We wholehearteldy agree with the previous review. Addison Crater Woods looks
great when you're apartment shopping, but after living here for while, one
realizes how unsafe and horribly managed it is. We'll start with safety. In
addition to the break-in that was highlighted in the previous review, there have
been 2 auto thefts and 2 more break-ins in the past 2 months. The management
used to send out a flyer each time a theft or break-in happened to alert the
community, but apparently stopped two weekends ago when the most recent break-in
occurred. Since living here, we have witnessed one domestic dispute which caused
our child to cry as we were trying to get to our vehicle one weekday morning.
Earlier this summer, our neighbors observed a resident thrown out of a car and
assaulted between building 202 and the office. Some of the complex's younger
residents drive wrecklessly through the parking lots, which may be a concern to
those with children. Speaking of children, don't let the playground fool you, it
is in direct sunlight almost the entire day, which makes it basically unusable in
Petersburg's climate. We took our kid there last week and had to leave because a
resident on their balcony adjacent to the playground was shouting obscenities
into his cell phone. An additional concern for parents is that the management
does not enforce the alcohol and glass policies in the pool area. We arrived at
the pool twice this summer to find glass beer bottles left fromt the previous
night's festivities. On one of these visits, we also found dozens of hair beads
floating in the pool, which caused us to question the cleanliness of the pool.
Additionally, some residents will prop open the pool's gates (which are activated
by a key card) so that any random person can use the pool intended for the
residents. I'd like to mirror what the prevous reviewer said about the
management as well. I have lived in community-style (dorm, apartment, duplex)
housing for the better part of 14 years and have never experienced such
incompetent mangement. They fail to enforce any of the important safety rules
laid out by their residential handbook (and local law for that matter) and focus
on appeasing unreasonable residents. For example, the leash policy/law. One
morning this August, when we opened our door to take our dog to the pet area, an
unleashed dog from upstairs darted into our aparment attempting to attack our
dog. We frequently see unleashed dogs left on the balcony of a nearby apartment
as well. Speaking of balconies, there are several residents whose satellite
dishes and antennae extend well outside of their porches and balconies, causing
both an eyesore and in some cases partially blocking the sidewalks. One family submitted a maintenance request in August which still has gone unaddressed. Outdoor
noise is also a problem. One of our neighbors complained about the frequent
noise coming from car stereos to the manager, to which she replied "we can't do
anything about that." Since living here we have been awoken to car stereos, car
alarms, partygoers (both indoors and out...all hours), unmuffled car engine
revving, and "passionate" activities of neighbors. We also know of one incedent
where a military family was renting through a third party, and the management
lied to the third party in an apparent attempt to get the family evicted.
Basically, if you are a 20-something, single, party-type and don't care about the
safety of your person or property, and are unconcerned with terrible management,
then this is the place for you. If you are a family, have a pet, are military,
enjoy a safe and quiet lifesytle, or expect management that is respectful and
fair, then stay far away. Do not let the attractive exterior and amenities fool
you, there is no luxury here. The only saving grace here is that there are other military families that we can commiserate with to realize that we're not alone in our disgust with Addison Crater Woods. By posting this, we hope to save future military families from making the same mistake. We would recommend looking on-post or in Colonial Heights for houses or in nearby River's Bend if you prefer apartments.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/23/2008
Can't agree more with this author. The apartments are candy-coated and made to look as if they are luxury style when in actuality, they are an overly priced ghetto heaven. Wherever you rent an apartment and the leasing staff are inappropriately fraternizing with tenants in the complex, you better re-consider renting from that property.
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/23/2008
I also agree. I can't believe how much they charge for this place. The walls are very thin and I've occasionally been able to hear conversations. When I walk across my apartment, there are dips in the floor. I can tell all the piping is old from all the noise it makes expanding when I use hot water. And my most recent gripe, the heat pump. Once it reaches below 40 outside, it chews up your electricity using supplemental heat and won't turn off unless I do it manually. I called maintenance and checked a few descriptions online...it's working as intended.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/25/2009
I disagree with these posts. I have lived in Addison Crater Woods for about 5 months now and I have enjoyed my stay. Maintenance always comes out in a reasonable amount of time when I put in a work order, the apartments are old, but are kept up pretty well, and the leasing office ladies are extremely friendly everytime I call or come in. I guess to each his own but I haven't had any problems. The newer section is over-priced though, I will agree with that. You can rent a house for cheaper than they want for an apartment.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/01/2009
I cant agree with the author more. Ive lived there for a year I counted the days down till we left thank goodness we got a house on post. its safer I mean I would go to the local wal mart and get harassed by thugs with racial slurrs and wal mart is directly in front of crater woods so you can only imagine what kind of people are loitering. I also had a terrible experince with standing water in my tub and maintenance refused to come out for a month straight then the mold came and they still refused to come out and the guy told me if I didnt want to wait till the following monday I would have to fix it with a "coat hanger" myself and luckily the army had to call to get someone out to fix it because maintenance didnt care. And I did one thing right I videotaped the tub with the mold in it.

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