The Nest on Dryden Apartments

"Great location, good amenities, newly built and nicely furnished. It was great to be so close to the BRC, Rice campus, and have a safe route home each night. The building is really pretty inside and out. Unfortunately, there were quite a few issues that came up. Limited parking, card readers having problems for too long, and mixed up packages were only the beginning. The valet trash service seemed nice but was not nearly enough for larger units with 5 people, and no alternatives were available for many months. Finally, management felt a bit underhanded for having FOMO lease resigning (with an already expensive rent at stake) and with gift cards and reviews."

"Hideous mess of an apartment building built in a beautiful area. Apparently, the neighborhood allowed this to happen even though there are deed restrictions... What were they thinking?! The developer, Morningstar Construction & Development, needs to have a lot more respect for the city and neighborhoods they develop in. BTW, dingbat apartments are NOT cool... Even Los Angeles gave up building them 40 years ago."

"WORD OF CAUTION: Management offered residents free gift cards to write 5-star reviews. Read the reviews carefully... the number of stars you see on Google is inflated quite a bit. The good: The location is unbeatable. Apartment layout is solid, as are the furniture rentals -- it would be nice to have the option to turn some of this down though (if you already own a TV, it's annoying to be forced to pay for another one). Living in an all-Rice student apartment is nice. This is generally a great neighborhood as well -- a Chipotle + other quick eating options across the street is super convenient. The bad: Compared to houses in the area/Rice Village apartments, rent is ~50% higher. One of the few places that is more expensive than on-campus housing. For the price, you'd hope for more than one parking spot per unit (the spot given to our unit was in a tight corner that made the passenger side of the car inaccessible) and amenities beyond the two study rooms. Gabriela, the leasing agent who showed us the complex was impressively incompetent and lacked even the most basic knowledge of the apartment: how many bedrooms were in a unit, timeline for leasing, amenities, etc. Finally, even the quietest noises from the balconies carry to the neighbors who often come out (before Rice quiet hours) and request that we quiet down. I don't blame the neighbors; this is just a location problem that comes from building an all-college student apartment adjacent to million-dollar doctor homes. Finally, the walls are exceptionally thin. Be prepared to learn more about your neighbors than you would like :( The ugly: Owlhouse. I have lived in 4 different apartment complexes with different rules/regulations and have yet to deal with management as difficult as Owlhouse. This review is being written after a move-out where I mistakenly left my curtains in my room before returning my key. Rather than simply removing (or telling me to remove) the curtains, a process that would take at most 10 seconds, Owlhouse charged my account 100 dollars. The clause in the apartment contract that they cite states that they will charge $100 dollars for every trash bag of leftover items they collect in your apartment. In my case, this was enough to fill up maybe 1/10th of a trash bag, and now I am left to pay an inordinately high amount of money for the amount of work that it took to actually remove the curtains. This wasn't the first time that Owlhouse hit my unit with a ticky tack charge, and this wasn't a problem unique to only us. Owlhouse's trash collection service is terrible: valet is only serviceable if you don't lock dumpsters and make things like trash chutes accessible. The Nest is unique among complexes I have lived in in that for most of the year, the only time you can throw away trash is at 7 PM from Sun-Thurs when the valet comes. They are also very specific about the trash disposal process. Trash that is not inside a properly tied bag inside the trash can will earn you a violation, which carries their own silly charges. Our unit was hit with a 50-dollar charge after the trash valet worker intentionally removed our bag from the can, took a photo of the trash on the ground, and sent it to management. Rather than reviewing the footage, property management spoke patronizingly to us, stating that it is common practice for apartments to limit trash services, and they understood that the Nest is often the first experience students have living in an apartment, and so it is normal for us to not understand all of the rules (this is something that management is clearly cognizant of and wield to their advantage to exploit 19-22 year olds who don't know any better). The 50-dollar charge was not removed until we explicitly asked for video footage of the violation, and they were forced to confront the reality that we were framed. If you choose to live at The Nest on Dryden, be prepared to fight tooth-and-nail with a profit-hungry management who take advantage of students living by themselves for the first time."

"READ CAREFULLY. The location is the biggest perk about the Nest; it’s close to TMC and Rice, so there’s no problem with walking back at odd hours or worrying about getting to class on time. Some cons: -the walls are extremely thin; I can hear people talking in the hallway outside my apartment when I’m just lying in bed. I can also hear water running whenever someone showers or flushes, and the footsteps from above are so loud that my phone turned on its driving mode (lol). -the gated fences are powered by electronic locks, but the electricity often cuts off so you’re stuck outside with no way to get in. Management said that there was a 24/7 hotline that you could call in those cases that you’re trapped, but it turns out the hotline is only for submitting requests for work orders. If you’re trapped, you gotta have someone let you in or you can’t go inside at all. -The mailing system is very disorganized. A lot of residents’ packages have gone missing, which is honestly not surprising seeing how the mailing room is out in the open and not behind the electronic gate. Anyone could come in and take the packages. Aside from those points, the apartment itself is not bad. The furnishing is quite nice and the managers are friendly. HOWEVER: You’ll see a lot of 5 star reviews going on. This is because the apartment managers send out emails that invite people to write 5 star reviews for a chance to win free Amazon gift cards. Read the reviews carefully and don’t be fooled by the five star ratings."

"Great location for Rice students, fast management response, and awesome floorplan with 1 bathroom to 1 bedroom ratio and beautiful kitchen/living room are. Keep in mind that the bike racks require you to hang your bike, the walls are REALLY REALLY REALLY thin (you hear everything inside your apartment AND the apartment above yours), and rent is pretty expensive. There is no gym or pool but there are study rooms so those are pretty nice (but only three for the whole building, and often are full). Overall though, still better and cheaper than living on campus."