Skyhouse Austin

Still having the time of my life here! Big Shout out to especially the new manager who has made living here such an enjoyable experience. Any issue I’ve thrown his way he helps resolve immediately. I’m not understanding these terrible reviews — are you guys even residents? I hope people make their own assumption on this amazing building. Thanks Skyhouse Team!

Management continually condones illegal activity. Doesn’t make sure its residents stay safe. There’s been car robberies here. Lots of loud parties are allowed. Been a resident here for almost a year. It’s some of the highest rent in Austin, and I wouldn’t expect the management to behave the way they do for these prices.

Overall, living at Skyhouse was an enjoyable experience.
A few of the positives…
The leasing staff and concierge were always friendly and helpful. I enjoyed working with Chris and Amy. My maintenance requests were routinely completed within a couple of days. The location is excellent, and offers easy access to downtown via the hike and bike trail. Getting to the airport takes ~20 minutes and is a $ 14-​$ 17 Über ride. Great views from the roof. Lots of excellent drinking and dining options within walking distance. If you make use of Instacart/​Über/​Car2Go you can get by without owning a car.
A few of the negatives…
If you select a unit facing I-​35, be aware of the constant white noise generated from cars traveling down the interstate. On Thursday through Saturday nights you’ll hear lots of sirens heading down I-​35 in front of Skyhouse. Noise isolation between units is good but not great. The elevator troubles described by others are accurate. The (mandatory) cost of Valet Waste is not worth the service they perform. The rent increase in re-​lease offers are high, but this is mostly just a symptom of the housing supply in Austin.

Have lived here two years… was the first person to live in my unit. Worst management ever. They do not care about their tenants whatsoever. They are now filling the building with U.T. students because they are having difficulty keeping people with paying jobs. Lots of crime and fighting of college students. Not worth your time or money. Very sad to see it go down hill.

Pros: A beautiful view, it’s always spectacular when you look out in the morning to see it. I’m really going to miss that part. Everyone that lives in the building is generally super nice, so that’s a big plus. Being close to everything on Rainey is super great, and being right next to the lake makes living here pretty special. I like how dog-​friendly it is, everyone has fun dogs that are cute to watch and interact with. And being right above Royal Blue can be really convenient.
Cons: Okay, I’m going to have to unload a bit here. All of the things being said above, I agree with a lot of the reviews here. Customer service from management has been terrible. No help when it comes to renewal or lease termination. If you want to leave a little early, you’ll get no help. You’ll also get no help on renewal and the rates definitely skyrocket. I now regret not moving out when I had the chance. Even if they can reasonably get someone into your apartment well before your lease ends, they’ll take your money without hesitation.
It’s sad, I really wanted to say something excellent here, but my dealings with management have been what really has prompted this review. The only way I’ll get any attention will probably be after posting this review.
I generally keep to myself and have kept my unit in great shape. You would think after being at Skyhouse for a while I’d get at least a little bit of help. Guess not.
Also, agreed on the elevator situation, it’s a real pain and bottleneck when trying to get out of the complex. Whoever also decided that the garage should be separate from the building should be fired. That mere fact easily adds 5 – 10 minutes to getting out of the building.
I’m going to miss the Skyhouse, and I hope that management is paying attention to these reviews.

Best place I’ve lived in Austin, great management and superior maintence team and also has the lowest increases in rent I’ve seen in all of downtown. anyone who says other wise welcome to downtown and goodluck. I’ve been proud to call Skyhouse home. Brittany and Amy and Robert and Chris are the best!!! I wish I could give more than 5 Stars!

