I have lived at the Ventana for over a year. I am writing this because a friend of mine is moving in to the Ventana and was almost driven away by some of the negative reviews. I am in no way affiliated with anyone that works or owns the Ventana--I just really like it here!

I'll start by discussing some of the other posts.

Some mention that the windows leak water... there was a hurricane, folks! (The 3rd most destructive hurricane in US history, I might add.) There was destruction all over the city, roofs off buildings, structural damage, shattered glass lining the streets downtown, and all the Ventana suffered was water coming in through the windows' I'd say we stood up pretty well. My roommate and I didn't have any water leakage, but in our friends' apartment that did have water come in through the windows, the Ventana replaced the laminate pho-hard wood within two weeks. No, they didn't replace every window in the apartment building with submarine windows (hah) but that was a once in a century event. My sister's house was flooded in north Houston, but she didn't build a house on stilts!

The Ventana isn't in the best part of midtown. But my roommate and I looked at apartment buildings several blocks north and they were $300 more a month for less square footage. We call the building "The Yellow Fortress". The exterior doors are always secure and the gate is never "broken". There is a friendly security guard on staff 24 hours a day. The people inside the building are also upstanding, I feel extremely safe inside the apartment building. I wouldn't want my female roommate to walk around alone at night (don't get me wrong, she can hold her own, I'm just saying.) But during the day we go for jogs, and we love the little neighborhood on the east side of the Ventana. It's quaint and quiet and has that "neighborhood feel". There has been theft from the second floor balconies, but use common sense, don't leave valuables in plain site on the balcony if you live on the second floor. And what is the management supposed to do about it' Put barbed wire on your railing' If one's renter's insurance doesn't cover theft, I don't see why the management should have to reimburse you for a crime. Even with a security guard, drugged out criminals will always find a way to steal wherever you live.

There were complaints about the management. I want to reiterate (have I iterated yet') how helpful the management is here. I've never had to deal with the company itself, but the office staff is so far from some of the other lazy, slow apartment offices I've had to deal with. On a couple of occasions we have had to call to get something fixed (our refrigerator was making a noise, my roommate accidentally ripped the towel rack off, our A/C wasn't blowing as cold) and they always send two guys to our apartment that day. In fact it's always the same two guys; they are the handy-men of the Ventana-- there's nothing they can't fix! Because our walls are concrete (and extremely sound-proof and energy efficient), it is difficult to hang pictures, so they will also hang pictures on the wall for free as many times as you like.

My keys and wallet were stolen out of a friend's car in December 2008, including the clicker to get in the gate and a magnetic "key fob" to get in the entrances. Normally they charge $50 to replace either one of these, but because they had been stolen, the Ventana replaced them for free.

Anyway, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to "sell" the apartment too much, but I love living here! Remember (with all apartment reviews) it's going to be the people "with something to say" that are writing on here. I never would have thought to write this if it weren't for my friend coming to me saying "I thought you loved it there, what's with all the bad reviews'!"

I hope your upcoming move brings you joy and is a positive change in your life!

(edit: It appears that the question marks are displayed as apostrophes. I attempted to correct this 6/04. Original review: 5/31)

User Responses
From: RemingtonAlessi	Date: 06/08/2009
So... when you post and pretend you're really a resident, doesn't it bother you that you're lying? Seriously. I'm asking you this for your benefit, as well as others'. Surely they don't pay you enough to compromise your morals. Or, are you really so amoral that you really don't mind the fact that you're deceiving people so as to sucker them into renting your apartments? Doesn't that bother you? Or are you just going to use the Nuremberg Defense and claim that you're really just a good soldier "following orders?" Are you really able to sleep at night after this? How does that make you feel? Oh, by the way... you mentioned the hurricane. Since you "live" at the Ventana, you may recall that the Ventana had to replace carpeting during rainstorms that weren't hurricanes. They conveniently decided that it was cheaper to replace carpet when the windows leaked than it was to replace the windows themselves. Oddly enough, this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. See, in one freak occurrence, they can claim that it was an "act of God." On the other hand, when they already had a problem with windows leaking prior to the hurricane and knew about it, as was the case, it constitutes negligence on their part. They knew it was a problem, and because they CHOSE not to fix it, several people (including myself) suffered losses as a result. This constitutes textbook negligence. It's not really even a grey area. It's a textbook case of negligence, of the willful and deliberate sort. Also, you claim that you are attempting to address several of the previous posts. I notice that you forgot to mention that the often advertised security cameras don't work. You also omitted a rebuttal to the fact that a burglary occurred about twenty feet from a security guard... twice. Also, I notice that you conveniently "forgot" to address the fact that The Ventana staff sent out a letter after the burglaries, which conveniently omitted the fact that (a) it happened twice, (b) it happened under the security guard's nose, (c) there was a man with a gun waiting in the bushes a few nights later, under the same balcony that was robbed, (d) the security cameras were inoperable due to neglect at the time, and (e) because of the problems with the security cameras, no suspect was identified or apprehended. Do they not pay you enough to address those points? They seem significant to me from a legal standpoint, and seem to further underscore the fact that the leasing office staff is totally willing to misinform residents in order to maintain occupancy. If, hypothetically, you were in fact a resident, would you think highly of people who jeopardized your safety in order to get a better commission check? I think not.
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/02/2009
Actually, my windows leaked every time it rained when I lived there, and that was years before Hurricane Ike.

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