Garrett West Apartments are overall pretty good, but more expensive than some options in the area (and less expensive than others). Here's a summary:

PROS:
- Management is helpful and available, which includes repairmen
- Rooms and common areas are spacious
- Presentation is nice, with pretty faux-hardwood floors and fresh paint
- Apartments come with balconies which are spacious and great for rocking chairs
- Lots of storage space (closet, laundry alcove, walk-in pantry, outdoor storage room on balcony)
- Large, walk-in closet in master bedroom
- Master bedroom has attached bathroom
- Nice, large bathtub and shower space
- In-unit laundry
- Feels safe (minus the occasional car break-in)
- Great parking availability, and it's included in the rent
- Nice pool with places to sit/lounge
- Nice open-access common area with a pool table and desk
- Very pretty area, lots of trees and greenery, very well maintained landscaping
- Great location, very close to Duke and Chapel Hill

CONS:
- Rent is a little too high compared to other nearby apartments. I split rent with one roommate, and I pay around $1000 to $1100/mo after utilities (not including outside utilities like wifi and electricity).
- Trash service sucks. They have weird requirements for the bags (not too big or heavy, and can't include certain items), which you leave in a personal bin outside your door, and it gets picked up late at night.
- NO RECYCLING. You must walk your recycling to one distant dumpster if you want to recycle, and they won't do it for you. Not included in trash service, which you pay for every month.
- The gym is very small and unimpressive. No good if you're looking for more than some small treadmills and low-weight dumbbells.
- Electric coil stove. If you like to cook, be aware that this is the worst kind of stovetop. Janky, hard to clean, and heats unevenly. But it works.
- No ventilation for cooking. Don't try searing a steak, or your fire alarm will go off.
- Cheap plastic (fake granite) countertops
- Floor texture can be hard to clean/mop
- Really terrible room lighting. You WILL have to buy lamps. Several lamps.

Great place!

Pretty solid, not too far from campus or 9th street, downtown, chapel hill, etc. but would certainly need a car. I have an office instead of a porch for the same price which is nice. Huge apt. size for 1 bedrooms.

Very quiet place to live. Parking is included. There are definitely nicer places, but it’s relatively cheap and very low maintenance. Easy drive to law school. Management is sometimes incompetent, but always helpful and never tried to take advantage.

Overall, the community is quiet, clean, and safe. I've lived here all 3 years of law school and would recommend it. It's a great value for the cost, without being too cheap or having too many issues. The landscaping of the property is really nice and well kept. It's also very pet-friendly and has free parking. It's also a 10-minute walk away from the Garrett Farms neighborhood, which is an upscale neighborhood that is very pleasant to walk in. That said, it's not the most luxurious apartment complex in Durham and is somewhat far from campus.

Some cons:
- Maintenance is pretty responsive, but you sometimes have to follow up with them multiple times to get them to truly fix things. That said, things usually are fixed on the first try and do eventually get fully fixed with enough persistence.
- The walls are thin, but I don't think they're much thinner (if at all) than other apartments in the area. I rarely hear my neighbors, but part of that is because I just have quiet neighbors.
- It feels like the apartments don't have great temperature control and lose heat or AC relatively quickly (I've lived in 2 units here, and it's been a consistent thing). But, it's just a minor issue because you can just keep running your HVAC. And, my heating/AC bill has still always been reasonable despite this.
- There's no fiber internet available here (as of 2024), so you're stuck with cable internet through Spectrum or Frontier. Spectrum in general has been fine, though.
- The gym is not a proper gym; it's fine if you need to get a quick treadmill run in or lift some free weights. But it's not sufficient if, e.g., you powerlift or use weight machines.

Advice:
- Some of the apartments here have really nice/private views, while some just face out into the parking lot (but they're generally the same rent). Tour the complex before renting if possible so you can get a sense of what's available.
- The 300 block has been (mostly) quiet the entire time I've lived here. The backside apartments face out into the woods, so you also get a lot of privacy and nature sounds.
- Get a top floor apartment if you're sensitive to noise.
- Move in sufficiently early, before classes start (I recommend this for any apartments in the area, not just Garrett West). There *will* be issues with your unit, and you'll be thankful that you aren't dealing with maintenance at the same time as starting 1L classes.

Would recommend

We have loved living here! The apartment itself is nice - it's not the most recently updated in terms of finishes but is still very comfortable, spacious, and well-maintained. The community is very pretty, with lots of trees and a large pool. Only cons are that the gym is small and does not have much equipment, and that parking garage space costs extra.

The price has been great. Proximity to campus is great. Easy to have friends visit since there is no resident only parking garage. Still very safe.

Living at Garrett West has been a good experience. The main issues we have experienced are with car break-ins, the ice machine lagging, and water issues in terms of cold/hot water control. The management is very responsive and the majority of 1Ls live here.

Garrett West has, for the past few months at least, been a wonderful place to live. I would recommend this to law students who are looking for a quieter, more serene living experience, rather than a more lively downtown experience. GW is about 8 minutes from campus towards Chapel Hill (away from downtown), and 15 minutes from the center of downtown (where bars and restaurants are). It is very lush and green with a white picket fence aesthetic. Trash pickup service is included with the very reasonable rent. One complaint: there is no elevator, so it is not accessible to everyone. I live on the third floor, and I have no trouble with it, but others might.