The Element At Ghent

Overall felt safe and quiet! Clean and any maintenance was promptly attended to. Very courteous front desk staff. Lived here for years but apartment truly felt like a home. Only reason I moved was to by a house. Special shout out to Harley, Janice, and Johnny for being wonderful staff!

Besides the apartments and amenities being very clean, modern/cozy and safe, the staff’s hospitality is what truly made this place feel like a home away from home. Due to a busy life/work schedule, I’ve moved 18 times and Element at Ghent does not compare to anywhere else. The apartments are located in a safe and beautiful area accessible by foot to all the fun spots and restaurants/bars in Norfolk and Ghent. The community at Ghent is very friendly and this is, mainly, thanks to Janice and Harley who go the extra mile to get to know their residents on a personal level and plan frequent events to bring the community together. The events are always very fun and have a huge turnout too! Janice and Harley even make most of the food and drinks on their own time for these events so they can budget for more frequent events and prizes. I mean come on!!! Also…shout-out to the maintenance team with Johnny and Kevin. They make sure maintenance requests are taken care of immediately and always do a great job to make sure whatever problem I had doesn’t occur again. Karen, I don’t know what sorcery she uses but the apartment complex is always spotless and smells amazing!!! Any time I have guests over, the first thing they compliment when they walk in the building is how clean and welcoming it is and how good it smells. My partner and I loved living here and would recommend it to anyone wanting a safe and welcoming home environment. Janice and Harley, I’ll miss frequently stopping by your office just to talk about everything and anything. Thank you for being so amazing and keeping the apartment complex in such good shape!

Spent the last year living at The Element. The property was fantastic, and in a great location. Management was great and helped out with everything. Reccomend it!

Just spent 3 years living here and wouldn't have moved if I didn't have to. The facility and staff were great, never had a problem.

You won't be able to find a friendlier staff. They're very thoughtful and considerate of tenants. Maintenance issues are fixed very quickly. I often got a knock at the door within an hour of putting a request in. The amenities are all great. The pool environment is tons of fun if you are looking to meet new people. They are constantly updating the amenities as well and can tell they really invest in the place. Best apartment experience I've had yet.

When I first entered the facility, the area was clean and it smelled clean as well. The staff was very helpful, kind, and understanding as they took me on a tour through the building. It was very impressive how one of the staff members knew the names of almost all of the tenants that would walk past her or that would see her. They try to make the living space that you occupy a home rather than being a place that you occupy for eat, sleep, and go back to work the next day. Also, very professional staff.

I’ve lived in the Element for just over a year now and recently renewed my lease for another year! The facilities are great, all brand new appliances, very friendly and helpful staff, and great amenities with the building itself. Well worth the price you pay with the quality of living here. Convenient location too with dozens of restaurants within a 1-2 mile walk/drive and multiple dog parks within a short drive. Highly recommended to call them now!

Pay attention to the negative reviews on this building because they are the most truthful as they are residents who have lived in this building the longest. We just ended our lease after 15 months. Thank goodness we did. There has been nothing but problems since we moved in. Break ins in a "locked" garage, pets constantly peeing down the entire stairwells and it being there for weeks before it was cleaned, incompetent office staff, constant middle of the night fire alarms, and the list goes on. If you for some reason choose this "luxury" building out of the thousands of other rentals in the Ghent area beware. It's hardly even in Ghent as it is on the outskirts so you have the constant traffic of shady people. Another would be the cost for parking in the garage that's NEVER full. Do yourself a favor and live in the apartment building next door or over on 21st St. Make sure to be very thorough on your move in inspection because it will become imperative on move out. Plus the office staff likes to enter your apartment for pre move out inspections without your knowledge. I can't say enough and how I'm glad we got out of this horrible apartment with a shady company and management. Being military it's very easy to spread the word on places not to live in Norfolk and this would be one of them that I will forewarn anyone who's looking for a new place to live.

I would suggest not moving into this complex. Although it looks nice there are too many issues of things not working for the high price you pay when living here on a day to day basis.We haven't gone a month when at least 1 elevator was not broken for a few days. There have been times when all of the elevators were broken at once. This is a major issue when you live on the 4th floor and have to climb stairs with an injury or moving into the complex. At one time the elevator was broken for two weeks. In addition, there have also been multiple occurrences where the garage doors have been broken and stuck open or shut. The garage doors are supposed to work with a garage opener but the staff here leaves the doors open frequently which reduces the security of the building. There have also been multiple occurrences of the trash chutes door mechanism being broken for long periods of time. This means that we have to put our bags of trash in the room next to the chute, which then smells up that section of the hallway. Also, there is a major ant problem here. When there were hundreds of ants crawling in the hallway and coming through the bottom of my door I went to complain and asked them to take care of the problem and to spray. The office staff response was "oh yea, we have a problem with ants in our courtyard". She said there was nothing they could do it about it. Horrible customer service and complex when you have to go buy ant spray yourself for the common areas and spay the area yourself. Also, my bill was never right. They always try to overcharge you with your monthly rent and when you go to the office for help, they say they can't help you. There are a lot nicer complexes in the area for a lesser price where things actually work!! Trust me, take your business elsewhere!