I’ve wanted to love this place so much but it almost seems sometimes like they go out of their way to make it unpleasant for renters when very simple, basic customer service could make a huge difference. As far as pros are concerned:
— Awesome location on Rainey street although it’s doubtful how long this will last. When I first moved in, it was fairly quiet, even on weekends but as Rainey increases in popularity so too does the noise from the street. There’s also a building being constructed on an adjacent lot which has already started becoming noisy at unreasonably early hours during the week. It’s also almost impossible to navigate the traffic on a given day after 5 to and from the building since there has been little to no infrastructure improvement with the increased population to the area. It’s not a question of «if you’re going to accidentally hit a pedestrian with your car» it’s «when.»
— Units are OK. Good, not great. Definitely not condo-​quality fixtures but at least it’s not linoleum. Layouts are nice but have weird wall placement, especially in one bedrooms. What’s the point of massive windows if half your view is obstructed by a wall? Also, the window shades do almost nothing to cut light at night. Luxury prices for non-​luxury finishes. For what we pay, each unit should come with someone who does your taxes and a year’s supply of snacks. Instead, I got a tub drain that broke and leaked water all the way to my living room.
— Common areas are in theory nice but the gym is almost always completely overrun; the rooftop deck has an amazing view but is usually crowded and trashed by Sunday; and the pool is great but often becomes a glorified frat party with lots of random drunk people and the water itself is a distilled mixture of salt water, Lonestar, and baby oil. The indoor lounge is the only place that’s consistently clean, but that’s only because no one actually spends time there.
As for cons:
— The elevator situation is inexcusable. I used to think I was overreacting, but consistently (4+ times per week) having to wait extended periods of time to pack an unsafe amount of people and dogs into a single elevator should be illegal. They let people move in whenever they want — nights, weekends, rush hour, whenever — tying up one of the three elevators for hours on end. This is for «the convenience of new renters» but at the expense of all the other residents, a Skyhouse recurring theme. Buildings in other large cities only allow moving from 9 – 5 on weekdays to prevent the ruination of people’s lives. This is something that Skyhouse could really stand to adopt.
— If you decide to renew your lease, be warned. Sure they will raise the rents on you and only selectively price match if similar floor plans have lower rates, but you have to look that up yourself and bring it to their attention. Don’t expect to get the best rate automatically because they want you out. When I filed my renewal, I asked 4 TIMES if there was any additional info I needed to submit or reset my rent payment. I explicitly asked and each time they said no. Boom, one month into the new lease I get a threatening no payment notice and late fee. Apparently your auto payment will randomly expire if you don’t update it. Would have been nice to know, but the extra $ 100 a pop probably goes a long way when multiple tenant are likely screwed by this.
— Which leads me to my next point, the horrendous customer service. The cleaners, concierges, even the valet recycling people treat residents with more dignity and respect than the management. When I reached out to management over the missed rental payment, I was promptly treated like I’m some sort of lowlife POS blowing off child support payments as if I do not hemorrhage money to live here. Only after multiple tenants complained that we were in no way made aware of the automatic expiration on our payment accounts did they make any effort to let people know this is the case, and it was with a little note in the portal. Management lacks any level of basic customer service skills that would have mitigated the intense loathing I now feel for them following this incident. Seriously, the whole ordeal made me want to call every airline customer service agent I’ve ever interacted with to personally apologize. But they’ve got you in an air-​tight lease that there is no way out of without coughing up $ 5,000 so they save the customer service for potential new renters who want to move in at 4:30 PM on a Monday.
The views are decent, the location is cool, the fixtures are ok so living here is really contingent on what your tolerance is for terrible customer service and an overall population that skews young, party crowd. If this is your first choice, I urge you to look a little harder at your options before committing.

Lets see,
Skyhouse is a pretty snazzy place to live.
Pros: Rainey, rooftop pool, and a pretty decent community, at least when i was there.
Cons: The rent increase is real. they really don’t care to keep tenants, the rent increase was too astronomical to keep living there. Also as my time progressed there were more and more changes that just degraded my experience.

I totally loved the life on Rainey but would recommend to THINK TWICE about living in Skyhouse. While Skyhouse has a lot of great things to offer, the management is HORRIBLE. Existing residence constantly get screwed by them. For instance, they would increase your rent unreasonably during renewal, even above the other facant with the same floor plan and refusal to price match. If a current resident is trying to move to a different unit, he/​she is probably not going to get it if a new resident is interested even though you sent in your application first. Why? they want the referral fee or commission. Housekeeping requests need to be repeated. Shoddy construction — can hear or smell neighbors… etc.

After living here for 2 years, I am moving out soon. Skyhouse has been great to live in. I really personally like that the amenities/​hallways/​etc. aren’t too over the top in design like some of the newer buildings. That + the amenities, while looking less fancy, are more usable & comfortable in my opinion. I don’t want to feel like I’m living in a Vegas hotel. Skyhouse is functional with floor to ceiling windows/​beautiful views and that is why I love it.
Only cons:
— Last March, literally hundreds of spiders that grow to be as large as 2 quarters started making a home against my windows and on my balcony. That continues to this day. Sometimes they all die & restart the building, lol. On my windows, it is a major eye sore to see tons of spiders and spider webs as apart of my view. I let the management know that they should clean their windows and also the spiders/​webs in the mean time. Nothing happened after asking many times. No one has cleaned my windows in greater than 1 year even though I have seen someone cleaning windows outside. I guess the spiders scared them, lol. And, I quit going on my balcony about 9 months ago after being bit a ton of times. I hate spiders. Being bit by them is worse.
— I wanted to renew an extra 6 months rather than 12. The premium to do so was something like $ 500-​$ 700 a month extra. I think that is truly ridiculous.

