I lived in Malden since 1998 renting few different places. I've heard a lot of good things about Granada over the time, so last year, after getting married we decided to try it out. We went for 1 bedroom, so-called classic style which at the time was $1345/month. My previous Malden rent was under $1000, and it was similar type of building except that it was not "luxurious". Obviously we have expected a bit more for additional $350. Oh well... Where do I start' How about I'll just make a list of all good and bad things' Here it is.
Positive.
1) Plenty of parking but safety is really a question!
2) Spacious rooms - both living room and bedroom were very nice size.
3) Public transportation. Well, sort of. The bus (411) goes in and out every hour, but a lot of time it is not on schedule. But that's MBTA fault:) There is also express bus that goes to Haymarket which goes 3 times in a morning to the city and 3 times late afternoon from Boston.
4) Each big building (8 floors) has washer & dryer on every floor. But more on that later.
Now let me talk about negatives... That list is a bit bigger:)
1) BUGS. Few people already mentioned them in previous posts. We have not noticed them at first but then one day our bathroom was full of them and we saw them everywhere - kitchen (I bet we ate some of them with our food not even knowing), bedroom, living room - everywhere. Once we cleaned the place thoroughly they disappeared, but not for long. Few days later they were back...
2) SMELL. Every single day the smell on the floor and in elevator was just unbearable. I don't know what it was - food, garbage, something or somebody dead - but it was just horrible. It makes you hold your breath and run to your apartment door as fast as you can once you are inside the building. Nightmare!
3) They advertise gym and playing room as amenities. I was actually hoping to save on gym membership. That hope disappeared rather quickly. The equipment there is probably from 70-s, some machines simply don't work, others are about to break while you exercise. The heaviest barbell there is 50 lb. And smell... well read above:) AC is not included:( Have fun exercising. LA Fitness came to the rescue right on time!
4) Even though washer & dryer was on every floor it was sometimes a challenge to find a pair that was actually working properly. And those that appear to work do not really clean and dry. Especially dryers - either spend more money or get your cloth back wet.
5) Thickness of the walls. We heard our neighbors pretty well, both through the walls and through the ceiling.
6) Last summer (2008) for some reason they decided to rebuild the facade in front of the building and for one it took them forever and for two they used the most noisy equipment I ever heard. The worst part of it was that they mostly worked over the weekend and during mornings. Imagine when you are forced to wake up on Sunday morning around 8am because some crazy noisy machine tears apart asphalt just below your window.
7) We had plumbers over few times because something somewhere was leaking and they thought it could be coming from us. They drilled huge hole in the bathroom and then disappeared. On top of that they were coming in to our apartment at will, never asking even when we were not present. As to the hole, few calls to the management later someone came and patched it up (again we were not home when it magically happened).
8) That front gate there' Anyone can get in. All you need to say is building number and apartment and you are in. No name required. Rarely would they call you and actually ask if you are expecting visitors. Happened twice to us over 10 months.
9) Speaking about our apartment, we were originally shown a completely different unit. As I previously mentioned we went for classic style. The unit we were shown was in pretty good condition. New AC units both in bedroom and living room, kitchen cabinets were not new, but clean and did not look like 30 years old cabinets. Bathroom tub was clean and looked like new. And then we got ours (you see it after you already paid and there is not much you can do). It was really classic style. More like retro:) AC units were OLD with scratches all over. One of them did not work. The kitchen cabinets were dirty and their handles literally were dropping like flies. The countertops had to be glued as they were simply falling off. The tub had huge crack in it. To their credit they actually put new one in few days after we moved in and repeatedly asked them to do it, but I guess originally they have expected us to live with that cracked bath'! Carpet was new but when we moved out they made us pay for it as we left "stains on a brand new carpet". At least they did not ask to pay for the bugs:)
We did not seem to deal with management as much as other people here did, but every single request that we made was attended only after few repeated calls. We never complained about bugs, or that AC not working, or smell as we figured it'll be waste of time based on other small requests that we made.
We were not going to extend our lease anyways after our "luxury living", but we ended up breaking it 2.5 months prior its expiration. We had to pay hefty fine for that (2 month rent) which almost did not make sense, but this place does not deserve anything additional to what we have already paid. Bugs got us out really quickly... However, we have to say thanks to Granada for one reason - it really forced us to find and buy our own place much sooner then we have originally planned and we could not be happier now. Take your money somewhere else!

User Responses
From: lookin4fun3008711	Date: 05/04/2009
Sounds horrifically familiar. This property management company is (By long, and far) the absolute worst I have ever had the displeasure of leasing from. All for profit, none for service. At least you were able to get your apartment fixed after a few repeated requests. We are not so lucky apparantly.
From: happily_moved_out	Date: 06/08/2009
No, we were on the 5th floor in building 224. Let me know if you need any help for AG letter - would be glad to help with anything!
From: WorstComplexInBoston	Date: 06/11/2009
Can you email me at faithlovedream@gmail.com
From: burq	Date: 09/24/2009
Not only are they stealing my Deposit, they are asking for money on top of that. I am not going to put up with this and plan to get my lawyer involved and show them they cant get away with it always. If you guys have similar complaints email me: hate.granada.highland@gmail.com

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