I currently live in Gables First Colony and have for almost 2 years. I love it and I too will share my comments:

The location is great at the very center of Sugar Land. In walking distance to Sugar Land Town Square, First Colony Mall, Lakside Shopping center, a nice lake, and most importantly for me - to my office! I am very disappointed that there is no pedestrian gate at the corner of the property that is in the direction of everything that is worth walking to! The location of the gates require that you walk to the opposite end of the property, 5 minutes out of the way if you wish to walk!

Now, onto the gates - what are these people thinking with gated communities. It really doesn't make the community any more secure and just becomes a nuisance to the residents. On the average gate opening about 10 cars will enter. If someone doesn't have a pass, they just pull to the side and wait for someone to open the gate. The bottom line is that the gate is not preventing anyone from getting in, so they might as well keep it open! Maybe in the middle of the night lock it, but during the day it's just a waste! I can tell I'm not the only one who feels this way because for months the gate kept mysteriously breaking. Then there was a notice to all residents that they suspect a resident is hitting the gate with their car to mess up the mechanism! Whoever that was, thank you! Some of us appreciated your efforts!

Parking is the worst I've ever seen. Residents are stuck parking very far away in the visitors parking and walking! I don't think the problem is the number of spots. I think the problem is often guests parking in the resident parking and the fact that they give allow everyone two spaces. They should make sure each resident gets one resident space before they start giving the option of 2! The second car should either go in visitor or they need to start assigning spots. It is a real pain to come home at night and have to park 2 buildings away!

The office staff. I personally think that the office staff in 2003 was much better then the current staff. I like the current office staff, but I thought the older employees were much friendlier. Once the new manager came in the free video rentals went away. That is a perk that many cheaper places offer and I was disappointed to see it go. It was things like the movie rentals that made me think that Gables really cared.

Expenses. This is where I dislike this place. They seem to have a rule of raising your rent EVERY TIME your lease renews. It seems on average $25-$50 per renewal. When I first moved in I was told "we do whatever we can to keep the rent down for existing residents, so you shouldn't expect any major price increases." Ha! They lied. That and the water bill that someone else pointed out bugs me. They charge based on square footage. I live in a larger apartment with only 2 people, so I pay more then a family of 4 or 5 in a smaller unit! They should charge based on # of occupants, meter our water individually, or pay the bill themselves! The water/trash has increased about 30% since I moved in 2 years ago.

The maintenance guys are alight, and I don't agree with the negative things that were said. They are usually responsive and friendly. I don't believe that they steal from people's apartments! I think someone was a little mad and made some things up!

Now, it may sound like I have a lot of negatives, but they're really all little things. Every time my lease renews I have looked at every other apartment in the Sugar Land/Stafford area. No matter how hard I try I cannot find a nicer place! And most of the time the places that are not as nice cost more money then this place. That's the only reason I don't move out after the rent increases.

Some of the best things about the place are the high ceilings and large bathrooms. The exterior even looks nicer then most other places, especially the other dumpy looking places that Gables owns in Sugar Land. And the landscaping is beautiful! This is by far the best all around apartment I have ever lived in. I have my complaints, but it truely is a great place to live.

Negatives about the apartment itself: the only thing wrong is the cheap appliances that are used. The dishwasher barely works and I end up washing by hand in a sink that is too small, the garbage disposal meets the bare minimum requirements, and the fridge has a shelf that is prone to breaking! the good thing is that maintenance never has a problem fixing or replacing them. Unfortunately the dishwasher is just terrible and can't be fixed. It works if you wash everything by hand before running it. ;)

New manager, I hope you read this!

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