There are many problems with Shorewood Heights and I would not receommend this place to anyone. I was completely fooled when I signed my lease, as the apartments seem very nice at first. Really the worst part is the management, as they are extremely rude, snobby, and worst of all, lazy.

I have lived in many different apartment complexes in my life and I have no doubts in my mind that this is the most poorly run complex out of all of them.

I'll just go down the list and explain each section and why they received that score.

(1)PARKING: * (total nightmare)
The parking situation is a complete nightmare. The spots fill up early, and anyone coming home after 7pm is out of luck. If you don't mind walking a mile to your car in the morning, this shouldn't be a problem. The road that goes through the complex is a one-way loop, so you have to drive an excessive amount every single day, over many speedbumps. Many people speed through here, making it unsafe for anyone, especially children.

You will also have to walk a mile to take out your trash. As previously stated, most tenants do not live anywhere near one of the two dumpsters. I often see tenants who load the trash into their car and take it down to the dumpster. I don't blame them for not wanting to walk in the rain with heavy bags of trash, but you may end up with one smelly car.

(2)NOISE LEVEL: ** (often noisy)
I live in one of the rennovated apartments and noise is a serious issue. The walls and floors are very thin and sound travels through them extremely well. You can hear everything your neighbors do, and if they have a large dog all you will hear is pounding on your ceiling every single day. There is really no privacy, and if your sleeping pattern isn't the same as your neighbors' then you might have a problem.

(3)GROUNDS: * (poor upkeep)
The grounds at Shorewood could be, and should be the best part about the place. However, poor upkeep prevents this from happening. One of the biggest issues with the grounds is the overwhelming amount of dog feces. There are many tenants with large dogs and this has resulted in a walking hazard. You will always be checking your shoes and watching where you walk because when a tenant doesn't clean up after their pet, neither does Shorewood. They mow the lawn regularly, but go right over the piles of dog feces, just spreading it around even more so you are bound to step in it. When you invite over guests, make sure to warn them ahead of time because there is a 50% chance they will be tracking feces into your home.

(4)SAFETY: * (not safe)
Shorewood is not safe. Management will tell you 'ohh it's Mercer Island, of course it is safe'. First of all, people drive extremely fast through the complex loop. This has resulted in accidents, as well as people getting hit by cars.
The buildings are not secure, as the doors remain unlocked at all hours. There are often people selling things or asking for donations by going door to door. While I believe in giving, this is a very unsafe thing to do. By leaving all building entrances unlocked, they are inviting rapists, kidnappers, and murderers into the complex. They could easily pose as a charity worker and be knocking at your door for your loved one to answer. Why not take away this risk and just have secure entrances' That is what most apartment complexes do.
Another major problem is the complex's handling of packages. When a package arrives for a tenant, they hold it at the community center. Well, somehow they keep losing packages. My wife ordered a $75 medical tag because of a serious medical condition, and we never received it. We contacted the company to find out it was shipped first class. Then I did some asking around, and it turns out many people who live here have had packages go missing before. Upon inspection of the lease, they require your signature to give them no responsibility if a package goes missing under their possession. How convenient.
(5)CONSTRUCTION: * (many problems)
There are many construction problems, as the place is falling apart and generally neglected. The windows are coming out from the molding and there are major cracks in walls along the seams. The materials seem cheap, as you can hear through the walls and floors quite easily. The re-painting is sloppily done, as there are so many coats of paint just peeling away, waiting for another coat to be quickly slapped on for the next tenant.
There is a major problem with mold in the rennovated (older) apartments. Apparently the problem has grown and they now require you to sign a mold addendum as part of your lease. This allows them to charge you for their mold problem.

(6)MAINTENANCE: * (very poor)
They talk about having maintenance workers 7 days a week, but when a problem arises in your apartment, they somehow are short-staffed that day. And if you set up an appointment ahead of time, do not expect them to show up. This has been one of my biggest problems with the Shorewood staff, as they promise to send someone out to fix something, and it never gets done. I have put in maintenance requests a total of three times in time living here, and not one of them was done correctly or on time. Two of the times I set up appointments, only to have them not show up. Believe it or not, I setup a second appointment and they didn't show up again. Third time is the charm I guess.

(7)OFFICE STAFF: * (a pain to deal with)
This is the worst part of living here. The leasing office staff is the worst. They are extremely rude, snobby, lazy, unhelpful, and just a pain to deal with. Trust me, this is not the impression you will get until after you have signed the lease. They do not hide the fact that they don't care about you once you are on a contract. Of all the apartments I have rented over the years, this is the first time I have had such bad management. It really surprised me to find this out, as I initially had a good feeling about this place. Once I called into the leasing office to see why they hadn't shown up for a maintenance appointment, and one of the leasing agents actually hung up on me. She said they were short-staffed and couldn't get to it, even though it was an appointment set for a specific time. Then I tried asking when they could get it done, and she said: "there is a prospective tenant right in front of me, I will call you back." Then she hung up without giving me a chance to speak one word. I later asked why she had been so rude and abrupt with me, and she told me that they are a business and that they "only care about making money". This is a direct quote from the leasing agent. Hard to believe' It won't be after living here.

(8)OVERALL: * (Poor on all levels)
I think a short summary will be adequate here. Do not move here unless it's your last option. If you were smart enough to come to this website to read reviews, then you are most likely smart enough to choose another place. I wish I had known about apartmentratings.com before I signed my lease.

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