I lived here 5 years and the place has wonderful facilities but difficult management.



There are several pools, a gym, beautiful grounds and a wonderful location near the marina in Emeryville just off the I-80. You can also catch a bus or casual carpool into SF on Powell across the St.



However, I had terrible experience with management. Since these are condos, they are owned by individual homeowners-- some you can directly rent from individuals, others from the Watergate Management.



I rented from Watergate Management and the problem is you can never find a human being to help you. The property manager supervises multiple facilities and the only phone number you are given is a voice mail. There were many times I had serious maintenance issues or lease questions and no one ever returned my call.



If you go to the sales office they don´t want to help you because they just want to sell condos. Oh, and by the way-- if you go to rent there they will also try to pitch buying a condo to you.



I moved because my homeowner decided to sell my unit and the management was really rude about the whole thing-- this was after 5 years of my having been a good tenant.



I would never rent from these people again-- you might try looking for listings that are being rented direct from the homeowner. One thing to remember is that the units really vary according to the renovations that have been done.



About rents-- the last two years in my apartment the rent went up 12% and 18% respectively ($200 the last year I was there). This may have changed now that the market has flattened out, but the listings I see for Watergate still look overpriced to me when I see them.



By the way, you wouldn´t want to buy one of these. They were shoddily built in the 70s and have major maintenance problems. When I was there they had an assessment to replace the entire plumbing system. When I left, they had finished the plumbing project but needed to redo the roofs. The parking garages are a total mess-- because of settling they have all sorts of cracking and unevenness. My spot had a huge gouge in it that people used to trip on all the time. Also, the homeowner fees are among the highest in the bay area because of all the maintenance, landscaping and facilities.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

Disclaimer: No attempt has been made to verify or assure the accuracy of the claims made by the author of this opinion or responses. You must judge the truthfulness of any review and accept responsibility for your use of this information.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates