Campus Edge Apartments

I think it was 2021-2022, Lived in 2nd floor apartment facing LaSalle. I don’t know what they cleaned or painted but it was either rushed or not done. We could smell the extracurriculars the neighbors downstairs were smoking because it would somehow come up through the closets. My car was vandalized for towing from my paid spot. Plenty of complaints to make with the paid parking that wasn’t honored most of the time, and if we had a problem it was nuisance chore. But the biggest issue was that me and my family all got sick from the mold or fungus in the HVAC unit. If you peeked where you open to switch the filter it was all overgrowth of mold, and when you open the door to the hvac it’s filled with black fuzzy mold spores. My baby and I got severely sick, with my son getting better slowly once we moved out, but I’m still feeling the full effects even now. I went from Dr to Dr and urgent and ER visits that entire year, and 2 more years after that. without knowing what was causing it, until one of my doctors helped point out that mold toxicity. When you turn on the A/C you can’t tell because the vents seem clear and clean enough, but once you peek into the HVAC closet and filter spot you can see the build up of everything that’ll make you sick. We didn’t put anything together until the end and we just wanted to put this behind us on move on to get healthier, but I think people should do a thorough search of their apartment, not just surface level of things like the lack of paint won’t make you sick, a stain here and there or a hole punched somewhere won’t make you sick, but build up of mold and fungus are long lasting on your health. Mind you: we stayed at these apartments a few years before when the ADT security in the apartments still worked, and we had no problems whatsoever when it was “The Place”. Not sure what happened, but it was like night and day these changes. Because I had a great first experience I was naive to think it would be the same or better.

The units next to the road are noisy and not cozy at all. During the one year I lived there, I saw big roaches in my unit about five times. When I first moved in, the room had dead insects that hadn’t been cleaned, and there was mold in the closet. Also, this summer the lawn was not well maintained, which made it inconvenient to walk around.

I would like to note that this is the worst apartment I have lived in since I started going to school here four years ago. This is mostly due to the management. Before I go any further, I would say to check first if there are any openings at University Place. It is even closer to campus and very peaceful and the landscaping is extraordinary. My apartment at University Edge overlooked a parking lot and La Salle which was much noisier than my apartment at University Place. Also the manager there, Dawn, is AMAZING and cares about her residents personally. University Edge could definitely learn a lesson from her style of management. She was so responsive and attentive to everything and was extremely fair with her residents. The new owners of University Edge that took over in the middle of my lease seem, in my opinion, even more money hungry than normal and the management definitely seems to nickel-and-dime you for everything they legally can. First of all the positives—location and Jimmy. Jimmy is the maintenance guy and he is universally adored and on time. Jimmy is great at his job. The apartment manager is also, in my opinion, mostly good at their job—especially at making it a profitable place to own. This does, however, come at your (the tenant’s) expense. They will charge you for EVERYTHING. The price listed on your lease will NOT be the price you pay. They hide fees in the fine print of your lease. They will charge you a full month’s rent for your first month despite only letting you move in after half of August is over. They will charge you an extra $300 to move in at the beginning of the month and tell you it’s for cleaning fees. My unit was not clean when I moved in and the paint job was unfinished. I was charged $105 to finish the paint job after I moved out. They will charge because they can. They will charge you a $10 “community fee” per month. They will charge you an “admin fee” per month for various amounts between $20-$70. They will charge you additional $13 rent per month for “mitigated risk.” I was charged $6.50 for “mitigated risk” for the month of April of 2024 despite not beginning my lease until August of 2024. I was credited this back after I complained, but you constantly have to be on top of the charges or they will find ways to charge you a ton of little fees that add up. They charged me for being an hour late to turn in my keys when cleaning was taking a little longer than expected and they charged $250 for that hour simply because they could. They will charge you $25 a month for the parking space that is only truly reserved during business hours when the office is open. If someone occupies it after that they cannot do anything because their contract with the towing company only allows for the apartment manager to tow, not the owner of the parking spot. They will tack on most of these fees without ever explaining what any of them are for. Personally, I would run for the hills. There are other little inconveniences as well. The gates are rarely functional and they will be open some days and closed other days for weeks at a time without warning. The WiFi is spotty and frequently cut out because they license through a third party to provide what is essentially one network to the whole community. Don’t plan on taking virtual tests at home, you’re better off going to the library and staying late. Most rental properties in Waco have some minor roach problems and University Edge is no different. There were roaches in the parking lot every night when I came back from work and I don’t know what life was like for people living on the bottom floors but we only ever saw a few dead ones inside that were likely killed by the cats. However, I will note that compared to some other places the roaches are not as bad. I would still recommend University Place though because they spray once a month as a purely preventative measure.