Aspyre At Assembly Station

DO NOT LIVE HERE! The staff in unbelievably rude and not accommodating. The parking is the worst and plan on parking several floors up when school is full swing. There is no room for visitor parking so if your parents or family visit - plan on finding an alternate pkg area for them. The worst part is there are bugs EVERYWHERE! They offer to spray monthly as part of the pkg - but why should they have to. Bug traps are in all of the hallways and dead bugs everywhere. My family came in to visit and witnessed this - it was very embarrassing. Can not wait to move out. more

Do not live here. The management is awful and rude, as Erin said. The trains are loud enough to wake you up. There are seriously only about 20 visitor spaces for hundreds of apartments. I had an issue and management did nothing to help me. They tow people for no reason and refuse to fix broken things. Constantly surrounded by traffic. Lots of roaches. Very expensive. Fire alarms constantly. Management definitely wrote the posts below. ""R&R"" and ""I love trains""???? Yea ok. Maintenance and close to campus are the only pluses. more

I honestly cannot wait to move out. Since the day I moved in, I have had nothing but problems. Upon moving in, our unit had not been cleaned. The carpet was so nasty, it had to be replaced before we could move in. Our blinds were so sticky that when you pulled them up, they didn't come back down. Since then, we have had issues with roaches (LOTS OF THEM) and everything breaks. The only positive I have is that the maintenance guys are very polite. I wish I could say as much for the management team. I have never experienced such rudeness. The management team does not take anyone seriously, especially students. I am a student at the university and every time I have spoken with someone in the office, they will do anything to shut me up. Unfortunately, none of this has actually solved any problems. I had water come through my ceiling this past week when it rained. There are holes in my ceiling and cracks in my walls. My ceiling has also started to grow mold. Typically in a situation like this, there would be some kind of accommodation made. Of course not. I have been sleeping on the couch for almost a week now and nothing has been done to solve the problem except for plaster covering the cracks in the walls. They haven't offered anything to me for the trouble I've been through. I checked the policy about breaking your lease, and it's basically impossible unless you're made of money. I already pay entirely too much to live here. $650 a month for bugs, broken air conditioning, trains that wake me up, leaky ceilings, and mold. I have also been in touch with the actual owner of Aspyre. She seemed at first to be more helpful and concerned, but she has quickly jumped on board with the management team and doesn't seem to care. Long story short, DON'T LIVE HERE. Unless of course you love dealing with people that couldn't care less about you and your satisfaction. more

Aspyre offers a great environment for college students, especially being walking distance to campus. The service has really exceeded my expectations. Yesterday I put in a maintenance request and within 15 minutes someone from the maintenance team arrived. I highly recommend! more

First, I think it's pretty apparent that the 4 great reviews in a row are coming from people that work here. No reviews for months, then after tons of stuff goes down at the apartment and several people threaten to do something about it, they write good reviews to make it look like people actually like living here? Lets be serious. No one ""likes trains"" that constantly make noise and stop traffic or just ""heads to the pool for R&R after graduation!"" The truth about living here is that they will suck you in and act extremely nice, then once you sign your contract, you can kiss that behavior goodbye. The parking garage is a zoo. I know tons of people that live or have lived here and can only think of a couple who have not had a car that was hit, keyed, or broken into while in the parking garage. The ""gates"" are more of an inconvenience than a safety precaution, considering they are always broken and anyone can walk in at any time. Security is a HUGE joke. The office staff and Holder Properties management is rude, non-responsive, inconsiderate, and literally could not care less about customer service if you ever have a problem. Oh, and by the way, if you plan on sleeping in your apartment at any time, you probably shouldn't live here. The fire alarm is CONSTANTLY pulled or ""triggered"" by people or their ""guests"" smoking. It is escalated during finals - the alarms went off in the middle of the night every single night during finals week, sometimes more than once. The first day of finals, there were eight separate fire alarms (this is not an exaggeration). There have also been apartment break ins and a car was stolen recently out of the garage. The criminals are using preventable methods and management has yet to alert us of anything going on. I decided to live here because I thought, as a girl, I would feel safe - but I feel just the opposite. Can not wait to get out of here and have spoken with several others who are breaking their leases. This place has gotten out of control and I would not recommend living here to anyone. (Oh, and the ""rating system"" on the Aspyre website is private and they only publish the good reviews, hence their 4.3 rating. Several people have written negative reviews, only to be told by management that they ""selectively"" use reviews that come in.) more

