My husband and I are relocating from NYC back to Tampa. We stumbled upon Westshore complex on our way to International plaza and decided to book a tour. Lauren French, Leasing Agent emailed us to confirm if it was a virtual tour and we clarified that we made a mistake and want to see in in person. Lauren was super diligent confirming our appointment and patiently showed us 3 units. We opted for unit 448 and were delighted by her candor, level of professionalism and how welcomed she made us feel. We believe customer service are paramount in every interaction and Lauren's warm spirit and genuine disposition sealed the deal. We would like once again to let you know how happy we were to have Lauren as the Leasing Agent and hope that you recognize and acknowledge her superb customer skills that need to be emulated by all the Leasing Agents at Westshore. We are looking forward to the next 13 months at a new home at Westshore. read more

See all

Issues have been taken care of. The management has jumped in and addressed concerns residents had.

I lived there over two years and it was wonderful. They have the greatest staff and maintenance people. They have two beautiful pools and the best Jacuzzi ever. We had great community parties there. Love the barista bar. read more

I've been a resident since they first opened back in 2014. Like all new companies, you're going to experience all the up's and down's but the leasing office handled all situations to the best of their abilities. I think people forget that they don't make the rules and they need approval from corporate before they can implement things, but the ladies would take the fall for everything. I've lived in many places before, and I've never seen so many immature entitled adults in one place in my entire life. They formed a bash the leasing office club and tried to recruit me. In the end, only one lady (Sharon), from the leasing office made it out alive. Bravo to her and she's still going strong and has helped make Varela a better place to live. I picked this place because I was looking for an apartment that looked like a house when you walked in. I wanted a place that was quiet, high ceilings with big windows, spacious bathrooms and closets, and spa like amenities. I found all of this at Varela. Despite what others are saying about this place, I've never had a problem with the leasing office and maintenance guys; they are always accommodating. I work from home and the apartment has always been quiet. The amenities are great and I'm close to everything! This is the best place to call home, and I couldn't be happier. read more

Varela Westshore Apartments - Apartments Near Me - Tampa, Florida

Varela has its own balcony for each apartment but for the amount you pay... and still can't smoke on the balcony it's nonsense.

We just moved into our second apartment at Varela and couldn't be happier. Tracy is a champ and was incredibly helpful with both moves. The whole office staff is great. read more

In short: loud, dirty, with a horrendous property manager. I lived in varela for 4 years and I am happy to be moving out although reading other reviews I'm still dreading the amount of fines they are going to tack on to my apartment because they can, and because of what they will likely not appreciate in this review. The apartments are cute and appear nice but after you move in the veneer of "resort style living" disappears. The floors are cheap as are pretty much all of the building materials with the exception of the granite, and the walls are paper thin. I agree with all of the other reviews here and say you can hear every noise or neighbors make. I have heard neighbors on both sides and above me have sex, I hear when my upstairs neighbor walks, talks or even flushes the toilet, and I'm sure the neighbors below me do as well. Throughout the whole place you'll find plenty of stains from animals, the complex will send out emails asking people to clean up after their pets but that's really it. Do you love Christmas? They'll tell you to take down your Christmas lights from your porch. The leasing office ladies are helpful but honestly that is it. And with rent going as high as it is here, that is certainly not enough to choose this over any of the other places in this area. I was generally ok with this (had written letters to my neighbors asking to be quieter) until now because it was at least affordable and I was saving to buy a house, but then came the rent increase. After four years of living here I received notice that they would be increasing my rent $400 a month and went to the leasing office to see if there was anything I can do as this is a massive increase in rent. The property manager Jeremy could not have handled it more poorly and has somehow gotten worse since. In trying to explain why he needs $400 more per month in my tiny apartment with cardboard walls and cabinets, he told me that the cost of wood is going up even though my apartment is already built and certainly not with wood, he also explained to me that if he didn't increase my rent closer to the market rate that I could illegally sublet it and pocket the difference. I was so angry with how he talked to me and that I wrote an email to his regional manager explaining this. Then when I found a new place to live, I offered varela the opportunity to rent my place sooner since I am moving out before my lease ends, with the caveat that once it was rented I would not have to finish my lease if they were able to find a new tenant. This should have been a no brainer, my rent is $600 less/month than what a new tenant would pay and my lease is up mid December so will sit vacant over the holidays collecting no rent, thousands of dollars they won't make. My unit is also actually close to the garage unlike most of this complex. I guess they don't need to buy new wood so much because of course, Jeremy declined this offer. When I informed him it seemed like this was a decision made out of him not liking that I told his managers how bad he was at handling rent increases his response was that he was a thinly veiled sarcastic retort that he was trying to follow the advice I gave him about handling angry customers. This place is no different than the other overpriced places around it, it's not cheaper, and giving your residents the occasional donut social and offering a golf simulator no one uses doesn't make it a resort. I cannot wait to see how I'm punished in move out fines for this review but really it's worth it if I can stop at least one person for falling for this cardboard money pit. read more

