Village Promenade — Attraction in Muncie

UPDATE 6/3/23: I still cannot fathom how this complex receives negative after negative reviews and still does nothing to improve relations or the overall experience for its residents. As others have mentioned, your apartment's temperature cannot be controlled. From my understanding, the leasing manager can control the temperature from an app or some programming and it has to be requested, in-person at the main office. Even after asking for a more comfortable temperature, the thermostat usually goes back to before, leaving some rooms very stuffy. What has truly put the cherry on top of this situation, was an accident that left my vehicle damaged inside of their parking garage. About a month ago, someone in the parking garage hit my car, broke my taillight, and cleaned the scene to avoid consequences. The VP's garage is maintained and monitored by MPD and has surveillance at every floor. Immediately after I found my car in a damaged condition, I called, emailed, and went to the leasing office in person to file a report and hopefully receive the surveillance footage to hold the individual accountable. I was told by leasing to contact MPD and have them request the footage from the complex, and then the process would move along. I had an officer involved and he had told me that they would not release the footage to him or MPD, but rather the office wanted to utilize their own courtesy officer to investigate the incident. At the time of writing, after multiple full calls and documented emails to management, no one has gotten back to me, and time again I was told that "it was being looked into", a full month after. My car is no Mercedes by any means, but it just goes to show how much this apartment complex and its staff really care about its residents. EVEN WITH DOCUMENTED SURVEILLANCE, 24/7, they will not help me. After writing this original review at the beginning of my lease experience, my shower was magically fixed within days. They only want to "help" when their reputation is on the line. My original opinion still stands; the only benefit of this overpriced housing is the amenities and location in the village. Please, do not waste your time. The maintenance workers are great people who are always friendly and take the time to help, but management, good luck with that one.

Original review: How do I even begin to describe this place? Do not waste your time. I have been living here for about 3 months and I have already begun looking elsewhere for when my lease ends. To begin, rent is so high, you're pretty much just paying for the convenience of the location and the amenities. Upon my move-in, the apartment smelled horrid. Found out that our air filter hadn't been changed for a year (a maintenance worker informed me this when they finally changed it, A MONTH after move-in) Visible dirt and grime on the filter, which is located above the kitchen, and the smell still has not left. Got sick immediately after moving in, probably due to the unclean, old HVAC system and filter. The A/C in our apartment cannot be adjusted from within, has to be requested, in person to be changed, and doesn't even work. My room gets so incredibly stuffy it's uncomfortable. The floors were black and sticky upon moving in, and inside the kitchen, the oven has white residue all over the glass, as if someone sprayed a cleaner and wiped around a rag. My personal shower is broken and leaks water into the carpet of the walk-in closet (a big hazard of growing mold at this point). A request was put in immediately and has not been fixed. Fruit flies in all of the rooms, despite no food being present. Just in general, my apartment was not properly cleaned, which is so disappointing. The only really nice benefit of this place is the location in the village and the proximity to campus, but that's it. I had really high hopes but half the time I don't even want to be in my apartment. Don't be fooled, this place is...

Pros:

Location: Conveniently close to campus, which is ideal if you don’t have a car.

Furnished Units: Fully furnished apartments eliminate the hassle of buying or moving furniture.

Flexible Leasing Options: The 5- and 10-month lease terms worked well with my academic schedule.

Cons:

Overpriced: You can find significantly more affordable apartments in nearby buildings with comparable amenities.

HVAC Issues: The original in-unit thermostats were replaced with a “more efficient” system that not only adds $20/month to rent but is also controlled by the office. Any temperature adjustments must be requested via email, with a 24–48 business hour wait time, an inconvenience that undermines basic tenant comfort.

Unreliable Maintenance: Maintenance is often slow and inconsistent. Some issues took weeks or even months to resolve (if they were addressed at all). Last winter, cold air was pouring in through poorly insulated doors, and the only solution offered was a piece of foam. During May moveout, a maintenance request from February was still not addressed.

Dirty Common Areas: Hallway carpets are frequently stained, and the parking garage is littered with trash and cans, making the property feel neglected.

Disorganized Leasing Office: The office is staffed by inexperienced student workers. During my first lease, I paid my last two months' rent upfront, but this was not recorded correctly, and I received a false eviction notice. I had to personally provide proof of payment from my receipts. On subsequent leases, similar administrative mistakes occurred—including one error that cost me an additional $600.

Unprofessional Behavior: After the leasing office flooded, staff operated out of a nearby vacant unit for several months. I could hear loud gossip and conversations throughout the day, behavior that reflected a lack of professionalism and made a lot of things clear about how the leasing office is run.

Mishandled Mail: My mail was misplaced for weeks. I later found out it had been opened by the property manager, who dismissed the issue casually, even calling me after I had moved out and asking me to come back to retrieve it.

Security Concerns: My car was involved in a hit-and-run in the parking garage, resulting in nearly $5,000 in damages. Despite filing a police report and repeated follow-ups with staff, I was eventually told the property’s security cameras do not function, a serious breach of tenant safety expectations.

While the location and lease flexibility are positives, my overall experience was extremely disappointing. The combination of administrative errors, unprofessional conduct, poor maintenance, and unresolved safety issues makes it difficult to recommend Village Promenade to...

Where do I even start. Upon move in last year, my unit was very obviously not cleaned. Stove area was covered in grease. The flooring produced black water after the first 3 times mopping. Large tear in closet carpet. Cracks in drywall of almost every single room. Towels rack falling off of the wall in the bathroom. Patches off unpainted trim. Large pile of vomit outside of my floor's entrance from October 2020 to move out in July 2021. HVAC system was also full of mold upon move in. I filed multiple maintenance requests in attempt to get the mold cleaned out. First maintenance visit told me that "A/C unit was not dirty" (see attached images). After about 3 additional maintain requests a member finally came in and cleaned the unit, though about 60% of the mold was still present. I was also left without A/C and heating for about half of my lease, including almost all of the winter months. Their solution was to supply my unit with 1 space heater that was not rated to heat the square footage of the unit. In this time, they also sent me over 137 emails trying to get my to sign a nondisclosure form about the HVAC event. Compensation for the HVAC event was denied if you did not sign the nondisclosures. My maintenance requests regarding the HVAC outage went unanswered until I hired a lawyer who had to contact the company on my behalf. Maintenance staff also entered my unit numerous times without notice despite the requests stating that access would be grated upon appointment. They also entered my unit while I was asleep and naked and wouldn't leave until I yelled at them to get out. There was also an occasion where my designated parking spot was taken by someone else and I was told to find parking else wear until they left my spot. My kitchen sink also had a significant leak that was damaging both the cabinet and my belongs stored inside it. Maintenance left a note saying that no leak was present. Hot tub and pool contained so much chlorine that my eyes, sinuses, and lungs were extremely irritated and burning after about 10 minutes spent there. Overall, this company masks it's incompetence with promises of "modern and luxurious apartments" as well as "remarkable on-site amenities". I highly HIGHLY recommend that that you do not sign a lease with this company. They will take advantage of you and charge the highest prices seen from any off-campus ball...