off, let me say, that if I could give them zero stars I would, but Unilocal is merciful, even to slumlords like Eastside Commons. The real shame of the thing is that it is in a great location and need not be managed as poorly as it is. Where to begin?
I have lived here for over a year now, and was gullible enough to sign a second year lease. Gullible enough to believe their promises that they would increase security. Gullible enough to believe that when they fired the last incompetent manager (who was at least personable and knew our names) they would not replace her with a shrew of a woman whose idea of a work ethic is 2.5 hour lunches and then just not coming in on some days. Needless to say, recently, it has become my goal to get her fired, and she should be, for the reprehensible manner in which she performs her job, or more accurately, does not perform it.
The office is never open, and in those maddening moments, as today, when I need to get a package that I had rush delivered, she is nowhere to be found, in the middle of a workday, at 2:30PM. The sign says she will be back on Monday, even though the office is supposed to be open on Saturdays as well. This laziness is the tip of the iceberg, which is all the more compounded by outright misrepresentations and false promises.
I know at least three people in the complex who have had their apartments burgled, and needless to say, security is a significant issue. The most that Eastside Commons offers you in terms of security is a false sense of it; there is a fence surrounding the property, and a security door with a keypad next to it that at some point worked, but now, the door just opens with a push. I repeatedly have requested that they fix this and the other doors that are perpetually propped open, and they have assured me that they are working on it. It has been at least 8 months since my first request, and I should have gotten it in writing when I re-​signed my lease, but sadly did not.
Speaking again of false security, right around the time of lease re-​signing, they hired a rent-​a-​cop to come and police the pool. This quickly was found to be a farce, even though they told us he was going to be around, as soon as leases were signed he vanished. Everyone around this area of the east side knows that this pool is open to basically everyone in the neighborhood and as a result, it gets filled with all manner of riff-​raff who have no regard for the cleanliness of the pool (dog hair from their mutts floating all over the surface of the water, forming miniature rafts) nor the property itself. There consistently are multiple groups of people, openly using drugs around the pool, often until 4 or 5 in the morning, and management doesn’t seem to care, as long as the leases are signed. On at least a few occasions this conduct has risen to the level of criminal mischief, with chairs smashed and all the pool furniture thrown into the pool, dozens of cans and bottles floating in the semi-​translucent cesspool that lurks outside my door.
All these issues, time and time again I have addressed with management, and they have said that they will deal with them, to no avail. There is no upper level manager to talk to, and frankly, I’m wondering who I’m going to have to serve when I end up suing them for their negligence. Everything that they fail to do at this property makes the entire place ripe for a premises liability suit.
And the roaches. It doesn’t matter how impeccably clean you keep your apartment, the roaches will still get you. They come crawling out of the air vents at night, huge, Kafkaesque beasts, I can’t count the number of ones I’ve crushed. Of course, management is going to take care of this one as well. Check.
TL;DR? Management exemplifies that grey line between pure incompetence and outright malfeasance. As a result, you get no service, are lied to consistently, and are left to deal with the constant scourge of criminal activity at your doorstep.

Worst complex ever. I had a terrible rat problem in apt 215 and they never called pest control to fix it. The apartment manager is rude and they charged us for new carpet even though it was spotless when we moved out. Never live in these apartments you will get taken and advantage and get sick from all the rodents (my roommate and I both did). Just keep on looking for another place, it was a terrible experience living there.

I’ve been here for about a week now so I’ll be sure to write an updated review a few months down the road. I’ll start with the good.
The Good: The apartment is a good size and has plenty of charm (I love the clay flooring and open layout), the pool is great, the neighbors are friendly and sociable, the location is clutch (walk to Thunderbird, Red House, El Chilito, etc). I haven’t yet had to deal with any of the «dog poo» issues that everyone keeps mentioning and noticed that the management has a new policy of fining people who break certain rules (cleaning up after dogs being one of them). When I moved in the ceiling fan wasn’t working but I filed a work order with the management and they replaced the capacitor and had it working the same day.
The Bad: People tend to stay up late in the common areas (not just on weekends) and are often loud. It’s not the biggest deal breaker in the world for me and I’m able to deal with it, but I am a bit over my college party days. The property managers seem to wander in and out of the office (locking up) whenever they feel like it. It can often make getting in touch with them difficult as they don’t seem to adhere to any formal business hours.
The Ugly: After living in the complex for only a week the management approached me asking me to pay for the previous tenants utility (water, gas, wastewater) bills claiming that I inherited them when I took over the lease. These bills were from a service period an entire month before I even moved in. I was shocked at how aggressive they were with this. It was simply astonishing that they would even TRY to get me to pay for someone else’s bills. Anyways, I contacted the previous tenants who were cool and they took care of all of their bills and I was able to put this issue to rest, but it definitely left me with an incredibly sour feeling towards the management. I’m not looking forward to what they’ll try to pull regarding my deposit when I move out.
Bottom Line: Nice place to live with sociable neighbors and a hip community, it just sucks having to deal with sketchy management… Follow up post to come later!

The maintenance is slow to respond. There’s a really nice pool, but it’s too filthy to swim in most of the time. Apartments flood here when it rains. The driers on site are bullshit. They are horrible at drying your clothes. You’re better off lugging your wet clothes to the laundromat next to Taco-​Mex. I’d give it a zero if I could, but I guess it deserves one star for its convenient location.

I didn’t think it could get worse, but I just trapped a small (baby?) rat! In my living room! I am having nightmares about it, and I’m not even asleep. UGH!

I lived here back in 2007, and though I have written plenty of reviews about this place on
, I felt that any Unilocalers searching for a new place to live could benefit as well. This place is an absolute hellhole, and anyone considering moving here should take heed. When I lived there, I had gang signs sprayed on my walls outside my door, the ceiling in my bathroom eventually caved in, and I found an entire crisper drawer of rotting food in my fridge 3 days after moving in — obviously they had not thoroughly cleaned the place before my arrival. They have serious management problems, and I just await the day when I see a headline for a body found in that joint. I recommend looking elsewhere if you want cleanliness, security, and peace of mind.

It has been another three weeks and still no check from Lighthouse. It has been two since I got it in writing that our deposit would be returned from a regional manager. This is after we protested being charged for carpet cleaning in a unit with no carpet.
Although the new manager is doing her best and has the best intentions of bringing the property up to a higher standard, she cannot control the actions of the parent corporation located in a different state. Arguing that it is on the“east side” so it must be inherently bad and that is what you have to deal with if you want to live in that part of town is ridiculous. I have lived on the east side of Austin for 6 years and have never dealt with this kind of incompetence and negligence from the management and ownership of a property. In fact, I moved right down the street into a complex owned by local Roscoe properties that are clean, well taken care of and prompt with repairs. They own multiple properties on Manor Road and have been saints compared to the nightmare I have been dealing with at Eastside Commons.
I may have had a different experience than the other reviewer, but in my opinion the so-​called charm of the property is grossly overshadowed by the shady dealings of the management company. I just don’t don’t want to see someone else have to deal with this kind of hassle trying to get back a measly $ 300 deposit.