Aberdeen Apartments, madison-wi

I have lived in Aberdeen as a sophomore when it was under a different landlord and as a junior, currently under new management. Sophomore year was great; the landlords were very accommodating and responsive to emails, questions, etc. The new landlords don't even deserve 1 star. That's being generous. My roommates and I re-signed our lease, and the new landlords wanted to do renovations on our apartment, but since we re-signed, our renovations weren't completed over the summer like others' who didn't re-sign. The new management had contacted my roommates and me about what the best time would be for us, and we responded that Thanksgiving break wouldn't work since we had out-of-state roommates unable to travel back home, and Christmas break wouldn't work for the same reason, plus I was staying on campus for work. They listened to us about Thanksgiving. And since winter break wouldn't work, they thought the best idea was to do the renovations during finals week. I'm not sure what made them think this was a good idea, but I repeatedly expressed to them that we wouldn't be able to make this work. While we technically weren't required to move out of our apartment completely, our carpets were going to be ripped out, and hardwood floors be put in. They said this process would span over the course of about a week (finals week), but they did not care when I said this was not a good time for any of us. They also told us they were planning on this 48 hours in advance. We had to pack all of our "loose belongings" into bins and leave the larger items like our desks, dressers, etc., where they were, and the people installing the floors would move them as they worked. They never gave us a timeline on how long the renovations would take exactly, but I personally haven't heard of installing new floors taking less than about 2-3 days. I asked, unless our bedrooms would be done immediately, where we would sleep since the beds would need to be moved around, and they didn't answer. They make it seem so simple, but that's the last word I would use for this. They told us that the renovations would need to be done during "this lease term," but our lease term ends in August, which I told them. I said that the best time for these renovations to be completed would be in summer, when all of us are moved out, and they ignored that, too. Also, they said that new amenities would be coming to the building in the fall of 2025. Well, it's winter, and we don't have all of the amenities that we're paying for. They said we were going to have a fitness center located in the parking garage. It's almost the end of the semester, and it's still not there. They told us in September that they didn't even have the permit yet. Once they did obtain the permit, they said it would take "2 weeks" to install the fitness center. Again, still not there. I don't understand why I'm paying for a gym that doesn't even exist.

Although my roommates and I did not end up signing a lease at Aberdeen, my experience with the leasing office was excellent. Liz and Hannah were so friendly and helpful, answering any questions that my roommates and I had and providing a wonderful tour of the building. Aberdeen is a great apartment to check out!!

So far living at Aberdeen has been a seamless experience. Hannah especially has been exceptional with communication and updating us on the status of renovations in the apartment. She is quick to respond and is extremely helpful during each conversation!

I lived at the Aberdeen for three years. I can say without a doubt, that the Aberdeen is the best student apartment in the city. The management is deeply personal, and uncompromisingly kind. The apartments themselves are a cut above everything else in the city, and priced almost unreasonably low for the facilities and tenant experience you get. You truly feel cared for when you live here. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Lived here a couple years ago and heard they were "renovating" and bumping the price up yet again. While I enjoyed the amenities provided by the Aberdeen such as a balcony view of downtown and a working air conditioning (which not many housing options in Madison supply), the cost is disproportionately higher than the value of the space. As is obvious by the pictures of the apartments, the rooms are small and awkwardly shaped. There are many strict rules such as "three nails per room", yet they did not cover up nail holes previous to our moving in and charged us for all of those holes as well as several hundred dollars in other fees accumulated based on scratches and wall damage that had also been there previous to our lease term. On top of this, there was an intense mold issue-specifically affecting the bathrooms. When reaching out to the landlords, they told us they would have to charge us a couple hundred dollars to send someone in to fix it and blamed it on us not using the bathroom fan, which automatically turns on when the light is turned on, therefore would not pose an issue. Since we were unwilling to spend this additional money, we dealt with the issue ourselves. The mold issue was not only caused by this fan in the bathroom, but was covered in mold spores deep into the vent itself. All of this to say, the surge in pricing does not and has not ever matched the actual value of these apartments. They use location as a way to manipulate college students into believing this is normal pricing. It may seem like it's more affordable than places like The James, but it's actually just a worse building with worse amenities. Don't let landlords keep inflating prices in Madison! Don't live here!