We relocated from Pensacola to Tampa back in May. We came down in April to search for a place and met with Tracy for a tour. We are so happy we selected Varela. Tracy was super helpful with everything. We loooove our spacious apartment which we were concerned about our furniture fitting (king bed and huge couch) we have plenty of room and it feels like we live in a house. Noise was a concern for us however we never hear neighbors above or beside us. The staff here are amazing and accommodating. If you're interested, go see Tracy!! We love it here!!!! Going to be hard to move out! read more

Wow! Super impressed with all the apartment overall. Although I don't live here & yes I have read the negative reviews of the apartment. I personally have not experienced anytime negative. 4 stars because of style (look) - variety of amenities available - & overall apartment layout! Honestly if your concern about price then don't bother here. I just can't understand how anyone can complain about price & affordability & expect to have luxury. I'd highly recommend this apartment to anyone looking for luxury & value. read more

See all

I wanted to wait to leave a proper review until I lived here for awhile...so here's my assessment. The good: Convient recycling cans outside, valet trash, awesome location, nice apartment, safe, package concierge The ugly: -The floors are so thin and so are the walls. You can hear everyone and they can hear you, saying and doing everything. I talk low on the phone because of this. Loud neighbors blasting salsa music and speaking loudly in the hall. I feel like I live in a New York slum sometimes because there's people always in the halls like its their patio. Its annoying because the building is made of wood so it carries sound easily. -The front doors are on a "spring" so they swing back at you. This is one of the most annoying things ever especially when you have groceries or are trying to carry something large inside. To add, people let their door shut on its own. And you can hear everyone doing it throughout the hall and in the morning which is very loud. I have to hold my door and close it slowly. -Dogs always barking. Dog crap in the stairwells. The carpet hallway always smells like wet dog -The carpeting in the hallway stinks and is covered with stains. Embarrassing when bringing guest over. Thank God my apartment is clean -People let their kids play in the halls which is ridiculous. I feel this is not a place for small children. At Least not people with 4 kids like my neighbor -Parking sucks if u come home after 8, on the 1st and 2nd floor. Here you actually want to live higher up if possible. probably less noisy and easier parking -The amenities was a selling point, however the two amenities I wanted are no longer working properly; the indoor hot tub is lukewarm now which sucks and the business center's computer is difficult to use and never prints properly. There's always something wrong with it and I have to end up going to kinkos which pisses me off -I keep getting large roaches coming up through my pipes in the restroom and have to remember to close my drains because i'm terrified of roaches and live alone Overall, I say this place is not worth paying the $1250 I pay to live here. The last place I lived at for $775 in st pete was better than this for the price. Its not simply worth it. I feel like you're really just paying for the location and to live in a large community but I wouldn't recommend it. This is my first condo style living community and will be my last. I simply can not stand to hear my neighbors talking outside my door all the time. Sorry for the typos I have to return some videotapes read more

Over the past 9 months I have had a few minor issues with the apartment and every time I go to the front office, they always knock it out of the park and take care of every situation strait away. Tracy Barcelo and Kamilah Shakur always greet me with a smile and take care of everything with a timely and accurate manner. Greatest place to live in the Tampa Bay area. -Brandon Miller -bran.miller5@gmail.com read more

