I lived in both the studio (corporate apts) on the hill and in one of the apartments on the street near the office.
I lived there about 2 years total.

My inital lease in the studio apt on the hill (over looking the part of town south east of sparkman and 72) and paid around $500 a month, but had only signed a short term lease. I had no bad experiences with this setup. It was relatively quite, esp with its close proxemity to Hunt Club adn the rest of that stuff on the hill, although there was always a strange cast of characters walking up and down the hill in front of the apt.

I then decided to move "permantly" into one of the 1 bedroom apts overlooking pool area near the office. My first night there, the water heater sprung a leak, and there was no answers for emergency maintaince pager #. After talking to management, it was being fixed before I even left the office. I had other small maintaince issues like running toilet, stopped up drain, drippy faucet that were never fixed when I put in an initial workorder, but had to make a trip to speak to manager directly.
Management changed hands there about the 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2005. I had an air conditioner with a leaky condenser but was so annoyed with simply obtaining maintence previously, that I didnt even bother reporting it (put a bucket under it and lived with it).

All in all, for the price I was able to negotiate ($399/month furnished (new furnishings) paying a full year at a time), It was a great deal for my situation and nothing was necessarily intolerable.
The reason I decided to move was the rate hike according to a flyer they left on my door. My 399/month apt (normally 449) was going to be billed at around $600/month in new lease (I believe that was signing a 12 month contract as well, higher if not). I didnt really see any changes in the property to warrant a $150 month price jump, so I found it was cheaper to just purchase a house.

Pros: Its pretty convenient to Madison Square/Research Park area, it came with a descent gym membership (not sure if it does now), pretty tightly sealed as far as energy efficent wise(elec heating/cooling was affordable) esp for an older apt

Cons: Apts share a common balcony/catwalk, much like a motel (kids running up and down catwalk and neighbors standing right in front of ur windows was kinda annoying, esp if you had seedy neighbors, always kept windows shut and blinds closed); Area is known as a "bad" part of town and the closest secondary schools arent as good as other county/city schools, if you have kids; Had multiple maintaince(') visits to my apartment that weren't requested, and they didnt leave a note saying who was there or what all they did (just noticed some stuff was mysteriously moved around)
IF you go to UAH, you are within walking distance, but take your life into your own hands when crossing street (no crosswalk) plus id make sure my classes were over with before sundown because its not an area youd want to walk in after dark.
Also, a smart first step will be to buy a tube of caulk and caulk all holes in the wall and around the plumbing & electrical. The large gaps around these areas guarenteed your neighbors insect/rodent problem became yours as well.




Summary: If you have no other options, this place isn't that bad. Just make sure you negotiate your lease (New rates are overprice!!). They use the higher rent to try to get rid of the more shady tenents, but if you have good credit and can sign a long term lease and pay your rent on time (or in advance) then take advantage of your leverage. Just remember, they need good tenants more than you need to live there

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