Chester Hills Apartments, A Local’s Review (Live near the best of Raleigh)

I spent an hour working from a private coworking room at Chester Hills Apartments last week. Craig was outside flying the drone over the pool. The coffee was good. The vitamin-infused water was a small surprise I didn’t know I wanted. A follower of our Facebook page walked past, stopped to say hi, and shared that she loved living at Chester Hills, especially the location that helped her walk her errands daily.

Later, someone we know was hanging at the pool with a resident friend and we ended up in a long conversation. They to spoke about the joys of living here, notably the pool area, and pet friendly amenities – they were having a doggie play date. By the time we left, I’d forgotten I was at an apartment community. That’s the thing about Chester Hills. It does not feel like one.

Location is the whole story

If you’ve followed us for any length of time, you know we have our favorite pockets of Raleigh, places we’d happily call home, and the edge of the greater Five Points area where it meets Oberlin Road sits near the top of the list. Chester Hills Apartments is right there.

Walk half a mile down Oberlin Road one way and you’re in the popular Village District. Ten minutes on foot. Boutiques, restaurants, cafes, bars, grocery stores, nail salons – a relaxing Saturday morning and Friday evening we’ve often enjoyed. And Mr. Henry, one of our favorite Raleigh cocktail bars, is right here!

Walk half a mile the other way and you’re at Idle Hour Coffee, one of our favorite Raleigh coffee shops. Slow mornings, a patio that gets the right light, the kind of place you want to bring a friend. Five Points itself is a mile away. Restaurants, neighborhood bars, breweries, galleries, the local-institution kind of strip you walk to at 6pm and don’t drive home from. Hillsborough Street and downtown Raleigh sit five minutes’ drive away.

For families, you’re zoned for really good public schools: Lacy Elementary School, Oberlin Middle School, and Broughton High School (possibly Raleigh’s most known public high school).

It’s ITB (Inside The Beltline) location means you are a short drive to some of Raleigh’s best attractions and districts: North Hills, Raleigh Iron Works, Raleigh’s entertainment district (Lenovo, NC State Fairgrounds, Carter Finley), Pullen Park, Dorothea Dix Park, and NC State University.

For commuters, this might be the best feature. Take a right out of the property, hit Wade Avenue and you’re on I-440 and I-40 in five minutes. Raleigh-Durham Airport in fifteen minutes away. Research Triangle Park in twenty. Living at Chester Hills Apartments means you’re centrally located to the best of Raleigh!

If you’re moving here from somewhere with real traffic (we hear you, New York and Northern Virginia), this kind of access combined with this kind of neighborhood feel is rare in Raleigh. And we do mean it feels like you are living in a neighborhood as opposed to your typical apartment community.

Neighborhood tree lined streets separate the different apartment buildings and seamlessly flow into the single-family homes section of the neighborhood. There is a reason this is rare – the property was unusually zoned (for this area) for apartments due to the duplexes that previously existed on the Chester Hills block.

A quick history. Built 2023, new management, new name

The building is fresh. Construction wrapped in 2023, so the floorplans are current, the finishes have not started showing wear, and the design choices feel of-the-moment without trying too hard.

The community recently moved under Kane Realty management, the Raleigh-based group behind some of the city’s most thoughtful mixed-use work. With the management change came a rebrand. The property used to be called Solis Hills. The Chester Hills name leans into the neighborhood feel, and it suits the place.

If you are relocating to Raleigh, we have a free Raleigh Relocation Guide we put together for exactly this reason. Grab it, then keep reading.)

Apartments

Floorplans run from 540 sq f studios to 1569 sq ft three-bedrooms. Apartments come with designer touches, spacious floorplans, and convenient and secure features. Some of these include granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, high efficiency washer and dryer, keyless fob entry and walk in closets. The majority of apartments have patios or balconies.

The amenities. What we noticed

We’ve toured a lot of Raleigh apartments. The amenity bullet points start to blur. Here’s what stood out at Chester Hills, and why.

The clubhouse

Mid-century modern, done with restraint. A relaxed main lounge with a TV, a few work-friendly desks, a kitchen stocked with complimentary coffee, tea, and vitamin water. Yes. The vitamin water – still or sparkling. It’s a small thing. It’s also exactly the kind of small thing that signals someone is paying attention.

Private coworking rooms

There are places you can work inside the main clubhouse, or you can choose even more privacy with a couple of private coworking spaces tucked behind the main lounge. I sat in the main section to do some work while Craig was flying the drone.

Tucked behind the main lounge sit a couple of private rooms with doors that close, built for the kind of focused work or video call you don’t want to take from your couch. If you work hybrid or remote, this is an apartment amenity that pays for itself. As work-from-home people ourselves, we understand the need to escape the home office and work in a new environment!

The games room

Just off the coworking area is a games room with a pool table and shuffleboard. It’s in its own private space, which is an advantage as it keeps the games room noise isolated from the communal spaces.

The fitness center

Next door to the main clubhouse area is Chester Hills’ fitness center. The gym was quite large for an apartment community and included everything you’d want from a gym with weight machines and free weights, running machines, bikes, yoga space, and punching bag!

Both rthe clubhouse and fitness center face the pool, which gives the indoor-and-outdoor side of the community a flow that most properties try for and miss.

