Seeing that there has been no review for over a year, I felt it was worth giving my two cents on living at Renaissance Uptown. I recently became more familiar with Apartment Ratings due to the fact I am about to move out of Renaissance Uptown to look for a cheaper living situation and save more money. But let me make it clear, I am not leaving due to the living situations or staff... everything has been exceptional during my last year living here. In fact, after looking at reviews for cheaper apartment complexes around town lately, I am starting to fear that I have really spoiled myself living in one of the nicer apartments during the last year. Additionally, I have come to realize finding good reviews and information on Tulsa apartments (in my experience lately) can be hard to come by. So if you are reading this review let me try to give you some detailed honest pro's and con's about Renaissance Uptown from my perspective:
Pros: I'll start with the star rating system... PARKING - in my experience parking was never a problem. I've read reviews from other apartments where the gates frequently breakdown or there are problems with cars getting broken into, but that has never been the case at Renaissance. They have two different gate entry points and exit points, and I have never seen them open with the exception of the two ice storms we had during the last year which they were kept open in case of loss of power. Never heard of any break-ins during either event. They have a parking level for all 3 floors and there are always additional spots. Just remember the third (top) level of parking is the only one that is not covered. GROUNDS - if you are expecting tons of grass, space, trees, etc then you are looking at the wrong area of town. Remember this is downtown. As a person that likes the downtown look/feel I rated Renaissance a perfect 5. Its great and if you work downtown you can walk when the weather is nice. They do have some open grass spots for the people that own pets and the complex is by no means "cramped". In my experience, the grounds have always been very clean. But the kicker for me was when I first moved in to my apartment. I did not have to clean a thing! The layouts are tremendous and the kitchen, dishwasher, fridge, microwave, and washer/dryer that are included were all in fantastic shape. I have not had any problems, maybe I was just lucky. But moving in here was first class. I guess this also falls into CONSTRUCTION with the great layout and included appliances. Oh, and one more note on construction and grounds... I have never seen any roaches. I am in shock at how many other apartments have reviews talking about bad roach problems... but I have never heard of any kind of roach problems at Renaissance, so that is a major plus. SAFETY - Now I could be biased since I am a guy, but I have never felt in danger or in threat of having my apartment/car vandalized, walking to work, walking outside the gates at night to check my mail, being or driving around downtown at night, etc... A large part of the complex is within the gated part of the community anyway, but even with the apartments that back up to Denver or 8th street, I have never heard of any problems. MAINTENANCE - I have never had any major problems personally, so I am not the best source for this part of the review. The only times I have dealt with maintenance were the first day I moved in my fire alarm battery was out and beeping. I called maintenance... left to run an errand and within 2-3 hours returned and it was taken care of. I also had to call their apartment line during a weekend night to figure out a situation with my rent one month, and they were very accomodating. STAFF - I have read some of the past reviews about the staff being snobbish or not helpful and I just don't see it. If you have any social skills at all and know how to pay respect to other people they have always shown me tremendous respect/friendliness with renewing my lease or any issues I may have. During my time here, the staff have also thrown 2-3 apartment wide festivities/events.
Cons: NOISE - now this is not the apartment's fault, but if you are going to live along Denver, 11th street, or 8th street you will experience getting to hear ambulances, firetrucks, and the occasional homeless guy that likes to sing or talk to himself as he/she walks by. Two things worth mentioning, I have never felt in danger of a homeless person walking by the apartment and I can sleep peacefully with the occasional siren noises. So it is more of a heads up and annoyance than a terrible con. Also related to Noise and Construction, depending on your neighbors you may hear people above/below you. I have had problems hearing the person above me walk around, so this is the only knock on Construction otherwise it would have received a perfect 5. Very quiet otherwise. Ditto to the reviewer that mentioned power outtages as being a con. We have not lost power over the past several months, so it has definitely improved, but the ice storm during winter 2007 was miserable. Again... the entire town almost was without power, so the apartment is really not to blame on the problem. Again just another annoyance to expect during any bad summer thunderstomers or winter ice storms. Risk of power loss is high with these old downtown above-land power cables. Finally, even though it is not on the star rating system, I would say the biggest con would be the pay. I do agree with a previous reviewer that Tulsa lease rates are much better than other areas of the country, but I have a pretty good job and it is still tough for me to save with where their rents currently are (and I think I may be lower than most current 1 bedroom tenants). I will not touch on the expense of a two bedroom apartment here since I didn't live in one, but if you are ready to pay $800-850 plus for a one bedroom (not including utilities,cable,etc) then stop looking... this is probably the top spot in town, especially if you have a job downtown. Otherwise, you may consider continuing to look around or getting a roomate to split a two bedroom here. Ask about the two bedroom rates... they certainly could have good deals going. Hope this helps and good luck!

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