The Yard

Amenities are great and get togethers are allowed

It's on the expensive side, but it's equidistant from a lot of main places in Ann Arbor. The building is brand new and very clean. It has a pool and common areas that are incredibly nice. I have really enjoyed my time at this location and recommend it to anyone interested.

The Yard is okay. It's in a decent location, the staff at the leasing office is helpful, and the gym is not bad.

There are quite a few negatives though: Most of the tenants are undergrads, so it can be a bit noisy, which I don't mind, but after most weekends there are at least a few fresh piles of vomit in the stairways/hallways.

The storage and layout of the units is a bit odd. The closet in my room doesn't have a closet door, just a regular door that only exposes half of the closet when it's open. I can only access hanging clothes in the rest of the closet by reaching blindly from the open side - this is such an inexplicably dumb design choice it defies comprehension.

There is also no communal storage for the apt - nowhere to put a vacuum, brooms, cleaning supplies, etc. It's a three BR apt in Michigan and there isn't even a coat closet. I'm from Texas, where it rarely gets below freezing, and even there apts have coat closets.

The water for baths/showers cools quickly. If you like long, hot showers you will be sorely disappointed by The Yard. If you take quick, lukewarm showers then you probably won't notice.

There are many maintenance issues. This is the first year that The Yard is open, so ironing out kinks is understandable, but it's been four months and there are still major issues that maintenance does checks on almost every day. For a company that has built and run multiple buildings like this I would think they would have fewer problems. It doesn't bode well for future tenants. If they have this many problems now, what will living there be like two years from now?

Those are all of the details I can think of right now, but if I gave it time I could come up with more. I like my roommates, don't like moving, and the price at The Yard is average for the area, so I'm going to stay at The Yard for the duration of my MBA, but if I could do it over again I would definitely live elsewhere.

Good luck.

New building that started off with some bumps but is now fine and responsive. Rent is pretty high but it is what it is given that Ann Arbor is so expensive anyway

Great complex with great amenities

Walls in apartment are paper thin - hear everything within the apartment as well as noise made in outside courtyard. There are also a ton of undergrads in the building who do not respect the shared spaces. Management is slow to respond to issues (their hands are tied with working with corporate office).

good enough

I had some issues with management when I moved in but I think that's because they were stressed because the building was new and EVERYONE was moving in at once. Since move-in time, they have been perfectly pleasant and very helpful.

I'd like to put out there that if you want to live in one of the big "luxury" apartment complexes, this is the newest and cheapest one so I think it has a great value considering how new it is.