The pool area

The pool felt social in a way that’s hard to fake. Groups of young-twenty-year-old friends were lounging together. People were chatting. As mentioned, our fifty-and fabulous friends were having a pool date, while their dogs had a date in the ground floor apartment behind them. The manager told us kids are often seen happily swimming in the pool before it reaches “summer is here” humidity. (You learn a lot about a community by how easily strangers become not-strangers at the pool.)

The pool has a resort feel with chairs inside the shallow waters and lounge chairs surrounding the pool. Just outside is a grill out area with a large screen TV and seating area. There are other grilling areas located around the property’s courtyards and central seating areas. If you like a poolside view with your apartment patio, then consider the residential block that surrounds the pool.

The dog park (and the pet spa)

If you have a dog in Raleigh, you know the bar most apartment communities clear, which is to say the bar is on the floor. A “pet area” is usually a sad rectangle of grass next to a parking lot.

Chester Hills built a real one. Fenced. Mulched. Grassy. Several mature trees so there’s actual shade. Pleasant for the dogs. Pleasant for the humans walking them. There’s also a pet spa on site that looks more luxurious than the salon I went to last month.

Events at Chester Hills

This is the soft factor that makes a community feel like a community. The events calendar at Chester Hills is consistent and creative. While we were there, an event sign told us about the upcoming bouquet-making workshop for Mother’s Day and a beer-and-wing tasting on the books. These are the kinds of events that turn neighbors into friends. Which is the whole point.

What we kept thinking about on the drive home

Most apartment tours, you walk away thinking about the unit. The kitchen, the closets, the floor plan. After Chester Hills, we kept talking about the location and the community focus. The couple lounging by the pool. The walkability (or short drive) to so many of our favorite spots in Raleigh. The quiet of the coworking room. The dogs at the dog park.

A community lives or dies on whether the amenities actually pull people out of their apartments. The pool, the dog park, the coworking, the events at Chester Hills do that work. The location does the rest.

Who we’d recommend it for

A few Raleigh renter profiles came to mind on the drive home:

• The relocator: figuring out the city from a soft-landing pad with great walkability and easy highway access. Then decide. Our Facebook follower who stopped to chat with us did exactly that and had just purchased a home down the street.
• The hybrid or remote worker: who needs a quiet, private space to take calls and focus, two minutes from their front door, with coffee thrown in.
• The dog parent: who has had it with sad parking-lot pet areas and want the easy pet-friendly apartment living. BTW, we saw quite a lot of happy dogs walking around.
• The young professional or couple: who want Five Points and Village District walkable, downtown five minutes away, and a pool that doesn’t feel like a hotel deck.
• The RTP commuter: who still wants to live near Downtown Raleigh but wants to get to work relatively easy. (or business traveler who needs easy access to the airport)
• The downsizer or empty nester: drawn to lock-and-leave living with real walkability and easy access to areas designed for an enjoyable time.

Note: These are our personal impressions after visiting the property. Chester Hills welcomes all eligible applicants!

Move in specials

Ready to take a look? At publication date (May 21, 2026) Chester Hills Apartments is currently offering 2 months free on a 13-month lease with a move in date within the next 60 days! Specials are subject to change so please visit the website or contact the leasing office for the most up-to-date incentives.

Chester Hills offers studios through 3-bedroom units, with current availability and floorplans on their site. View pricing and tour options at chesterhillsraleigh.com.

If you’re moving to Raleigh and you want a helping hand walking you through which neighborhoods fit your vibe, grab our free Raleigh Relocation Guide. When you’re ready to look at a long-term move, we can connect you with our trusted real estate partner, Insight Raleigh, for a warm intro.

A few of our neighborhood favorites

Here are some of our favorite local restaurants, bars and attractions you’ll be close to when living at Chester Hills Apartments:

• Jaycee Park – A community favorite for its small garden and walking trail, tennis, beach volleyball courts, and playgrounds.
• Fred Fletcher Park – one of our favorite small parks in Raleigh. Beautiful for picnics, photographs and frequent community events like yoga, fairs, markets, live music, and movies.
• Raleigh Rose Garden is a favorite park of ours for picnics and photographs. It’s the backyard to the Raleigh Little Theater, a great intimate venue + outdoor amphitheater for movies and shows in the warmer month
• Goodnight’s Comedy Club
• Mr. Henry – A classic cozy English style pub, with an elevated bar vibe. Great craft cocktails and neighborly vibe. 
• Postino WineCafe – Delicious bruschetta paired with excellent wine? Yes please! Also, a lovely patio to enjoy it on. 
• Flying Biscuit Café – A Raleigh icon for fluffy biscuits, cozy brunch classics, and great coffee.
• Goodberry’s Frozen Custard – My favorite “icy treat” in Raleigh. Goodberry’s is an NC institution – have it in a cup, cone, or concrete filled with your favorite topping. My go-to is chocolate with bananas.
• Idle Hour Coffee – Stylish café with excellent coffee, baked goods, and neighborhood vibe.
• Trophy Brewing – Beloved for inventive pizzas, beers, and lively atmosphere. A true neighborhood gathering place.
• NOFO @ The Pig – Southern eats, eclectic gifts, and a fun dining space inside a former Piggly Wiggly.
• Raleigh Rose Garden
• Jubala Coffee – Handmade biscuits, waffles, great coffee, and a true community vibe.
• Players’ Retreat – Raleigh’s iconic sports bar since 1951, with great burgers, wings, and game day energy.

Have you toured Chester Hills, or are you considering it? Schedule your own tour here now. And if you’re new to the area, welcome to Raleigh. Please leave a comment below with any questions!