I just moved to Varela a few weeks ago from out of state and cannot say enough about how positive my experience has been! I didn't get to see the inside of my apartment until my actual move in day and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The finishes are super nice and everything was clean and ready when I arrived. The office staff has been very friendly and communicative, checking in every step of the way. I thought moving from out of state would be super stressful, but the girls in the office ended up making it really easy. The amenities here are unlike any place I've seen - wine storage, two pools, resistance pool, hot and cold dipping pools, hot tub, tanning bed, game room, demonstration kitchen, massage/spa rooms, huge dog park...the list literally goes on forever. The pool areas and parking garage are always super clean. I constantly see maintenance out and about working, and they're always friendly, too. I'm also really glad Varela is managed by the company that actually OWNS the building. I've lived at places where new management comes in and takes over, and now I won't have to worry about that happening. If you're looking for a place to call home in Tampa, I would highly recommend Varela Westshore! read more

Moved in, Jan 2017. The good: generally quiet, great amenities, extremely pet friendly, lots of courtyards, location is great, and the office staff has always been super responsive and easy to deal with (Sharon, Alyssa, Tina). The bad: parking is terrible! I live on 2 and frequently have to park on 3, which is inconvenient. There is not enough parking for first level residents and guests which creates a problem for residents on floor 1 &2, and good luck finding guest parking. The pools are not heated, which keeps them cold, even now (June 1). The carpets in the halls are dingy from the trash valet. Noise is not typically an issue, unless you have an upstairs neighbor that stomps around. The office is good about helping to communicate about being a courteous neighbor. This is definitely one of the nicer places to rent in Tampa, just remember to have guests park across the street. (It would be nice if the community added about 20 more spaces on the first floor) read more

To quote yelp's 5 star rating, "Woohoo! As good as it gets!" - this is the only description I would give this apartment complex, and its staff therein. This apartment complex is the amalgamation of all the best qualities an apartment could exhibit. The location, floorplans, amenities, and staff are all top quality for a very competitive price. I'm close to I-275, with minimal traffic to access it. I'm near great restaurant options, grocery options, entertainment venues, shopping stores, and basically everything Tampa has to offer. My floorplan and in-unit electronics/surfaces/etc are all of good quality. The community amenities are truly insane (example: I have wine sitting in a personal wine vault). As for the staff, I've never had a more attentive and pleasant staff than those that work at Varela. It doesn't matter who it is, everyone here is nice to us. This point really needs to be highlighted, because at the end of the day, the only part about choosing a new apartment that will be ambiguous will be the treatment you receive from your complex's office staff. You always see your floorplan & amenities, and you always know the price of the rental, but you never know how difficult it will be to work with the complex management office. I can say I have never had an issue with our office staff, and every experience with them has been as pleasant as possible. Overall, I can't imagine any apartment complex around Tampa being much better, if at all, than Varela. I look forward to renewing my lease as soon as I get the renewal papers. read more

I lived here for 6 months. The place itself was really nice and in a convenient location. I thought Sharon from the management team was helpful. Unfortunately, the rest was a poor experience. Our cars were vandalized due to their negligence, fire alarms would go off randomly throughout the day (try working from home and being on an important conference call with a client... not fun), power went out several times when it was sunshine outside, very noisy due to thin walls, parking gate would rarely work, extended construction timelines, lack of transparency from management, lack of security, etc. The list goes on. There was never any urgency to remedy these issues. I had the sense that the management team was apathetic to the problems caused to their residents or perhaps their hands were tied by the property owners. We ended up breaking our lease after 6 months and happy that we did. We had an unpleasant living experience. read more

I have nothing but good things to say about Varela Westshore. I am so happy to have moved here and I have to give a big shout out to Kamilah who has helped me through this transition. She made moving go very smoothly and we all know moving is a trying season. She actually knows the names of the residents and cares which I find incredibly endearing. She always brings smiles to residents faces and makes people laugh. I am so grateful to live in a community like this. The amenities are not comparable to the other luxury apartment complexes in the area. I absolutely love living here! read more

