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An honest, detailed review of this complex
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
5/1/2008
Years at this apartment:
2007
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2008
3 responses
I have to say that the reviews of this complex are very amusing, but mostly misleading. I'm going to give an honest to god review of this place, so pay attention if you are seriously considering moving to this complex.
I am a 30 year old IT guy. My wife is a 28 year old School Teacher (this complex gives discounts to teachers). We've lived on the 4th floor of the Providence since August of 2007. We have a large dog, and that was the selling point in moving here. Below I will break down the pros and cons of this place:
Parking 2/5: Parking is a big issue with this place. If you live on the 4th floor, it's not all that bad because you can just park on the 5th floor if all the spaces are filled up. Keep in mind I have only had a problem with parking spaces when it gets late (past 10pm). There are a significant amount of vehicles without tags, and the complex doesn't seem to enforce it. I think I can count how many times I've had to park up on 5th floor with one hand. The parking garage has a roving sentry. All of the security personnel I have met are very nice. There are cameras in the parking garage.
Noise 5/5: Now I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone this, since it's a no-brainer. If you don't want to be in a noisy apartment, always pick the 2nd floor (or in this complex, the 4th floor), do NOT get an apartment that is facing the pool, and do NOT get an apartment that is facing the street or the Best Buy parking lot. If you follow those rules, you will never have an issue with noise, unless you just have a bastard for a neighbor. There are always the typical college kids that can somehow manage to afford to live here (that still boggles me) and run around/party and such, but they stick mostly to the pool-side area, just like any other apartment complex.
Grounds 3/5: The grounds are kept somewhat well, but there is sometimes dog crap laying around, dispite the poor grounds people picking it up. This is probably my biggest problem with living here, and I don't know if the staff can even do anything about it. One big problem with this complex is it's filled with a lot of lazy folks; I'm talking so lazy that they can't walk their dog down a few flights of stairs, or they won't take the big giant elevator down to the first floor and let the poor pooch piss in the grass. I often see puddles of urine on the 4th floor, and obviously these dog owners are too lazy to pick it up. The staff put these doggy bag dispencers and trash cans EVERYWHERE and nobody uses them. Personally I walk my dog outside the grounds and let her do her business in the empty lot next door. Also, there are these garbage chutes on every floor, which is really convienent, but alas, the tenants are too damn lazy to put their trash all the way into the hamper; We're talking so lazy that they will put the trash in the hamper, but not push the garbage bag another 6 inches so it will fall down the chute. I'm always having to throw other people's trash away to get my trash in the hamper.
Safety 3/5: There are no sex offenders living here, it's not a "project" or "ghetto" or anything like what some of these people have been posting. The people that live here are lazy, but aren't dangerous and most are very nice. HOWEVER, there was a series of car break-ins in summer of 2007. I did notice some broken glass on the 4th and 5th floor here and there when I first moved in (my apartment locator told me that they had an issue with people breaking into vehicles). I haven't heard of anything happening recently. I haven't seen broken glass, and I haven't seen squad cars parked outside the complex to take statements. You can always call HPD or just ask a police officer that is driving around the galleria area. I always see squad cars patrolling richmond/sage/rice. It wouldn't be that hard to find one. As a rule of thumb, I never leave anything that even remotely looks like it's expensive in my car. I do this no matter where my car is parked, and it's a good habit to get into. There is a sentry stationed in the guard shack on the first floor garage, and he/she roves the different floors and will patrol the main hallways connected to the parking garage at night. During the day they have a sentry that patrols the grounds in her golf cart. All of the security officers I have seen/spoken to are very polite and professional. The gate will randomly break. Again, people smack the thing all the time for whatever reason. Whenever you visit this place to look around, check out the gate. It has dents and paint all over the place from people smashing into it. I cant' recall a time when the staff haven't gotten it fixed within a couple of days.
Construction 3/5: A few months ago they had to shut down half of the 2nd floor because they had to patch up the steel foundation that was holding the floor in place (it was starting to split down the middle). The repair took about a week, and it was mildly annoying since people have a hard enough time reading the signs in the parking garage and driving the right way in the first place, having to double lane the 2nd and 3rd floor was a disaster for awhile. My wife actually had her car damaged from trying to avoid a collision from a soccer mom driving a suburban. Keep in mind that the complex will not touch a collision incident with a 10 foot pole. You are 100% on your own if it happens. There was a pothole at the exit of the complex that was filled, and it was blocked off for at least a week. I think someone dropped the ball on that and just didn't move the baracade out of the way.
