I spent about a year living in the ABQ High lofts and while I had a generally agreeable experience there I will admit that some of the reviewers' complaints have merit.

Like many tenants, I assume, I came to the Lofts looking for something a little more urbane than ABQ's other apartment offerings. The lofts themselves are in my opinion wonderful places, with loads of character. I had a small unit, but as a single guy it worked out to be plenty of space. Tall windows, original (if creaky) wood floors, an old chalkboard, plenty of storage space (again, for my needs)...all in all I really liked the big-city vibe and was never disappointed by the quality or the cleanliness of my unit or the grounds in general.

Contrary to some of the comments I've read, I never had a maintenance issue that wasn't cleared up promptly and politely, and was never given an invoice for any of their fixes. The maintenance staff were courteous and, frankly, more accessible than was the management, to the point where I was tempted to circumvent usual maintenance reporting procedures and go straight to the maintenance lady with my problem. With regard to safety, I also disagree with many of the above reviewers, but maybe I'm just supremely lucky. I parked on the street for the entire duration of my occupancy, where (1) I always found a close, well-lit spot and (2) never found so much as a scratch on my car (let alone a broken window). Luck of the draw, I guess; though I do have an anti-theft system. The area gets a pretty bad rap but I never felt unsafe and certainly never heard or witnessed any "beatings" or "women screaming." The buildings are secure and police patrol the area pretty frequently. You're living downtown, there are certain compromises you must accept; perhaps some of the more skittish residents might consider some place in the Far NE Heights where they won't have to deal with such harrowing experiences as the occasional encounter with a homeless drunk.

Lest you think that I'm sugarcoating everything, rest assured that there were some aspects of my experience at the Lofts that weren't so rosy. I lived on the Broadway/Central side, which is evidently ground zero for bikers with eardrum-shattering, muffler-less motorcycles who like to cruise at full throttle. All night. Every night. With impunity. But again, I realize that this is downtown; the optimists among us would call that the ambient noise of the city and would chalk it up as another one of ABQ s quirky charms. My main issue was actually the LACK of noise, or rather the tyrannical enforcement of what would normally be considered common sense noise guidelines. I had the misfortune of living beneath someone whose superhuman hearing and irritable nature essentially precluded me from ever watching movies, listening to music, or hosting guests. The very first time I ever had a friend over, we were ten minutes into a movie when I was greeted by a knock on the door and a stern warning about maintaining reasonable noise levels. I'm sorry, but the last time I checked, watching a movie at 8:30PM ON A FRIDAY (and I'm not even talking about some explosion-filled action flick) was pretty reasonable. This experience pretty much tainted the remainder of my time at the Lofts, as I found myself constantly tip-toeing, stifling my sneezes, watching the evening news with the closed captioning on and always hesitant to bring friends over because I was afraid I'd get leveled with a fine or worse because I'd been "warned." Enforcement like that really sucks the life out of the community, as I seldom interacted with my fellow residents beyond a whispered "hi" in the hallway because we were all undoubtedly too afraid to host some sort of social function. I have this sad vision of all these hip young professionals sitting around every night in their chic lofts, staring at the wall and sighing because they're afraid to turn on the television or assemble in numbers greater than, well, one. I mean it's like living in Iran, seriously. Never mind that I had to listen to a dog in a neighboring loft--clearly above the maximum weight limit, I guarantee you--barking at 6AM all the time. Talk about a double standard.

Needless to say, a dose of common sense and empathy is necessary in dealing with a community like this, which unfortunately I feel the management of the Lofts all-too-often lacks. These are, in my opinion, very nice places and attract a pretty sophisticated (read: not trashy or hard-partying) mix of residents. It's just a shame that a common fear of admonishment likely prevented us from getting to know one another in a social setting. While I loved my apartment and for the most part look back fondly on my time at ABQ High, it sure is nice to live in a place where I'm not worried that steaming milk from my espresso machine or vacuuming past 7PM is going to get me evicted.

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