My review is strictly for my experience with looking at the property and deciding whether to lease. After reading other reviews, I feel that I really dodged a bullet with this one. From the beginning, the lady in the office made me feel like I was wasting her time. I'm not sure if maybe she thought I couldn't afford to live there. My first question was if she had any one beds with a den. Her response was "no, only one bedrooms". I almost thought that she meant everything was currently leased, but my boyfriend asked another question and it turned out they had 2 bedrooms. 2 separate times I asked about the size of an apartment and she just gave me the price. She didn't offer to show us around-- I had to ask. After everything she said she would email the info discussed. Several days later I hadn't received anything and I had to email her. Ultimately, I decided not to rent there. read more

This was supposed to be a "luxury life style" apartment but I had a rude awakening. The parking garage is horrible and people don't care if they put dents in your car. Management is terrible and very mean, and the hallway floors are disgusting. Not to mention people leave their trash outside the doorways and the building stinks to high heavens. Upon first moving in there were Huge cock roaches coming out the cabinetry in my bathroom as well. If your waiting on an elevator forget about it, the elevators are very cheap and take a long time to open. Once your on it takes you to the wrong floor and you have to press the "open" button just for it to let you out. It would be safer to take the stairs in my opinion. Do yourself a favor and lease elsewhere, and do not move here. All that glitters isn't gold. read more

I had one day to find somewhere to live and I looked everywhere but nothing compared to Varela's amenities, staff, and upgrades in the apartment. The staff was welcoming and made the application process and moving in easy. The wine down Wednesday's and cooking classes from local restaurants every month are fun and are a great way to meet other residents. There are a lot of active people who live here, you meet a lot of people at the gym and the pool! The hammocks and two outdoor cooking gazebos are fun for hanging out with friends on the weekend. My apartment has a state of the art kitchen, wood floors, fully upgraded bathroom, and 11 foot ceilings. But the best feature is the balcony view. The complex is always quiet and safe. It's locked down like a fort! There are residents with dogs and they're all friendly. Maintenance is fast and polite. I chose this apartment because I wanted to live somewhere nice, safe, and in a prime location to be active in the events that are going on in the city. The location is great because you can hop on all the highways in a couple minutes. I'm a runner and there's an awesome trail that runs along the shore for 13 miles out and back from the apartment and great fishing spots over by the shore as well. The community is mixed with all ages so don't think it's just wealthy older folks! I'm 23! Hope this helps you decide to choose Varela Westshore, you won't regret it! read more

First off I would like to say DO NOT LIVE HERE!!! I have already been here for a few months and I cannot wait for my lease to end. Whatever you do, do not live in this disgusting, sleazeball run apartment. In terms of carpet, I hope you like stains, because the carpets in the hallway will most likely have a bunch! The carpets are supposedly cleaned however the stains are only hiding in the pad, waiting for your feet to walk over them before they pop up. The stains are mostly dog poop, and there are many. Enjoy! This complex should be considered Dog Poop heaven because it is literally everywhere in the hallways. However, before you sign a lease you will find the most polite, friendly and helpful people. After you sign a lease you will find the rudest, least helpful, lying and rude group of people imaginable. I, like the others here actually DREADED having to deal with them. This place has paper thin walls like hearing F-18's cutting through your phone calls? Like hearing every toilet flush, every baby cry, and dozens of children screaming? This place is perfect for you. DO NOT RENT HERE!!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!! read more

Loving Varela! I've been here for a little less than a yr and plan on renewing my lease. The amenities are fantastic, property is well maintained, mgmt is responsive and the gals in the leasing office are friendly and very helpful. Many of the negative posts I have read were when the property first opened. A lot of things were still under construction at that time. I.e. Pool, dog park, call box, parking garage, etc. All of the above has been completed and are very nice. No complaints here. I have recommended Varela to two people and they both moved here and have no complaints either. Best apartments in the westshore area. Gorge! read more

Management is horrible. They don't answer calls, return emails, or have any concern for their residents. So glad my husband and I are finally out of this place. Rose is the RUDEST person I've ever encountered! I wish I would've followed the poor Google and Yelp reviews before getting in here last year. Definitely not worth the money!!!! Stay away! #1 complaint of ALL residents is the front office. With all of the new competition in the area it's shocking they treat their residents this way. read more

