My husband and I moved to Beloit in January 2007. Since our Beloit stay would only last 18 months we decided to rent rather than buy, but we didn't want to sacrifice things such as a large kitchen, deck or a washing machine and dryer in unit, so we chose Hawk's Ridge. Plus, they advertise themselves as "pet friendly" and we have an adorable Boston Terrior that needed to make the move with us. It seemed like the perfect fit but I have never regretted a choice so much. First of all, as others have noted, the additional amenities such as fitness room, club house, and pool opened a year later than promised. Secondly, soon after we moved in they started building 2 additional buildings directly behind ours. This created the obvious nuisance of loud construction noise but it also affected the foundation of our building. The ground started falling away from our building and actually tore the sidewalk away from the building and they shut down the back end of the building due to safety concerns. It also created water leakage into our storage unit. Consequently, we had to throw away a 2 year old solid oak futon that was in our storage unit, that we original spent $600 on. As if that cost wasn't enough, today I received a notice that was addressed to "all dog owners" saying that some owners weren't picking up their dogs' piles of poo. They informed us that they will be taking a walk of the grounds in 4 days and if all piles are not removed EVERY SINGLE dog owner will be fined $200. Considering we have ALWAYS cleaned up after our dog this is obviously unjust and I refuse to walk around picking up the poop left by irresponsible dog owners. My question is... What are they doing with these fines' They said that the fine will not eliminate our responsibility to continue picking up the grounds and we will be fined again if the poop is not removed this time around. So if they aren't paying someone to pick up the poop or installing cameras to monitor the ground, I guess they are just pocketing the money. Speaking of pocketing money, let me warn you, if you decide to move here DO NOT fall for their carpet cleaning scam. They charge each tenant a carpet cleaning fee when they move out. Then when the new tenant comes to move in, management arrives to give you the keys and inform you that there was a scheduling conflict with the carpet cleaner. They told us the carpet cleaner could come the next week but that our apartment would have to be free of any furniture. Of course, we couldn't wait a week to move in so we opted not to have the carpet cleaned. We thought nothing of it until we talked to 3 other tenants, all of them said the same thing happened to them. And then I found this review site and sure enough another review reported the same thing. Also about every third day they turn of the water at night from about 11pm-5am. Since my husband works 2nd shift he doesn't get home until 11pm and can't take a shower or even get a drink of water after work. The place is also very noisy because in addition to the construction noise, the walls and floors are very thin. Even though they fine ALL pet owners for a few people who break the lease agreement by not picking up poo they don't enforce the lease term that there are no large musical instruments. A man in our pod is a concert pianist and has a grand piano in his unit and plays about 5 hours a day. It is so loud that it actually shakes our apartment, yet they don't enforce the rule. Lastly, they have a monopoly over cable and internet. They don't allow any other cable or internet services on the property other than their own and they also disallow any satellites.

I'm sorry that this review was so lengthy but I found it necessary to warn everyone about how terrible this place is. We pay $830 a month for our 2 bed/1bath unit plus pet rent and the mandatory internet/cable fee which is a ridiculous price considering the Beloit location as well as the poor quality of the apartments. I will be contacting a tenant rights advocate concerning this dog crap issue. I cant wait until we are able to move out of this poor excuse of an apartment in June. I had better landlords and renting experiences in dinky little studio apartments while in college. Spare yourself and move in elsewhere. HIGH CLASS SLUMLORDS!!!

User Responses
From: erin539	Date: 01/14/2008
We moved out of Hawk's Ridge a few months ago and had all the same problems. I would highly recommend that everyone having problems with the management or property to contact someone involved with tentant rights. We contacted them and they immediately let us out of our lease early in order to avoid going to court. Also, make sure you get your full security deposit back. The management did not include the pet deposit with our check and when we questioned it they insisted they had no record of us paying that, even though it was in our lease. Since they withheld that $100 after the 21 days we got them to double it. We were told that since they knew about the leak in our underground storage but did not fix it that we could attempt to charge them for everything that was damaged plus back rent from when we reported the problem. The consumer protection number is (800) 422-7128.
From: unprose	Date: 08/25/2008
I am currently out of state, planning my move to Beloit. I am very impressed with the size and condition of the apartment I will be needing at Hawk's Ridge. My daughter, who lives in Beloit, went to the weekly open house there this last Saturday. She mentioned to me about the carpet cleaning problem. She told me about the pool and fitness room problems mentioned(neither of which concern me, as they are completed now) She told me, too, about the cable-phone-internet packages. While some may argue that there is no choice of company, I see it differently: I say if management can get a better price for us by using the quantity of apartments, and we are free to choose within the company the plan that is best for us -- great! Where I live now, we have an agreement with the cable company - basic cable is $10.95 per month, with a $25.00 deposit. I am also planning to have a good renter's insurance plan. That should cover damage done by any leaks and such, and if I must use the excess storage, I will be sure everything is raised off the ground on skids, a trick I learned from a storage place. I am sorry to hear such negativity about this place. The square footage is FAR above average, and I look forward to planning a move to Hawk's Ridge. I don't expect perfection, but I do expect to make a comfortable home there.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates