I lived at The Gables for 2 1/2 years. While you could do worse, The Gables is not a pleasant place to live and there are several issues that had I known about, I never would have moved there. I hope people see this review before moving there so they don't make the same mistake I did.

Safety / Security / Noise Issues:
Within the first month I learned to expect that the sheriffs helicopter would be circling overhead with the spotlight on at least once every two weeks - sometimes more often.

Shortly after I moved in, there was a domestic dispute turned murder and kidnapping in a nearby neighborhood (Rosemont).

One night I came home to find that the entire block was cordoned off by police - they had set-up a perimeter around the whole neighborhood, and the sheriffs helicopter was circling overhead with the spotlight on. It turns out three or four people had been shot directly across the street from the complex. You could probably verify this through the Sacramento Sherriff's department, if you have any doubt about my truthfulness.

My truck was stolen when parked in the parking lot. The amazing thing is it was stolen in the early evening when it was still light out. I bought a Club after that and used it religiously.

There were often abandoned and stolen cars lining the street outside the complex.

There were two or three times when I was out walking my dogs at night in the neighborhood and came across people having sex in their car - one time they were actually outside the car.

One of my neighbors was out walking her dogs in the early evening and just about 1/8 of a mile from the complex got chased by and nearly attacked by a half-naked guy covered in blood. The guy was clearly on something. She had to run from him into a nearby KFC, while talking to the police on her cell. The guy then tried to break into the KFC (they had locked the doors). Needless to say, the cops showed up and caught him.

There is a homeless "encampment" directly on the other side of a chain-link fence that goes around the parking lot. Homeless people drink heavily there, have fights, sleep there. (sometimes naked), and probably relieve themselves there. There were homeless people living just about 40 feet from my apartment. I once was going to do laundry late one night and found a homeless guy sleeping on the floor in the laundry room. The management's solution was to start locking the laundry room at night so no one could get in, not even the residents. There were countless times that I needed to do laundry and couldn't, or was in the middle of doing laundry and had my clothes locked in.

One of my neighbors had his laundry stolen out of a dryer.

A lot of my neighbors were not exactly high-class. Cars in the parking lot blaring extremely loud rap with bass that shakes the walls, smoking and dealing pot, and loud arguments and fights were all pretty common occurrences, along with the occasional visit by the Sherriffs dept.

Maintenance Issues:
As others have said here, the buildings are just run-down and crappy. Old carpeting, old plumbing, old windows, old appliances, dirty and stained tubs and toilets, and mold problems were very common. Also, no central A/C or heat - just one in-wall unit in the living room, and an in-wall furnace in the hall. The management will tell you the A/C works fine because the apartments are small, but don't believe them. Yeah, it works fine if you don't mind your bedroom being 10 degrees warmer than your living room, and Sacramento gets pretty hot in the summer.

It's supposedly a gated community, but the gate into the parking lot is broken and stuck open about half the time and I don't think there has ever been a time when one or more of the walk-in gates that are supposed to be locked hasn't had the knob broken off or the lock broken. Also, the parking lot gate is opened by keypad, and people always give the code out to all their friends and delivery guys so it's pretty worthless even when it is working.

This is a dog-friendly complex. I love dogs and have two of my own, so I actually liked that there were a lot of dogs and dog-owners there. The only problem is that the "dog walk area" is WAY too small for that many dogs, and it's in an area between two buildings, so some of the apartments have windows that open up right into the dog toilet. There were also issues with some owners not picking up after their dogs. I can't count how many times I stepped in dog crap back there, and the smell was sometimes terrible. Some dogs would refuse to even go back there because the smell was so bad.

Broken machines in the laundry room would not get fixed. I lost quite a bit of money after putting it into a machine only to find that it was broken. I often left notes on broken machines so others wouldn't lose their money too. The notes would be removed quickly but the machine would still be broken.

I lost track of how many times we got a different maintenance man. I can't comment on their competence much, because I avoided making any complaints or requests to the evil manager.

When I moved out I discovered that I had pretty bad mold in my bedroom. It was hidden behind my bed, but there was moisture coming in through the wall and/or the foundation.

I got home late one night and my key broke off in the lock on my front door when I tried to unlock it. I called the (supposedly 24 hour) maintenance guy and told him the situation. He said something vague like he'd take care of it, then hung-up on me, and never showed up. So here I am at 3:00 in the morning locked out of my apartment. Long story short, I ended up having to pay about $200 to have a locksmith come out and drill-out and replace the lock. I had to argue extensively with the manager to try to convince her that I should be reimbursed. She said she'd talk to her boss about it but she never did, and I never got any of that money back.

Management:
Right after I moved out, they got a new on-site manager. The manager that was there when I lived there was awful. This may or may not be a moot point. The upper-level management took an extremely long time and a LOT of complaints to get rid of that witch, so if they get another bad manager, you can expect to have to live with it for awhile.

The second part of the mold in my bedroom issue is horrifying. Nothing was done to cleanup all the mold or prevent it from happening again. They shampooed the carpet and painted over it on the wall. The next person to live in my apartment had the mold reappear and had a severe allergic reaction. Aside from the mold problem, they had told her that the previous occupant did not have any animals (she asked because she is allergic). The previous occupant was me, and I had two big dogs living there with me, so the allergic reaction could have been to the mold or the animals, or both. Even with all of this, the management did not want to let her terminate her lease. Last I heard she was suing the owners (Aspen Square Management).

They withheld some of my deposit when I moved out, saying there were stains on the carpet. There were no stains on the carpet; only the multiple cigarette burn marks that were there when I moved in and were listed on my move-in inspection (I don't even smoke), and the mold in the bedroom, which was not my fault.

The Few Good Parts:
All sizes of dogs are allowed. They have breed restrictions, but they are very lax about it; I don't know if that's still the case with the new manager though.

Close to a lightrail stop - probably 1/4 mile.

Close to Sac State.

It's a stretch to call this a good thing, but the homeless people actually presented very few problems. Most of the time they were quieter and less of a problem than some of the residents.

Conclusion:
Don't live here! There are other apartments in the area that allow large dogs, if that's why you're considering The Gables. Try Tallyho Village on Kiefer or I think also La Riviera Commons allows them. Also check www.peoplewithpets.com and www.apartmentguide.com.

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