I?ve so far been living at Avalon Parkside for 3 months. During that time, I?ve gotten to be on a first-name basis with the maintenance man. Here?s a list of things that went wrong with my apartment: washing machine. ice maker. kitchen faucet. bathroom faucet. roof leak. door lock. telephone jack. Ventilation fan in the bathroom. Patio screen door was off its tracks at movein. Maintenance fixed it all in a timely manner but this apartment complex is aging, and due to the shoddy original construction it?s not aging gracefully.

Not to mention the battered cabinets and countertops that are showing their age, and the toilet that has a tiny water "spot" (at least it flushes well, unlike most early low-flow toilets). As for the great carpet that everybody has talked about, there?s a trick that Avalon Parkside is using: they are bleaching and fluffing the carpet to make it look like it has life. It lays over and plays dead shortly after you move in, but at least it doesn?t look like crap.

As far as the surroundings, the park across the street (Fair Oaks Park) is a pathetic little thing, virtually unused except by the skater kids during the day (the skate park is closed at night, when it might actually add a little life to the rather dead neighborhood). As far as nearby food, there are a taqueria and a Chinese fast food place at the corner of Arques and Fair Oaks, and the cafe at Fry?s Electronics down Arques near the Lawrence Expressway. Otherwise, the neighborhood is pretty dead, with a 5-10 minute drive to shopping and restaurants.

I moved here from another state, where Avalon Parkside would be just another mediocre B-list apartment complex for folks who could not afford a good apartment. I think it?s telling about the local apartment market and the complacent slumlords who own them that here in the Silicon Valley there are people who actually rate this as an A-list apartment complex based on the fact that it has central air conditioning and an attentive staff. The apartment is big, with much storage, but that?s about all it has that makes it outstanding. Neither the neighborhood, the location, nor the apartment complex itself otherwise has anything special. As to whether I would recommend it to other people: If they need a roomy apartment for a reasonable price, sure. If they can afford something better, though, I?d steer them to something better.

[Note from 6-18-2004: Now that I'm moving out, I am changing my recommendation to "not recommended", because of one thing: The lease. The standard Avalon lease is a thing of terror. For example, if you move out, they reserve the right to demand payment of the entire amount of the lease. Now that I've had time to look, I have found much better apartments with a sane lease. Why reward jerks for being jerks' Do not lease from Avalon at *ANY* of their apartment complexes, their upper management are jerks and the fact that Avalon Parkside has nice managers doesn't compensate for the fact that Avalon's upper management thinks it's still 1999.]

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