Just a few random thoughts about this place; I've been a resident for a few months, and I'd give this place about a 95% good rating. A few drawbacks though need to be mentioned, so I'll throw those in along with all the wonderful good things!



GOOD
Brand new apartments. These were just built and opened as of February 2005, so there is a good chance that the apartment you occupy will NEVER have been lived in by anyone else! How awesome is that'!'! This was a huge selling point for me when deciding to move here, being the very first ever occupant of your own apartment.

BAD
Dugan's Dairy. There's a big dairy farm about a quarter mile from San Palacio, and with cows come manure smells. However, this is not NEARLY as bad as I had feared. The first day I came to tour the complex, I could detect the cow-smell in the air, but after having lived here a few months, I can honestly say that it's only on rare occasions can you really smell the cows from the dairy farm. Maybe one night per every week or two, and even less often during the day.

GOOD
Fitness center. Brand new equipment, a wide variety, an excellent TV and sound system, plus a steam room and beautifully decorated furnishings. This one's a winner, hands-down.

BAD AND GOOD
Roadwork and construction. For the last 2-3 months they've had Germann Road out front torn up, doing roadwork on a long stretch of street, shutting down one lane of traffic. Thank goodness that's finally been completed just recently, but directly next door to San Palacio, Tri-City Baptist Church is building a new school, dorms, day-care facility, etc, etc. What used to be a corn field is now a bustling bed of heavy equipment and dust. Plus there are plans to start building a new office complex in the vacant lot directly behind San Palacio.

So far rude contractors such as Markham Construction have taken to starting their work early Saturday mornings at 6am, so if that kind of thing bothers you, get an apartment unit on the other side of the complex.

Some could view this as good though, "progress" and all that -- what used to be cornfields are now new planned subdivisions, a brand-new CVS pharmacy right on the corner, just a block or 2 from San Palacio (scheduled to be open in Feb '06) surrounded by some other retail shops (construction hasn't started yet on these).

Also another apartment builder PB Bell Luxury Apartments LLC is planning on building a brand new complex just a stone's throw away from San Palacio, over on the west side of Dobson Road just north of the park. So it'll be interesting to see how the competition fares - I'm hoping it'll mean lower rent prices as the 2 complexes battle it out for residents!

GOOD
The pool. This is literally the largest pool I have ever seen at ANY apartment complex in my entire life. It has to be seen to be believed! With 3 hot tubs, a double volleyball court, a coke AND a pepsi machine(!), the amenities are spectacular. Not one but 2 seating facilities on both ends of the pool - with sink, microwave, kitchen-type setup, barstools, TV, countertops, etc....perfect for having an outdoor party!

BAD
Bugs and glitches. Like any brand-new housing unit (whether it be a house or an apartment complex), San Palacio has its fair share of defects and irregularities. From two-by-fours propping up the trees, to grill switches not working, and deadbolts on doors not shutting properly -- these construction mistakes are hopefully ones that can be fixed easily, and are not representative of the overall quality job Mark Taylor Development did as the general contractor for the complex.

GOOD
No dogs! Only cats are allowed in this apartment complex, which is an excellent idea in my book. No more being awakened at 2am by the howling of a mangy mutt next door, no more stepping in dog doo as you walk to your car, no more vicious barking as you go to get your mail. Cats only - hurray!

BAD
Hot/cold water. Another major flaw in these new apartments is the poor plumbing to most of the buildings. Turning on your cold water faucet (either in the kitchen or the bathroom) will produce anywhere from luke-warm to scalding hot water during the summer months. It's very, very tough to get actual cold running water out of the faucets. The leasing office uses the excuse of it being extremely hot outside, and how that translates to the pipes being heated up (flimsy excuse). The maintenance will give a more detailed, and a little more credible answer having to do with city of Chandler water supply vs. municipal water systems and well water, etc, etc....but the bottom line is: HELLO -- we live in a DESERT!! Every other apartment complex out there manages to have found a way around this problem and successfully given their residents cold water, WHY NOT SAN PALACIO' Another troubling observation is that the drinking fountains out by the pool always spew out cold water....and their surface temperatures out in the hot sun are probably 170 degrees! If they can put out cold water, how come our apartment units can't'

GOOD
Gated community. While the gates are only technically locked after 6pm on weeknights and weekends, living here still affords a sense of security and class -- protected from ghetto, low-quality residence and riff-raff that makes up some of the other apartment complexes in Chandler. San Palacio also seems to have that "rah rah" community spirit, always throwing little parties and get-togethers for us residents. From cookouts w/ hotdogs & hamburgers, to ice-cream socials and crime-free organizational meetings with free pizza and soda -- stuff like that shows they do care.

GOOD AND BAD
Online rent payment and maintenance requests. To actually be able to pay your rent online is a great feature, and was one of the reasons that I moved here. However, it took them several months to get this feature working properly. Ditto the online maintenance requests -- you don't even have to pick up a phone if you have a minor problem, you can just send an email or fill out the online form, and they'll take care of the rest! God help you though if you don't want them entering your apartment while you're away. I had wanted to be there when the guy showed up so I could go thru a few minor problems and broken things in the apartment that could be better explained in person more easily. It was a giant hassle, so I finally gave up after 2 or 3 weeks of getting nowhere with scheduling the service visit, and ended up just fixing it myself. The head maintenance guy though is a total pro - knows just about everything there is to know about the complex and how it all works (or doesn't!) Oh, and the utility company they use, Southwest Gas, is horrible at customer service. They keep terrible, inconvenient hours and charge a million different "service fees" for things like paying your bill online; a service which most reputable companies would happily absorb as the cost of doing business. SW Gas is definitely a negative.

GOOD AND BAD
Leasing office staff. I don't know what it is about Mark Taylor properties, but you will never, EVER find an unattractive person working for them. Never. All the girls are Jessica Simpson/Britney Spears clones, and the guys look like they just stepped out of the pages of a modeling catalog. Not one overweight or even slightly unattractive employee to be found. Draw whatever conclusions you like regarding the "all looks and no brains" syndrome, but I will say I myself have sometimes wondered about the capability of one or two of these girls. They look great and they're always friendly (sometimes a little bit patronizingly so) so just a little warning about running into the leasing staff here at San Palacio: EVERYONE will be more attractive than yourself!






In conclusion, the above are about the only things wrong with San Palacio, and they are pretty nit-picky. It's a great place to live overall; you could do far, far worse than San Palacio -- I did my homework before I moved here and it was the best possible place and closest to my job that I could find. I suggest you move quickly, as the second half of the apartment complex is opening up rather quickly, and the apartments are going like hotcakes!

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