Thanks to Aspyre for being so close to campus - otherwise, I'd probably have never made it to class on time! After graduating, I'm headed to the pool for some R&R! more

I moved in Aspyre sophomore year and I'd rather live here than the nasty dorms. It's clean, the pool is awesome and the office gives us free breakfast sometimes. It's a win-win. And I like trains, so they don't bother me. more

I don't get it- I like it here... It's close to school. I love the apartment itself, especially the kitchen... I like to cook and need elbow room. I love the pool. Fitness center is small, but it works. And I've never had any issue in my apartment that hasn't been taken care of. Yes, fire alarms are annoying, but that stuff happens everywhere. The office has been apologetic, and obviously they aren't the ones making it go off so, whatever. They say they're working on it. I'm staying here again next year... who the heck wants to live on shop rd?? more

I have been an aspyre resident for 2 years now. I cannot relate to some of the negative comments that have been listen, all I can say is that I have enjoyed every minute of my stay here. The location is the closest apartment to the university, which is why some students do not even have cars. It's a couple blocks from the strom fitness center and greek village, which is also a plus. I rarely if ever use my car living here. It saves on my gas money. The apartment itself is very nice and new. My unit comes with a patio overlooking the lap pool, which is a great view. This is my first apartment that has a parking deck and I will say it was hard to get used to at first, but I really enjoy the perks of having my car covered and secure at all times. My parents were sold on aspyre because it is one of the most secure apartments for students. The other places are far from campus and in not safe areas of town. The apartment is near a railroad track, but in Columbia no matter where you live you will hear trains. You get used to that in the dorms your first year and after that you dont really notice them. I have several friends that have moved in while I was here and they all have had great experiences as well. In my opinion Aspyre is one of the best apartment options in town. more

Lived here a year and cannot wait to leave. Fire alarms, car crashes, security guard scuffles, broken gates, robberies, they all take place here and they are all downplayed here by the staff. They can't even take the blame but yet still try to say everything is out of their hands. Don't make the mistake of living here or thinking oh these reviews must just be a small minority of people who don't like living here. No one loves to live here unless they are living here for cheap or free more

It's like owning a boat. The best day is when you move in, and the next best day is when you move out. Maintenance is always good, no complaints there. The parking garage is way too congested and good luck finding a spot on your level, or the one above and below. Depending on how far your apartment is from the garage, it's a trek to bring your groceries or anything to your apartment. The leasing office is poorly managed and it would go a long way if they brought in some new people to stir things up. They're the nicest people in the world the day you sign your lease, but it's night and day after that. more

I just moved out of the Aspyre, and I agree with some of the negative comments left by the residents but also with some of the positive ones posted by management. First up, the train noise doesn?t bother me at all; hearing that woke me up much less often than hearing my neighbors having sex. So, no big deal being by the train tracks. And I never went to where the area for the dogs is so I don?t know about people not cleaning up after their dogs. I was actually pretty happy with how clean the building was kept. Spilled drinks, cans, vomit etc. were cleaned up real fast unless they happened on the weekend. more

I don't have anything good to say about this place and can't wait to move out. Much of the first floor was flooded six months ago and is still empty; God knows what kind of mold grows in there. The gates for ""security"" often break, and the one for cars on the Heyward side is installed wrong: it opens to the outside, so when you scan your fob the gate opens and hits your car. So ridiculous! more

This place is the worst. Don't believe the positive reviews, which seem to be written by Aspyre staff (has the building even been open 4 years as one review claims?). The apartments are nice, but management does not do a good job at all. There's no follow-up on requests or complaints. Memos that are plastered in the elevator are more appropriate for middle school students than for adults, and are very poorly written. The recycling bins are regularly overflowing, and there's dog crap all around the building. There's a small gym, but the equipment seems to break down often and then takes a long time to get fixed (the lat pulldown machine was out of service for a good 3 months; even the clock that's in the gym took over 4 months to get working again). more

