I've been living at Pirate's Place for 1 year now, and plan to stay for 1 more. I also used to occasionally visit the place as a guest. I'm a second year graduate student and most of my work is right across the street at Minges, making the location of the complex ideal for me. Being so close to campus is a huge plus anyway, so the location is great. Just be aware that the complex is right across the street from ghetto territory (on the back side, across Evans), and as a result of that, all sorts of non-residents walk/ride through the parking lots at all hours of the night. Also, whenever a train comes down the tracks that run across Evans, it seems like nearly everyone takes a detour through Pirate's Place in an attempt to avoid the train. People tend to speed when they do it, too. I nearly got run over one day while simply trying to take my trash out.

Parking has never been a huge issue for me; it seems like they have adequate parking space for residents and guests. They repaved the lots just last year and replaced those dying speed bumps with new ones, so it looks nice. Sometimes I wish the staff would actually enforce their parking stickers and maybe even consider giving residents a certain number of guest passes. It does get pretty congested on the weekends. Also, some of the guests that come to the complex are more disruptive than the actual residents. Another parking-related issue that bugs me is the way some people park their cars, taking up 2-3 parking spaces in an attempt to showcase their cars like they're bad or something. Oh and beware: parking your vehicle near the front entrance during a hurricane/big rain storm is bad because it will most likely flood.

Noise is one topic that I will gladly bash the place on. I've noticed that most of the residents here are undergraduates who are still in that "party til' we die" frame of mind (not to say that all undergrads are loud and disruptive). Thursday-Saturday seems to be the loudest days/nights, especially during the Spring/Fall semesters, where it can sometimes be loud every day and night. Summer has been pretty quiet so far. The walls and ceilings are pretty thin; at one point I could sit in my office and listen to every word my upstairs neighbors were saying, as well as every song lyric from the music they blasted.

The grounds themselves are well landscaped and kept very attractive-looking. I must say that the management knows what they're doing when they pull potential residents in to look at the place. It constantly looks very nice; no complaints there.

Saying that I feel 100% safe at Pirate's Place would be a lie. The outdoor lighting of the whole complex at night is pretty good. There are at least 4 or 5 cops that live here as well, and they do their best to prevent shady people from walking the grounds at night. Still, their best isn't always enough. You're asking for trouble if you're out walking the parking lots during the early AM hours. I've heard of non-residents coming through and vandalizing people's cars overnight, as well as attempting break-ins. I also catch a lot of beggars when I get home late. But these sorts of things can happen at any apartments. Safety really isn't that big of an issue for me.

As far as the construction goes, everything is pretty sound in my opinion. But nothing too special. I live in a ground-level 4 bedroom flat that I share with 1 other person. My experience with the upstairs apartments is limited, but I know that the flats catch a lot of bugs mainly because they're just on ground level. The slide-open closet doors often go off track so I have to be careful opening and closing them. My water heater and microwave both went out, but the maintenance people were very prompt at replacing both appliances. The water pressure in my kitchen sink sometimes has issues, and the ice maker in my freezer has broken many times (I think the fridge itself needs to be replaced eventually). My kitchen ceiling was leaking at one point, but the maintenance guys were quick to fix the issue. Other than things like simple maintenance, I've had no major problems with the flat. I'm not sure whether or not the apartments should be considered well insulated. My utility bill stays moderately high, but then again I burn the A/C a lot, and water/sewage is not included in the apartment rent.

The maintenance guys at this place are wonderful. Any problems that I've had in the past have been addressed and often corrected the same day that I reported them. They're friendly and are very dedicated to their job. I have no problems with them at all.

For the most part the staff have been friendly and helpful. It seems like they undergo a lot of management changes pretty often, keeping it difficult to stay acquainted with them. Different managers do things differently, I guess. The last property manager constantly sent people into the apartments to "inspect things". I'm not quite sure what all that was about, but it got annoying after a while. The current management has been doing no such thing (at least not to me), and overall the place seems a lot smoother and more relaxed since the change.

Overall I like Pirate's Place and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good apartment close to ECU. Like any apartments, the place is going to have its pros and cons. But overall I think the pros outweigh the cons, making it a pretty decent place to stay. I hope this review was at least somewhat helpful.

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