Thirty 377 Apartments – Insider Review

LOCATION

The Thirty 377 apartment complex in Uptown Dallas is a more traditional style of apartment building (vs a high rise or midrise). It is on a large amount of land, and contains many buildings that are nicely spread out. It has a very green and well-manicured front main entrance, complete with an electronic controlled gate and a guard house (not currently manned).

The location is a very good one for Uptown Dallas. It is on Blackburn Avenue, which is the main street to enter the West Village shopping center. The West Village is very busy, but Thirty 377 apartments are actually set back a block, and much quieter. Residents can also see Turtle Creek a block away, along with the Katy Trail.

This is a very GREEN area as well. The entrance has a huge space for trees and grass and shrubs. Once you drive past the gate, there are also many trees on both sides of the driveway through the complex. There are also a lot of trees throughout the complex, between each building, along with garden style areas.

The feel of this area is very laid back. There is not any new construction close by…this is a more mature block. And, there are no retail restaurants directly facing or connecting to the Thirty 377 apartments.

Getting to Work: The location is also a good one for getting to work. This is mainly because it is set back away from the much busier McKinney Avenue. For those who want to need to travel frequently to the airport or to North Dallas/West Plano, you can take a super quick jump on Blackburn and get to Cedar Springs, then Oak Lawn…or take Lemmon Avenue. And, if you work in downtown Dallas, just take Cedar Springs to get to Pearl. This is unlike other parts of Uptown Dallas where you have to deal with some morning rushes on McKinney Avenue.

Access to the 4 Key Features of Uptown Dallas: The MUST HAVE of Uptown Dallas is walking convenience. Translate: Being with 7 minutes walking to the key features of Uptown Dallas is how you can measure how good the location is within Uptown Dallas. How does Thirty 377 do?

• Uptown Trolley – Being close to the Trolley is important, because it gets you access to the OTHER 3 Key Features of Uptown Dallas. The Thirty 377 apartments are very quick walking distance…about 5 minutes max. You can catch the trolley near Blackburn and Cole.
• Katy Trail –The Katy Trail is DIRECTLY CONNECTED to Thirty 377 apartments! Go past the front gate until the road stops and you must turn. Turn right and right by the parking garage, you will see the Katy Trail, with the private gate. Requires a code to get in/out. Thirty 377 furnishes the code.
• Night Life in Mid-Section – The “super cluster” section of night clubs along McKinney Avenue/Boll is a starting point for the night life of Uptown Dallas. The Thirty 377 apartments are NOT within quick walking distance. Better to take a trolley or a quick drive.
• West Village – Definitely, easily in walking distance. The West Village is on the same street as the Thirty 377 apartments. Walk down Blackburn and arrive in 5 minutes by walking.

Walk to Groceries? Yes, somewhat.

• Minyard’s on McKinney Avenue is the closest. This is about 10 minutes walking.
• Kroger on Haskell (Blackburn becomes Haskell once you pass 75/Central). About 10 minutes walking.
• Whole Foods – about 5 minutes south on McKinney Avenue

Overall Location: The location is a very prime location, in walking distance to 3 of the 4 key attractions of Uptown Dallas. It also has an advantage of not being on McKinney Avenue, providing quicker access out to work or to the airport. You won’t get bogged down in Uptown Dallas traffic here.

Now, what about the social scene at the Thirty 377 apartments?

SOCIAL SCENE

The social scene of the Thirty 377 in Uptown Dallas is laid back and more relaxed. Let me go over some of the details why:

Area is attractive: As I mentioned, the area is green and with a lot of trees. People enjoy the outdoors here. And, since it is set back from the main part of McKinney Avenue, noise is lower.

Restaurants and Clubs in QUICK walking distance: There isn’t anything in direct “line of sight” here as far as restaurants or clubs. Nothing directly connected. But, you can find McKinney Avenue within a five minute walk, with plenty of things to do at the WEST VILLAGE. It’s just down the street a few minutes by foot, starting at Blackburn and Cole.

Building Setup: Thirty 377 is a NOT a centralized building. It has many buildings, but not as many common places to help with social interaction. There are actually 2 garages on the property as well. This limits ways to run into people somewhat. But, the direct Katy Trail connection gate adds a huge plus as well.

Monthly Activities: The Thirty 377 has a single monthly event for residents, to help you meet other residents. This is standard for Uptown Dallas apartments.

Size: The Thirty 377 has many buildings (typically 3 floors in each building), and 305 apartments. That is about average in size for Uptown Dallas apartments. The buildings are VERY spread out, though. This will make it harder to meet as many people as other Uptown choices.

The Amenities: The amenities of Thirty 377 in Uptown Dallas are about average for Uptown. The interior pool is definitely an attraction. The gym is smaller and there isn’t much else for amenities. However, the Katy Trail direct connection is amazing, and not common.

