Meadowview Apartments

Only positive thing is that it is a convenient location near NKU. Meadowview (now Northern View) takes advantage of that by charging an absurd amount of money for average-​quality apartments. They also take advantage of the fact that the majority of their residents are college students who don’t know any better when signing leases, or who don’t fully understand their tenant rights. There are no amenities whatsoever. The office staff is incredibly incompetent, manipulative, and bad at their jobs, though usually polite to your face. Maintenance is incredibly slow unless it is an absolute emergency, and even then, some of the maintenance workers are creepy and unprofessional. I would recommend no one live here, and search for other apartments if location near NKU is really an issue for you. It is called «Ghettoview» for a reason. They have recently undergone renovations, but the high rent you are paying is still not worth it.
(Note: It is no longer low-​income housing, so some points in earlier reviews may be irrelevant now.)

I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while, but there’s a lot to cover. I lived in an apartment at Meadowview for three years (August 2011-​August 2014) and have both negative and positive stories about my experience.
My apartment:
–Floorplan: Clover
–Bedrooms: 2 (one master with attached bathroom)
–Bathrooms: 2 full
Safety:
I felt safe at Meadowview, walking to NKU every day without issue both day and night. I also walked to the Kroger down the road on some days and nights. The area is generally safe and I never had any altercations with other neighbors or locals. The community is young, and loud at times, but it’s a relaxed atmosphere overall.
Pros:
–The exterior walls on the sides of the clover floor-​plans are thick. You won’t hear the people on your sides.
–Staff.
–Very private. As long as you keep to yourself, people keep out of your business.
–Spacious.
–Nice view out back.
–I had a first floor apartment that was one story below entry level from the parking lot, meaning it was naturally cool in the summer and we used less electricity when it was warm/​hot.
–The parking lot is mostly well-​lit at night.
–Pet-​friendly.
–They hold events all the time (cookouts, etc.).
–Cons:
–Random quarks in the apartment just happen — they’re not the best in quality, but they’re not awful (no bugs other than seasonal fleas). Mine always had random issues with water leaks, especially since I lived on the first floor and any flooding from the apartments above me trickled down to me.
–Living on the first floor of a clover means people’s headlights shine into your bedroom. I highly suggest some blackout curtains if you ever plan on sleeping in past 7am and your bedroom window faces the parking lot.
–You will definitely hear upstairs neighbors tromping around. Especially if they wear clogs as mine tended to do.
–Interior walls (between bedrooms) are kind of thin, but it wasn’t usually a big deal.
–During some patches throughout the years there were issues with people picking up their dogs’ poops. Those were dark times.
Longer stories/​comments:
–The community was, at one point, government-​funded low-​income housing. There was a maximum income and you couldn’t have an apartment full of students. They changed that in 2011 and that’s when my friends and I, as well as a lot of other NKU students, were able to move in in droves. The community is tailored towards students now, so the review by «Paige M.» from 2012, and any others similar to it, are out of date now and do not reflect their current policies.
–Meadowview, so I’ve heard, does leasing differently now. You do individual leases for each bedroom in the apartment now, instead of one lease for the entire apartment (the latter is the way it was done while I lived there). At one point we had four people in a two bedroom and our individual rent was below $ 200 each (except mine, which was higher because I had a pet fee). You can talk about the quality of the apartments all you want, but if you were a student on a budget then Meadowview with friends was far more preferable to a dorm room in both cost and quality and was, for us, a better option than other apartments in the area that are nicer but with smaller square feet. We had a person living in the living room if that tells you much about our group’s willingness to make concessions for cost.
However, now that rooms are individually leased, they charge more per apartment. It’s still probably a better deal than campus housing. I give it three stars from my experience living there on a tight budget, but I imagine my opinion might change if I lived under their new régime. I mean, sure, it’s cool that they’re offering an alternative to dorm living for people that don’t know anyone interested in sharing an apartment with them, but they didn’t have to monopolize on offering this service so much — I heard three bedroom per-​month costs increased by at least $ 200 per month based on the amounts I’m hearing for individual leasing compared to the amount overall for a three bedroom just last year. I’d love to hear Meadowview address this actual increase on rent-​per-​apartment in at least some cases.
–The parking here sucked really, really bad at one point (issues with guest parking and labeling of parking). Since then they’ve relocated guest parking, re-​paved the lot, and in general they make sure tenants have enough spaces. The only time that having a parking pass for NKU is relevant might be during the cold weather. Or, get boots, scarves, mittens, and don’t be lazy.
–They changed the way they manage their water bills. I think they passed on a lot of maintenance costs to us in the change, because our bills increased substantially.
Overall, the staff was nice/​helpful and a lot of the areas I find important (cost, safety, privacy, and convenience to campus) ranked highly. I would recommend NKU students check them out, especially if you don’t have a car and you’re considering dorm living AT ALL. You’ll far prefer Meadowview to dorms.

Ghettoview!

Meadowview is convenient since it’s right across from NKU but they raised their rent this year, 820 per month for 2 bedroom 2 bath. Staff is nice and they put on events for students like free donut Friday, car washes, free pizza sometimes and cooking competitions. Noise level is high especially with students blaring their music and with loud car engines. My apartment smelled like smoke when I first moved in and now it has nicotine marks seeping from some of the walls. You can hear every car that passes by especially if you’re near the front entrance. Parking sucks and other students who live in the back if the U use the spaces up front during the school year which leaves no parking for those who actually live up front. Walls are pretty thin. There’s a nice trail behind meadowview to walk your dog but there’s a ton of trash and litter back there also. I wish they had a separate recycling unit but they don’t. They just redid their pavement and installed a trash compactor which was nice except the compactor gets filled really quick. You can hear neighbors outside if you live in 2 bed 2 bath. I hate how the trees dirty my car up during the summer. Cabinets and interior are all old and need updated. There’s a good amount of storage. The only thing keeping me here is the location.

Convenient: yes. Quality: no.
Meadowview is right at the rear entrance to NKU, just across from the sports fields and student union. At first glance, this may seem like a great place for student living, particularly since the rent is significantly lower than neighboring apartment complexes. Here’s the catch: Meadowview is an apartment community for low-​income housing. Not «low income» as in poor students. Think low income, single mother, four kids. I’ve seen a lot of unsupervised children running around this place. Definitely not a neighborhood of college folks.
As such, residents must be qualified to live in low-​income housing. It’s not uncommon for students to be denied due to having too much money. Who would have thought — college students being considered wealthy?
Meadowview offers two and three bedroom apartments, some units with an upstairs and downstairs. Large walk-​in closets, dishwasher, balcony, and laundry hookups come in every place. Playground, basketball court, and storage units are on the property as well. The walls are pretty thin, and the front door feels more like a bedroom door than something protecting you from the outside world.
The complex itself is laid out in a giant U shape. It’s challenging to find parking in the evenings; it’s also difficult for guests to find a parking space. The streets surrounding the apartments, especially the main entrance, are littered with potholes. You’ll also notice bits of trash lying around too.
If you’re looking for an affordable apartment with lots of bedrooms, this place isn’t for you. Chance are, you earn too much money to live there. If you’re a student, I’d also recommend looking elsewhere.
Pricing: $ 760-​$ 860 /​per month