With my lease quickly approaching an end, I recently stopped by to tour this property and I left…read morefeeling confused by what demographic they're targeting and underwhelmed just by the finish outs and amenities.
First off, to be able to fairly compare these to other units you have to understand their business model, which is to be the T-Mobile of apartments - offering transparent, all-inclusive pricing with no hidden fees. That means no deposit, application fees, cable/internet, electricity, pest control, trash or water fees.
The apartments here are 525 sq ft and run $1275 unfurnished. The biggest problem I foresee with these units, is that they feel so outdated compared to a lot of the apartments entering the market. When you enter your unit you walk right into a stacked washer and dryer (no door or anything), you're surrounded by a sea of white appliances and cheap flooring and finish-outs (i.e. no walk-in closet, cheap vinyl-looking countertops). You also can't upgrade the internet or TV packages (which are U-Verse and DirectTV respectfully). The "business center" is really a nook or desk with a single computer and printer and not much room for anything else on it.
So why the 2-star review? Am I against transparent pricing? Of course not! But when you look at area apartments you have to wonder who the audience is. Most apartments in the area are offering apartments between 597-729 sq feet at rates of between $785-$999. At these apartments, you have higher levels of finish out like Whirlpool stainless steel appliances, islands with pendant lights, wine racks / coolers, resort style pools, multi-level, full-sized gyms, granite/quartz in the kitchen and bathrooms with decorative backsplashes, updated plumbing (i.e. Moen) fixtures, modern touches (i.e. Nest thermostats, free Amazon Alexas, built-in speakers for bluetooth music streaming, option for gigabit internet speeds), rooftop terraces with expansive views and an actual business center with multiple workstations and room for residents (plural) to sit and work (many in the form of dedicated conference rooms or study spaces in student housing). And by the time you add in fees and other costs you break even if not come out slightly more expensive. It's worth noting that apartments with higher numbers of vacancies don't mind waiving admin and security deposit fees or even giving free months of rent away to fill units and these are available to everyone.
So then I started to think maybe students are the target audience with the proximity to UTSA. The issue here is there are a lot of properties and homes popping up catering to students and the finish outs and amenities are getting better and better as well. For instance, for $1125-$1199, one can net a fully furnished unit with gigabit internet, HBO, 50" LED TV and all utilities except electricity paid. This is in an upgraded unit with stainless steel, granite, etc. They also waive admin and deposit fees and give you 1/2 off a month's rent. And this is a 576 sq foot unit.
The lady (short, looked like Thelma from Scooby Doo with black hair) giving the tour was telling me that they have the same finish outs and I'm equally concerned about them for competition there too. At $139 (current rate) a night they're more expensive than a king sized suite with sofa bed at the Drury Inn and Suites, $30 less than the king sized room at the all-suite SpringHill Suites and $20 less than the king, 2-room suite at the new Embassy Suites. It's worth noting that this place is literally surrounded by (3) Hiltons and (3) Marriotts (soon to be four) so there's also loyalty programs and pricing that may also make these a more attractive option.
In summary, if I were the owner of these apartments/hotels I'd start putting money aside for "refreshing and modernizing" because for a brand new place, the units already look very dated and they're not very competitively priced for the area / level of finish. As a side note, they were telling us that the apartments weren't ready for move-in yet so for now, you'd be staying at the hotel and would get 50% off a month's rent price and move into an actual apartment unit once they're ready.