I have to say, I am very surprised to see good reviews for this place. If you do not take into account the cheapness of the rent, you would have to honestly say this place is a dump. The ONLY thing going for it is that it's relatively cheap. Here is an honest assessment of the apartment from my experience here:

-Kitchen: Minimal amount of space in the kitchen, cabinets, and fridge. It's like we've stepped into an "Alice and Wonderland" mini-kitchen. Appliances work, and they are new, but very very cheap Magic Chef brand. The fridge is not full size, and we can barely fit any food in it. Also, there really isn't a place to eat, so we bought this little tiny two-person table, and it takes up so much room we have to move it to open the fridge, and then move it again to open the entry door--thank goodness it's on wheels.

-Living Space: Bedrooms and living rooms are okay size, but get very small, very quickly as you start to acquire just a few things. Our bedroom does not fit our full bedroom set, granted we have a king size bed, so it's not so bad, but still something relevant. Not a lot of closet space or storage space either. There is a storage closet in the basement that actually holds our luggage, skis, snow board, and that's about all it will fit. Our bedroom closet doesn't hold all our clothes, so there is overflow into the second bedroom, and even into the closet by the kitchen. The second bedroom closet is stuffed with other things that I'd say most people have--we aren't pack rats or anything.

-Tenants: Friendly, blue-collar tenants, although many speak very little English. If you would like to get to know your neighbors a bit, and you only speak English, then you will have a hard time here.

-Noise: Oh boy, there is noise. I suppose the other reviewers have gotten lucky with their neighbors, but we can hear our neighbors upstairs pounding on their floor all the time!! Some times at 2am I'm woken up by them stomping around their apartment. It's as if they just walk in circles up there--the pounding will not end! There isn't very far to walk anywhere in the apartment, nor can you even really get up to speed, yet it sounds as if a heard of elephants is running over the apartment. And their music resounds throughout the apartment building. You can hear them talking, chanting, and who knows what else goes on up there. I think they are from Africa, and I swear we heard a loud religious sex ceremony the other night or something--lots of chanting and moaning. It's really a 3 ring circus for at least 3 or 4 nights a week. At other times they are quiet (usually when they are not home), and my wife and I cherish those times as much as possible, because we know the party will be back any minute. It's completely distracting if you are trying to read or get some work done, but the worst is when it's late at night and the party starts up. I've been jolted awake several times. If you do choose to live here, get a top floor!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough! Believe it or not, the families with kids seem to be the quieter ones, it's the party animal Africans up stairs that seem to have no concept of "other people!" We are constantly going up there to ask them to turn the radio down, or stop dancing, and they do a little, until we have to ask them to turn it down more, and they do; only to go through the entire process again the next night! It's really a nightmare. I'm moving out after August, and I am so thrilled to be leaving!

-Smell: It often smells like Indian food. Personally, I don't like Indian food, so it's horrible for me. But, even if I did like Indian food, I would generally prefer air to be odorless. If anything, I would accept an occasional bbq on a summer evening, or pizza, or maybe just a fresh outdoor smell, but a constant overpowering stench of curry drives me nuts. There are a couple of families that add to the problem by cooking with their doors open in an indoor, closed off apartment building.

-Parking: I have to say that parking is great. You get one space, and there are also other spaces for overflow, and the street always has a room.

-Management: This is what really does me in. The management is arrogant and rude. They will not listen to tenants' concerns about anything. I'll give an example: We received a notice saying that maintenance would come around and remove all window coverings that weren't the standard blinds (notices similar to this are common, almost weekly occasions). We had installed nice window shades behind the blinds to block the sun. These are nice shades that do the job that the cheap plastic blinds they want in the windows do not. We called and told them that the blinds did not block enough sun, and that the shades we installed were very nice, unobtrusive, and did not detract from the look of the building from the outside, since that is what their concern was. They said, too bad, "it is so that everything is uniform-looking from the outside." So we asked, "Is that more important than your tenants' living comfort'" To which the manager answered, Yes!!!!! Westgate Apartments also manages Brookside, and I'd definitely take into consideration that they think seeing cheap white plastic blinds in the window from the outside is much more important than their tenants' comfort! Anyone who has written a review that says management is good is sadly mistaken. I attribute this oversight to a lack of understanding of how good landlords should treat their tenants. You see, I am also a landlord (I own a rental home) and I would NEVER think of telling my tenants what and what not to put in the windows; but, even if it was a concern of mine, I would work with the tenants on a possible solution that works for both of us, while treating them with dignity and respect!!!!! If you've never experienced a decent landlord, please go find yourself one and try it out. You'll realize that Westgate/Brookside management is terrible!! They are worthless little peons that get off on being tyrannical to people they think are less-than, and that is just not right! People shouldn't even treat their enemies so badly, let alone good hardworking people that are helping to pay their paycheck. F- them, I say. If you've had dealings with them, and don't see where I'm coming from, you do not have experience with considerate people who take care of their customers (this could be a M------- problem that is common throughout the area, I don't know).

-Maintenance: Very good I think. I haven't had too much go wrong that I had to call in. They do, however, constantly enter your home to do random junk (see blind story above). If it's not one thing, it's another. I swear we get a notice that they are entering our apartment to do something all the time. Or that we need to move our car because they are going to attempt to paint the parking lines for the 3rd time. It's a little over the top, but I guess you could argue it's better to have over-maintenance than under-maintenance. I personally don't like the invasion of privacy, but I guess there are worse things. One thing that has bothered me is the water. It turns brown every once in a while for about a minute or two. That's a bad thing. We called in the problem, and it seems to have been resolved, but I won't know for sure for a while because there have been periods of good water before, but the problem wasn't really fixed.

That's about all I will write for now, although there seems to be an endless list of problems with this place that I could go on about. This is my honest feedback to anyone looking to live here, and my honest warnings. I've offered some advice on what to do to alleviate some of the problems, but I believe some of the problems will stay around indefinitely. If you can live in those conditions no problem, it's a great price, but if not, do not live here. It has allowed my wife and I to save up enough money to buy our own house to live in (which is why we are moving), but that came at a very high non-monetary cost! Good luck with your apartment hunting!!
P0MtU6TIdDkM23RTonAS

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates