South 16 at the Bridges

I moved into South 16 when I started school and the location makes it hard to beat. The pros: Within two minutes, walking to school, elevator, washer, dryers in unit, facilities in the Whitmore building where I am renting our relatively new and not outdated. Bedrooms are a good size and the closets are too so you get a good amount of space for your money depending on your floor plan.

Cons: rent pricing is deceptive online, it does not include a lot of the utilities and also features like the mandatory trash service which cost $20 a month and the parking which cost $40 a month. I luckily live on the side of the building facing the beautiful mountain, but if I lived facing the clinic, I would absolutely hate it here. people are staring directly into your living room and bedroom at all hours of the day. The gym facility leaves much to be desired. It is a very small room that can only comfortably fit around five people at a time. Finally, the bedrooms and closets are carpeted, and the carpets do not appear to be deep cleaned between renters so almost everyone I know has complained of very dirty carpets upon moving in which I hate and prefer wood floors.

Overall you will be comfortable living here. Everything is clean, the soundproofing is decent and maintenance team is extremely responsive and efficient.
However, the rent is way too high and you have to pay most utilities separately.
While there are other buildings in Roanoke with same modern-style apartments but with much lower rent that do cover utilities (including wifi!). And other apartments in Roanoke are much larger than the South16 space.
For example you can get a 2 bedroom apartment elsewhere for the same price as a closet-sized 1-bedroom apartment at South16.

South16 tries to justify the price with the amenities, but the gym is quite sparse and the outdoor spaces/pools are unusable for 70% of the year cause it's too cold.

The only reason I live here is due to its proximity to the medical school. But once my classes are done, I'm already looking to move out to a place with much more reasonable rent.

The cons:
With the higher rent compared to the rest of Roanoke you'd expect a responsive and efficient management team, stellar location, and well-maintained gym.
The management team is very slow to respond, if they ever respond at all. One time the rental payment site was down on Rent Day, and despite calling during business hours, no one picked up the phone. Emails also went unanswered. Several of my classmates were unable to rent at South16 because, despite promising them a spot on the waitlist for an apartment, they "forgot" to email them back. I only got a place because I kept pestering them about my spot on the waitlist.
The only thing close to South 16 is the medical school. While the site says South16 is in "downtown", actual downtown hotspots are at least a 15-20 minute walk away. So it's a ghost town around South16 on most evenings unless there's a concert nearby.
There is a gym but it's very sparse, with at least one equipment broken every time I go.

Another big con: management asks to come into your apartment frequently. There's always a reason to come inside every month- change the HVAC filters, for routine pest control etc. I've lived in apartment rentals since my college years. I've never had apartment management that would need to come into your apartment on such a frequent basis.

There is a slight pest problem because the building is located next to a river- this is expected. However, management is very poor in handling outbreaks. Instead my friends and I have had to buy our own traps to handle the infestations on our own.

Some pros:
The public spaces are usually clean, packages/mail will always be secure since we have a locker system, and we have valet trash.
The apartment kitchens are set up well with a modern dishwasher, in-unit laundry/dryer, and the double-basin sink with garbage disposal inside.

If you are a medical student and would prefer to just walk to school, location is great.
But I am excited to move out and save money because the amenities do not make up for the price at all.

The location is amazing! Our apartment did not have any drawers, which doesn’t sound bad until you need a place to stash silverware or bathroom products . The Maintainance crew responds quickly but didn’t always fix our problems. However, the on-site gym is great!

Generally good experience, proximity to campus is the biggest pro.

Gets the job done living close to campus. Downside is electricity, water and internet not included in rent price and adds up. Hallways smell bad.

I love the proximity to my classes and the amenities in the building. However, we have had many maintenance issues in the past three months. Our washing machine broke, then our dishwasher, and our dryer alarm continued to sound. Every time something broke, though, management was super quick to send up someone to fix it!

South16 is great for the location — it takes 3 minutes to get to class. I also appreciate the amenities (gym, rooftop, pool) and the fact that many other M1 students live here. The apartments are definitely smaller than what you could get at other places, and there are trains that pass by frequently (some are somewhat loud, but most aren't bad). However, I still enjoy it overall, especially for the convenience of the location.

Convenience to medical school, layout, and overall building quality (i.e. functional and efficient AC, plumbing) are very nice. Finishes (i.e. cabinetry, flooring) are cheap and poorly fit. Overall, great pick if you want a functional building with decent amenities near the medical school and Carilion. Otherwise, overpriced for what it is. Road is noisy but walls are thick.

I chose this apartment for the proximity and for no other reason. Even if you do have a car. It's really convenient to live right across from the school for the 1st year. Especially since the schedule changes weekly and you realize last minute you're about to accidentally skip class.

But once you start clerkship and hardly ever on campus anymore, there's no point in sticking around.

The price is for a "luxury" apartment, but South16 is anything but a luxury building
The apartments themselves are adequate and livable- but should not be $1500+ for a 1 bedroom in Roanoke.
The apartment appliances are cheap- for example the sink doesn't properly fit into the faucet and many people's dishwashers don't run properly.
Management is pretty poor. I have lived in 3 different apartments (not counting university dorms) and Management at this particular building does a poor job in keeping its residents updated. Elevators have been down, the fob reader was not working (so no one could enter the building with their keys) or once the fire alarm went off 3x in one day- but Management never sent any emails to residents about the events. It was up to students to have a group chat to keep each other informed.

The building has ongoing pest issues that we only knew about because of the student group chat.

The quality of the apartments widely vary- some come with weird smells, floods regularly when it rains outside, or have balconies bent at weird angles. But the rent will stay the same regardless of the state of the apartment.

The apartment building is also inaccessible for lower income medical students. All medical students, because even with loans and finaid they will be considered unemployed with no income as full time students, will need a guarantor who makes 5x the rent (and more as South16 overestimates the salary needed to take utilities into account). I personally had to reach out to my uncle because my immediate family did not satisfy 5x the "rent" limit

The only highlight is that the maintenance is great. Fast, responsive and efficient at their jobs.
The building is largely quiet, but I believe that's cause not a lot of people seem to live in the building. I hardly ever see people around. The walls are very thick and I usually can't hear my neighbors.
If you live on the 5th floor, there's great amounts of sunlight
The number of dog poop bag dispensers around the grounds of the building are really helpful
Amenities like the gym, pool and lounge are nice. But you end up using them way less than you think so the expensive rent again seems unwarranted

The building could be worse, and you can live comfortably in it for the first 2 years. But the rent should be cheaper if management is going to be this shoddy

its not amazing but it's worth being so close to school