Slate at 901, knoxville-tn

I would like to preface this by saying I am using a fake name to not face any backlash from management. Like any apartment slate has its pros and cons, but overall slate was a good place to live! Everyone in the leasing office was always very nice and helpful. Maintenance was very prompt to respond to issues which was fantastic and they were always very nice about it. The walk to campus was great and it’s in a great area if you like to go to places on the strip a lot. The biggest downside of slate is parking. I was on the waitlist when I signed and nothing ever changed. I was never able to get a spot in the garage and even if I was, the rate when I was there was $125 for a tandem spot. I also find it a little interesting I was never able to get a parking spot when over summer there were maybe 4 cars parked in the garage (leaving probably around 20 spots open). Yes I know that the spots were still being paid by whoever owned them during the school year, but I highly doubt if the office offered to resale their parking pass for two months to someone else that the person would decline. The second problem with slate is the mold. Our kitchen faucet would constantly leak all over our entire counter leaving the counter soaked, the floor wet from it dripping off, and a ring of mold around the faucet that would come back every single day, even if you cleaned it daily (which we did). The other mold problem was in the bathrooms. If you have the bathroom layout with the stand up shower and glass door, prepare yourself for never ending mold. The shower must have been installed incorrectly because there is a gap from the shower floor and the wall causing mold and black grime to seep out from under it constantly. No amount of cleaning helped. There was also black mold growing on the wall despite our efforts of constantly leaving the bathroom fan on and door open to help with moisture. I would also like to say I paid $1,225 a month for a 4 bedroom 2 bath. This is not the most insane price compared to other places on campus, but for what you get, it is insane. The gym is small and the outdoor patio is a joke. There is a hot tub that is about the size of a pool table, and if you wanted to tan on the deck that is literally impossible because the building blocks all sunlight out there. Overall, slate is not as bad as the reviews make it seem, but it is also not as great as some people make it seem (I know it is also under new management within the past year so this might have something to do with it). There are much better options on campus where you will get more for your money.

The facilities are really nice and clean. The apartments are spacious. The location can’t be beat, especially if you are at UT Car-less. The tour guide Devan was very personable and answered all of our questions.

I lived in Slate (formerly Evolve) from August 2017 through July 2018. My time here was stressful from day one to say the least. The day I moved in my apartment was beyond filthy (photos attached). My roommate had already lived there since the year prior, so her stuff was everywhere. It was clear that no one had inspected the cleanliness of the apartment prior to my arrival as the fridge had an odor, there was paint on the couch, coffee table, and floor, the white countertops were stained, the floor was sticky, and paint was peeled of the walls. The manager sent a cleaning crew up there, and their mouths fell open when they saw the mess, and even after a couple of hours of cleaning the apartment was still trashed. I should have broken my lease that day, but I was assured the situation would be handled, which was a lie. Moving forward my roommate made my experience a nightmare, and management at Evolve and their higher-ups did nothing to handle it. My roommate's boyfriend lived with us, which was in violation of our leasing agreement, and Evolve refused to make him leave or adjust my rent and hers for the extra person she had living there- mind you I paid over $1000 a month for rent and parking. I should also point out my roommate had an issue with her roommate the year prior because she was so filthy- and despite knowing this and me filling out a self-evaluation saying I was a clean person, they still roomed me with her with no warning. The building was filthy at various times during the year as well. The hallways needed to be repainted and the floors needed to deep-cleaned. I also had a package delivered that they were never able to find. The only thing that was positive about my experience were the people who worked in the front office. Preston Abbott was the leasing manager when I lived there and was always very nice. The maintenance man- I can't remember his name- was great. The front desk workers were generally polite, but I did have a girl call me asking where my final move out payment was before the due date and have an attitude when I told her I would bring it when it was due. Despite the niceness, nothing was ever handled with my roommate's lease violations.The property manager's manager-I don't know her name- did absolutely nothing to try to help solve my roommate issues despite the lease violations. Though I cannot attest to how the new management is, I will say I would not recommend living here. While they could not necessarily make my roommate be clean, they should have enforced the leasing agreement when it came to having guest. If you know your roommates prior to living there, it might be a positive experience, but I absolutely did not enjoy living here.

If you like living in a place with terrible management that constantly jacks up rent while the building is quite literally falling apart, this is the place for you! If you’re planning on living here, expect your rent to go up year by year with no real explanation and also be prepared to dish out hundreds of dollars a month because this place does NOT provide any parking for its residents and there is no free parking anywhere near the building. The parking they do offer is mostly tandem parking, which is incredibly inconvenient and they charge insane prices for it. They also won’t help you find any parking solutions either, so unless you wanna park 10 minutes from the building looking for any possible free street parking (which the city of Knox is getting rid of) be prepared to spend extra $$$. This place will take every dime from you where they can get it. In terms of the quality of this place, expect mold to constantly build up in your faucets, air vents, and showers and don’t ever expect some kind of solution for it, just be prepared to clean constantly b/c their filters are terrible. Oh and if you want to go on your balcony? Better hope it doesn’t collapse, which actually happened recently here. There was no kind of rent discount when it happened, management just bolted the door for every balcony months and didn’t offer any kind of explanation. Fantastic. For students too, be ready for the WiFi to go out constantly, the community printer to NEVER work (which they also charge you for too, so be prepared to say goodbye to your money if you try to print something out). Also, there are weeks where the fire alarm just goes off randomly early in the morning every single day, and it’s the loudest most painful alarm you can think of. This place does like everything it can possibly do for you to hate living here. Management is really terrible. The leasing office is so incredibly clueless and the actual upper-management are aggressive and rude and don’t care about their tenants at all unless money can be made. You’ll deal with college students working the office only to get a discount on the unbelievably high rent who have no idea how to fix or resolve anything, or the upper management who genuinely could care less about anything without a dollar sign on it. Management only cares about money and it really doesn’t matter if your apartment is falling apart. Typical terrible landlord situation. During quarterly inspections, they also seemingly just lie and make stuff up in order to charge you fees wherever they can. Seen that happen to a lot of different people here. Also wanna mention that when you move in, bring cleaning supplies. The place was absolutely filthy when we moved in and we had to deep clean our supposedly new and clean apartment which was ridiculous. Also heard this right before I moved out, but because they are having trouble filling up their awful apartments they are offering super unfair discounts to certain new prospective tenants, so if you don’t mind paying almost double what they charge some people for the same floor plan go for it. They are robbing you here. Amenities are also not great. Hot tub is gross and gets closed down every couple months indefinitely for whatever reason. Gym is pretty ok though. The only pretty good part of this apartment is the location, so if that’s the only thing you care about then go for it. BTW, all the five star reviews are literally from them begging people to give them five stars in exchange for BS gifts and stuff, so ignore them if they don’t actually have anything to say. This place sucks and everyone I knew who lived here was happy to leave.

I have enjoyed living in Slate! The staff is friendly and very helpful. I appreciate the variety of fun events they host throughout each month. The amenities are nice, however two of the treadmills in the gym have been out of service for a long time and so it is annoying that there are four treadmills and only two are working. Additionally, it does take a while for a maintenance request to be completed. Overall, Slate has been a great place to live and I have recommended it to other college students.