Life Time Living at Gables Station

Amelia Marie

Living here has been horrible. Complex changed ownership (now Hines). Lifetime stopped managing residences. No manager was appointed for months. Bare bones staff is now running this massive community. Services such as cleaning & concierges were reduced. New management (Willowick) has been in place for a while, but communication is terrible. Internet goes out complex wide for an entire workday, there’s no communication whatsoever from management. The manager, Michelle Garcia, hasn’t bothered to formerly introduce herself, but she has a distasteful job. Hines is dramatically increasing rents, well over 25% and expects heavy attrition. Renters that were here from the beginning of this new project will likely be gone. Michelle seems to have little discretion. Many here rent office space at LT Work and some LT employees live in the building so the drive will hurt LT. This 90-billion-dollar company is desperately trying to recoup their investment. Willowick was unaware of the latest rent ordinance in Miami-Dade. For us and others, they tried increasing rent by over 25% just weeks prior to lease-end. We let them know they were violating the law, but communication gets no response. It’s weirdly awkward and almost hostile. Our lease was ending. We had no new lease & no open communication. It’s been the worst, most unprofessional experience we’ve ever faced in 12 years of renting across multiple states. Hines & Willowick should have known of the local rent ordinance, but regardless, once known, they could have accepted fallout as a cost of the transition. They could have done the right thing, quickly offered lease options of 5% where proper notification didn’t occur, put it all behind us, and spared a lot of bad feelings. It would have been smart. Rent control is controversial yet you can see why local governments feel compelled to act. Businesses seldom do the right thing. They don’t reveal options in time to exercise a term notice. In markets with upward pricing, instead of being reasonable with those who already made a home and setting the aggressive pricing on new renters who have the advantage of up-front information, businesses want it all. Profit motive drives everything. They continue to ignore the ordinance which is despicable. We could have fought the matter or accepted the increase, but the value just isn’t here. It’s amazing living right at a Lifetime Club, but that’s where the benefit stops. Membership is included but heard it’s going away. Regardless, high rent overshadows dues and the complex comes with so many problems. Our building cannot support internet demand. At night during peak times, download speeds are drastically reduced or unstable. We need to use our phones as a hot spot to use Roku most nights. There’s no other internet option and paying for higher download is no help. There’s a very heavy college student population here which may be a factor. The internet limitation is reason alone to rethink this place. It’s like living in a third-world country. Water pressure fluctuates and at times just dribbles out in the shower and kitchen, possibly due to the club. They’re still battling water leakage from the roof. Excessive hallway noise because all entry doors do not close tight make work or study a challenge. My co-workers on conference calls have heard it all: dogs, babies, whistling, clapping, howling, and cell use. I’m always ready with the mute button. Elevators are painfully slow and out often. For people that live on the NW half of each building, train noise is horrendous. Dropped weights in the Alpha room can rumble the floors above the club. The massive parking ramp is one way in and out for all residents, club, LT work, and retail, so be prepared to wait. Minus the club, there are zero amenities. Paying close to 4k for a 700 sq ft 1 bed may not be a total surprise in Coral Gables, but the value here is poor. Tiny space, low end appliances, low grade appointments, cheap feel, horrible management, and all the problems. If you’re thinking about this place, don’t. There are far better options.

Nicholas Erickson

Been members of Lifetime for 20 years in three states. We lived in Arizona when we first learned of Coral Gables Lifetime Living and quickly made the decision to uproot and be part of it. The community aspect was a big appeal. We were one of the first to move in when it opened. The club wouldn’t open for another 6 weeks. Demand was high. The ~350 units leased up at record pace. On the heels of that success, other Lifetime Living possibilities were named, but as time went by, excitement seemed to dissipate. We later learned that Lifetime was merely leasing space in the main building with management contracts for club, work, and residences. Lifetime since going public is heavily focused on leasebacks and don’t want to own anything. About 6 months in, the developer/owner wanted out. No doubt they saw dollar signs with the current property market in south Florida. Now it’s recently changed hands. The complex is beautiful but comes with issues. In our building, no entry door is properly sealed. You can see light at night through every door which consequently brings in much unwanted hallway noise and noise from neighboring apartments. Working from home or studying can be very difficult. Water pressure at times can be a problem, possibly related to the club which is in our building. Elevators are low grade and painfully slow. Molding has been pulling away. There’s been water leakage issues in our building. There’s a single internet option and it’s horrible (MDUBroadband). During prime time, our Roku often spins and speed tests are poor. The very large parking ramp for residents, club, work, and retail such as Trader Joes, was approved by the city, surprisingly, with just a single path in and out. Each path expands to two at exit or entrance, still, throughput is a challenge. The positives are the Lifetime Club, Lifetime Club, and Lifetime Club. The club and staff are amazing and as frequent users, living at the club is a positive. When Lifetime managed the residences, the staff from village director to property manager to leasing agents to concierge and maintenance crews were wonderful, especially given that they were the first to assume the work of a new direction for LT. But we’ve been without a manager during the long transition and now the new owner has installed new management. Not sure whether the change is attributed to the property sale, which no doubt was under contract, or LT’s desire to get out of residential management after less than a year. If it was the latter, shame on LT because they are responsible for jerking around a lot of good people. The new management team (Willowick) is now in their second week as of this writing, but we still haven’t heard from the new manager. We did learn of our new lease offer though, just 3 weeks prior to our lease ending. Our rent is increasing $800 (over 26%) and notice was far less than the required 60 days. At this point, we are inside the sixty days required to give notice, but they offered the ability to give a 30-day notice (how nice). We’re completely blindsided. We believe they’re violating multiple rent ordinances and we’re working through that now. Several times we inquired about a new lease, but never heard back. We’ve been good tenants with no issues and great payment history. We didn’t expect to be one-and-done, but their message is clear. It’s been an unprofessional sh.. show. I’m disappointed in how this first, novel, and seemingly successful Lifetime Living project ultimately worked out and disappointed in LT as an organization. I feel that LT doesn’t really know where they’re headed. The residences will still be known as Lifetime Living, but it’s not. It’s lost that “community” feel that lured us from across the country. It’s simply an apartment with businesses on the ground floors and at this point, it’s mismanaged, problematic, and comes with just one large draw – the club. After 14 months, we realize we made an enormous mistake. We put our trust in Lifetime. Now we have deep regret.

Kevin Harris

Definitely a great concept and place worth checking out!

EL NORTE TV

Horrible 😤! The worst place in planet 🌍 earth!