This place is ridiculous!! New and existing Management sending chastising emails literally on a daily basis. Don't talk too loud, animal rules, smoking, and tons of other things! You pay a ton of money to be bitched at constantly. How about Management perusing the grounds and seeing the tenants that allow their dogs to poop and pee in the hallways without cleaning it up or letting people who arn't tenants play in their much touted dog park and they don't pick up after them. No they'd rather sit in their cozy office and send crappy emails daily. Can't wait to move! This place is run so unprofessionally! Get a life Varela Management and leave the good tenants alone! read more

AWFUL. Management here is simply awful. These people have no idea how to run this place. Varela Westshore is constantly going thru new staff. Every month is someone new - average employee retention here is more or less 6 weeks. Be careful when signing the lease! Varela will change monthly rates without telling you. Published rates in their website are not consistent with what staff will tell you. Completely unethical! Read the fine print carefully before signing the lease contract. Poor maintenance throughout the apartment complex, I wonder what this place will look like in a few months. Jacuzzi running on cold water for several months, grills parts missing, call in box never worked since I've been here, etc... I do NOT RECOMMEND this place. Spend your good money somewhere else. Btw... did I mentioned this place has a serious parking lot issue? It's like looking for a parking spot on Black Friday! read more

Luv Varela Westshore! Beautiful community! Absolute best amenities in Tampa. The new manager, Lindsay, is super professional and accommodating. I would highly recommend this place! read more

Overall a great place to live. When reading the reviews, keep in mind that the folks who live here are very privileged and can afford a luxury apartment. Therefore, from my experience with residents here, they have very high standards. I just started making enough to live here and this was almost a culture shock, so hopefully this review will help others in a situation like mine. First, the negatives: -As I mentioned, the guests have high standards and it's to the point that it is almost a negative atmosphere. Most people don't say 'hi' or try to engage. On the online portal, they complain about so many petty things and I've rarely see appreciation for management. -I agree with another reviewer - the parking garage is great but so many people screech around the corners and impatiently wait behind you if you drive at a reasonable speed. -With all the great amenities, there were some young, likely college kids who didn't live here, who were coming in to party in the common areas. It appears as though management has taken care of this recently but I hope this doesn't continue to be a problem. -I'm facing the street and there's constant sounds of traffic. -You can hear people perfectly in the hall from your apartment. The hallways echo so sometimes dogs barking, kids running, or people just talking loud is pretty disruptive. -I've made noise complaints because people are partying in the game room all hours of the night. It may have been (see above) people that don't actually live here. On the positive side, management has taken the noise complaints very seriously. -There is a bug problem. I'm not from Florida and several locals have said this is common. -There's not a lot to walk to. I prefer neighborhoods that are easier to get around by foot. -They keep promising to put more recycling around the buildings but I haven't seen them yet. I can't believe with all the amenities they are lagging behind on recycling. Positives: -My first day in I had a lightbulb out and within an hour of making a service request the maintenance guy, who was very friendly, was here replacing it. -You can make maintenance requests, contact management, and pay your rent and other fees, all online. -The hot tub is great. It's big enough for several people and the water temperature is hot enough to actually relax your muscles. This is a huge asset. -The whole pool area is impressive and it's really nice to entertain guests. -Management has been very responsive and polite. When I complained about people partying throughout the night, they took this very seriously and took several steps to fix the problem. -They hired a courtesy officer that you can call and leave a message with 24/7 for noise complaints. -There are now several locked doors people have to get through to the game room to keep out party crashers. -Valet trash right outside your back door (but no recycling!) -The inside of my apartment is immaculate. Clean and modern with tall ceilings and great attention to detail. The pictures online actually look like where I live. -Overall, the place looks great. Whenever I have people over, they can't believe I live here. The pool, the common areas, the hallways - everything is modern and very nicely decorated. -I love the gym, although it's small, i actually think it's fine because so many people have memberships to gyms that it's rarely more than 2 or 3 people in there at a time. -Very nice modern appliances that work great. -I can't say enough about the amenities here. There are so many assets to living here that I think others are taking for granted. I would recommend the apartments to anyone looking. Hope this review helped you! read more

