I lived in the fillmore center for two years from 2006-2008. I think some of the reviews are unnecessarily harsh, the place is hardly a hellhole. I lived in one of the penthouses which was quite nice actually it had a fireplace, a decent sized kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms and three balconies. The rent was astronomical.

The maintenance was actually pretty good, our toilet and dishwasher went on the blink and they were fixed within 24 hours.

Parking is expensive and sometimes the parking gate is broken but they get it fixed right away. In a complex of this size you sometimes have to walk quite a ways from your car to your apartement, well it's no exception here but you really don't want to park on the street in this neighborhood.

Okay, the neighborhood...everything that people have said about the neighborhood is absolutely true. Gunshots, sirens, crime, it's like a war zone in the western addition. I saw someone get mugged on Fillmore, right in front of the office in broad daylight, even though there's a police station right down the street. Drug dealing openly goes on in this neighborhood, you can see them handing out little plastic bags to people who stop for their fix. It's absolutely disgusting and demoralizing. Don't let your parents visit you here, rent a motel for them on Lombard or south city. And wear your running shoes if you ever have to walk on the sidewalks around here, particularly to the safeway across the way and for god's sake don't go out after dark.

Management ignores your calls after you sign the lease, they don't want anything to do with you. In all fairness they probably deal with difficult tenants all day long so they just assume that you're going to be difficult as well, so they harden themselves into ice cold unreasonable robots in order to deal. Fair enough, I guess I'd be unhappy too if I had such a crappy job.

All in all, this is an okay place to live, but don't be fooled by the glowing reviews that you see on this site it's far from the pollyanna paradise that some of these shills proclaim it to be. This is the kind of place where you would want to live maybe a year or so, then when your lease is up find a better place to live in a better neighborhood like diamond heights, the marina, pacific heights, eureka valley, SOMA, the inner sunset or inner richmond. Then you can wear your "I survived a year in the western addition" t-shirt.

User Responses
From: topfloorbob	Date: 01/27/2009
Metreel!!!! To heck with the t-shirt, you stayed the extra year for the jogging suit !!!! I've been here so long, I've earned an Armani Tux !!!! Another year and I'll get the top hat and pearl handled cane. I'll then be able to fend off the drug dealers and crack ho's that you say infest the area. I must be one scarey lookin' dude, what with the long pony tail and fierce looking dog. I don't get to see all those drug deals. They must hide when I'm walking around. I havn't had to fight anyone off for my Social Security check yet either. Of course, I've only gotten two so far, so I'll keep you posted later in the year. I've had so few issues with the Penthouse that perhaps management responds so quickly to make sure we're not just lonely and needing company. Of course, we do stop in the leasing and resident services office often just to say hi and grab a cup-o-joe and a cookie for the pooch. As to going out in the evening, if this neighborhood frightens you, you really need to move to a farm near Bakersfield. City life is obviously not for you. Penthouse Bob

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