The reason I love living at aspyre is not because of the spacious rooms, big walk-in closets and unique floor plans but because of two reasons that were very big sway points for me, the courtyards and the staff at aspyre. The courtyards won the over because of the many different options that are at your disposal. Where can you get five different courtyards where two of them are pools. Plus the option of having a putting green as well is just something unique to the aspyre experience, not many other apartments can say they have a putting green for everybody to get their tiger woods on. Also the pool courtyards offer plenty of enjoyable moments from the beautiful resort pool for the summers to chill and party at with friends, to the lap pool were you can get alittle r and r and even some exercise. Apart from the great courtyards the other selling point for me was the staff, where from the managers to leasing to even maintenance there is always a great and friendly person to talk to. Everybody that works there is willing to lend a hand with any problem you might have big or small from a busted light bulb to even a busted water heater at 2am in the morning. Why else would you chose another place, I mean if you're supposed to live at a place that feels like home and with a place like aspyre where people will treat you like family what other option comes even close. Which is why I chose aspyre to be my home and no place else around. I would highly recommend this place to all my friends! more

Aspyre is by far the best place to live if you are a student at USC! I have lived here since August and love it. I can walk to campus, football games, baseball games, restaurants, the bookstore, etc. There is also a great nail place just across the road. The building is really safe and I love that my car stays covered and locked up at night - no more break-in's like my last apartment complex (not to mention any names but don't live anywhere down Bluff road if you want to avoid vandalism and possible armed robbery). more

Our overall experience at Aspyre hasn't been very good. Here is the list of the negatives we've accumulated so far at Aspyre: more

The below reviews are very accurate. more

First off, I do not actually live here, but my sister and several friends do. As a visitor, there is next to no parking for us. However, one time when I parked in the visitor's section of the parking garage, it stormed and the entire bottom level of the garage flooded badly. My car was in there and it got totaled, along with some others. One guy was even a resident there. Of course Aspyre is claiming that it was a ""natural disaster"" and they're not at fault, but the structural design of the place is horrendous! It seems pretty obvious to design a building that can withstand a common storm. One entire side of the building floods every time it storms like that also. I've seen it happen twice within a month. People can't live in that part of the building anymore. They just keep repainting and putting in new carpet, only to get screwed up the next time it storms. Clearly there are design flaws within the entire building and there is no proper draining system. My sister hates the place and can't wait until she moves out. She complains of the rude staff. Just the other day fire alarms started going off and she thought it was a real fire. Then she talked to the management and found out that they were running the fire alarms throughout the entire day without mentioning it to the tenants beforehand. Very unprofessional staff, very crappy facilities. more

I read the review by USC66 after searching around the internet for apartment ratings. I currently live at Aspyre and really enjoy it. I used to live in the dorms and Aspyre is the Ritz compared to dorm life. I am so happy that the office staff has changed the parking policy. I have watched so many residents let their guest in the garage and had to drive to the sixth floor to park because a person that doesn't pay rent to live at Aspyre is taking up a parking spot. When I went downstairs to obtain my new parking decal the manager explained to me very clearly why they changed the policy. After hearing the explanation the new policy made perfect sense. I don't pay rent each month so other people can park in the private garage. Yeah, there is not a lot of visitor parking considering the amount of people that live here. That is in no way the fault of the office staff. What is funny though is that at any other apartment place there is no visitor parking. It is basically a free for all. I have friends that live at The Retreat and pay rent and come home some nights and have no where to park. I much rather have a place to park since I live here than my visitors have a place to park. The apartments are great and compared to other places it is much safer. The building stays in good shape because the office staff actually cares about the property. Sometimes I wonder what up bringing some of these complainers have had. Maybe mommy and daddy should have said, ""no"" once in awhile. If you want a nice place to live and a peaceful environment then Aspyre is the place. more