This apartment has good amenities but horrible management team. It seems like they tried so hard to find the rudest and most incapable people in the world and gather them together. Also, so pathetic they actually deleted all negative comments as fast and as much they can and leave the only good ones. It's so sad that the number of comments left are less than fingers on one hand. Malissa Lich and Rose Marquez, no apartment should ever hire these two individuals at all. It's very unfortunate that Yelp doesn't allow to reply on comment, but please do not bother to pretend. After several encounters with you and Rose, there is no way I will waste my time talk to you with your rude attitude, especially your 'mighty' assistant manager. Seems like she already has pretty bad reputation among the residents. It's bad there are some leasing consultants in the office who are awesome and good at their jobs but they have to work under poor management. read more

If I could give them less that one star, I would have. Terrible place. Don't rent from them. They have thieves in the building and their assistant manager Sam just admitted to that. They have no security whatsoever. They have the most terrible customer service. Management team does not care about residents. My license plate was stolen and they towed my car and had to pay $170 to get it back. It happened twice and every time they had a different excuse, once it had no license plate and once no permit and every time, I had the permit and the garage door opener visible. They also stole my son's bike while moving in. Can't wait for my lease to expire. Don't fall for all the lies they make. read more

I LOVE living here!!! Sharon and Danielle are wonderful, so accommodating if I need anything. The leasing process was seamless and mostly online. They accommodating me moving in within 2 days. The common areas are extremely clean and cleaned daily and the amenities are outstanding. They have spin classes, great gym and area for TRX. Also have pool tables. I looked everywhere and by far this is the best place in Tampa for sure! Classy and not a typical apartment. My apartment feels like a house on the inside. I have the larger 2/2. Impeccable and brand new inside. I highly recommend Varela. read more

See all

Moved down here out of state. Never toured this complex but loved the pictures and details of the amenities online. I've been here since September and I don't have a single complaint. Truly a luxury apartment experience with the sauna, gyms, pools, game rooms. I'll keep living here until I'm ready to buy a house. Great place to live. read more

Samantha in the leasing office was SO sweet and made my move-in super easy. The amenities here are fantastic, the best in this area, and the units are well designed and nicely equipped. I'm super happy with my experience here so far and I looked around a fair bit before deciding on a place so I definitely can confidently say that Varela is a fantastic choice in the Westshore area! read more

I have to say the staff at this community is top notch. Robert and Catrina have made my experience with their community extremely memorable and pleasant...while no community is prefect the members of this community do all they can to make this an enjoyable and fair place to reside. read more

My wife and I moved in a month ago! We love it here. The front office staff (Danielle, Sharon, and Cari) are awesome. They made our move in enjoyable. I highly recommend this place read more

I enjoyed my time living at Varela Westshore. The location is phenomenal; the apartment amenities are top notch and more extensive than the other complexes in the area; the staff is very helpful and accommodating. It is pricey, but I believe you get what you pay for which is affordable luxury apartments. I relocated to a different city because of personal circumstances, but would have definitely resigned my lease if I was staying in Tampa. Lovely place to live! read more

