We lived here for over 3 years and while I'll say it was the nicest place I lived in while in Oregon, there were still some issues.

The Good:
-It was very clean and had a nice modern feeling. It seemed close to brand new to us based on what we were used to.
-Very quiet complex. It's right next to a lovely park and many single family homes. I often felt safe to jog around in the early morning or late evening hours.
-Close to Winco, the Beltline and 3 bus lines. When we had only one car, it helped to have the option of taking a bus to campus or work.
-The cathedral ceilings in the 2nd floor living room were great architectural detail and we loved living on a corner with two large living room windows.
-We enjoyed our 2nd floor balcony since it was covered and safe for two indoor cats to use throughout the day.
-While I did work my butt off to get the apartment sparkling clean at move out, I was very happy to report only a $25 charge for a dirty oven. It was nice that an apartment complex was honest with me about move out cleaning fees and I felt they were very fair!!

The Bad:
-Certain groups that moved in were not attentive to their children running around. We saw very small children running out in the parking lots a couple of times.
-VERY POOR CONSTRUCTION! The managment totally admitted this to me on move out day. Pure crap! If you're used to lots of winter heat for little money, invest in sweaters! The wall heaters are the worst invention EVER!! Besides drafty windows, we had to put up with knocking pipes (which to their credit, the management did fix) and bedroom windows missing some construction elements or something. You can hear everything that goes on downstairs in the bedroom. NOT GOOD.
-Charging an extra $5, $10, whatever every month for every little extra thing. Cats' More money. Park view' More money. Gimme a break. Nickle and dimed their tenants for sure.
-The office staff changed way too quickly. I understand that this is rather common for apartment communities but if managment wants their tenants to have more faith in them, perhaps some employee retention program would be in order.

The Ugly:
-Our one major complaint has to do with parking and the managment's reponse to all of our problems. We were one of the unluckly ones not to have a garage (see extra charges) or a covered parking spot. When we first moved in, our spot was taken now and then by a visitor. We'd call, based on the policy, and if no one moved the car by a certain amount of time (it used to be a short as two hours or so), it would be towed. Well, a bunch of dummies who couldn't read signs or forgot where their assigned spot was ended up complaining until the policy was completely wittled away to nothing. Suddenly, without warning, there was no enforcement. We found this out late one evening when we called the after hours number and some newbie (see management changes) informed us that the car would sit in our spot until the office opened up on the next business day! Hello!! WE were the ones paying for that spot! That's when things got bad. Managment wanted to work with us, yet they stalled and stalled. We were promised new paint for the fading numbers on the pavement. We waited several weeks and then eventually did it ourselves! We were promised this and that but came down to us being left to fend for ourselves because our spot was only taken late in the evening or on weekends (hmmm). It really angered us.

Recap:
If you're going to rent here, make sure you know of all charges that will be added to your monthly rent. They could become costly. Try to make sure you get a covered parking spot or a garage. Invest in window insulation or something during the winter. Remember who you deal with every time you call or go into the office so you can refer to that person and what they said. The left hand doesn't know what the right is doing quite often.

I've been a renter for 10 years and even with these issues, I still liked Parkside quite a bit. I was happy to come home to my apartment and I felt safe. I would recommend this apartment but I would still make sure they knew what to look for and how to have a better experiance.

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