City Walk Apartments 1111 East Water Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902

"Great place to live. Staff is very helpful. Vibes tend to be a bit too formal for me at times, but everything works, so it's all good. I do wish we had a few more weights in the fitness room. Love living here, though."

"Worst apartment complex hiding under the guise of “accesible metropolitan luxury”. Fire alarms went off incessantly with little to no warning, the walls are paper-thin, location is not ideal as you are literally near train tracks and the trains rattle your apartment at odd hours. The neighbors are not friendly in the slightest, extremely snobby! The snobbiness permeates through the office as well, as management was rude and dismissive. Sarah Blackwell, in particular, was extremely rude and dismissive to my girlfriend, consistently gaslighting her when she spoke to her in the office. RUN!"

"I lived here for about a year (August 2021-July 2022) before moving to a different city, but if I had not left I most likely would've renewed my lease. Overall, it's a great building, but maybe some detail would help folks looking. The pros: Location. It ain't called City Walk for nothing, and you can't beat it. Easy 10 minute walk (if you stop to admire the townhouses on Water Street for 4 of those) to Belmont or straight into the Downtown Mall where all the bars, restaurants, etc are. My office was even closer, so that's a plus. Parking. I lived in the main building, and loved being able to drive straight to my floor. Charlottesville is certainly not a walking city, unfortunately, so consistent and convenient parking is huge. I suspect the garage is intended to also accommodate most or all of the residents of the outer buildings (who get exclusive access to the surface lot), so you'll never have trouble finding a space on your floor. The trash chute access for each floor is also kept in the far corner of the garage, keeping the stench out of the building. Amenities. I didn't use these much, to be frank, but if swimming/grilling/hanging out by a fire pit is your thing, they exist here. I did, however, make good use of the gym, when laziness would've stopped me from driving across town. Management. The staff were great - there were always several people in the office during business hours to answer questions and help out. I never had to call for emergency maintenance, thankfully, but the benign requests (lightbulbs, etc.) and regular upkeep like air filters are easy to submit and were carried out promptly. They locked the service elevator for me both coming and going, and were diligent about communication, paperwork, and returning the deposit. The staff clearly takes their job seriously, which cannot be said for many rental managers. The cons: Soundproofing. Absolutely my biggest complaint - the walls seemed paper-thin. I could hear my neighbors having regular-volume conversations if I became absolutely silent. Because this is a pet-friendly building, dogs are everywhere. I lived next door to an ankle-biter of some type for most of my lease, and that thing would bark nonstop the entire time it was left alone - every yip and yap came straight through the wall. A few months in, a second, larger-sounding animal moved in down the hall, and I had the dueling banjos of dogs until the ankle-biter vacated. The ceilings aren't much better. Finally, according to one of the maintenance people, the settling of the building on its foundation caused issues with the mounting of the water pipes in the walls: the pipes will shrink in the winter from the cold, and hot water traveling through them will make them rattle against their brackets, creating an oddly loud knocking noise that, once again, is clearly audible in the unit. Fire alarms. Someone else mentioned it, and it's for real. They would go off all the time. The building does semi-regular fire drills, which are annoying but understandable; what didn't make any sense was how often maintenance/construction work on the ground floor would set off the fire alarms. Once every other week or so was the norm for quite a while. The stairs are all external, except in the garage, so water and ice can cause slipping hazards. The ground floor access to the courtyards are also open air, meaning there will be bugs in the hallway. The gates to the garage broke several times, and getting them fixed was always a multiweek process; during repairs, the gates are left open so people can get in and out. The functioning of the gate is also inexplicably tied to the locking mechanism on the doors that lead from the garage into the building. The reason why, I cannot recall, but it does mean that, where there were two barriers between the outside world and the hallway in front of your door, there are now none. Definitely a lot of good, but some bad to keep in mind. To reiterate, if I hadn't left the city entirely, I'd probably still be in the same apartment I moved into almost two years ago."

"An excellent community with attentive staff and maintenance. Close to downtown and amenities, quiet, clean, and- good place to live. I enjoy meeting all the dogs in the complex, the convenience to the downtown and transportation. - From a verified resident on ApartmentRatings"

"City Walk Apartments blew all of my expectations away. The location is ideal for work and pleasure, the amenities are top notch, and the apartments themselves are clean, spacious, and practical. Best yet, they are animal lovers and will make your pet feel at home as well."