Wow... the reviews of this place are very contradicting!! I'll sum up my experience at these apartments. By the way, they go by two different names and are still listed under Rental magazines and online finders this way as well. It is also called Maple Crossing.

PARKING- I've had bad parking before, but this place takes the cake. You are only allowed one parking stall BUT there is no assigned spaces so that doesn't mean you will get a space when you come home! Most people park out along the busy street that runs parallel with the apartments but this also fills up (and a long walk unless you happen to live in one of the buildings next to street). Then your second option is a dirt gravel lot (not owned by apartment) that is usually filled with abandoned vehicles (stolen or broke down). All three of these places have problems with vehicles being stolen, damaged or getting your gas stolen. If you can't find parking at any of the above mentioned places (which happens) then you have to park across the busy street illegally in a business parking lot and risk your car being towed. There is a park and ride a couple miles down the road that you can park it at as well but also inconvenient and you risk getting car vandalized or stolen.

NOISE- I read a few other reviews that claimed that there were no noise problems. This is very untrue. The walls are paper thin and you can hear conversations and/or television shows when you try to sleep. It gets very annoying when you need to wake up early. There are also very large dogs that live within the apartments that bark at all times of night. It is common for a lot of parties within the complex. They can get loud, as people are drunk out on their patios discussing how they hate their: job, wife, kids etc... The neigborhood kids that live in the apartment (there are alot!) are about as noisy as any other apartment. I read reviews where people complained about the kids, but these problems are common in any apartment that has alot of kids. The only difference is, is that Maple Crossing/Westlake are section 8 apartments so there are a great deal MORE kids than others (you usually need kids to qualify for section 8).

GROUNDS- the grounds are not that bad. They are swamplike and get really muddy! Do not try to cut through the grass, even for five feet if you expect to keep your shoes clean. Most of the grounds are built on marsh so it gets really bad when it rains! It is true that it floods as well, but that is depending on the area. Otherwise, the grounds are kept fairly clean. The grass is always cut and so are the bushes and trees. I would have to say I know this is done, because they always do it early in the day and in the summertime when you have your window open, the cuttings get blown in with the noise!! Very frustrating but you can manage ways around this.

SAFETY- Safety is a issue which I was surprised over, knowing how nice Maple Valley is. The problem is, out of all of Maple Valley, the worst part is focused around these apartments. There are many drug addicts, primarily crank users, that live around and in the apartments which bring other crimes with them. The lighting is not the best in certain areas which always made me feel really uncomfortable. Since the parking problem is so bad, as I mentioned earlier, it makes the problem profoundly worse. There is little or no lighting in all the alternative parking spaces outside the complex. YOU WILL AT SOMETIME (or many times depending on your work schedule) HAVE TO PARK IN A CREEPY AREA WITHOUT LIGHTING.

CONSTRUCTION- I don't know much about construction except that the building seems to be built just as well as any other apartment I have lived in. I can't recall any problems that were not normal.

MAINTENANCE- I only had a few problems, all with the appliances, and the maintenance people fixed or replaced them. I was uneasy with them being in my apartment when I wasn't home so made sure I was always there. Although, they made me feel uneasy when I was there as well. I don't want to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes I have to go with my gut, and the maintenance people that came into my apartment looked very sketchy and were not orientated very well in customer service. They made me feel very uncomfortable, both by their appearance and their character. Besides that, they did what they were susposed to do.

STAFF- Most of the people in the office were very friendly. I never got to know any of them very well because none of them were there for very long.

OTHER- I have more complaints then I do praises. I have lived in crummy places such as Washington Park, Lake Meridian Apartments and others but this place has probabally way more negatives than any of the others. The other places had enough positives to balance it out but I cannot say that for Maple Crossing/Westlake.

Some things I would like to add is that there is only one laundry room. I would have to drive with my laundry over to it to do my laundry. This is a hassle, but I made do and it didn't bother me too much. It might bother you though. What DID bother me was the fact that in this huge complex there was only one dumpster for garbage and recycling and it was in the very front of the apartments which is very far from most of the apartments! You cannot put your garbage in your car so it was very difficult to take garbage out. BECAUSE of this, many people leave their garbage on their front porch or back porch until they are motivated to take the long haul to the dumpster! This, in the summertime, can be unpleasant to smell.

There were other issues but none worth listing because they were common with most all apartments. I was happy when my lease ended and was able to move. I moved here thinking it would be nice to live in Maple Valley (I do like Maple Valley) but afterwards I realized that living in these apartments was not worth it (I can't afford a house in Maple Valley) so I moved back to Covington/Kent area. I thought I disliked Covington/Kent until I moved to the Westlake/Maple Crossing and realized that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Maybe I'll move back to Maple Valley when I can afford a house because these apartments reminded me everyday new reasons to not want to live in them.

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