The Evalee Apartments

This place is a joke! If you plan on renting here , be sure to read the 41 page Lease & then sign your soul over to the Devil.. Before you sign be sure to ask to see the 24 hr fitness center ( a moldy room with 3 broken exercise machines)& the picnic area with grills !(they dont exist) Rental of the garage has just increased to $75 a month.. A lot ofPeople who rent a parking space in the garage need to put a shower curtain on their car to keep it Dry.. This is the first year the Pool was not cleaned & repainted before it opened 2 weeks late!! It looks dirty & yellow. Tenants who have been here over 30 years are leaving.. Would I rent here, NO WAY!

We lived in Dorchester for about 6 months until it was bought out by Evalee and lived there for another 6 months until our lease was up. We had very few complaints about Dorchester staff, maintenance, and general living. However, when Evalee bought out Dorchester, there were a lot of issues. They immediately began renovating apartments in the building and on our floor. When renovating, the staff gave no or very little notice (i.e. leaving a note at 10:30 pm on the outside door of the building saying you won't have water the next day). Eventually, they used an email system to alert residents, but it still wasn't 24 hours notice. These are some of the renovation experiences we had: water being shut off at least once a week(up to 5 hours), super thick dust in the hallways resulting in the fire department being called multiple times, construction materials blocking the hallways, and less than 24 hours notice of coming into the apartment. All this being said, the model apartment they show is very little improvement. They put in solar screens to limit the amount of UV light in the apartments. They block most of the light and we had to use more electric during the day as a result. The flooring wasn't laid properly and air bubbles had formed in most of the apartments we saw. Most of their renovation materials sit outside uncovered and exposed to the elements. When they were laying floor in an apartment down the hall from us, they left boxes of flooring covered with black mold for multiple days. One resident down the hall complained to the office because she had just got back from the hospital with pneumonia and was having trouble breathing and nothing was done. Once I complained with pictures, they took the black mold covered boxes away acting like it was the first time they heard of it. We also had a maintenance request to fix a microwave handle that was promised to be fixed, but never was. It was still broken on the day we moved out.I will not say anything negative about the staff at Evalee, they are all nice and very accommodating (especially Rebecca), but there are some serious issues with the direction they are taking the property. The residents of Dorchester were about 80% elderly on a fixed income with physical limitations. When Evalee came in, they raised the rent by at least $200 effective when your lease is up. In the new lease, they also tacked on gas, water, trash, and sewer. Prior to being bought out, residents only paid electric. Majority of neighbors we talked with couldn't afford the new pricing. When we left, there were 3/10 apartments being rented on our half of the floor. In my opinion, this was their goal all along to push these folks out and get a more 'young and hip' vibe to the apartment complex to compete with the Ashby apartment complex nearby. Perception is not reality when it comes to their amenities. When we left in September, none of these amenities existed: 24-Hour Fitness Center, Business Center, Central Air, Clubhouse, Coffee & Tea Bar, Complimentary Wi-Fi in Common Areas, Dog Park, or Picnic Area with BBQ Grills. These are all advertised on their website, but are not a reality. Again, I have nothing bad to say about the staff. They're wonderful. The apartment complex is very dog friendly. There are many residents with dogs and walkable spaces for them. The social events were an upgrade from Dorchester ownership. They host a community event about once a month. The T stop is extremely convenient, but if you don't use that, make sure your work is close because it is a nightmare to drive into the city (30 lights before you hit the fort pitt tunnel). Parking was never a problem, but there were some incidents where trees fell on cars. There is laundry on every floor, but it can get pricey. In general, everyone is very kind. There were too many negatives for us to stay any longer, so we moved on. I truly hope that things improve for all residents, not just the ones they are marketing toward.