Chapel View formerly Brookstone
2701 Homestead Road,
Chapel Hill,
NC
27516
919-942-2800 save favorite
919-942-2800 save favorite
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Leading the field in customer dissatisfaction
From: -Anonymous-Date posted: 7/4/2007
Years at this apartment: 2007 - 2007
The following review I wrote for Chapel Ridge apartments, where I have lived for a few years, but since College Park Communities also now owns Chapel View (formerly Brookstone Apts) many of the concerns also apply to Chapel View as the same management staff runs both complexes. 55% is way too high an approval rating considering the children who manage the property.
More and more apartment complexes in the Chapel Hill area are being bought out from local management by big management companies like College Park Communities (who run Chapel Ridge as well as "Chapel View", the adjacent complex formerly called Brookstone Apts), as well as many complexes across the US. What you need to be aware of as a tenant before signing a lease with Chapel Ridge is that it is all about their bottom line. You mean nothing to them, all they see when you walk in the door is a big dollar sign. One of the keys to a happy and successful landlord-tenant relationship is communication. You will not have that with Chapel Ridge management. You will try, but every time you go into the office you will speak to a different person who most likely has no idea what they are doing. Then your message will be lost because there is no communication amongst the staff. You are dealing with a nameless faceless entity known as the Chapel Ridge management staff.
Here is the short list of reasons you DO NOT want to live at Chapel Ridge:
1) The property's preferred residents are college kids. This works in Chapel Ridge's best interest because mommy and daddy will pay the bills. What this also means is that most of the kids living here don't care if they lose their security deposits or get charged extra fees. The parties will be loud, go into the wee hours, and on random nights like Tuesdays and Thursday nights. Living in a one bedroom ground floor unit I have had to dodge cigarette butts, beer cans and beer bottles, and spit raining down from the balconies of the 2, 3, and 4-bedroom units above me. I was even almost urinated on once from a kid peeing off the balcony onto my patio. I told him how I felt about it, but shoot, he doesn't care, he's drunk!! He yelled back to me that I was an -------.
2) You need to renew your lease like, 7 months in advance. The lease term is August 1 to July 31. You will get an email in January asking if you will renew. I don't know about you, but how is someone supposed to know if they are going to be there for another year only 5 months into a 12 month lease' You will try to tell them that you don't know yet what your situation is, and even give a timetable as to when you can inform them and give them regular updates, but this effort at communicating will be lost in the Bermuda Triangle otherwise known as the Chapel Ridge management staff (see above). Again this is a situation better suited to college kids, who might, as sophomores for example, have a better idea if they will be around the following year.
3) Utilities are supposedly included, yet you will still receive in the mail an electricity bill.
4) My apartment is full of bugs. Luckily, no roaches, but lots of other creepy crawlies. But don't worry too much - the healthy spider population will keep the number of bugs in check. The living ones at least. The piles of dead bugs beneath spider nests are lovely to behold. Even with regular cleaning/vacuuming, the bugs and spiders will remain a healthy, vibrant community.
5) No loyalty. It does not matter how perfect a tenant you are or have been during your stay. Do not think for a second that they actually care about you! I went into the office to renew my lease after having had several correspondences with the staff about my situation and them giving me positive responses like, "Ok, no worries. There hasn't been a run on one bedroom units like we expected. You will be fine." The day I went in to renew I was told, "Oh, I am sorry. There are no one bedroom units available", as if I was some schmod coming in off the street looking for an apartment. I had been a loyal tenant since 2003! (Moving out at the end of this month). Always paid rent on time and maintained a perfect unit. They didn't even give me a phone call. No courtesy whatsoever. The bottom line: As soon as there is a person available to sign the lease, you are expendable. They will leave you in limbo until they are sure that they will fill the unit.
6) The management staff. No need to elaborate further. It is run by children. They will seem courteous on the outside, while sticking it to you underneath. If you haven't been stuck yet, don't worry, you will. They will milk and scam you out of every penny. Don't even worry about your security deposit - it's gone. Beware.
Other than this short list of reasons, Chapel Ridge is a perfect place to live. Enjoy your stay!
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