Brand New 2BR L'Avenue Apartment

I’ve lived in L’Avenue for 3 years, and here’s my take: THE POSITIVES: (+) Professional building management with fast service. Everything is managed through one point of contact: the reception. I’ve had AC maintenance, repainting, wifi issues, and occasional leakage taken care of simply by calling the reception, who will then come back with a schedule, have the technicians come (mostly on-time!), and communicate clearly if some fee is involved. This is VERY RARE in Jakarta apartments, where you often need to go through layers of bureaucracy, forms, and punctuality issues. (+) Modern building & spacious units. For the price you pay, L’Avenue’s look equals that of more expensive places. The lobby has a nice decor with marble floors, and even the lifts are modern & bright. The units are more spacious than most apartments in the same price range. This is a recently finished apartment (2016), reflected from how little defects you’ll find at the time of writing. Small cracks can be found here and there (from earthquakes) but nothing significant. (+) Nice outdoor areas. While it’s relatively small for an apartment complex, there’s actually a nice garden with a kids playing ground and a pond, clearly managed by a team that’s good at it because it looks very nice. There’s an outdoor plaza with serene ambient lighting at night too. First timers are often wow-ed as they walk around L’Avenue. (+) Fast & stable internet. I play demanding online games, and can testify this is one of the best connections I’ve experienced. To my knowledge, the provider, MSTEL, actually only provides internet in L’Avenue and nowhere else. Not sure why but am thankful they’re here. The wifi technicians are downstairs and solve issues very promptly. A huge plus compared to other apartments where the providers aren’t on-site. They even helped me set a gaming router up, even though it’s not part of their job. (+) Decent choice of shops. There’s a Farmer’s Market for groceries, Starbucks, Harvest cake store, a proper Korean restaurant ‘Cafe Haru’, a smaller Korean eatery ‘Kamtag’, Janji Jiwa, Red & White alcohol store, Bank Mandiri branch, and a couple more minor businesses. It’s not a mall, but necessities are covered. (+) Civil tenants. Most of the residents are S. Koreans (possibly due to proximity to the embassy), followed by Indonesians, then a mix of Caucasians, South Asians, and Middle-Easterns. I haven’t encountered any problems with the residents except for cases when I called security to tell off noisy neighbors partying until late night. My family has lived in Taman Rasuna where the residents can give you nightmares, but not in L’Avenue. THE NEGATIVES: (-) Traffic. Sure, anywhere in Jakarta is bad, but Pasar Minggu & Pancoran are some of the worst. Even worse, you’ll occasionally need to navigate small roads which is a nuisance since you’re not allowed to U-turn on the main road. So getting to Kuningan or Senayan on a normal morning will take about 35-45mins, while Grand Indonesia takes 45-60mins. There’s a school here, so expect long traffic even within the building complex during school drop-off/pickup hours. (-) Thin walls, made worse because your bedroom side is your neighbor’s living room side. Sometimes you can clearly hear conversations. I can’t sleep whenever my neighbor is a late-nighter (the tenant changes regularly) because I can clearly hear their music/ wall-mounted TV. Had to buy earplugs & start listening to rainstorm sounds on my bluetooth speaker to help with sleep. (-) No points of interest in the surrounding areas. Seriously, nothing within 15-20 minutes of travel time. You feel isolated because you’ll find nothing from a casual stroll outside of the apartment. Most activities would require serious travel to city center. (-) The public areas are shared with an office, a school, and a university. So on weekdays it gets very crowded; children running around & employees smoking outdoors. A minor thing for me, but sometimes you feel it’s more a business area rather than a residence.