Windsor on the Lake Apartments

I used to love this place. Not anymore. A 30+ floor building with no working elevator. Elevator out the entire weekend. 18th floor. Three different days over the past few weeks - hauling our weekly groceries and heavy food deliveries up the stairs each time. And we cycle, so you never know when you’ll have to carry your heavy bicycle up 18 floors too. They do send emails - but only after it’s already down. Could happen any moment, any day. Zero predictability. Friends stopped coming. Even sporty people think climbing 18 floors is a joke. I’m too tired to even be angry anymore. Two years here and this is our life now.

I have lived at the Windsor on the Lake since 2021, and this building has gone completely downhill in that time. I'm writing this after coming back from a trip to find the elevators are broken AGAIN, meaning I would have to carry all of my luggage up 23 floors of stairs. This same thing happened when I returned from a different trip less than a week ago. The elevators have always been a problem, but it is now a daily occurrence for our only working elevator to be down for 4-12 hours. If you travel for work like me, or if you have a dog like a lot of residents, or if you ever buy groceries like everyone else, have fun carrying all of them up the stairs. Oh and that stairway? Yeah it will be cooking hot, just like the elevators and hallways. Like other reviewers have stated before me, the A/C in the hallways has never worked and will consistently be over 80 degrees in the summer. It makes the hallways smell like a nursing home, probably from to the disgusting, pet-stained carpets that should have been replaced 10 years ago covering the floors. Additionally, the package room is a nightmare and was obviously designed for a pre-Amazon volume of packages. The staff does their best to keep it organized but expect to spend 10-20 minutes sorting through packages to find yours. This was something I was told was being addressed with our "first floor/lobby" renovation, but that turned out to not be the case. The staff does their absolute best, special shoutout to Edwin and Santos who bust their humps trying to keep this POS apartment building from completely crumbling into dust. When Edwin retires, this building might actually implode. The office staff are friendly and helpful as well, most of them live here so I'm sure they are just as frustrated as we are. Run far, FAR away from the Windsor on the Lake. Example from today: I get the notification that the elevators are down at 8am PT. I fly back from California to Austin, land at 1pm CT, they still aren’t fixed. I go to a bar on Rainey instead of carrying my stuff up and I wait till I get the “elevators back online” message at 3:15. By the time I walk back to the apartment (3:30), they’re already both broken again and I have to carry all my bags up the stairs. Do not rent here.

DO NOT LIVE HERE. We’ve only had “one” elevator for the last 6+ months while they renovate the freight elevator…The passenger elevator has broken multiple times during that time leaving us with no elevator. Now the freight elevator is “completed” and broke the first day after completion. The elevator has been broken multiple times since then….management does not help at all, just says “sorry we’re working on it”. I’ve had to carry a 75+ lbs dog up and down the stairs as well as groceries. Not sure what we waited so long for…elevator looks like it is still unfinished (I don’t even care what it looks like I just want an elevator that works) and still doesn’t work. There is someone trying to move out right now with movers here and the elevator is down?? Fixtures: Moved in with a huge crack in my sink that’s never been fixed even though I’ve put in 2 works orders. Bedroom window doesn’t stay open bc it’s broken or missing a part and was never fixed even with a work order. Parking : There are not enough spots for all of the residents yet charge you $65 parking fee. Have emailed multiple times that there is no spot for me to park in and they have never offered any resolution besides asking if I’d like to pay more for a reserved spot??? Again, do not live here. Can’t wait till my lease is up but now I have to worry about how I’m going to get all my stuff out without an elevator!

Have lived here for three years, if I had given a review a year ago it probably would have been five stars. Edwin and the entire maintenance team are incredible. The office staff, especially Katie, are lovely. They always go above and beyond and have made living here exceptional. But the last several months, elevator “upgrades” that take four months per elevator, leaving the entire building with one “functioning elevator” have made it horrendous. The newly upgraded elevator I guess is done? But appears unfinished, is louder and slower than it used to be. The one remaining elevator has been non functional, on and off, for 6+ hours at a time. I have no idea how this can even be legal, some people are up on the 32nd floor with no way to get up or down aside from the stairs - which, are FILLED with dead bugs, it’s smelly, disgusting, very warehouse-feeling. DONT MOVE HERE unless upper management (Ginger Posey apparently) eventually improves. They sent us a bunch of emails with a “sorry this sucks but it is what it is” sentiment. This building has a lot of long-time leasers, and I fear that will quickly change.

It’s sad to see how Windsor management is running the building. As everyone mentioned, the elevators have always been an issue. Now that we are 4/8 months into the renovation of the only 2 elevators for 174 units, we regularly have times during the week when both elevators are out of service. I don’t mind a little bit of inconvenience but it’s sad to hear from many different residents that rent, amenity fees, and pet fees all increasing while this happens. Not to mention the fact that Austin rental prices are down across the area. This is an example of how Windsor treats loyal long term renters. The front office + maintenance staff does their best. Maintenance requests for the apartment are solved sometimes within hours of reporting the issue. Can’t thank the maintenance and cleaning staff enough for their professionalism and organization.