This quite possibly the worst place I've lived in my life. The initial viewing was promising with the 1 month free rent incentive and the promise of luxury loft living. However, living here has been absolute trash. Since moving in there has been everything from broken entry doors and urine smelled hallways to fires and water damage awaiting repair. It's dirty, none of the promised amenities are usable or desirable. The new management appears to be commitment to making things better. read more

There are three buildings for Third Rail Lofts - the Mayfair building, the Gulf States building, and the new, Third Rail building. This review is for the Mayfair building. We love it here. We have a huge private balcony overlooking the street. There are only four units on our floor, meaning it is always quiet and with thick walls, our neighbors don't bother us and we don't bother them, even when our large (and loud) dog barks. The stained concrete floors are stylish and easy to clean, the layout is as practical as it can be for a near-century old building that's been renovated, and the rooftop pool and hottub are things we use much more than we have ever used of apartment amenities before. Honestly, I'd consider buying this unit if it was for sale. ZRS is a fantastic management company. We've worked with them before when they managed 400 N Ervay, and were equally pleased with them there - their leaving that building is a large part of the reason we did. The staff is quick, responsive, and friendly. Akard Station is one block away, as is a major bus route, so public transit is highly accessible. There are several entrances to the underground tunnels within two blocks. There's a Jimmy John's and a 7-11 on the block, as well as a CVS, ChopHouse Burgers, Frankie's Bar and Grill, and a number of other restaurants and businesses within a one block radius, not to mention if you go up or down Main or Elm a few blocks in either direction. My only real complaint is that the kitchen area is a bit small and we've had to be creative for storage. But again, the building is nearly a century old and that's what you get when you repurpose old spaces - limits in places you don't have with a clean sheet design. My other complaint is nothing the management company or anyone short of the police can do anything about. Because of the 7-11 on the opposite street corner from our entrance (and we do love the convenience of that), there are a large number of homeless people who regularly congregate and hang out on our street. Most of them are friendly and harmless enough, but one tried to enter the building lobby once, and several have harassed passers-by. I'd like to see more regular stops by DPD to disperse the crowd and more efforts by 7-11 to prevent them from gathering, but that's part of the price of living downtown I suppose. If you want quiet idyllic suburbs, I hear Frisco is nice. read more

From start to finish, the entire process with the agent named McCartney was effortless and easy. The property is clean, well managed, and has responded to all my inquiries quickly and in detail. Best complex I've lived in to date. read more

In case the other reviews haven't made it clear yet, STAY AWAY. Things have been really bad at these "luxury" lofts for quite a few months now, but a new management company, ZRS, took over about 2 months ago, promising to make improvements. Long story short, they have NOT. In fact, things have gotten WORSE. I'm sure they will reply to this review with their typical "we are so sorry you are having a bad experience, please come talk to us in the office or call us so we can address your concerns." Here's the thing though, almost everyone I know that lives here has been down to the office multiple times since ZRS took over and brought up the many issues, and all they do is make excuses or say they are working on it. Nothing ever changes. Not to mention particular members of the office staff are quite rude. (One time we found expensive headphones left in the gym and went down to the office to turn them in. It was a few minutes after they closed but Sheri was still there wrapping up. We motioned to her through the glass and held up the headphones. Her response was to mouth "we are closed" and shoo us away. We continued to stand there until she walked over, but she was visibly annoyed and rolling her eyes rather obviously. Upon discovering we were turning in headphones and leaving, her mood immediately switched and she extremely fakely told us to have a good night.) The biggest concern with Third Rail is safety, something that was brought up to ZRS the moment they took over. As you can see in the picture below, homeless people often find their way into the building and sleep in the stairwells. The second picture shows building "security" sitting and texting during a night shift, instead of patrolling the building and keeping out trespassers, as they are supposed to do. Both of these pictures were taken within the last couple of weeks, well after ZRS took over and had a chance to address safety concerns. On to the "amenities." Nothing works. The gym is extremely outdated and honestly pretty disgusting. The internet cafe that is supposed to have free coffee never has cups. The cable in the internet cafe does not work. The theatre room's projector is broken and does not have cable like it used to have, only a blu ray player. And get this, after coming in and promising to make things better, ZRS has decided to start charging by the hour to use the theatre room and the "wine" room which is essentially a big room with tables in the basement of one of the buildings. A group of us residents were trying to rent out the wine room to have a Friendsgiving and the office then informed us we would be charged to use it, despite never having been charged in the past. After some push back they agreed to waive the charge, but told us moving forward there would be a charge. I want to reiterate here that this room they are charging residents $50/hr for, to hangout with other residents, is a large, outdated room with tables. No TV's, no couches, no windows. Just a room in the basement. Also, they gutted the bowling alley and pool room upon taking over. Maintenance also is quite poor. They are known for putting bandaids on problems and fixing it as cheap as possible, only for things to get worse later on. I'd post pictures of the massive hole that was in our bedroom ceiling for over a month that had black mold, but since that was with the last management company, I don't think that's fair. I will say, there is clearly mold all over the entire Gulf States building, most likely because there are constantly leaks. As the last reviewer said, they are now making us use Fetch to get our packages, which is a massive inconvenience. The only redeeming qualities of this place are the awesome neighbors, their awesome dogs (even though the dog potty pad needed to be replaced about 2 years ago) and the layouts/styles of the actual apartments. They have a great industrial feel, but definitely need some TLC that ZRS is not willing to put in. This could be a great place to live, but unfortunately, my girlfriend and I plan to move out the moment our lease is up, and all the neighbors I know plan to do so as well. It's a shame poor, cheap management is ruining these great properties. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing them constantly showing apartments to potential residents, but not doing anything to make the lives of current residents better. It makes me want to scream at the poor suckers, "DON'T DO IT." There are a ton of apartment options downtown, many brand new or recently renovated with competent management. My best advice to you is to choose those over saving 50 bucks a month to live at Third Rail. read more

