I recommend it with the following caveat: if you're looking for a place relatively close to campus that's cheap and serviceable, then Riverbend will work for you. If you're looking for something upscale or pretty, then it won't. I received a little bit of a discount for being in the military, but the price was still pretty reasonable.

Parking: It's first come, first serve, but I generally had no problems finding a spot in front of my building. There's not very good lighting in the lots.

Noise: I never had too much of a problem with noise, but I received complaints from the neighbor underneath me that he could hear my music late at night when I wasn't even playing it that loud, so I'm guessing the ceilings are thin for the downstairs people.

Grounds: The place looks like a dump. The "river" is a moldy cheap looking man-made stream. Every building needs new paint, the grassy areas are more mud than grass, and the buildings look like they're about to fall apart. In fact, one could argue that they are, but I'll cover that in the part of the review about the construction.

Safety: The place is poorly lit and, being an open apartment complex, anyone can come in. I've often seen people pull up to the dumpsters and dig through them late at night. My exterior light didn't work, so I couldn't see who was in my stairway when people came up at night. I never had anyone attempt to break into my car (that I know of) but the threat of that is always there in open complexes.

Construction: Old buildings that needs to be improved. The wooden stairs on my stairway gave way a little (one of them a lot) when I walked up them, but nobody ever did anything about it. All the wooden parts of the exterior seem to be deteriorating which I suspect will be a safety hazard soon (if it already isn't). If you live upstairs, good luck moving furniture up there. I had a rather large couch and it wouldn't fit up the staircase, so we had to pull it up over the outside part of the staircase. It was extremely dangerous and the guy doing it actually fell off, but he was ok. It's about a 7-10 foot fall I'd say. My interior was decent, the carpet was new and the paint was new, too. My hot water didn't work often, but just in the shower (it worked at all the other faucets all the time) which got annoying.

Maintenance: They came within 24 hours to fix minor things, but my exterior light never worked and nobody ever repaired my stairway. My hot water for the shower was off and on too throughout my 6 (or was it 7) month lease.

Staff: The office staff is very friendly (and I wish the rest of the apartment complex was as nice as their office area). I never had a problem with someone not being there when I had an issue, even on the weekends.

Overall: It's a good place for a student or military person such as myself, or if you're just looking for a cheap place in a good location. so I would recommend it to those individuals. However, if you can afford better, I would look elsewhere.

User Responses
From: apartment_reviewer_1	Date: 04/27/2008
Here, here. This is a just review and accords with most of my experiences. One note: it seems that Riverbend has begun refacing the exteriors of its buildings. It looks like an intensive project (not just a paint job). I am not sure, however, to what extent this means that they will repair the sorts of hazards to which this reviewer alludes.
From: lca1659	Date: 06/23/2008
The lady who showed me around told me what all they were doing. They are completely redoing the exterior of the buildings in stucco, they're painting all of the doors red, they're redoing all of the stairs, and they're replacing the wood slats on the balconies with rod iron ones.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates