Avoid University Gardens and Springhill Lake at all costs!
From:
ambrusco
Date posted:
10/9/2007
Years at this apartment:
2003
-
2004
8 responses
I now live in Austin, Texas, and I love coming back to read these reviews. I agree that there should be an, "Ex-Prisoners of University Gardens" support group. I'm thinking the random screen name that keeps demoralizing people who leave negative reviews (which would be everyone) has got to be the 13-year old daughter of one of the leasing agents, who god forbid would ever have to spend a night in this place.
By the way, my apartment passed a "clean" inspection at UG with flying colors, and I didn't "win a prize." That's total --------.
I have so much to say to someone who may potentially live in these apartments, I don't know where to start. So let me start with the good stuff.
1. I never had a package stolen. 2. I never had bed bugs. I don't have any idea how I escaped this volatile situation, but I never even saw something that resembled a bed bug in my apartment. 3. I never got knifed in the parking lot walking to my car at night. 4. I was never assaulted by a gang member, in or outside my apartment. 5. The office staff were never extraordinarily rude to me. They weren't nice, but they weren't rude. They treated me kind of like a young child with developmental problems. That's not good, but it's not terribly bad. They weren't mean. 6. After Hurricane Isabel, my power was some of the first in town to come back on. 7. As a colleague of mine at UMD said, "At least you don't live at Spring Hill Lake."
Okay. Now the real deal.
1. I saw my first roach the second day I lived there, and didn't see another for months. When winter came rolling in, they were EVERYWHERE. Crawling all over the walls of every room, 3 or 4 big ones in the sink at one time. EVERYWHERE. And to make matters worse, there were TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF THEM. The big black kind and the brown kind that look like surfboards with legs. There is nothing you can do to get rid of them, either. I would suggest eating out.
I also carried my roaches with me to my next apartment. It took a little while to get rid of them there. You pick them up at UG, they go with you.
2. For some reason, maintenance thought it was a good idea to cover up stove top nicks by PAINTING OVER THE STOVE. When my boyfriend at the time scratched it off so we could cook safely, and did NOT damage the stovecover, management charged me for it.
3. The walls are truly paper-thin. UG had lawn crew coming in every Thursday at 7 AM, and my apartment was on the first floor. I had no class Thursday mornings. Therefore, my cup of coffee every Thursday morning was Sancho with his weed whacker. These were not happy times. I could also hear the neighbor snoring in the next room at any given time, and let's not forget the ear-searing reggaeton coming from every direction. I was also awakened very early in the morning once by Michael Bolton blaring from upstairs. That was hell.
4. The rats terrified me. They are as big as small cats outside, and they run in packs. It was not a jolly stroll from my car to the door. To add on to that, you can't really leave your house if you're female without being sexually harassed in some way by random men. My most amusing night time encounter was being stopped by my car around 4 AM by a drunk lady with no teeth who told me that, "young, pretty girls like you don't need to be out in this neighborhood this time of night." Sigh.
5. I had mice. Several mice. They were there the last 2-3 months of my lease, and I could not get rid of them.
6. Yes, your utility bill will be RIDICULOUS, especially during the summer. There were also many times that our air conditioner froze over, and would stop working. We had to turn the air on and off constantly until the unit was replaced (about 4 weeks after the initial complaint).
7. Once there was a shooting in the complex, at the same time I happened to be going to the store for ice cream. When I returned fifteen minutes later, the police had blocked off the whole complex and were refusing to let anybody out or in. My ice cream melted. Boo. UG sent out a cutesy letter of apology for the fact that someone shot another human being the following week.
8. You do have to register visitors to park there, or you will be towed. I don't really believe doing that dropped the crime rate any, but okay. Be prepared to ask your landlords for permission if you want to have a guest over.
If reading these reviews hasn't convinced you already, then best of luck to you. But I think you might want to try a little closer to Greenbelt. At least there, for the most part, you won't be riding the shuttle to class because your car is stolen.
Recommended: NO
Overall Rating
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User Responses
From:
mishling2
Date:
10/10/2007
You were obviously a UMD student, which means you got one of the better apts. at University Gardens. Count your blessings honey, you didn't feel half the wrath of UG!
From:
mishling2
Date:
10/10/2007
You were obviously a UMD student, which means you got one of the better apts. at University Gardens. Count your blessings honey, you didn't feel half the wrath of UG!
From:
mishling2
Date:
10/10/2007
You were obviously a UMD student, which means you got one of the better apts. at University Gardens. Count your blessings honey, you didn't feel half the wrath of UG!
Sorry, I don't know why this posted 3 times.
From:
Anonymous
Date:
10/10/2007
Thank you for your great detail!!!! I tried writing it up as bluntly as I could to spare other potential renters, but you stated it PERFECTLY! It makes me sad, though, to know that I will be bringing "my little friends" with me - it's horrendous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From:
ambrusco
Date:
10/10/2007
Thanks for all your support. If you decide to talk further off the board, you can reach me at turrillster at gmail dot com.
From:
desktopia
Date:
10/10/2007
I was a UMD student. I had some of those problems, but I'd say I did get one of the better apartments. Too bad the bedbugs ruined it all.
From:
sexyphlegm
Date:
10/13/2007
I made an Ex-Prisoners of University Gardens group on Facebook! Did anyone take any pictures of the area? We need pictures...
From:
Anonymous
Date:
03/09/2008
hahahaha, i can't help but laugh. You know everyone has his or her little problem with UG,I will say i got lucky and got one of the better ground level, after my lease expired i decided not to renew but luckly my rent went up only by $15, i haven't moved yet because i'm too busyw with much but will be moving soon. I can honestly say the office staff are very nice to me, maybe because they find me attractive, maintanance is always at my door after 15 minutes of my call and everything is fixed in a timely manner
Issues: If you are scared of roaches or mice then please don't even look at UG with one eye closed, they are everywhere, i buy a can of rodent and roach spray every week luckly i haven't seen any bed bugs. Honestly i think alot of people get bed bugs because they don't shower often and also don't clean they bedroom or change their sheets often. My apt is always super clean so even though there are roaches and mice, i see like 1 every 3 to 6 months. SM needs to take better care of their community but tents also need to be tired in other to make things right, like the other writer mentioned because its cheap any and every body moves in there. Even though i agree with that in somewhere, i think it mainly because of the credit check not been done you get anybody to move into a one bedroom apt with 20 people in it. I'm moving out soon.
Now for those of you who want to move there,the complex has been divided into 2 so now they have university gardens and campus garden, with the campus gardens.My advice is there is some renovation going on on the Campus garden complex so you might consider one of those, i also think that even the old section of the Phelps area is even better than the jasmine area
Disclaimer: No attempt has been made to verify or assure the accuracy of the claims made by the author of this opinion or responses. You must judge the truthfulness of any review and accept responsibility for your use of this information.
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