Third Rail Lofts by ZRS Management - Homeless man sleeping in the stairway right beside the terrace where residents take their pets out to use the restroom. - Apartments Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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The lofts are beautiful, views are nice. Staff is friendly and responsive. Definitely one of the best options for downtown living.

Building is dirty, parking garage is very dirty, doors and handles are broken, dog turf needs replaced (it stinks) and terrace flooring needs replaced- tiles are really loose. read more

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I would give it no star if I could. Cars getting stolen in supposedly secure parking stricture. Mail box are broken into. It smells like pot going through the vents. Urine smells on the stairwell I'm hoping it's dogs. Homeless lives on the stairs. No security insight. Front door not secure can easily be open. We are moving to another place with better security. Management disregard and doesn't inform tenants of what's going on. I should of listen to the person I talked to who lives here. Do your own research and you'll see what I'm taking about. read more

Great management and maintenance has been awesome and quick to get me what I needed when I first moved in. Great bang for your buck honestly. Would definitely recommend. read more

I have lived at Third Rail Lofts for an entire 12 months (which may seem short to some, but I worked in property management for 15 years so I have to know exactly what I am getting into before I sign any sort of lease) and this is the first time I have ever felt compelled to go to bat for the community, the management and the overall experience as a whole. I am addressing the other reviews first - Seems like the other reviews have a problem with DOWNTOWN and not the physical community as a whole. I have carefully read through all of these reviews and let me just say... really get a life. The homeless population in Downtown has been a thing since before most of your were even BORN. There are uniformed officers (typically in blue jackets/collared shirts) that patrol the major streets in Downtown, as well as the HEAR-SEE-SAY app that allows you to report any suspicious activity and have an average response time of 6 minutes or less. If something happens OUTSIDE, ON THE STREET, OR NOT IN THE INTERIOR OF THE BUILDING - call 911? the people in the office cannot do anything if something occurs OUTSIDE of their domain of command. DUH? As of now, Third Rail Lofts also has a security patrol team that is here 7 nights a week and available from like 10 pm to 5 am I believe. Something happens inside the building? Call the office. the office isn't there? call the patrol. Patrol isn't on duty? Call 911???? There is no reason why anyone shouldn't use common sense. Now - Granted that I have worked in property management, I know for a fact there are some things that a management team can disclose and some things that they cannot. Third Rail Lofts has started some sort of monthly news letter? and if you actually READ it, it is SO informative and helpful & commend them for actually taking the time to prepare these as I know that this is something that is not even required. Third Rail Lofts is one of THE MOST unique communities in Downtown Dallas Taking up the entire corner of the Main/Akard/Elm street corner. I am obsessed with my apartment, the wonderful views and the responsiveness of the leasing office. Amanda, Melinda, McCartney and the maintenance team do a wonderful job and are completely upfront about their entire process from the time you tour to your move in. I am so happy I moved in here and love the walk-ability of this place. 10/10 do your research, ask as many questions as you'd like and find your perfect slice of heaven here. read more

With further thought, I think the real issue with this complex is that it labels itself as "luxury lifestyle" which it is not. If the owners/managing company was much more honest and labeled it really as it is "budget friendly larger apartments in the downtown area" then the residents expectations would be much more manageable. There are certain items that one grows to expect when living in a luxury community. And those needs are not met here. Parking security gates haven't closed in the 3 months I have been here, front door security is shotty at best (door to the main street isn't locked at times, no desk person, callbox is inconsistent), elevators go out a couple times a month, the tile courtyard is continuing to collapse into itself, and I have had better maintenance experiences in my past rental history. Another telling sign is that the boxed management responses on here ask that you report to the office with any complaints, however, a well-managed complex would have its Managers walking the property daily and they would already be aware that their secured parking garage hasn't been secured for months, or that the front door has been broken and homeless people have been sleeping in the stairwells. This "management" onus shouldn't be put onto the residents. I wouldn't even get into the residents that live here on this site, because that's not the fault of the management company or complex owners. But there is definitely the constant odor of marijuana in the hallways and certain disgusting people let their dogs poop in the hallway and never clean it up. If these are items that matter to you, look elsewhere until this place has the opportunity to become the luxury complex that it wants to be. read more

The floor plans for these apartments are some of the largest that you're going to find at this price point in Dallas. Depending on the unit you land in, it can be very spacious and stylish. This is downtown Dallas so there are quite a few homeless people in the general vicinity. but, I've never felt unsafe. I have heard about homeless people sleeping in the stairwells during the winter so that is a concern if the security is not fixed on these doors. Another serious security concern is that one of the entry points has a broken gate that has not been fixed since the new management company took over. This is a serious risk for current residentsbecause anyone can get in this building and into the residential areas. Not sure what happened with the old management company that left in October but DEFINITELY considering moving based on the actions of the new one. They're fixing things that are NOT broken and NOT addressing the things that DO need attention. Maybe they're getting a kickback from Fetch, some poorly rated package delivery service that we're all being forced to use because they don't want to work with UPS and FedEx like prior management. Instead, you have to change your address to get packages (can you say mass confusion?)and then wait for them to be delivered by some third-party org. There are privacy and security concerns with that approach. NO such concerns with FedEx and UPS. Perhaps a resident survey would be in order before making major changes. In the meantime, fix all of the doors and consider adding security cameras. Nobody is at risk from FedEx and UPS! read more

Lived here 8 years, just renewed again in the Gulf States building. It's always been a great apartment community, chic layouts and great amenities (the 9th floor terrace is great, the gym is small but great and usually empty, bowling alley and movie theater are cool). Last year we got a new management team and it's a new level of great, in 6 months they took on some major projects and for the first time I am pretty attached to the property management. Parking gate, key fobs, call boxes, packages, four majors things that in 7 years no one else had tackled, they took on immediately. For at least the last 4 years our upstairs gated parking has been problematic, and finally it just stopped working. When ZRS got here they built us an entirely new, much more secure security gate to the upper levels. Plus they emailed us with updates every time they had new information. I loved that! We are super secure now, and the gate is easy to use, and all I had to do was send some emails back and forth with the leasing office verifying my parking card numbers. They re-configured all of our key fobs immediately to ensure resident security, again, all I had to do was send some emails, and then stop by the leasing office once. Took 5 minutes! And our call boxes have never worked since I moved in, now they're all up and running, at all of our entrances. The package delivery service is the best thing they did - ever since we grew past having UPS/Fed Ex/USPS deliver, the smaller delivery outfits just have trouble in our buildings. They couldn't get in, they would leave packages in the wrong buildings, they would leave packages in the mail rooms, all kinds of problems. With Fetch, you have them deliver to the Fetch address instead of your home address, then Fetch texts you and says "we just got a package, what time do you want it delivered?" You pick from a bunch of delivery windows - same day, next day, next week, whatever! It's great. No lost packages! I lost 5 packages last year. None since Fetch! It's been a lot of changes this year, and the communication from ZRS has been great, the whole way through. I am posting this review because I saw my apartment on here and it didn't sound like the apartments I live in. Wanted to add my perspective. It's been pretty good for me. read more

I personally would never recommend this property to anyone. I've had the worst renting experience here- and I've been renting for the past 10 or so years. To start off, the property is not clean or secure. Residents who have pets and use the 9th floor do not clean up after their pets, leaving mounds of dog poop everywhere and an awful stench that will smack you as soon as you walk onto the terrance. This building is not secure- I've had more than one encounter with a homeless person on the elevators/ in our building because the censors that unlock the doors to the street are broken and the doors unlock randomly at all times. The residents are awful, I've personally witnessed a neighbor threatening to kill one of their guest and beat his girlfriend so there is that. Lots of in and out "guests" that aren't monitored so be careful not to leave your door unlocked as anyone can just walk in at any time. The neighborhood has gone to downhill FAST, downtown is incredibly unsafe with the amount of violence, we don't even feel safe enough to walk our dog in the afternoon/evening so he's stuck to the 9th floor potty pad. Even without the violence, there's no stepping outside of ANY of the Third Rail buildings without being surrounded by aggressive homeless people- and if you make it past them you better watch where you're walking because you're more than likely to step in human waste. It doesn't matter if you're on the 2nd floor or the 18th floor of any of the Third Rail buildings, you're going to hear the street racers that block the streets every night and the restaurants/bars that blast their music till 2am Wednesday-Sunday. I've spoken to the leasing office about the possibility of getting out of my lease because of safety issues only to be told I'd be charged excessive fees to vacate a MONTH earlier than my lease end date. Management honestly doesn't care AT ALL about the safety of their residents, unless you call the police for every single complaint they don't feel like there is an issue. If I could give -5 Stars I would, 10/10 would not recommend. read more