We have lived here a year now in the new Ventana apts. It has been mostly good. I have read all the negative reviews here, and while they may all have some degree of truth I feel that some of them are exaggerated. Here are our experiences:

We have had no problems with ants or other insects. We needed several things fixed upon move in; 3 were done immediately, one took two weeks to do. When our AC broke down one hot day it was fixed the next day. Maybe we just got lucky. We have talked with manager Rob numerous times, neither good nor bad experience, just business-like conversations. The heating bill in the winter is high, as is the air conditioning in summer but not $350/month as someone claimed. Remember, you receive one combined gas & electric bill. The highest combined bill we have had is $200 and we have a big apt. The lowest bill we have had is $100.
The worst thing is the almost unbearable train whistle noise. All night, all day long, 120 decibel train horns go through brick, cement, glass. Cannot hear tv or telephone, and you will be continually woken up. The large, expensive noise reduction wall they are erecting looks nice but unfortunately cannot reduce this noise more than a small amount, maybe down to 90 db or so. (We have been here both before & after the wall was built.) It's not the trains themselves that are loud, it is the whistles that are blown for the Puetz Rd crossing. What about airplanes' After all, it s only 4 mi to the airport from here. They are only bad if they happen to be taking off directly southbound, right over the apt, and this seems to be perhaps 10 % of the time. Otherwise they re just a distant rumble.

There has been some criticism of Rob for always being around the buildings, taking care of the landscaping, that he is "spying." This is unfair. After all, if he only took your rent $$, went sailing and lived in an expensive house elsewhere, he would be criticized for being an "absentee landlord." I think it is a good thing for him to be directly involved. Not many landlord/owners would do ground/maintenance work themselves. Half of the air conditioners were relocated from out of the underground garage this year. This is a big improvement and has made a large reduction in the amount of heat being pumped back into the building. It was completely stupid to put the AC in the garage in the first place. They are supposed to be outside to get rid of the heat they take out of your apt!
The swimming pool is small for the number of buildings & people it serves, but I have only seen it crowded on hot weekends, and I have been there many times.
The snow in the winter was promptly removed from walkways & streets initially BUT there is no follow up. If it is windy the next day & the sidewalk is drifted over, or if it is warm during the day & some snow melts then freezes into ice on the sidewalks at night, it will not be taken care of. We & some others slipped & fell on the ice; we called several times but it was never taken care of in spite of promises to do so. We had to get our own salt, sand, and a shovel for safety.

I cannot speak for any of the other apts in Springbrook Cercle, but ours on Ventana is very nice indeed, nicer than many people's houses. Beautiful stone counters & floors, good quality cabinetry. It is more condo like, as someone else said at this site. We hardly ever hear the neighbors. We have not had obnoxious or problem neighbors, again maybe just luck. And yes, the lease is very restrictive about putting things on the walls. They will also give you a very hard time if you need to get out of your lease, no matter what the reason.
So, what's the bottom line' The Ventana apts are relatively expensive but nice inside & decent landscaping. It may not be the best place to live but you could certainly do far worse. Believe me, there are many, many worse apts & landlords than here at Springbrook. We did look around at a number of other apartment complexes and this was the one we liked the best. Try to get an apt facing east to minimize the train noise. Don't get one facing west!

User Responses
From: blog123	Date: 07/11/2005
Correction: I posted this review yesterday. I meant to say the new BRICK buildings, the ones on Ventana Dr and Liberty Street.
From: PEMPOROSO47	Date: 07/13/2005
I LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO SUBLEASE MY ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT IN SPRINGBROOK, OAK CREEK,WI. NO SECURE DEPOSIT (224)715 9145 CALL ME!!!
From: disappointed29	Date: 01/10/2007
Yes, the BRAND new ones you moved into are nice but if you read through a lot of the other reviews. Ever since they started building those, they have neglected the rest of the "old" apartments. This is where most of the problems that people have written about lay. Did you know that they had intended on sell those apartments/condos? Starting price for 2bedroom- $199,999. That is why the craftsmanship is nicer over there. By the way, Rob lost his a** on those. I don't think they sold any if but a few, plus they promised to put another pool in over there. Funny, 4 years later...no pool.
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/22/2007
Please tell me know it all (disappointed29), just extacly how did Rob loss his a** on these.
From: elosrebe	Date: 11/05/2007
Yea... I lived in Ventana for one year. They promised a pool upon move in... uh.... yea..... no pool even today.

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