Poplar Place Apartments

Poplar Place is a beautiful community and one of the more affordable safe complexes in Carrboro but the units are extremely dated. So dated that sheet rock has started to chip off of our walls throughout our apartment. Paint peels off of doors and cabinets like it’s nothing. Our AC unit freezes everyday because it isn’t properly maintained.

When we met with a representative, we explained that we needed a ground floor apartment with nobody underneath us because we had a young child. We were... assured that we would be on the bottom level. We ended up with people living underneath us. The model we toured was renovated-something we explained we preferred. After signing our lease we were told “I can’t say for sure the appliances are renovated because I can’t get in there to check because the unit is occupied.” We open our door to find dated appliances that look straight out of the 90’s. I also recently found a ton of black mold in my sons bedroom. When the pandemic hit they closed the pool and gym (understandable) but when the governor allowed reopenings they wouldn’t open them back up and we paid for amenities we couldn’t use for close to a year. The ladies in the office are condescending and rude especially Elaine.

Pros: right across from a park and ride lot for UNC, fairly affordable for the area, nice scenery
Cons: dated, black mold, rude staff, poor maintenance, more worried about landscaping and building walls than improving units. Read More

Overall, the place was okay for the price. I had one issue that left me unsatisfied shortly before my lease ended though. There was a large oak tree on a hill near the parking lot of the SS and TT buildings. Shortly after I moved into my apartment in the Fall of 2015, a large portion of the treetop fell off into an area with a dog-waste bag receptacle and a picnic table, smashing the table. They had the fallen limbs cleaned up (leaving the broken picnic table there for a year), but left the... dangerous tree standing. About a year later, the oak tree went down during a storm and large branches landed on my car, scratching and denting the body and shattering the windshield. Because it rained heavily after the windshield was broken my car was also soaked and full of broken glass. Even though the tree was full of green leaves and looked healthy from far away, I was always weary of it because I knew a large part of it had already fallen out, but parking was limited near my building. Of the 20 or so spots, about half of them were in striking distance of the tree. When I discovered the tree on my car I inspected the tree to find that it was completely hollow at its 5 foot diameter base and that there were thousands of ants living in the tree. When the downed tree was completely removed there was no stump, just a hollow pit that was filled in with dirt, bark, and debris from the tree. It should have been obvious to the ever-present landscaping crew and the workers who cleaned up the tree the previous year that this tree was unsafe and needed to be removed. Because of this I think the property managers were negligent to leave a large, hollow, diseased tree in an area where people walk their dogs and park their cars. When I requested that Poplar Place pay only for the new windshield for my car, management said they would not do it and that they were not responsible for my car. I was an excellent tenant who was clean, respectful, and paid rent on time every time. I was also very tolerant of the run-down nature of the apartment, the musty smell, the sloppy paint job with hair under the paint, and the neglected landscaping near my unit because I was on the bottom floor in the back of the building. I believe Poplar Place opted to leave a dangerous tree standing to save money at the risk of its tenant's lives and property and I think that is representative of the treatment and conditions you can expect living at Poplar Place. Read More

One of the most appealing things about these apartments is cost. It is not cheap, but considering where they are located it is affordable. Unfortunately, I know why. Maintenance is untimely, the apartments have not been kept up well, it is a dark area and has a lot of bugs. Since moving, it has been one disappointment after another. I can't wait to move.