Main Street Village Apartments — Attraction in Irvine

This place completely shatters my perception of an apartment community. They call it Luxury Apartments and that's an understatement; it feels more like resort-style living. As a bachelor, I wanted to live close to the action. South County is boring, North County is not my cup of tea, but there's this wonderful little area where Costa Mesa, Tustin, Newport Beach and Lake Forest connect to Irvine. Its a fantastic little pocket where you're essentially close to anything a fun-loving young adult would want to do. Clubs, bars, beaches, hiking trails, parks, late night eating, Disneyland (yes, I love Disneyland), fine dining, good shopping ad more. As they say in these shrimp places, the Whole Shabang!

Main Street Village is the perfect place in the perfect area.

Let's start with the surroundings. I can walk to Diamond Jamboree for my Asian fix, I can Uber to the bars in Santa Ana or Costa Mesa for $8 (why drink and drive?), I can walk to Ralphs, the park, a running trail. I'm across the street from the Hotel Irvine Bar (great place to pick up tourists). I walk across the street to pick up my Dry Cleaning or grab a quick bite. Usually in Irvine the residential areas are very secluded from everything else. I used to live in Woodbridge and you would have to drive EVERYWHERE. Even the 7-11 was a mission! Main Street Village offers the convenience of being close to everything, whether you're on foot, in car or Uber'ing it.

Now about the apartment itself. The gym is the real deal. Big, nice, tons of equipment, TV's everywhere, courtesy disinfecting wipes. Plus it's never crowded (and I've been at nearly every time you would go). It's 24 hours too. I canceled my gym membership because I had no need to ever leave my place. I just wish they had a barbel. But whatever.

Amenities. The theater is something out of James Cameron's house. They have a yoga-type studio, two clubhouses which are amazing! Pool tables, foosball, TV, kitchen-- the whole works. They also have community events like pizza parties, pancake breakfasts, group walks, etc. Which is a really nice perk.

They have two pools-- one resort style pool and one lap pool. Two jacuzzis and several 24 hour fire places with comfortable seats. Many gas BBQ's, a hammock, some cool future-inspired sitting pod, a place for dogs and a children's play area. And I want to mention there isn't very many kids. I see the same 7 kids all the time.

Neighbors. My neighbors are very cool. I've already made lots of friends and it's great getting drunk with a friend and being able to walk around the corner back to my home. Also, my neighbors seem to be super rich. I've seen Lamborghini's, Bentley's, Corvettes, high-end Mercedes' and others. And you don't need to be rich to live here (trust me).

The staff is great. Always helpful and always friendly. In past apartments I found the staff only to be nice until you move in then I feel they lose interest in you because they'e already "closed you." But certainly not here. The staff feel more like the concierge of a hotel then "leasing agents." They accept packages for me, give me free cookies and coffee, and genuinely make me feel welcomed. Naz, Gary, September and Jessica have been the ones I've worked with and they are all amazing.

My apartment is certainly high end. Granite countertops. High ceilings. Great master bath. Washer and dryer in unit. Nice patio. They even give you free cleaning supplies and will change your light bulbs. Plus there's this community portal (website) where people post things they have for sale or services they offer. It really gives meaning to the word "community."

The city of Irvine often claim they're a great place to live but the irony is the best place in Irvine is not owned by the Irvine Company. Ha! See you by...

We lived at MSV for a year and a half and while it started great it definitely went down hill in the last year. There are some positives but negatives definitely outweigh them and with the multitude of brand new and recently opened apartment communities in the area there are better options than Main Street Village.

Pros: •Decently sized room and storage inside apartment (onsite storage units available for additional rent) •Rent is affordable for the area •Location is very convenient

Cons: •Community is getting older and showing its age. They just redid the leasing office and painted the hallways but have left other areas untouched. •Seems like more and more young "professionals" are moving here as their first apartment after college. Loud and obnoxious parties are a common occurrence weekly. Security patrol is worthless - they don't respond to calls for 30+ minutes and often require multiple calls. When the issue was brought up to the office staff their suggestion was to handle the problem on your own. •Speaking of staff- hope you never have to interact with someone who doesn't know an answer. It seems to be a revolving door of staff in the leasing office. Staff will simply stop or never respond to an inquiry if they're unsure or if the inquiry causes them more work. •Noise from hallways is very loud inside units. Hope that you don't move into an apartment near one of their hotel units or you'll have a neighbors coming at all hours making noise. •On move-out expect no communication from staff. We tried to schedule a pre moveout inspection because we had heard MSV deducted large amounts of security deposit. We got no response from the staff for over 3 weeks and was told we had to do the inspection in the next day or two. Doesn't work when you work full time and also leaves no time to correct anything they note. Nonetheless we were essentially told cleaning and painting fees were non-negotiable so expect to lose half your deposit on that alone. Despite noting on our move in inspection that the carpet was stained and damaged in areas those were never fixed during our time in the unit and we were still charged for a carpet cleaning fee. I tried reasoning with the maintenance manager Chris but all he could say was those are the fees and they're in your move out notice (the one we waited 3 weeks for). •Security should be a major concern. Parking gate allows any number of cars to follow you in. Every resident has the same guest access code to give out to anyone and it's never changed. Cars were broken into and packages were frequently stolen. •Got rid of the CARES Team and community events have been few and far between expect for a rotating schedule of food trucks one...

I currently live here and have been for approximately 12 months. Living here has been average so far - of course you get the loud neighbors from time to time and packages left on the floor of the mail room etc. However, this review will be focused on the leasing office staff and their lack of communication.

As stated, I have been living here for about 12 months out of my 14 month lease term. Recently on 11/2, I discovered my dishwasher was not working. That same day, I submitted a maintenance request ticket via the online platform. After receiving no response, I made a call on 11/3 to ask when someone could take a look at the dishwasher - I was told that since it was a weekend, maintenance only focuses on maintenance emergencies. Fair ok, so I made an appointment for maintenance on 11/5.

When the technician arrived (11/5), he took a look at the dishwasher and recommended a replacement. He also took pictures of the serial/model numbers etc. I informed the technician that I was going out of town for the remainder of the week and the staff had permission to address the repairs while I was out. When I came back (late 11/11), no repairs were made and I had received no follow up as to what was happening.

I called the leasing office staff on 11/12 and requested an update. I was told that the request was still open and that they would update me on status. No other communications were made AND the dishwasher is still broken.

I sent an email on 11/13 requesting an update and mentioned that I called the day before and no response was given. The Leasing office staff replied, same day (11/13), that maintenance was waiting for a part and if the part did not come in by the end of the week - a full replacement would be coordinated with me.

Fast forward to today 11/17 - no further communications have been made and my dishwasher is STILL BROKEN.

Now I get having a dishwasher is a nice amenity and not a necessity BUT in my rent I pay to have the amenities such as a dishwasher / in-unit washer dryer so not having a working dishwasher for over 2 weeks is a bit ridiculous. Especially since I am due for my lease renewal soon and they are INCREASING my rent by almost $150 dollars a month.

All in all - average place to live, but forget about it if you need...