Citrus Creek East adjoins the Palmetto Creek and Citrus Creek West complexes on either side, Earhart Hwy to the north, and Citrus Blvd. to the south. These are owned and administered by 1st Lake Properties, a real-estate firm with seventy-odd multifamily communities across the Gulf South. Although the address is within the River Ridge city limits (which is a mostly residential district), it seems more representative to group this housing in Harahan. Harahan is a sector composed of industrial and corporate distributors, a Coca-Cola factory (abutting Citrus Creek West), strip malls and department stores. All of these are within walking distance of the apartments. Although they would do well with a grocery store. . .

To sum up the my experience here, the facilities are better than average, but the management is an emotionless corporate machine. Problems stem mostly from the resulting demand in the post-Katrina housing environment. Rent automatically went up by a hundred or so to meet demand (which is not unique to Citrus Creek East). But it did not come as a surprise when a recent drug-related killing occurred on the western side of the complex. You do, of course, have to expect these things in a complex of two- or three-hundred apartments. But it stands to reason that a sizable number of tenants are living here with government aid, here and elsewhere in the 1st Lake regime. This has a number of negative effects.

One of them is that management is extremely strict. Rent is due on the third. If it is unpaid on the fourth, you will pay a $50.00 late fee, no ifs, ands, or buts. If it is unpaid in two weeks, you will be evicted. Extenuating circumstances are absolutely not recognized. Thus, if you come from a lax living environment where something resembling common sense in business is the norm, you will be leaving it behind.

With respect to the living experience, the amenities are a major selling point (nice bathtub; washer/dryer). Upkeep is also better than average. I rarely have to park further than fifty yards from my apartment. I've never had to wait longer than a day for a repairman. Management is polite, albeit icily so. The gardens and pools are well-kept, the buildings are always freshly-painted and clean, the parking lots are litter-free if you ignore the area around dumpsters, which is in perpetual squalor (again, reflecting negatively on the tenants). Negatively, the automated entrance/exit gates are out of order some ten percent of the time, and lend very little security otherwise.

It is, in the end, an acceptable living experience. In a city of very poor apartments, Citrus Creek East wins by default with a commanding lead of "lackluster."

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