As of Dec 2015 I am about half way through my 12 month lease. I am currently living in a two-​bedroom with a friend. We were living farther up north before but we had to «give downtown a shot» for a year just for the hell of it.
I absolutely love living at Skyhouse. The units are very nice. I really like the hardwood floors and the concrete ceilings. Best of all is the views. Floor-​to-​ceiling windows are freakin’ nice.
Anyways, here is my list of pros/​cons.
Pros:
1. Location, location, location. Rainey rules and the running trail is right outside. Walking distance to lots of fun stuff downtown.
2. Staff. The staff here is great. Paul from downstairs is always very nice and extremely helpful. They regularly do happy-​hours at local bars which is fun.
3. People. Most people here have been very nice. Easy to make new friends in the building. Everyone seems relatively young so it’s great for young professionals.
4. Roof-​top: The 23^rd floor is awesome. Killer views, 2 BBQs, and pool. Great place to get some free coffee, entertain some guests or work on your computer in the lounge. BTW the fire-​pit is great for smores. lol.
5. Value: Not going to say this place is cheap because it is most certainly not. However when compared to other downtown high-​rises this place isn’t too bad in terms of price.
6. Parking: Great place to have your friends park too if you give them the code for the guest area. (5 $ 24hrs).
Cons:
1. Pool can get a little crowded during the summer.
2. Elevators are slow sometimes.
I am going to have a hard time leaving here at the end of our lease. This place has spoiled me.

SAVE YOURSELVES & DONT MOVE HERE. Literally the worst experience I’ve had here. They micromanage the residents with everything they do and have ridiculous rules. It almost feels like prison. Horrible customer service. They don’t care about making residents happy. The parking is horrible and they towed my car after 6 hours of being there. They have a security guard that doesn’t allow more than 2 guests to the pool area. The front desk guy had major attitude. For the amount people pay here it is ridiculous.

Ok place till I moved out… be prepared to not only not receive deposit but be nickle and dimed for anything… led pretty calm life while living there… no parties, pretty much myself for most part. When I left charged almost $ 1,000 in addition to keeping deposit. Pretty big sham but they are having trouble filling place with renters so maybe they are trying to extort past paying renters. Who knows… moving back to Austin in future but won’t be staying here.

Just stayed at a friends apt that lives here. If I lived in Austin I would definitely try to move here. This place is nicer than many 4, 5 star hotels as far as amenities. Roof top area was my favorite. Never had to drive to anywhere since it was walking distance to many restaurants, bars and convenient stores.

Writing a update on my previous review — Overall, I am very satisfied with living here. This place gives great ROI in comparison to other high-​rises in the area. It is very new, and so is its amenities. The concierge team, with Paul as its spearhead is great and very helpful. My neighbors are great, and SkyHouse are organizing events every once in a while so we we could socialize, which is great! The location, needless to say, is great! The atmosphere is pretty casual and friendly.
I suggest that if considering to move in, you’d work with either Louise, Brittany or Amy. They are all great! I personally did not appreciate Holly very much.
The loss of the start is because of that interaction with Holly and for not so efficient cabinets and closet arrangement.
Overall, I recommend!

Here’s the realistic breakdown of what you get at Skyhouse.
Amazing views in a lot of the units, slightly above average finishes inside the apartment but the rushed construction is obvious, location, and tons of amenities (there’s a catch on the amenities).
Amenities: pool, skydeck, lounge, gym, concierge… big selling points here, but you need to know what you are getting.
Pool/​Skydeck/​Lounge — Prepare to enjoy the awesome areas and views ALONE. You are allowed 2 guests per unit, PER UNIT, not per renter. So for a 2 bedroom each roommate is allowed a single guest. You can’t even reserve an area if you want to have a housewarming, birthday, etc. You might think, oh I’ve heard rules like that before, but maybe they only enforce when the pool or lounge areas get busy, right? No, they are at 50% occupancy and they police this place for the hell of it. I’m a professional, who enjoys a calm place to live, but I expect to be able to invite people other than my neighbors over to grill out on a Sunday.
Concierge — Completely unprofessional, not all of them… there are some cool guys running the front desk, but a few of the lackeys at this place are a.) children and b.) rude beyond compare. I’ve been living in high rises for years and the level of professionalism here is next to none. Rude emails to all residents, rude to guests of residents, not helpful, etc.
Otherwise, this place is great. Can’t beat the location and the leasing staff is actually really helpful when they are available. Jeff and Brittany were my points of contact and I liked dealing with them, plus I understand that they are likely only enforcing rules given to them by corporate. I just wish that the staff hired to enforce rules could be more polite in handling issues with residents, that’s been my biggest complaint.
I would cautiously recommend this place, but would also say look very closely at Gables and a few other places to see if you can get the same amenities with less regulation.

The SKYHOUSE is a 5 star product!
I’m a very seasoned travel professional and I bit jaded when it comes to accommodations… so if I’m writing a 5 Star review, it’s real.,
I moved into the Skyhouse the end of March. With expansive views of downtown and the coolest roof deck in all of Austin, high end fitness center, clubhouse, etc. The Skyhouse has far exceeded my expectations of downtown high-​rise living.
I appreciate the fact we are in a secured building and the rules are minimal. It’s not a frat house — so if that’s what you are looking for — you probably should move on. The current residents are awesome and I love the staff here.
Interesting. I’ve never smelled any sewage near the front desk or had any issues with noise working from home. Hummmmm
The staff, concierge/​security, maintenance crew, etc. are friendly and go out of their way for all of their tenants.
No shit! I love my new home and would highly recommend this property to anyone looking for a fantastic home in the sky.
Keep up the good work Skyhouse!
JB