Location on 9th Street is great! There are lots of restaurants and a grocery store right next door in addition to 3 different nearby bus stops to get to school in the mornings.

Apartments are very spacious but the utility cost has been higher than expected. The water bill is approx. $70-80/month and electricity runs $80-140/month. You are also required to either purchase your own washer/dryer or rent for $25/month. With internet, each roommate is paying about $200/month in utilities

We were not impressed by the cleanliness of our apartment when we moved in, and management is not particularly responsive. We love the location but feel we could be getting a better value at a different building since Erwin Mill has virtually no amenities.

More space and nicer character than S9 for much less money, but easy access when you want to go to parties, etc. Updated appliances and new flooring. Beautiful windows, lots of entertaining space. Love being close to Harris Teeter and Whole Foods. H5 bus has a stop if you don't bring a car.
Giant windows bring in a lot of light at certain times of day, but the interior rooms are not well lit, and there is no overhead light in the bedrooms, so you need a lot of lamps. Kitchen prep space is a bit cramped. There are some Duke seniors, but most of the building is grad students or professionals, so very few loud parties. Overall great place to live.

The apartments are massive, tons of natural light, hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and they are closer to 9th street. I lived at S9 first year, and it is definitely acceptable but it is probably the biggest scam of the apartments in the area, my apartment at Erwin Mills is twice the size and only an extra 75$ a month. The reason everyone stays at S9 is because everyone lives at S9, which is nice but I don't think it is worth the premium to stay there.

Erwin Mills vs. Station 9 (S9)
Pros:
-No parking garage - faster to come and go and had no issues with security (unlike S9 that had homeless people living in peoples cars in the parking garage)
-No gym but close to Brodie (S9 gym is pretty terrible, gross, and dank)
-No valet trash - but it is easy to take bags to trashcan/recycle once a week (don't have to pay 25$ a month)
-The place feels like home, instead of a dorm
-No pool, (you can walk over to S9 or B9 for the couple months you are here when the pools are open)
-Management is fast and responsive (At S9 I had a leak coming from behind my washer that covered the entire kitchen area and almost went into the carpet of the living room, I shut off the valve and called management they said to just get some towels and mop it up and they will have someone come fix it on Monday, this was a Friday.)
-No bugs, which is impressive for a place of this size (S9 had a few large spiders, lots of silverfish, and a few roaches).

Cons:
Thin neighboring walls, overall this wasn't much of a problem because MBA's keep pretty long hours anyway, but could be an issue as there are a lot of Duke undergrads in the complex.

Loft style apartments, brick walls, old mill building converted to apartments. Most residents are in other graduate programs.

Cons: no amenities (gym, pool etc)

Erwin Mills is a small building with loft style apartments next to Berkshire ninth. The building is an old mill converted to apartments so there are nice brick walls. No amenities.

Pros - Large floor plans, convenient location
Cons - Older building, probably less sound proof than new apartments.