I recently finished my second lease in a one bedroom in this apartment complex. The apartment itself is a great space for the cost. It's not often that you can find an apartment with a balcony for under $650 anywhere in Madison, and the complex looks nice. Bus service is relatively close, but sporadic - especially on weekends. I only re-signed the second lease due to an extremely busy summer that didn t really allow time to pack and move. I seriously regretted it within 3 months. I do have more than a few issues with this complex, and negotiated an early termination to the second year of my lease.

The property manager seems like a very pleasant lady; however the owners are a CHEAP absentee investment firm (Harrison Investment Properties). I've definitely noticed that larger issues tend to take longer to get dealt with, if at all. The property manager is rarely in the office, and her hands are conveniently 'tied' when issues come up. It s hard to judge whether this is something that comes down from the owners, or her management practices. I never had any problems with her as a person, although she is generally more negative about the complex once the lease is signed.

Overall, most tenants seem quiet and keep to themselves. However, there are a number of very loud and obnoxious tenants and a multitude of unsupervised children playing in the driveways, blocking traffic, pranking 911 and causing damage to the property. The pool is often closed due to messes caused by these children, from hot dog buns and garbage to even diapers and feces in the pool. I have never once used it, which makes the rental rate seem less fair. The property manager is always giving notices about noise, litter, children and general disrespect - but nothing actually gets done. There are very few upgrades to the units, and the air conditioner in my unit was very old which results in higher bills during the summer. Entrance lighting and maintenance is very poor. The water is VERY hard, which causes a lot of buildup and also caused the dishwasher to die near the end of my lease. I rarely used it because the hard water made dishes look worse after running through the machine. This affects laundry as well.

Snow service was TERRIBLE during both winters I lived there, and there is no sidewalk or street access for many of the apartments, which was extremely annoying and dangerous in the winter. It can take days to get a plow into the complex after a snowfall, and some sidewalk areas almost never get maintained which makes for thick and dangerous ice. I slipped and fell this last winter and injured myself, and I had many near falls. The manager's response was "Well, nobody called to tell me there was ice". Parking is limited and unsecured - there hasn't been a working door on the garage since I moved in and nothing is done when parking complaints are called in by assigned tenants. I had an abandoned car in my parking space for about 6 months before it was removed. There have also been complaints about suspected drug dealing, and there is a heavy dose of low income attitude in this complex. We had a young boy jumping in front of the truck like it was a game and after we honked the horn he threatened that his mother would come cap your a** .

The police are OFTEN around for general disturbance calls, and since I moved in Aug 07 there has been AT LEAST: two shootings, a violent robbery over drugs, two dog attacks, multiple domestic disturbances (in my building alone), baited armed robberies, a sexual assault, a building without working fire extinguishers (discovered during a kitchen fire), my building didn't have a working fire alarm (discovered during another kitchen fire) and another whole building emptied by arson. Nose problems are the norm. Delivery companies will no longer come to the area due to a warning put out by Town of Madison Police. I was personally subject to one of the dog attacks and while I was wearing a heavy wool coat and only sustained severe bruising (which took three weeks to heal) the property manager shrugged the issue as small compared to others at the complex and the dog is still there. If I had been wearing anything lighter I would have been in the hospital with severe injuries and if it had been a child that was attacked I'm sure she'd be paying more attention. This is the typical attitude regarding problems here. There are also holes cut through the fence into the Arboretum, which makes for an easy getaway if necessary.

The most recent shooting took place Thanksgiving 2008, and both the suspect AND victim were related to my back-side neighbors. These people had been a problem since they moved in April 08 with constant noise complaints at all hours - from all adjoining neighbors. They had people loitering all the time, and had been reported as suspected drug dealers. They received numerous 5 day notices from the property manager with no follow up whatsoever. My calls to the landlord went ignored, or simply placated. The police were at their place all the time. It's not until they were related to a crime that they actually received a 14 day eviction notice, and the property manager promised they would be evicted if it took bringing in the sheriff. In the end they were allowed to finish their lease (April-09) so they would not lose their section 8 status. This is a perfect example of how the owners put off anything to get a buck - problem tenants who don't even pay their own rent are allowed to slide until someone gets shot and then STILL allowed to stay. It makes a hardworking and quiet tenant like myself who pays my rent early every month feel like I am not appreciated which is probably why they don t have many of those kinds of tenants.

After that shooting (and my multitude of noise complaints and threats to speak with tenant resources), I was offered a unit in another building to mediate the noise problem. When I went to look at the unit the property manager was offering, it was in a fire damaged building (the arson building) and there was a lot of work that needed to be done to the unit before it was livable. The property manager said that replacing the front door which was damaged by the fire department and replacing (or even just deep cleaning) the smoke damaged carpets were not in the budget . I refused the unit. It was a pathetic attempt to mediate my situation. They finally did allow me out of my lease early, and I left Alhambra Apartments (with relief) in May, 2009.

After leaving Alhambra, although I received my full deposit, there was one other problem. The property manager set up the electricity bill when I moved in, and offered to change it over when I was considering the alternate unit. She did not, however, terminate the bill at the end of the lease. The energy usage was almost double what mine had been running during my tenancy. After I called her she had MG&E stop reading for my bill, but did not remove the extra month. It turned out she had rented immediately to a new tenant, but had not initiated utilities for them at all - whih would have raised the question of why mine was still on. I had to get MG&E to mediate so that the extra month would be removed, which it finally was.

Overall, a nice looking complex, but unfortunately overrun by crime and generally disrespectful tenants and owners who don't care about the potentially beautiful buildings and landscape. It s also a little too far out of the way for someone who doesn't drive. I seriously debated legal action over the dog attack and the slip and fall, but because they let me out of my lease I decided to leave it behind me. I d love to take this apartment and put it in a different environment with less crime and owners who care. I would not suggest anyone rents from Alhambra Apartments unless they change management. They have a tendency to throw together a major cleanup around the time of year people are looking for units, so don t let the nice looks deceive you it s a slum.

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