44 North — Attraction in Minneapolis

Below is an excerpt from an email I sent the administration of Metro Park East. Enjoy.

I hate to start out an email complaining but unfortunately I have nothing positive to say. Attached are the photos of the apartment the day after move in (9-2-14, but the dates should be on them) and to say the least, this apartment is not done and the movers you used to move the furniture damaged said furniture. There is paint in and on the windows and thick grime on the inside of these windows that had not been cleaned. There are paint marks all over the walls from new touch ups a slight shade off and from white paint spatter drops from painting the trim I'm assuming. The trim is lacking a finishing coat of paint as well and in general the material for the walls is very vulnerable (there are a few places on the wall where the "fresh" paint is chipped off by the movers).

The one thing that I was guaranteed when signing my lease would be the thick soundproof walls. I'd like to know where that person got their information from because from my personal understanding I've come to the conclusion that this building is not insulated at all. Now I know come winter you'll probably charge us extra on this "all utilities included" steal of an apartment. I can hear everything outside of these walls. Whether it be the people in the apartment above us walking around, turning on faucets and opening cabinets, to my roommates talking on the phone in their closed-door carpeted rooms at normal talking volumes across the apartment (there is a kitchen and a living plus my own closed door). I can hear the people outside talking, walking, sometimes when there are joggers I can even hear them breathing. Let me make it clear that both of my windows are closed and locked and that I am not on the first floor. And the monorail literally makes the building shake when it comes by. Noise-wise, the monrail is still not a plus since I can still hear it in my bathroom, which is the innermost room in the apartment for me. Honestly, who wants the new fancy monrail interrupt you actually singing "Fancy" in the shower. I once woke up in the middle of the night because I thought someone was in my room talking to me. Nope, it was the girl in the apartment above talking to her mom on the phone. And if you think that these apartment dwellers I've complained so much about are the problem, I think I've misled you. The noises I am hearing are in no way the noises of rowdy, raucous partiers, but of studious individuals actually living in their apartments because I guess that's what you expect do when you rent an apartment for $699 a month. Oh wait, was it $799? Oh that's right, it was $899 a month. Yep, also not appreciating how the administration had people who signed first, way back in May, who didn't procrastinate and liked being prepared with the rent on time were charged the most at a whopping $899 a month when those who didn't sign until the beginning of August (while move-in is only 2 weeks later) are only inclined to pay $599 a month. On this last note, I'm not personally complaining since the latter applied to me but I'm just pointing out the flawed system of Metro Park East.

Now is so much more that I could say on this point but at this point I don't think it really matters. Don't rent here. Just don't . The administration does not work with you at all.

My only apology are for the people who work in the office at Metro East. I know that they've been bombarded with complaints and angsty college students like me. Hopefully you can survive the year and get the heck out like...

Renter beware. Recently moved out and returning to edit a previous 5-Star review down to a 1-Star.

First, they’ll encourage you to rate and review the day you sign your lease, before you’ve spent any time living there. You’ll be shown a “model unit” rather than the apartment that you’ll be moving into, so everything will look clean and shiny and new. Your apartment will look nothing like that, especially if your roommates previously renewed their lease and are already there.

Also, they only have “model units” for some of their floor plans. I moved into a unit that I was told was “the same layout but a little smaller” than what I was shown. My “bedroom” was the size of a large closet. The unit I was shown had an open doorway rather than a door, fitting their description of “semi-private.” My bedroom had three walls and one side that was open to the hallway. My roommate could only reach his bed by walking through the open area between the bed and the closet - no privacy whatsoever. Also, there was no way of knowing this beforehand, because while the floor plan was made available to me, it did not include square footage or any measurements at all.

I moved into a “four bedroom” unit where my three roommates all renewed their leases and lived there when I moved in. The correspondence from management claims that they completely cleaned my bedroom and did as much as possible in common areas while respecting the privacy of my roommates. That translated to my bedroom being cleaned, and nothing at all being done in the rest of the apartment, not even a cursory cleaning of the bathtub.

Upon move-out, I was charged for “cleaning fees” with little justification. Nearly all of the charges were for issues that existed prior to my move-in date, including one that was included on my damages form at move-in. After a dispute process, some of the charges were removed, which is to their credit. However, the only charges that were removed were those which their own records showed to be baseless. For example, I was charged for water damage to drawers, which I noted on my form at move-in. This charge was removed after I disputed and they determined that the damage was present when the previous occupant moved out. This means that the previous occupant received the same charge, 44 North pocketed the fee, did nothing to fix the damage, then proceeded to charge me for it. I have no doubt that the next occupant will face the same charge. If you live here, TAKE PICTURES the day you move in. My mistake was not doing that.

The building with the leasing office and model units in it (building two) is kept clean, well-painted, and repairs are made immediately, because that is what prospective residents see. The carpet in the front stairwell of building three is in tatters, and the art decorating the walls is in poor shape.

They offer parking garage spaces for $150 per month. The garages, especially the one under building one, are cramped and difficult to drive in and out of. The price is too high, and other parking options nearby are few and far between.

They also call your lease a “12-month lease”, but you move in at the end of August and move out at the beginning of August. Essentially, you pay a full month’s rent for roughly 10 days.

Positives: the monthly rent is cheap, the location is good, and the maintenance people are competent and helpful. Negatives: be prepared for something that looks great but doesn’t live up to what you’re told. Do not rent here if you have...

44 north honestly has the worst staff and management i've ever seen and wish i could give a 0/5. at first communication between the staff and i was great, but down the road they were very hard to get an email back from or even a phone call and to deal with.

first, when you call their office it's very hard to reach them. they never pick up and you have to literally spam call them to answer your call. sometimes they don't even pick up. i've visited the leasing office before moving in 3 times and all 3 times the front ladies were very rude, disinterested, yawning, lazy and when telling me information it sounded like they didn't know what they were even talking about. when i had finally moved in i also had more issues with the apartment and went to talk to the ladies in the leasing office and she was VERY ill-mannered. she sighed, didn't make much eye contact and looked disinterested in talking to me when telling her the issues.

second, the communication isn't very clear or there isn't any communication at all. i emailed the general manager Chara and the other manager Brianna asking questions about what needed to be done in order for me to move in and such, but they never emailed me back. i had to hear from the girl i was subleasing from because she spam called them demanding for answers.

another issue is maintenance is also rude. when asking to install a bunk bed and desk in our room they did so with the bed, but when bringing up the desk and chair they just handed it to us instead of bringing it to the room and placing it down. my roommate and i had to carry it ourselves. then i had asked them if they could also bring a dresser for me to place my clothes into and he told me, "no. not today." and scrambled off.

furthermore, when i was in the process of figuring things out with the apartment it was very hard to get a response back from the managers so me and the girl i was subleasing for called multiple times until they picked up and asked why it was taking so long to hear a response and they would claim that she's in "meetings". a week or two later we called and asked again and they said she had covid. it was absolutely unbelievable!

when i moved in i had problems connecting to the wifi as well. i wrote through the resident portal and also walked to the leasing office and told them the problem. they told me that i'd have to be put on a "waitlist" because other people were having and issue with it as well and that it would be fixed in a couple of days. 4-5 days passed and it still wasn't fixed.

my roommate also informed me that when she was going to park her car someone else was parked in her parking spot so she went to the leasing office to inform them about the problem and they told her, "we can't do anything about it. you can park your car in another parking spot." she obviously got upset and told them she wasn't going to because that could be someone else's parking spot and she wouldn't do the same.

overall, the management now is very rude, never available, hard to communicate with, and very lazy. i will not be renewing my lease next year unless there will be new management. do not move into this...