Disclaimer - I currently live at this place(studio apartment), I think there are good people who work here and the amenities are awesome. My grievances may seem minute compared to other apartment stories but the sheer volume of annoyances/unreliability are what is driving this review. #1 - The power grid this apartment complex is on is absolutely unreliable however possibly for reasons beyond the control of the Apartment. I moved in Sept/Oct. 2017. I am not exaggerating when I say this, my power has gone out 8x and in 1 month it went out 3x. Resetting clocks suck, I also pay my bill on time :). #2 - If someone is walking by your apartment, they can hear everything going on. so much so, they hear your terd splash in the toilet. #3 - Apparently on floors 2/3 near the fitness center, it's the burn zone, if you catch my drift. At least open the window if you are going to smoke weed in your apartment or even better just do it outside. This is supposed to be a luxury(corporate style) apartment, not section 8 housing. #4 - Voicemails go unanswered and no one answers the office phone. #5 - Washer/Dryer complete their cycles only on the normal setting, I had them come look at my washer the first week I moved in because it would stop midcycle with an error however I was told that it works on the rinse cycle. I prefer my clothes to be washed not rinsed but whatever. I later realized I must have only use the "normal" setting versus "heavy load, etc" in order to wash my clothes. AKA they didn't replace it. The shit still doesn't work til this day. #6 - When I first moved in, my apartment reeked of cat shit litter. Even the A/C air handler had cat litter on it, which I ended up cleaning my self. After using an air filter for a month straight and replacing the HEPA level 9 A/C filter twice, and numerous wax scents, it smelled fine. There's probably still pet dandruff in the A/C vents. This brings me to my next grievance. #7 - Animals, Cats, Dogs, whatever. This place has indoor hallways that are temperature controlled with A/C units. Additionally the hallways are carpeted with tile near the doors to garages and the elevators. I can't even count how many times I have walked across a pile of animal shit/piss, albeit 6-10 hours later it wasn't there. Who know's who cleaned it up though. Stained spots every where. It is a daily occurrence to smell animal feces and urine in the elevator, hallways, and even sometimes when the hallway A/C decides to smoke screen your apartment with undesirable pet dandruff. If you have pet allergies, steer clear. #8 - This is probably the entire reason I decided to air all this out. I've been a nice friendly resident but I left a VM(not the first time to be clear) which has gone unreturned as well as numerous calls. Call me passive aggressive or the fact that I never complain unless there is a massive reason too. My rental vehicle was towed. Which I'll admit, there is a policy to tow vehicles that do not have a decal. It just happens to be the one day, I should have had my own vehicle back, but the dealer took longer than expected to do the work needed to be done, nevertheless. I've also had other loaner vehicles parked that weren't towed. Additionally if you go on their website for the time frame I have written this post, there is a decent turnover of residents occurring, not to mention there is a surplus of luxury apartment housing which is expected to drive down rental costs. IE, lower Average rental costs means lower margins. which means lower profits and bonuses. I digress. The point is towing should not be happening at an apartment complex when new residents are expected to be moving in and out. Also I couldn't park in any guest spots because they were all taken. Overall as a resident who pays their shit on time, I expect to have a level of service that doesn't liken to me being ignorant and willing to just take it however they want to give it. I only want a returned call at this point and for the Complex manager to approve a discounted vehicle recovery charge. read more

Oohhhh, ahhhh! What a beautiful apartment complex. I was more then impressed with their huge community areas! A nice, clean and extremely spacious kitchen, lounge area downstairs down the hall from a gym and indoor hot tub room. Above the kitchen is a rec room, complemented by pool tables and tables to eat at. The outdoor pool area is voluminous in fun- fire pits, several seating lounges, electric grills, and plenty of loungers poolside. Not sure what the actual apartments look like, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say they too are beautiful and luxurious. As for security, I didn't see anyone patrolling around, however, you did need a swipe card to access the building and some of the rooms inside. Parking situation: we got lucky to find a spot outside the building, they're werent too many guest/visitor spots outside but there were a moderate amount of spots inside the garage as well. Varela is located within walking distance to the International mall, a few short minutes from Dale Mabry, Kennedy, and 275. read more

Beautiful place to call home. The only reason I am giving it three stars is because of the unprofessionalism displayed by Rose Marquez (Assistant Property Manager). The rest of her team are of average performance in relation to how amazing the property and its amenities are. I wanted to also say that Catrina Patterson (Property Manager) handled all of my initial complaints beautifully and professionally. The property is in great hands with her! read more

