First few years were pretty good! Only thing I would have done differently is pick a different building on the property...the buildings closest to the street (Fremont Blvd and Stevenson Blvd) have a lot of traffic noise, even with the windows closed. Loud exhausts, car horns, sirens, can be easily heard and are frequent. The inner buildings, away from the street are almost completely silent, in terms of traffic noise.
Parking is tight. One car, you are A-ok. Anything more than one car and you have to get lucky everyday if you arrive home after 4 pm. After 8 pm...forget about it...no parking available, even in the guest parking. If you like a clean car, look elsewhere... the roof above my stall leaked heavily when it rained and the adhesive used on the roof would mix with the water, dropping on the car making tons of water spots that are tough to remove. Also, the landscaping folks come every week. The dirt and dust collect on the car. There is no area to clean your car on the property, except in your own stall...using a hose is prohibited, so you can only wipe it down.
Management recently had the hot water return lines changed. They were better before, the hot water was almost instant. Hot water takes at least 5 minutes early in the morning, so you have to let it run awhile. In the afternoons, it's ok, maybe a couple minutes of running hot water. The contractor accidentally cut my AT&T line which was a $hitshow when my kids were trying to get on Zoom calls for school. It took a few weeks for Boulevard/contractor/AT&T to come together to figure out how to fix it. At that point I said screw it and switched to COMCAST. Not Boulevard's fault for this one. I'm putting it in this review because the line has not been fixed, (my choice as I didn't want more people coming to my apartment during COVID). so you will NOT be able to get AT&T until Boulevard/contractor fix the line.
Now to the reason I'm moving, again breaking the lease with a $2650 penalty. Since June 2020, there have been a few new move ins to my building. I lived on the 2nd floor and the neighbor below me bought the best home entertainment system I have ever heard...at 11pm to 1 am every weekend, and at other random times during the week. It is powerful enough to shake the entire building, sometimes for hours on end. I have documented the dates and times. I have notified management via email and phone calls MANY TIMES. I believe the management has tried to stop them via calling them, but the neighbor has not stopped. When management first got back to me, they said my neighbor admitted knowing there was a problem, apologized and said it wouldn't happen again. The neighbor resumed the loudness less than 72 hours later, with the same volume and intensity. I have called security over a dozen times late at night to try and get them to stop. They also burn incense that reeks everyday so you're forced to close all your windows. I'd like to believe that if it weren't for COVID, they would have been evicted a long time ago, but honestly, I have no way of knowing. So if you want to be forced to close your windows due to the smell and listen to your neighbors music/movies late at night when you're trying to sleep, move on in! But who knows? Maybe you'll get LUCKY and your neighbor will not be trashy. Maybe you'll move in after COVID and they'll actually enforce the property rules. Good luck with that.
This review would be only one star but I added a star for the maintenance team and one of the property managers, Desiree. The maintenance guys are hard workers and do a pretty good job, quickly I'll add. Desiree, an Assistant Property Manager, knows exactly what her job is and communicates well. The others, to put it as nicely as I can, lack training. To be fair, ESSEX, the parent company, decided to combine the property management teams for FOUR ESSEX properties (Mission Peak 1 and 2, Stevenson Place, and the Boulevard.) It seems they are undertrained, understaffed, and have their hands tied due to COVID.
TL;DR - property managers do not/cannot enforce noise rules. If you move here and get unlucky with trashy neighbors, you are stuck paying $2600+ per month at a place you hate, with a management team that is powerless/unwilling to help.
Edit: As I said, the first few years were pretty good. The management team was different.
"Every noise complaint was addressed," is not true. Security told me they send reports to the property management office daily. You stated this did not happen, hence each complaint was not addressed.
I did request for help with the termination fee. You said my apartment did not qualify as uninhabitable despite more than a dozen complaints via your office and security.
I accept that tenants must be treated the same via the signed agreements.
The half hearted response didn't address everything, which coincides with the level of service provided by you. read more