My fiance and I have been living here at Padre Gardens for more than four years now and I consider their price to be very cheap for its location. Mission Valley is a very nice neighborhood and Padre Gardens is the most affordable one we could find. Their two bedroom apartment cost as much as a one bedroom anywhere else in Mission Valley. Here are some of the reasons why I LOVE living here:

1. Very close to all major freeways: 5 N&S, 15 N&S, 805 N&S, 8 E&W

2. I can walk to: Japanese/sushi restaurant, fancy Thai restaurant, Mexican restaurant, pizza place, 7 eleven, liquor store, nail salon, hair salon, mystic tanning salon, dry clean, tailor, and one of the BEST bars in San Diego: McGregor's!

3. I am only a few blocks (walking distance) away from gas stations, banks, hospital, car shop, car wash, library, trolley station, 24hr Fitness, IKEA, VONS, Rite Aid, Longs, Armstrong Gardens Nursery, Home Depot, Starbucks, Subway, Jamba Juice, Petco, Vietnamese restaurant, Greek restaurant, Indian restaurant, Souplantation, Brewery, 24hr Mexican restaurant, and all major fast food restaurants.

4. I am 5 minutes away from the mall and theater.

5. Maintenance people here are very fast, helpful and friendly. They take great care of the surroundings.

6. The whole parking lot has just been resurfaced.

7. We have an ice cream machine on campus.

8. Laundry rooms are open 24/7. Washing machine: $.75 , Dryer: $1.00

9. I don't have to take the freeway to go to Mission beach. In fact, my fiance and I just ride our bikes there!

10. I am very close to Balboa Park, San Diego Downtown, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World.

I've never had any problem with people at the office. I feel like my concerns are always taken care of. I read that people complain about the stadium, but football season is only once a year. I am gonna agree with everyone about the parking though. It is very limited and you only get one space even if you live in a two bedroom. There is an underground parking and garages but they will cost you extra. I have nothing else to complain about this place. It is clean, affordable, close to everything I need and I think the staff are very friendly.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/11/2008
YOu can rent just about anywhere and be near gas stations, banks, hospital, car shop, car wash, library, trolley station, 24hr Fitness, IKEA, VONS, Rite Aid, Longs, Armstrong Gardens Nursery, Home Depot, Starbucks, Subway, Jamba Juice, Petco, Vietnamese restaurant, Greek restaurant, Indian restaurant, Souplantation, Brewery, 24hr Mexican restaurant, and all major fast food restaurants. Its kinda how commerce and community work. Jeez almost like its planned. I visit a buddy in Escondido and to my surprise he had a Walmart too!!! If you only care about price rent here. I would guess management posted this one.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/13/2008
This is obviously a post by the owner or the manager. The maintenance is abysmal and always takes multiple visits to fix the problem. The parking is an utter nightmare and they had to redo the entire lot because they let the maintenance lapse so extensively. If only they could do the same with the complex itself. The rent is not that cheap. They steal your deposit, and make sure the raise it way above market value as soon as the lease expires. Expect to move or be gouged. They count on you doing the latter. Apparently enough people realized the scam. I lived there for 6 years and they kept deposit money for paint and carpet. I hope the $200 was worth it.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/15/2008
this has definitely been posted by management because everytime i go into the office they are far from friendly... they are unresponsive and the maintenance MEN are VERY creepy!!! The walls are so cheap mice chewed their way into my apartment. not to mention everytime you turn on the heater or the ac a cockroache came out of the vent. PLEASE DONT LIVE HERE!!!! p.s. parking layout STILL sucks even after the repaving...
From: Anonymous	Date: 05/10/2008
this review couldn't be farther from the truth. obviously management wrote this.
From: gmanger08	Date: 06/03/2008
Actually the management didn't post this... Why would we talk about the ice-cream machine on campus?????? Makes no sense to me. We thank who ever wrote the review, but sorry we can't claim responsibility. Ethically we can't post our own reviews. We rarely choose to respond to them to avoid any credence to the disgruntled things that people post. The main intention disgruntled people use this website for is to bash a place without hearing both side of the stories. The main reasons that we have issues are when someone fails to actually inform us of a problem that they are having. Those individuals fail to go through the proper channels to report issues with neighbors or deferred maintenance or even worse report a problem and then don???t allow us to enter to get it fixed. Padre is over 30 years old and it does have its quirks, but we are improving things as we can with corporate approval. A better use of your time as residents would be to come tell us your suggestions and write your issues in letterform to help us be an advocate for you. This will help us get the owner's ear. Do you honestly think we enjoy towing cars and getting your complaints after you are the ones who knew that your car would be towed and you parked in an unauthorized spot to begin with or decide to just let your friend park here without a permit when we have such limited parking. Honestly, do you think we don't dread having to shut the water off for small repairs that we have to make to one of your neighbors toilets. Believe us, we take no pleasure from inconveniencing you. We don't sit and make little plots to see whom we can rattle for the day. We are doing the best we can with to please everyone. It does make it hard when you put in so many long hours to try and improve a place and you come outside and someone has jammed another access door, vandalized an elevator and broken another lock on the gates. We screen everyone so closely and yet it still seems to happen. If the residents actually started to take a little pride in the place that they live, be a little more safety conscience, respectful to your neighbors and stopped leaving garage doors open, maybe we would actually start to see improvements to the community. Yet all you want to do is come here and give a bad review. We personally live onsite and welcome everyone to come in and talk to us. Let us know what???s going on. There are things that we can't control such as crime and unexpected repairs that require us to shut off water. But in most cases we are able to let you know with some warning unless it's an emergency. It's truly the unfortunate design of the building that gives us no choice when performing certain repairs and since 3/1/08 we disclose this up front when you move in via information package. I really wish that instead of writing horrible reviews you would actually really voice your opinions directly to us so that we can improve or communicate with you regarding the issues we might be experiencing that you perceive as neglect or just unacceptable conditions. In fact, if we had written this review I'd expect the feedback that was given. Obviously we didn't. So help us improve the community by being person enough to actually speak to us personally about something that is bothering you. Maybe we can brainstorm solutions or hold a resident meeting. To the unadvised person just reading these reviews, please take into account that there is always two sides to every story regardless of the extremity one party may imply.
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/28/2008
Oh, wow,in response to the post by the management above. Wow! Full of crap! People have complained about parties, security, broken equipment in the gym,and parking over and over.Obviously you read the reviews, so why don't you actually do something about it for a change? In reference to the towing, there is no reason why vistor passes can't be issued, when I have never seen the parking lot complely filled in over a year when the lot is fully opened. Resident frustration builds over time with a management system that fails to take ownership of its problems and take action to fix them. Instead, time and again you blame the residents and act like you are some sort of victim. You claim to live onsight, so you should know that you can control the crime with better security that actually responds and dosen'thide or ignore requests. It's been almost 5 months since you wrote your response above and you have nver called a resident meeting to brainstorm nor have you ever encouraged any feedback. You claim the reviews are biased, then why not take the time to give every resiident a questionaire and find out how they feel and make the necessary changes?

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