There have been many times that they have turned the water off for whatever reason. I have been lucky and it's only happened during the 9-5 work day, So I didn't really care. I'm sure a graveyard shift person would be really pissed at this. The complex has always been good at giving at least 3-7 days notice when they do repairs or turn off the water.
Maintenance 5/5: I'm VERY impressed with the maintenance staff. I have never lived in an apartment complex that got something fixed for me the same day/next day, then call me back again a couple days later to make sure i'm happy with the work. I called them once because of the garbage disposal, once for the AC not working right, and once for my screen door needed to be replaced. All were fixed same day or next morning.
Staff 3/5: I honestly haven't dealt with the staff all that much. When we got our apartment, we worked with a girl named "Dee", but she doesn't work there anymore. Whenever I've had to call in for a maintenance request (see above) they were always pleasant to talk to. Dee did give me a used gate openener/clicker thingie ( they charge you $40 bucks for it, ouch!), and the keychain part is broken off. I haven't asked them for a new one yet so I don't know how they work.
Overall 4/5: Here's a summary plus anything else I can remember to say about this place.
1)Place is expensive, not as expensive if you or your spouse is a teacher(make sure you are not a day late on paying the rent tho, the consequences are horrible. Make sure the staff explains to you what happens). After renewing our lease after 6 months, they did NOT raise our rent. The washer/dryer are nice. Countertops are great.
2)Don't get a private parking space. Most of the good spots are already taken on the 4th floor and it's like $50/month per space! Towing is inforced on the private parking spaces, by the way. People are actually afraid to park in other people's private spaces.
3) So get an apartment on the 4th floor, away from the pool, and not facing the street or best buy parking lot. Parking sucks if you don't get home until after 930-10pm. Area is safe, but don't leave your ipod or palm pilot in plain view in your car. A lot of the people that live here are lazy, but they are nice, and mind their own business. The place takes dogs up to 75 pounds (It was impossible for us to find a place this nice that took dogs. The property knows this, however. The pet deposit and pet rent is pretty bad.) Maintenance guys are awesome, place is pretty, the security guards are nice. Jury is still out on the staff. All around I'm probably going to live here until we buy a house, or until they start jacking up the rent.
So that's it! This is my honest review of this place based on my personal experience. All of you disgruntled folks that had bad experiences go ahead and Troll away!
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User Responses
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
05/04/2008
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Good thing you're getting a discount. Your pet deposit and rent make up for it though. Plus whatever discount you get for working there (who else would write something as stupid as this?) Glad you enjoy this place because it's doubtful any others do. What a cesspool of "lazy" people and lousy management.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
05/05/2008
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rofl always a stupid troll around to accuse someone of working at the place if they didn't feel it "sucked" to live there.
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From:
Anonymous
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Date:
08/04/2008
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I partly agree with this post, it's the fairest by far I've read, but I've had problems in two areas:
1) maintenance. I don't know if this was actually the maintenance person's fault, actually, I'm not sure. We had a MAJOR problem when we moved into the apartments, I'm talking HUGE, and they finally came out to fix it after two weeks (keep in mind that we didn't even move into the apartments until 2 weeks after the previous owner had moved out and they're supposed to clean the apartment- not done either- so they had plenty of time to find and fix this). I seriously had to go down and talk to the manager (who yelled at me for the incident, telling me I was wrong for needing it fixed, I am unfortunately not kidding). Then, two weeks later the problem came back. They had not fixed it correctly the first time, and it was back. It took another week for them to get it fixed this time. I don't think that the lateness was a problem of the maintenance guy so much as a problem with the management, but whoever fixed it did a crappy job.
2)management. We've had so many problems with the manager. See above for the biggest one. Our Realtor also had a problem with the manager not fulfilling their obligations. So we're not happy with her.
I do agree with everything else you said, and I really love our actual apartment and the location.
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Disclaimer: No attempt has been made to verify or assure the accuracy of the claims made by the author of this opinion or responses. You must judge the truthfulness of any review and accept responsibility for your use of this information.
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