DOWNTOWN: Although this is not in walking distance, it’s really only a few minutes driving…and quite a bit to do. There is the obvious: sports (Mavericks, Stars) and live concerts at the AA Center that is in WALKING distance. You also have Klyde Warren Park, Perot Museum, and the Katy Trail entrance.

To sum it up: The location itself is going to make it easy to make friends and connections. The Katy Trail direct connection is huge. The layout of the Thirty 377 is a bit spread out and the amenities are standard only.

APARTMENT

Style: The style of the Thirty 377 apartments is more traditional. They have apartments that feel more like small homes, with separated living rooms, kitchens and well separated bedrooms. Although the apartment was built in 1999, many of the apartments have been nicely updated. The apartment is not as “modern” feeling as other choices in Uptown Dallas, but definitely feels warm and friendly.

Note: There are some non-updated apartments here (white cabinets, carpet, etc.). While more basic, they also can often be obtained for lower rent.

Variety of Floor Plans: They have about 8 floor plans, which is less than other Uptown Dallas choices. The floor plans start with a small one bedroom, and go up to three bedrooms.

They also have another floor plan that is a 2 bedroom study, but is the same way…could easily be used for three roommates…but at more like a 2 bedroom price. Nice! Also, in this same floor plan, there is actually a GAS fireplace. Gas is not normally in any apartment in Dallas. The nice thing about this feature in the same 2 bedroom plan is that the GAS used in the fireplace is NOT CHARGED to residents! So, you can heat a room up nicely in the winter without gas bills.

STRENGTHS: The Thirty 377 has some attractive features about it:

• CLOSETS – The amount of closet space is the most I have seen in Uptown Dallas. In fact, in one of the 2 bedroom floor plans, they have TWO closets, both walk in. One of the closets is a CALIFORNIA closet, complete with huge amounts of wood shelves.
• Warm Kitchens – The kitchen is not huge, but it uses the space it does have well, and looks attractive. It looks out nicely over the living room and helps you keep connected to your company while you are cooking. It is a nicely updated kitchen, with some wine racks as well.
• Granite Countertops – Attractive granite countertops, pleasing tan and black colors. Note: not present in all apartments (some have basic countertops).
• Newer appliances – Stainless or black appliances are present in the majority of apartments, but not all.
• Patios/Balconies typically INCLUDED – The patios are nice and give you a great view of the very green grounds all around the Thirty 377. I love how much plant life and trees are around here.
• Washer/dryer INCLUDED – The set IS included and saves you money over the typical Uptown apartment that doesn’t have one included.
• Good use of Cabinet Space – The kitchens are smaller, but they do have a good amount of cabinet space.
• Gas Fireplace – in selected floor plans, see above.

Normally I always mention AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:

• No walk in showers – Most of the apartments do NOT have this feature.
• Need More Lighting – The rooms seem a little dark sometimes. Need more built in lighting. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by some purchased lighting, but take note.
• Rooms are BOXY – This is an older style apartment. Rooms don’t flow with modern design.

AMENITIES

The amenities at the Thirty 377 apartments are standard. Not major complaints, but also not a lot of innovative features either.

Let’s take a look at some of the STRENGTHS:

• Katy Trail DIRECT ACCESS – Perhaps their best amenity, and a HUGE one. Only a few apartments in Uptown Dallas offer this ease of access!
• GUEST parking INCLUDED: The top 2 floors of the garage is all allotted to guest parking.
• RESERVED spot included: This is very rare for Uptown. One resident gets a reserved spot in the garage. If there is another resident, they get an unreserved spot, also for free. The reserved spot being included at no charge is pretty much unheard of in Uptown Dallas.
• Attractive Interior Pool – The pool is right by the leasing office, and although it isn’t the largest I have seen in Uptown, it has plenty of room and chairs (and grills).
• On site storage – Starting at about $55 a month, nice to have on site.

Here are AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:

• No elevators – you take stairs to each of the three stories.
• Limited Controlled Access – Access is controlled by a main front gate and a back gate. However, once inside, the apartments themselves are open air like traditional apartments (front door opens to the outside).
• No Temperature Controlled Hallways – Many apartments in Uptown have temperature controlled hallways. These not only help with comfort, but also give you lower utility bills (the hallway temperature helps keep your apartment cooled or heated). The Thirty 377 apartments do not have this feature.
• GYM – The gym is nice and clean, but it is a bit too small for how many people are here.
• No Downtown Views – with the exception of a few apartments, there are no downtown views here.
• No little extra frills – The place is a tad set back from things in Uptown. It would help if they made things a little more convenient to compensate, like adding an ATM, Movie Rental box. Big wish list would be a convenience store…

Overall: Amenities are about average in comparison with other Uptown Dallas apartments.

SUMMARY

The Thirty 377 apartments are a traditional three story apartment set in a very good “walk to” location in Uptown. The location provides quick access to the Katy Trail (direct connection) and the West Village. The apartment is warm and there is a good amount of space inside each apartment. The amenities are somewhat average for Uptown Dallas. There are at least 2 floor plans in particular that provide an exceptional value here for roommates.