I lived here a year and a half (August 2006 to December 2007).

For the money, I couldn't find a better deal in the East Riverside area. Crime does happen in this general area, but in 1.5 years I heard nothing about Cromwell Circle having any issue. There is no direct security guard for the complex. There are quite a few families here with young children and pets. Moderate number of college students. Overall pretty good mix of people to live with. Most tend to work blue collar jobs and have a family. If safety is number one priority, I'd say pick a whole different area of town and go for a more expensive apartment that is gated, security gaurds everywhere, more afluent area of town etc. I personally felt fine walking around at 3 and 4 a.m. in the morning alone. But that is just me.

Parking - I gave this a great rating due to ample covered parking. That means a lot in the long summer months. Keeps the cars cooler. Some apartments face the street and people choose to park on the street however. The spaces are a bit narrow and I can image that a wide vehicle would have a bit more trouble fitting sometimes.

Noise - Very quiet overall. I can't hear my neighbors above me and the only music I heard was a Christmas carol.

Landscaping - well kept. What room you get matters a lot. I'd aim for a room with a view on the main quad. You want to overlook the pool and volleyball court. Other areas give a view to the parking lot or street.

Construction - decent. Carpet is a few years old in my room.

First floor - A fair number of people experienced flooding. I am one of those. Damaged part of the carpet. Water outside room can be close to ankle deep after the rain. If you live here, check the room they give. Look for sediment and a downward sloping entranceway to the apt. Definitely ask about this b/c it is a negative. Management responded effectively to my problem to prevent flooding. Still have standing water though.

UT shuttle - excellent. This the last stop on Wickersham route. 13 minutes give or take to campus. Bus usually every 6 to 12 minutes right on schedule. Night route combines Wickersham and Crossingplace routes. Wickersham route is first to drop off, so that is an advantage.

Color of apartment - bright. I liked it. A lot of other people didn't. Look at it before you rent to make sure. It always helped my mood.

Utility - a/c bill ran 50-100 per month. Most months it was around 60 for first floor room. I ran it cold 68-73 degrees at most year round. 100 bucks for an August bill.

Layout of room was okay - huge closet. More than I wanted. Smallish kitchen (could be larger. Plenty of room in den area and bedroom. My main reason for choosing this as a graduate student was price, covered parking, first floor room, shuttle service to campus (saves lots of gas money).

HEB is about a 2 minute drive down riverside. You get to walmart in about 10-12 minutes. Oltorf and Riverside are your major east west routes to get back to I-35. You can also get to 290 in about 2 minutes to head west easily.

Not the best apartmnet in town, but it is by far my top pick money-wise for the riverside area. I actually used an apartment locator to search around after one year. Couldn't even get something comparable until I looked at the 700-800/month range.

I give it an overall superior to most others, but keep in mind I am just talking east riverside here.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/12/2009
This is very odd, since in the time this tenant supposedly lived here, not only were 10 different apartments broken into (including mine and every piece of electronics and jewelry was stolen) the staff put a sign up in the postal area warning tenants. AND the thief was a tenant. So to claim to not know of anything is to be blind, or paid by the company to write this.

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