My boyfriend and I have lived in the high rise, 9314, for about a year and half. I commute to work in DC and he is a UMD grad student which is why we picked this place. It's pretty close to the school, and to two metro stations (greenbelt and college park). In general College Park is not a very nice area, especially when I think about our undergrad experience. Really PG county isn't that great. That said SSV was one of the best places we looked at that we could also afford. Our rent went up when we re-signed, but not by very much, $60. Many of the other apartments we looked out were clearly dirty and made me feel unsafe. The community is gated, and though it is often open at night (I've only seen the gate locked a handful of times) I've never felt unsafe. I think just having the gate makes a difference. There is also plenty of well-lit parking.

I'd agree with others about the office staff, they've never been helpful and I'd say they've been borderline rude to us before. But the maintence people have always been timely and helpful. Our dishwasher was spraying water and it was fixed within days.

Yes the staff control when the thermostat is used for heat or for AC (only in the highrise) but, we knew that moving in. Yes there were a few days in October when we still could have used the air, and a few days in the spring when we could have used the heat, but overall it's not that bad.

As far as pests. I've heard stories from the garden apartments about mice, but have yet to see one yet in our place (knock on wood). I am annoyed by people leaving trash in the hallway near the chute, but overall the complex is pretty quiet. I was surprised by this since there are many UMD students living here, though there is a good mix of students and professionals (some families but it doesn't seem like many). In the summer I noticed a lot of kids just hanging around in the lobby which was kind of weird, but once school started again I did not encounter this anymore.

In addition to the metro and UMD being close by, we're also near 95/495 and there is a pretty nice trail that goes behind the complex to UMD (and it goes further). If you wanted to bike to school instead of driving it would be an extra benefit. There is also a small convenience store in the complex which comes in handy once in a while.

Overall I'd recommend this place. It's not the fanciest, but it gets the job done and for a decent price. I'm surprised to see all the negative reviews, especially since I know the other places in the area. My bf's grad school friends have some awful stories (I'd stay away from Grad hills and Grad Gardens if you're thinking about them!) SROlYjGrgm2VnM-SactV

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/07/2009
Looks like they may have changed their policies about rent increase on renewing a lease. I was there from 2004-2006. My rent went up 7% on renewing the lease. The weired thing is that they had nice discounts for new comers. But won't give any discounts to existing residents for renewing the lease. And that young girl office manager was rude and THE B***.
From: yzhou111	Date: 01/21/2009
Thanks for your review. We are considering moving in.
From: SSVrenter	Date: 10/21/2009
As the original poster of the comment above, I think I must have jinxed us by writing it. Withing days of writing that post pests slowly begin appearing in our apartment on the 4th floor of the 9314 building. We tried to curb them ourselves but they kept getting worse. We visited the office and they said they regular pest control person comes on Tuesdays. We had to go back to the office a total of 3 times before anyone actually came, and I can't tell if they actually sprayed or did anything. The bugs just got worse and worse to the point where I wouldn't cook in my own kitchen! You'd open the dishwasher and bugs would just scatter. It was aweful, and the office didn't seem to care at all! When our lease was up in July we were out of there! And to everyone who said they try and screw you on moving out, it's true. We were great tenants for two years, our rent was always on time and we had no complaints until the last 6 months. They charged us for everything from cleaning the fridge and oven (which I scrubbed and cleaned more than anyone else would have) to carpet replacement. The carpet had spots on it which we noted on our move in form! We've given up any notion of fighting the charges because we want nothing to do with SSV ever again. I don't know what happened in the 18 months we lived there, but I'm sorry to have to take back any recommendation I ever gave about this place!

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