The apartment itself is fantastic; located close by everything, yet on a quiet street, all of the amenities are great, and the apartment units themselves are beautiful as well. This would be a 5-star apartment complex if it had competent managers. This does not at all mean that they are mean or unfriendly; on the contrary, Rose and Robert are extremely friendly and very good at showing the apartment. However, they are very good at sales but not very good as property managers. A few months back a water pipe on our floor broke and flooded our entire apartment. While they were fairly quick at doing the bare minimum of getting all of the water sucked out and drying the carpet, they did absolutely nothing after that even though they promised that all of the side panels would be replaced within a few weeks. I called and went down to talk directly to everyone (Rose, Robert, Catrina) at least once each just to get a timeline as to when they would come in for repairs, but all they would do is tell me that they would talk to maintenance or upper management and leave a dead end trail. The water damage was so bad on the bottom part of our bathroom door that it wouldn't even close at this time, so we had to create a help ticket to get this urgent matter looked at least looked at. The water damaged the side panels on the bottom of the walls, which created countless cracks, leading to an enormous ant problem as well. I asked for immediate assistance, but they simply said pest control came only once a week, and I would have to wait until then even though this was caused by the water leak. Pest control never even came, and I eventually had to buy my own ant traps and spray. After a few months, we simply got tired of asking for repairs and learned to live with our beautiful apartment flawed by damaged side panels with ant traps here and there. The apartment as a whole was still wonderful, and as long as we didn't have to deal with the slow or never reacting management, we were content. What took everything over the top was when I had to break my lease early due to a new job in a different state. It was a sudden move, so when I notified the front office that I would have to break my lease, I specifically asked them if there would be any late notice fee. Robert said NO, there wasn't any, and I would only have to pay the early lease termination fee. So after going through exactly everything I would have to pay with Robert (I even received a printed invoice) I was billed the expected amount online for the early lease termination fee, and thought that this would be the end of it. However, a few weeks later I received another bill for the, you guessed it, a late notice fee. Look, I completely understand that I gave them a late notice, and I even acknowledged this from the start. However, again, they specifically said that there was no late notice fee when I asked about this, so this seemed to be an extremely sleazy way of doing business. In the end, I eventually just paid the fee because a) it was less expensive than the legal fees I would have had to pay my lawyer to fight this and unfortunately I am not that well off to fight for a case that seemed 50/50 after my initial consultation, and b) I was just sick of communicating with the front office of an apartment that I used to live in via email and phone simply because I am now in a completely different state and don't have the liberty of traveling back to Florida just to deal with this. After a long email to upper management explaining my situation, I didn't even get a reply back, as if it just goes in one side of their head and immediately leaves through the other side. Again, this apartment is an amazing place to live if you can afford it and are lucky enough to not run into any major issues. Heck even Troy the maintenance guy is friendly. This review might look as if it came from a disgruntled outlier, and it might actually be the case, but I think it is fair that people who are interested in living here and even the apartment management are made aware of these issues and hopefully get fixed. Again, everyone is friendly and no one is rude or mean. But managing an apartment complex takes a lot more than just showing the demo unit around to prospective tenants and posting social events on the apartment tenant website. read more

I'm into my 2nd lease agreement with Norwood - Ravin properties and the Varela Westshore and I am pleased to give this review. As a 13 year military professional who served in a "public Servant" capacity, and also having an extensive background in banking customer service, I believe I have a clear understanding of what "great customer service" is. That's one of the things I wish to underscore about my experience here at the Varela Westshore! From its great location, which offers easy access to every imaginable shopping, dining, and day/evening activity, to the beautiful architecture, grounds, and luxury amenities, the Varela has been an amazing living experience. There is an experienced staff, I submit, that exemplifies the standard of what excellent customer service is. Kamilah Shakur is hands down, the best leasing professional I've ever had occasion to meet and deal with. She's very personable, attentive, FUN, knowledgeable, very professional, and a host of other adjectives, which set her apart from the average, or typical. The synergy of her, Nicolle Martinez, and the recently relocated Alyssa McNutt, in my opinion, represents that top notch customer service which reflects great credit, not only upon themselves, but the Norwood-Ravin management group as a whole! read more

This could be a very nice place to live but I feel that management puts a lot of emphasis on the quality of events going on rather than the quality of life of tenants, especially those who pay on time each month! Service requests for maintenance assistance are submitted for a specific date and time for work to be performed. This means nothing if your desired date and time is not confirmed! And guess what, getting the confirmation to you is not a priority! Having a filter in your refrigerator is not worthy of it getting changed timely! And management is unable to say when it is likely to be done. It was NOT changed for my move in because. My water costs are high because the washing machine's water level cannot be controlled. Management sends out reminders to turn off the water while brushing your teeth, yet they will not resolve the issue with why the water level on the washing machine cannot be regulated. Wasteful but not to management! Noise all times of night from the people who live above me. Luxury apartments where you hear the toilet flushing and stomping foot steps upstairs at all times of night -- never the day! Cannot wait to move out of this place. Better to rent a house...or move back into my own home...or petition to get Rose back as she was responsive. You are lucky if someone picks up the phone when you call the office. Office staff is missing in action during hours of normal operation! All the reasons that I hate apartment living but had high hopes where rent is so high! read more