I would say for someone starting off in their first apartment, Gate Park is a good choice. Central location to all things you will need (grocery stores, banks, mall, etc) and it is relatively close to both UNL campuses and downtown. Staff is friendly, but after move in they seem to become a little less friendly (they already got your cash...). Good sized for the price and the cable discount is nice.

The first problem my fiance and I encountered was when we were moving in. The stairs are really narrow and there are lips on the edge, so using a dolly to move heavy items in was a pain as it would always get stuck on them. The main hallways are always hot too and at least one light somewhere in the hallway is either blinking or out. There is controlled access, which is a feature we wanted, but the door is frequently propped open. The control door closest to my apartment is also frequently broken, usually a jammed lock. The management blames it on people propping the doors, but I find it hard to believe a door breaks from putting something in front of it. It gets inconvenient, especially when carrying in groceries or something else in, to walk to the door on the other side of building from your apartment..especially when you live right off the door thats broken.

The appliances are all old and are pretty junky. The stove would either burn or undercook things frequently at the same temperature when cooking the same thing at different times. The fridge was old and the controls seemed to work only averagely. Things on the back top shelf always froze if they were liquid. The dishwasher was HORRIBLE. When we moved in, the landlord was so proud to say that the dishwasher was rather new, but it always left things dirty or with a filmy soap still on things. It was also really loud. The central air leaves something to be desired, especially with the air conditioning. It would take at least three hours for our unit to cool the place down and it was never really all that cool. The insulation wasn't very good either so the place warmed up within an hour if you turned it off. The heat was OK though it tended to take a long time to heat up the place.

Storage is a real pain in the place. We had the absolute biggest one and there really wasn't any place that could be used as actual storage. The closets are kind of small and there aren't that many cabinets in the kitchen. We ended up having to rent a garage to take care of some extra stuff, which was 45 bucks extra a month.

The bathrooms were basically fine except for a few small things. We had a problem with our toilet when we first moved in but the maintenance guy always fixed it rather promptly(though he always left our light on...). The shower was a bit crudy and had rust spots in the door. The cabinet in the full bath was the biggest joke I have ever seen. It's about three feet deep and has two large shelving areas, but the sink completely blocks it. Aside from getting on top of the sink or getting a step stool, you couldnt get very far into it. The water pressure is amazingly good but the hot water lasts for about 15 minutes, and with two people needing to get ready at the same relative time in the morning, it gets a little annoying. The bathrooms have bad ventilation too. Even with the air conditioning cranking, the bathrooms would be like a sauna.

The parking is relatively good with most areas having two rows of parking spots. Our building had a row of garages behind it though, so sometimes getting a parking spot was a pain. They are very strict with parking and it is a regular sight to see a car getting towed that doesn't have a permit, which is good most of the time. There always seem to be alot more cars than tenants though, especially if you come back after 9PM.

The management is relatively good and we were really impressed when we first moved in. As time went on though, it seemed like they stopped caring as much. They stopped responding to emails and phone calls and the usually cheery staff in the office became perpetually grumpy. The office hours kept are not convenient at all either. They are normally open from 8 - 6, but they almost always close at 5. They are open on Saturday for a short time, but its rather variable.

Being on the cheaper side, the tenants tend to be people in their early to mid twenties. On the weekends it gets rather loud sometimes with people yelling and getting drunk, but for the most part, people are rather mature and dont cause many problems. We only reported our neighbors once and it was after multiple requests to quiet down (it was three in the morning and they were screaming and banging on the walls). They moved out soon after, but as with any place, there is always a bad apple in the bunch.

We will have lived here for two years next April. We feel the place was good to get started but as for a long term residence, it leaves alot to be desired.

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