First, let me start off by saying that every post about the poor customer service received from the leasing and property staff is 100% accurate. The leasing staff is often rude and appear to be exhausted to have to deal with their residents. When we moved in (two of us), our phone company charged us $90 to come out and set up a phone line to our apartment because the wiring was bad. Management would not pay for it since they said it was a phone company problem. The phone company said it was construction related. Long story short we paid $90 as new residents so we could have a phone line. That seems odd to me. Also, I m not sure how educated the community relations person is because every memo that appears in the elevators or slipped under the door has some serious errors (spelling, grammar, dates!). It s embarrassing for a staff that wants to be taken seriously.
Second, I will say that the front desk staff is friendly and helpful. If only the leasing and property management staff could take some lessons from them.
Third, the maintenance crew is nice, as well, but they have poor workmanship often taking several trips to fix one problem. Even the quality of the construction in our newly renovated apartment is pretty bad: nails and knobs fall off cabinet and closet doors; sliding glass door isn t airtight, so it whistles on occasion; there are hard lumps under our new carpet (I don t know what that could be); the air conditioner doesn t cool down the house (and utility bills are outrageous); there is mold in our bathroom lighting fixture, and the new washer/dryer unit makes squeaky noises.
On the upside, The Aventine s location to I-395 is convenient and I like that our apartment has a lot of sunlight and the unit is quite large and nice enough if you have a renovated one. We ve never experienced any bugs in our apartment nor have we seen any rats. Our unit and floor is actually nice and clean and our neighbors seem to be the same!
Other than the maintenance and construction issues (and other complaints about paying for parking, fire alarm going off, elevators out of service), a big downside for us is some of the residents. I hate to say it, but there are some awful, miserable people that live here. As much as we all complain about the management, they are renovating the building as much as possible (lobby with Wi-Fi, game room, movie room) and they offer movie/game nights, resident socials They are trying, but because of everyone s rage about management, the good deeds goes unnoticed.
Back to the residents, obviously there are many respectful, friendly and WONDERFUL people who live here (for the record), but there are some inconsiderate, second-class, dishonest, dejected people, as well, and they are the ones that are slowly ruining all the renovations and make living here just as dreadful as the poor management. For example, someone stole the flat screen TV from the lobby. There were reports of people defacing the game room. Many times, in the hallways, someone has gone through and turned lighting fixtures upside down. And, I constantly see nasty resident remarks handwritten on flyers in the elevators. Some of it is inappropriate for young children to read (not to mention just plain trashy and useless). Whenever I see these, I take it down and throw it away. Another resident backed into our car in the garage and caused a couple thousand dollars worth of damage, but of course, they did it when we weren t around and they never left a note. When people don t care about where they live and treat it and their neighbors poorly, it makes all the other problems with management and maintenance even worse. Someone had posted earlier that The Aventine is like the projects but with higher rent, and I agree. We have people that live here that act like trash. No wonder our management dreads talking to the residents.
It s a terrible, vicious cycle. Management sucks, so the residents suck, so management sucks even more, and the residents suck even more. End result is that people move out and tell other people not to move here. Then, management is forced to create amazing rent specials, and then you get a mix of new residents: those who are respectful and happy to have found a great deal and those who can t afford anything else and act like a bunch of poor, project-living, gotta-make-others-miserable-because-I-am fools.
Interesting dynamics in The Aventine for sure. We will not be renewing our lease.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/29/2009
Thank you for your honest feedback. I am currently searching for an apartment. Was caught by their nice "three months free" special on craigslist. I will never consider moving here.
From: pca1990	Date: 05/06/2009
If you want a true idea of the place, just check the parking garage. I am not talking about all the leaks from the pipes in a renovated building. I am talking about the empty spaces! It used to be that every space was filled at night (and this was back several years ago when we had assigned parking but free). Now about a third of the spaces are empty. I don't think it is because of the stupid parking fee. I think a third of the building is empty!
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/14/2009
Realty management is obviously dealing with corrupt slumlord money hording owners. Back in 2007 I noticed the same problems and worse with this property. I have been through the very same problems you had with the aventine and other properties that realty management manages. I believe and know that state housing codes are still enforced as well as federal housing standards and codes. there is no excuse poor management. We should stick together as tenants and demand what we are supposed to have.
From: Dark_Center_Renter	Date: 07/24/2009
Many attempts to organize a tenants association have failed over the years I was a small part of one of them, they ultimately don't accomplish a whole lot anyway, so good luck with that one. You'll find that most everyone is either just moving in or preparing to move out.

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