I have been a resident for nearly a year and have very much enjoyed my time here. Parking- no one was forced to pay any fees. It is a new policy that does not affect current leases. You were grandfathered in and had the option to renew or not renew so it is unfair to say there was a surprise and/or hidden fee. There is also street parking that is not timed for guests and usually there spots available. Security- this is the most secure building I have lived in. You can only do so much if residents are letting cars in behind them through the door and/or garage door. The nearby apartments garage’s are open with no gates and anyone can get in or out. There have not been constant break-ins and of the few that have occurred- most of the owners of the vehicles will not file a police claim. They will get on the websites and complain but not file the report? Staff- the staff is beyond friendly and accommodating. They are incredibly responsive and proactive about getting information out. They post info about events and policies with weeks if not months notice. It is your fault for not reading them or your lease, which clearly states the policy for renewals and move outs. There is the occasional mess caused by a disrespectful resident. There is not a maid staff on had 24 hours a day (and I have yet to see an apartment that does have that) and the staff can’t always drop what they are doing to clean up after these rude people. With that being said- they make every effort to get it taken care of right away and they do it with no judgment and smiles on their faces. Trash- the trash chute is not meant to be your normal method for trash removal. It is there for the occasional quick drop of something smelly or what have you. The valet is reliable and efficient. The hours are also reasonable for trash pick-up- no one wants to have to walk by smelly trash all day. There is also a dumpster if you need to get your trash out outside of the valet hours. The elevator has been broken a few times but this is few and far between and not for a long time now (as in many months)- similar to the garage gate. The price is competitive and not inappropriate for the area and comps. The staff and amenities are fantastic. I have multiple friends living at near-by apartments (including the ones mentioned in other reviews) and they all agree this one is the preferred apartment building.

DO NOT LIVE HERE, they make it sound really nice and great but then slowly change things and make it significantly worse than the surrounding apartments. The old management took care of and valued the residents a new shell company bought the complex and it has gone downhill fast. I will move out as soon as my lease is up! The neighboring complexes have comparable prices with fewer fees and better service. The new policies and fees added (parking when there are typically 80 extra spots at night) are killing the complex and the resident experience. If a friend comes in and visits from out of town instead of welcoming them in and letting them use one of the many empty spots they must park on the street which is limited during the daytime. The apartment itself is nice (why I give one star--and that's the lowest they let me go) but the complex management does not look out for residents interests instead they just look at how deep their wallets are. I used to be able to have guests come and barbeque but now that's a $150 reservation fee because the complex is only about taking your money instead of providing you a great place to live.

I've lived at the Element for a couple of years now. I have been generally pleased with the complex. The apartments are newer and fairly well done on the inside. It's location makes it convenient to a lot of places in the Downtown and Ghent area. Unfortunately the complex was transferred to a new management company that seems to prefer making money over anything else. We've had a $15 monthly maintenance fee, $20 monthly trash fee, and $35 monthly parking fee (per spot) all added. This is on top off no longer having free access to reserve the clubhouse, it now costs $150. In relocating out of Norfolk, but if I wasn't I probably wouldn't renew my lease at Element with this new management company.

Since this is a brand new apartment complex, you expect that it will be a nicer than other places, and that you will pay for that luxury. The good: the individual rooms are great: spacious, nice appliances, granite countertops, the works. The grounds are also nice, with a pool, outdoor grilling space, fun common room with a pool table and other activities, The staff is usually friendly, and they are willing to help you on on some things. They also host events from time to time. The bad: those events can be fun, but they would probably be more fun if you knew about them more than a couple hours beforehand. Its great to do wine-down Wednesday at 5:30, but it's not great that all the residents find out about it at 3:30. The biggest issue however, is that it seems as if the machinery that is in common spaces is always broken. We haven't gone a month since I got here almost a year ago that at least 1 elevator was not broken for a few days. There have been times when all of the elevators were broken at once. In addition, there have also been multiple occurrences where the garage doors have been broken and stuck open or shut. Currently, the entry door has been stuck open for over a week, which greatly compromises the security of the complex.There have also been multiple occurrences of the trash chutes door mechanism being broken for long periods of time. This means that we have to put our bags of trash in the room next to the chute, which then smells up that section of the hallway. Lastly, there have also been one or two periods where a key fob reader has been broken, so we had to go around the building to get inside. If this were an older complex, I can understand some issues. But for a brand new building, all of these problems are inexcusable. And on top of that, they nickel and dime you upon move out. You pay a security deposit, yet that deposit does not go towards any damage in your apartment. So when you move out, if your stove is not clean, they charge you additional money to cover the cost. They also will steam clean the carpets when you leave, and charge you for the service. If they have cleaning staff come in and clean the apartment when you move out anyways, why charge you if you do not clean it? If it doesn't cover anything for the renter, why pay a security deposit at all? We pay a high price to live here, and they are increasing it even more for the upcoming rental term. The huge cost is not really worth it at this point.