I lived at Grove Park for almost four and a half years (it used to be called Quince Orchard Cluster until being taken over by the present management company)and moved out just recently. As has been well-advertised, they are currently undergoing renovations. I say, proceed with caution. Grove Park isn't the worst complex in Gaithersburg (although it's across the street from a pretty bad one, and seems to be inheriting some of that one's problems), but it's gone downhill in the past few years and doesn't show any signs of stopping, renovations or no.

Pros:
Fairly roomy apartments, each with a balcony or patio and a washer/dryer combo. Allows pets (although I don't know what the new pet policy is like). Within walking distance of a couple of shopping centers. Near Metro commuter parking and 270 exits. Fairly active police presence (it's needed), including a few officers living in the complex. Good maintenance staff and decent turnaround time on maintenance requests (with one notable exception, as detailed below).

Cons:
To put it bluntly, some of the residents--or at least their kids and/or their kids' friends. There are a lot of shady characters wandering around Grove Park after dark, and a lot of rowdy, unsupervised, undisciplined kids from about age 8 up, especially little teenaged hoodlums and thug-wannabes of various races. I had to call the police on one of the little darlings last year when I saw him strutting through my part of the complex with a revolver on his hip (which he proceeded to take out and show off to a group of small kids). An acquaintance of mine who lives near my old building had her car broken into a couple of weeks ago--probably by a kid, since all they took was loose change and cash.

Despite the much-hyped renovations, the residents only seem to be getting trashier. It wasn't at all uncommon for me to come home and smell pot in the hallway, or empty 40s in the parking lot, or have to kick stubbed-out cigarette butts (which made the building smell just lovely) out of my way in the stairwells. People worked on their cars in the parking lot (something most decent complexes forbid) and left crap just lying on the ground afterwards--dirty rags, empty bottles and drink cups, et cetera. The parking was lousy--and this was compounded by the fact that a number of good spaces seemed permanently filled by broken-down cars with flat tires and other missing parts.

Grove Park has had problems with drugs on various levels; several former members of their maintenance staff turned out to be crack users, including one former employee who came back and used his universal key to break into a former friend's apartment and steal things. Another (current) maintenance staff member stole CDs from one of my neighbors' apartment and tried to use his universal key at one point to let his friends into a vacant apartment so they could party (he only stopped when the police were called). Just a couple of years ago, an apartment on the Clopper Road side of the complex (where the leasing office is located) was raided and emptied out, because it turned out to be a drug dealer's headquarters.

Finally, the neighborhood isn't all that safe anymore. To be fair, I was never attacked or felt personally threatened, and aside from being approached repeatedly one evening by three obviously stoned young girls trying to sell me stuff, I was never accosted or harassed. But there was a drug-related (and as yet unsolved) murder on the premises a little over a year ago, and a shooting at the pool not long afterwards (in the middle of the day, no less). Just a couple of months ago, the body of another young man was found behind an elementary school only three or four blocks from the Grove Park complex. Lots of shady stuff goes on in the area meant for picnicking and playgrounds between the two halves of the complex--be forewarned, especially if you have kids.

After the snowstorm back in February of this year, the management not only failed to have the sidewalks cleared within the legally required amount of time, but ignored residents' repeated requests to have this taken care of, even though ice made walking to our cars harzardous. I finally had to call the management company's corporate headquarters in Texas and complain--then they did a half-assed job with a few bags of salt. (The path in front of the big fancy leasing office, naturally, was immaculate within less than 24 hours after the last snow fell. I think this revealed a lot about how much they valued their residents.

I wouldn't go back there. They're offering too little for too much (the rent is supposed to be raised to at least 200 above current prices), the neighborhood's going downhill, and a new coat of paint and a few new appliances won't change the fact that these buildings were built almost forty years ago. You can do better.

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