First of all, location should be important when relocating. Do not be mistaken, Antioch is not considered the Bay Area, it's considered the Delta. Prepare yourself for a long journey across Highway 4 to get in and out of the Delta where there's heavy traffic during the morning commute and the evening traffic begins at 2:00pm. There's also times when the entire Highway shuts down because of accidents or landing planes from the nearby airport. Summers are HOT! By HOT I mean steaming three-digit temperatures. The average summer day is about 104 degrees.

Secondly, Meadowood Apartments lies right off of Auto Center Drive/ Sommersville Rd which offers access to numerous fast-food restaurants, a few upscale restaurants, strip-malls, banks and car dealerships. However, Sycamore Drive is very dangerous. Drug dealers, prostitutes and gun packing thugs roam up and down the street and daily filter into Meadowood. As a matter of fact, many of them are Meadowood tenants. There is no REAL security on the premises and the Antioch police department is inaffective. Some believe they have been bought off.

Next, Management here manages nothing but lies and broken promises. If you come for an appointment they will show you a model apartment that looks nothing like the actual apartment you will rent. The apartments are very old with limited security such as only one door lock and no locks on the windows or patio door. Keep in mind, this is a dangerous neighborhood! In addition to that, one of Meadowood's tenants was shot and killed here. The central air/ heat is very nice along with the ceiling fan. The electric stove/oven and refrigerator is also nice, but the kitchen cabinets are so dirty and old that we never put our dishes or kitchen utensils inside them. Meadowood says they offer 2 bedrms and 2 bathrms which are more like 1.5 bedrms and 1.5 bathrms. One shower is so small that you cannot turn around without touching the walls. The bedrms have limited closet space with sliding doors that occassionally jump off the track. The bathrms have shower liners that leak leaving mildew. Shortly after we moved in, one of the bathrms leaked so long that water seaped under the carpeting on the floor and developed mold and spores inside the ajoining closet! Mind you, that process took about 3-4 months because management "lost" the work order and would not fix the problem. Finally, when maintenance did come it took another month to fix everything by drying out the water and instead of replacing the carpeting they only installed a new padding and steam-cleaned the ruined carpet. The stain is still visible. The kitchen sink. That's another story. The faucet leaked for about the first three months, then it would not shut off completely and would just run, then when you turned on the water it would spit out like a machine gun. The problem was finally fixed after about 6 months. Also there have been notices posted about cancer-causing chemicals that have been found on this property.

Insects. There is a serious ant problem here. I mean droves of ants marching in the bedrm closets, on the bathrm counters, on the kitchen table and on the kitchen floor. They were never exterminated, they only died down during winter. In the spring came giant waterbugs that looked like roaches in the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. Now that summer is almost here, baby spiders have hatched, earwigs have appeared and silverfish are always around.

The neighbors do not make living here any easier. They are inconsiderate, noisy and ghetto. Unsupervised children are always playing on the sidewalk and on the lawn blocking the path to even get into the apartment. Tenants' cats roam the grounds at night and often fight. The neighbors have weekly cookouts with BLASTING music, SCREAMING children, and drunken dancing and laughing. For them, every Thursday thru Sunday is a partying holiday. The neighbor across from us is a former drug-dealer (possibly back in business) who, based upon our observance, we suspect is involved in other illegal activities (cd piracy) and the neighbor above us has activities like a prostitute with a child that continuously bounces a ball on the floor as she pounds on the floor dancing to her blasting music. Each of these neighbors throw the chaotic cookouts.

There is a laundry room facility here but it works on a card system that does not always work because the machine malfunctions and the tenants are unable to load funds on their card. Not to mention, the washers/dryers breakdown and maintenance does not rush to fix them. At night, drug deals have been done in its secluded location as well.

Finally, there's parking. Each apartment is assigned one covered spot and good luck finding an uncovered spot for the second vehicle. To be guaranteed a second spot you should get home by 5:00pm. Anytime after that, you can tour the property and try to find a covered spot that no one parks in.

My family and I cannot wait to move out of here and get back to the Bay Area. What you should know is that this property is being taken over by new manangement and will increase the rent. Who knows what changes or renovations they will make, if any. No matter what, the tenants and neighborhood are still strong, negative attributes to the property. If you can avoid it, DO NOT live here...

User Responses
From: riverstoneapartments	Date: 03/24/2009
The property formerly known as Meadowood was purchased on July 19, 2007, and the name was changed to RiverStone. The new owners and management immediately began a $4 million renovation to bring new life to the property and to the surrounding neighborhood. The community was completely transformed over the next 9 months with new roofs, extensive repairs, new paint, new amenities, and a number of upgrades that make RiverStone the beautiful, contemporary, affordable housing community that it is today. The interiors of the apartment homes received remodeled kitchens, new light fixtures, fresh paint, and new air conditioning units and thermostats. Many new appliances and window coverings were installed, and new flooring was placed in many apartments. Some of the apartments received brand-new washers and dryers. The transformation was astonishing. Outside, RiverStone??????s landscaping was refreshed, a Tot Lot was installed, the Laundry Room was remodeled with all new machines, the carports and parking lot were repaired, and extensive lighting was added. Security was enhanced with new fencing and controlled-access gates, 24-hour hour monitored cameras, and courtesy patrol. The clubhouse was also remodeled, and an Activity Center was added providing a resident computer and space for resident activities. The pool and spa area were renovated and reopened with new equipment, new furniture, and new decking. It??????s now truly a refreshing place to spend a warm afternoon. RiverStone??????s staff is committed to excellent customer service. Our office staff is available to help residents and prospective residents with questions and concerns. Our goal is to provide a friendly, beautiful, quiet, and affordable place to live for all of our residents, and we enforce our community rules and guidelines in order to maintain a pleasant living environment. Our maintenance team guarantees response to work orders within 48 hours, and is usually able to respond the same day. They are also able to be paged for emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Pest control service is available twice a month for any interior requests and treats the exterior of the entire community at least once per month. LifeSTEPS, a non-profit Social Services organization, is available to assist residents with other needs. Their staff provides programming for our residents such as an after-school Kids Club and classes for adults on budgeting, computers, nutrition, parenting, and other topics. RiverStone??????s management hopes to make a difference in the surrounding community as well. RiverStone hosted a National Night Out block party in August 2008 that was attended by over 300 residents and neighbors. It was well-supported by the City of Antioch Police Department, Crime Prevention Council, and numerous area businesses. We will be participating in ??????America??????s Night Out Against Crime?????? again in 2009. RiverStone is centrally-located, directly on main public transportation lines, and only blocks from Highway 4. Shopping centers and delicious dining choices are within easy walking distance. The Somersville Towne Center shopping mall, the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, and the Antioch Marina are all less than 2 miles from RiverStone. As part of the renovation process, RiverStone was converted to an affordable housing community operating under Section 42 of the IRS tax code. This is commonly referred to as the Tax Credit or LIHTC program. This means that there are both minimum and maximum income requirements that applicants must meet in order to qualify to live here. The income criteria is based upon the size of the household. Our maximum rent amount is set by HUD guidelines and is usually less than the market rent for the area.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/23/2009
I agree with the nice renovations but I am still not 100% happy the service level

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