Gateway Walk Condo

Once a Beautiful property, but poor management has left this place a mess in my opinion. From my experience, I don’t think the HOA is conscientious about addressing problems in a reasonable amount of time.
Things remain broken for many weeks and even months. The parking gate has been open and broken for A YEAR despite many complaints. Property theft in the garage and vandalism is occurring in this supposedly «gated» community.
This is touted as a luxury property, but considering the slumlord slow rate of repairs I cringe when I consider how much the HOA fee is each month.
Buyer Beware.

*** Updated 5÷19÷2010 ***
Alhambra Gateway Walk Condominium by Olson Homes
This condo complex is beautiful to look at but once inside it is full of problems and issues.
Lets look at the positive first:
1) Good Location
2) Beautiful Façade
3) New construction
4) Clean
Now the issues:
1) The quality of construction is poor. You can easily hear your neighbors through the thin walls and floors. Mostly BASS from a Home Theater — but there is really nothing you can do.
2) The recreation room is always in use by some tenant running a Vacation Pyramid Scheme or someone selling something. It’s getting a little better but not great.
3) The gym and recreation room TVs were stolen. Seems they don’t replace them once gone.
4) The gym equipment is not maintained. Some machines are broken and others are in need of maintenance. The squeak so bad you can’t use them!
5) The gym air conditioning is also broke. There is no A/​C for your workout, this makes the gym useless in the spring, summer, and fall. You can use it in the winter if you open the door.
6) They tried to control GUEST parking, but they failed. There is almost no enforcement of parking in the garage. Guest spots are always filled by the same exact cars. Seems that some people have extra cars and they use the 10 or so guests spots all year. So if you have guests you are out of luck, they will need to park in the street. Multiple complaints have been filed but the «Association» but they can’t seem to get the situation under control.
7) Actually the «association» is very slow at fixing anything. They have spent over 1 year trying to order a bike rack. Something that should take 1 month, never happens. They seem to fight about everything.
8) The front gate alarm constantly beeps. Again over a year they have not been able to fix the alarm system on the building. It’s almost pointless since everyone now ignores it.
9) The garage gates have been replaced. They are often stuck! And the one gate was stuck open for almost 4 months.
10) Some gang graffiti inscribed into some walls and elevators. More of a worry than anything else. We all know there is crime, but the constant reminder at home makes you uneasy.
11) Road noise and a Bus Stop on Bay Street may drive you nuts.
12) Some of the walls are not plumb or square. You don’t notice this until you start to paint or remodel a little. It’s a sign of cheap construction.
13) People here are not very friendly. It’s hard to describe but many residents will just ignore you, not hold the elevator, not say Hello, etc. I am not sure if this is due to the demographic or the older age of the residents.
14) Lacks on site security. Seems that it’s needed to enforce parking, fire alarms, light crime, and other issues.
If you are still reading you are thinking «WHY DON’T I JUST MOVE?» Well most of these condos were sold at high prices at the peek of the bubble in ²⁰⁰⁵⁄₂₀₀₆ so many owners can not afford to sell or move due to inflated selling prices! (This is not the fault of the condo, more of the economy.) But you still have to deal with seeing foreclosure notices posted to the front gate. And I can’t sell at the foreclosure prices. So I am stuck here! It’s AWFUL. Trust me if I could get my money back I would move. But since I can’t, I feel it’s my duty to keep others from making the same mistake at other Olson properties. Maybe Karma will look kindly on me so I can move out of here to a quite home where I can relax.
Year end update:
A letter from the «Board of Directors» says…
RE: Continued Vandalism and Destruction of Association Private Property
The letter goes on to tell us that a «Special assessment» to the homeowners will be needed to replace the lost and damaged property. So the monthly maintenance fee will be going up to cover items and higher insurance. Someone stole the security system, computers, cameras, 2 plasma TVs, sofas, chairs, outdoor items… etc. The letter is just short of blaming the residents for the theft! They say someone here is likely the key to stopping the theft! WHAT! I would think if anyone knew they would report it. But again, like I said before the residents are NOT FRIENDLY.