Phoenix Apartments

This is a nice apartment complex close to the hustle and bustle of downtown without being in the thick of it. The Phoenix is tucked away on 6^th Ave. across the street from the Forest Park Apartments. It feels pretty secluded and safe. I will start with:
***The Good: The management team here is awesome! Linda is super nice and friendly. She is warm and makes you immediately feel at home. From past reviews on other websites, I read that the old managers were awful; I have had nothing but positive interactions with these ladies and am impressed with just how kind they are. Anytime I have an issue they are on top of it immediately.
The maintenance staff is quick to respond in emergencies and very nice.
The grounds are pretty and clean. There are orange trees everywhere — which smell amazing but if you have allergies, might make you sneeze lol.
Free parking is available on 6^th Ave. or for a small monthly fee you can park in the alley behind the complex.
The property is older, but if you are into a vintage feel it’s pretty cool. They have some of the original stoves, built-​in can openers, and counter-​top blender hook-​ups in most units. Vinyl flooring is used in the entryway, kitchen, and bathrooms. Oh, and the bathrooms have vintage tubs and sinks — mine are pink and blue with unique vintage tile work.
All in all, the apartments are cute and the price is just right. I pay less for a 2 bedroom here than just around the corner on 5^th Ave pays for a 1 bedroom. They include Direct TV and your water, hot water, sewer, and trash. I have a nice patio with a little open yard and love all of the light my place gets.
***The Bad: You can hear everything… I mean EVERYTHING. I am kind of surprised about this considering that the buildings are brick and appear solid. My neighbors wake me up at 3am when they are showering, going to the restroom, or heading outside to smoke on their balcony. I always know what they are doing because, like I said, you can hear it all…
I try to be courteous and respectful, but I think I’m the only one. The neighbors will slam the alley entry gate at all hours of the day and night — I swear some of them actually open it as wide as it goes just to see how loud they can slam it. Most of the people that live here are college kids, young families, single people just trying to get by (such as yours truly), and some other more shady character types. Unfortunately, some of them can be loud, leave their trash outside of the bins, will not pick up after their pets, or be just plain rude.
BEES! The orange trees are great, but if like me you have a deadly fear of bees, you may want to avoid this place. The trees attract hundreds of them. I saw about 25 – 35 of them flying around my tree this afternoon and I dang near had a heart attack. I have only been here since December, so it hasn’t been quite warm enough for some other pest — namely cockroaches — hopefully there won’t be any, but I get the feeling there will be and they will be as big as my cat.
No gates on 6^th Ave. When I moved in I was told a project was underway to get gates at the front… still no gates up there.
***The UGLY: The plumbing here is absolutely awful. It is vintage too unfortunately. You cannot flush anything aside from TP, this includes wipes and feminine products, which would be fine if the neighbors adhered to this. My very first night here, I had a flood in my master bath. The neighbor upstairs took a shower at 3am, it woke me up (THANK GOD) and the toilet started making some strange gurgling sounds. I looked at it and noticed that the water was rising quickly. I glanced at the shower and the same thing was happening. I called the emergency maintenance guy and he made it to my place in about 15min — which was good because the flood waters were starting to spread out into my bathroom towards my bedroom. I had to bail someone else’s shower water, which was gross.
This has happened to me a total of 3 times now… in less than 3 months. It is frustrating, but again, the management and maintenance are on top of it and very helpful including hiring a actual plumber to come out and see if he could fix the issue.
Bums! There are a bunch of lively homeless folk who like to pick through our trash bins at night. This wouldn’t really be an issue, but occasionally some of them get into screaming matches with one another along with throwing glass bottles around. I live right off the alley and it can be very loud and creepy.
Safety: Don’t get the storage units. Just don’t. They are smaller than any of the closets in your home and they are made from 2×4’s and chicken wire. These lockers are not secure, even though they are behind a locked door (which I might add, is very tough to open) they are scary. There was a used contraceptive on the ground outside of the storage room and an empty bottle of Nyquil… lively bums I tell ya.
All in all, I like it here, but hope some of these issues will be addressed and fixed.