8 1/2 Canal

So I lived in 8 ½ canal for 2 ½ years and here is an honest review of the place. So new management had only been in briefly before I left but you could tell it was going downhill. This is off campus student housing not directly affiliated with VCU had been bought out early 2015 by another student housing company. Of all the office staff, I believe only the assistant manager stayed when the new company took over. Their sister building 1200 West Marshall was also sold to the new company.
: — — — — — — — — PROS: — — — — — — — —
–Close to the VCU Brand Center and Business/​Engineering schools
–Fairly close to VCU connector stop as well
— Individual room leases
— doors lock automatically when you walk out your apartment so you don’t worry about roommates leaving it unlocked and individual rooms lock even though easy to pop open with a credit card
— Whenever I had placed a maintenance request it was fixed and they were nice
— Safe building to live in
— furnished
— — — — — — — –CONS: — — — — — — — —
— Overpriced
–New Management
–70 dollar a month parking garage
— weekends the hallways are usually a mess
— roommate matching is BS only live here if you have roommates in mind already
— Walk-​in in Sliding door to the bikes and cars is always broken
–Sublease fee– they make you pay a fee and you must find someone to take over your lease (subject to background check) or you are responsible
–Breaking your lease fee has increased significantly for the lease I would have had to sign for the following year.
So if it came down to you having to live here its overpriced but it’s a safe space and if you didn’t have roommates or knew the people you were living with its not bad. A lot of the NOVA kids, Greeks, brand center, business students, and foreigners lived here. If you are physically giving them checks always make them scan and sign a copy of the check so they cannot claim it’s lost.

Let me just tell you this. I do not write reviews often, and I’ve signed up on Unilocal just to write this review. This apartment may look nice, but speaking as a graduate student, the undergrads almost ruin everything. Don’t even think about studying at the study rooms because it’s so noisy downstairs. Their gym has nothing. The other «amenities» suck or don’t work. The elevators are ALWAYS broken, and the stairs don’t connect all the way, so you actually have to rely on the elevators whether you like it or not. There’s always one broken every day out of the two, I promise you that. Don’t even get me started on the gnats/​fruit flies infestations. Speaking as a person who’s been in other units in this apartment complex building, there’s been an infestation since last summer and it has still not been resolved due to the horrible waste management we have here. For several months, we’ve had trash piled up outside of the trash room doors because there was no more room for trash inside the actual rooms. There are still gnats/​fruit flies that enjoy their free stay here, some even find the fridge very cozy to live in. I think I’ve mastered the art of killing these creatures by now, but yet they still visit my food everyday. Aside from all that, there’s essentially no parking (they will tell you there’s parking on the streets). If you were able to purchase a parking spot (the waiting list is huge), it’s a hefty $ 70 fee PER MONTH.
As a cherry on top, the management is not only extremely unorganized, proven by the fact that I had to sign my lease 3 times, the managers are not very happy campers. If something you do is not going their way, they will call you continuously until you make them happy. I had one package delivered that was too heavy for me to carry, so I needed assistance later to carry it. They themselves did not allow me to pick it up later that day due to being «busy with renewals» and the next day, the manager had the audacity to call me as well as approach me as I was coming into the entrance with hostility, essentially ordering me to pick up the package today, or else. Can I say more people? Do you want to be treated with hostility for not picking up a package on time? Just because you were ONE day late because of THEIR issues?
The pricing is not even competitive for the amount of walking you’d have to do to get to the buses that take you to the campuses. It is literally right smack in the middle so no matter which campus you want to go to, it’s far out of the way. Save your effort, money, and time by skipping a visit to this apartment. The only thing this apartment is good at is taking your money. (Apparently, I have to pay a higher rent amount than my roommates simply because I was taking over a contract of a previous tenant without being aware. Also, there are fees for everything.) And oh how much they will how call you regarding renewals…
Edit: I just wanted to mention that I am referring to the managers when I say the whole management is a mess. The actual front desk/​maintenance are genuinely good people, but the management is so overwhelmingly second-​rate that my review still stands. AND good luck to those that have desktops with them, you will experience power outage just about every week, and might need to wait a week or so before the breaker will permit you to use the power again. May your PC rest in peace.

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. This is literally the WORST apartment complex in the entire city of Richmond. First of all, the management at this place changed over the summer of 2015 and was bought out by a big college student housing corporation. And by change it was not a good change whatsoever! They completely ruined the atmosphere of this place. Last year, it was so lively and fun and everything was pleasant, but these new people don’t help you with anything at all, and they love to charge for everything out the a**. You can’t have people over your place or you’ll get fined. I know this first hand. Secondly, let me just mention the trash situation: each floor has their own trash room, and they won’t clean it out for weeks on in, so when you go in, there’s bugs flying all over your face and crawling around. I’m surprised no one has called exterminators on them. Also, their elevators go down frequently. I have a blind friend who lives here as well, and he was forced to climb the stairs to the sixth floor and he fell really hard because of their inconsistancy of maintaining the building. This place is far too expensive ($ 700 for a four bedroom four bathroom little ass apartment) to be having all these issues and implementing stupid ass rules. If one of your roommates messes up, all the other people in the apartment will get fined. WHAT THE HELL??? If I were you, DO NOT EVER RENT HERE!!! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LIVE CLOSER TO CAMPUS FOR WAY CHEAPER IN A WAY MORE FRIENDLY BUILDING!

No. Seriously no. These people are the biggest assholes. Idc how «nice» the apartment is. First of all, extra for parking? I’m already paying 700 dollars to live in your shitty apartments. I found out I got into my first choice school so I tried to break my lease with them. We tried countless of times to even get a COPY of my lease which we had to haggle them about. They never put a manager on the phone to talk to you it’s always useless kids who work there who don’t know anything. They told me I have to find someone to pick up my leave totally or I’m responsible for 12 months of payments even though I WONT BE A STUDENT. I thought this was student housing? THEY LET ANYONE LIVE HERE. So if you’re thinking about living here, no, it’s not just for students. Parents beware. And on top of that you have to pay a lease breaking fee even though I’m «subletting». Subletting even though the lease hasn’t started. I can’t believe these people. They make vcu look terrible. Don’t live here.

New management and it’s the worst

I love 8 ½! The place in nice and everthing us new and clean. Not only the living area is nice but the staff is always so helpful and nice.

This place is amazing to live at!!! The rooms are huge and I love the amenities.