Residences Kierland — Attraction in Phoenix

This is my first review of an apartment building, good, or bad. First, let's start with the good: -The amenities are amazing. The gym, sauna, cold room, salt room, cold plunge which I use regularly, all have been functional in the 3 months since I've moved in and all have been well maintained -Parking is open and there is plenty of space -The grounds and maintenance team does a great job taking care of this place -The front office staff, while slow to respond on several occasions requiring follow up emails both at lease signing and for the issue that I will describe below, are overall super nice. Just difficult to get a hold of for a prompt answer -All of the neighbors that I have met seem to be great, down to earth, easy going. There doesn't appear to be any drama which is awesome

Let's now discuss the bad. The primary issue with this apartment is the NOISE. live on the 5th floor, and literally it seems as though my upstairs neighbor is running a marathon EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I hear every foot step, every cabinet being opened, every vacuum cleaner, every bag of groceries that the neighbor above my unit brings home every minute of every day.

This is a Lenar built property, and for those unfamiliar, they are the largest corporate home/apartment builder in America. Post 2020, lumber and concrete increased in price. Lumber for the most part has normalized, however concrete has not. As a result, Lenar is cutting costs and not putting concrete in between it's floors! I was not made aware upon lease signing, but it's been brought to my attention from the front office that this building was built as a completely "wood frame build," meaning, there is NO concrete in between floors. This means you will ABSOLUTELY hear everything.

After getting incredibly annoyed at listening to my upstairs neighbor achieve their daily footstep goals, I emailed the front office. It took a follow up email to get a response back, but eventually Marcus called me, informing me it's likely due to this property being a woodframed, but he offered to come up and take a listen whenever the noise resumed. Once the noise resumed, I called him and Marcus came up to my unit. Upon entering the unit, observing the noise, and hearing my description of it's frequency, Marcus basically stated that this noise would be considered normal apartment living due to the nature of this apartments construction with no concrete in between the floors.

As you can imagine, this was pretty displeasing, especially coming from someone who works from home and can hear the noise through my earbuds on every work call. As if the construction nearby at the adjacent apartment building isn't bad enough, I now deal with constant noise upstairs. I asked if it's possible to change units. It is, but with a cost, of course. -The cost increase to move to the 6th floor would be ~15% increase in my rent -Leases are not transferable, you would have to renew the lease -Short term leases are available, which is great, but of course they come at an increased fee of ~12% on top of the 15% rent increase Essentially, there is no accomodation possible without avoiding a significant increase in cost. The recommendation from Marcus, and I love the guy as he is super nice and there really isn't much he can do because this is a corporate decision, is he said "buy the Apple Earpod Pro 2." I didn't tell him this, but I already have them. And to be honest, I don't think that living in a luxury apartment should require walking around with earbuds all day 24/7 just so that you can live in your luxury apartment with peace and quiet. So, TLDR: -Noise is unavoidable and a DEALBREAKER IF you work from home unless you live on the top floor due to wood frame construction, no concrete in between floors -It's a crapshoot if you get a loud neighbor above you -Staff is nice, slow to respond Editing to their Response: -AVOID this place. They are fully aware of the noise complaints. They admitted to me the MAJORITY of complaints are noise and process numerous transfer requests to the 6th floor due to poor...

I lived here for a year, so I hope anyone reading will take this review to heart.

For the price, there are far better options in Scottsdale. I’ll break it down for you:

The amenities appear beautiful from the outside, but are far from pretty to live with. The pool water is hardly (if ever) cleaned - I would not recommend leasing here for that amenity (unless you like swimming in bugs). The dog park and outside of the mailroom often reeked of pee from being baked in the sun and rarely cleaned. I even spoke with a neighbor about how we had to stop using the dog park because the stench became too much.

Secondly, the lack of communication from staff. I want to emphasize that Jennifer (the concierge) is simply SPLENDID and, at times, the only thing holding my sanity intact. I would have written this review before I even moved out if not for her. There were only a couple months of peace in my unit before the building directly next door was demolished and became an extremely large (and loud) construction site. Mind you, I was paying extra per month specifically for the “mountain views” that became a monstrosity. There was no acknowledgement or communication about the construction timeline from the building. For the absurd amount you’re paying each month, that is simply ridiculous. I work from home, and had to buy noise cancelling headphones due to the noise. Once it warmed up, the construction began earlier, and I was often woken up by men yelling outside my window. Again, no acknowledgment or help from the building.

Thirdly, you are strictly seen as a bank account. It was clear in my time there that residents who were more well-off received preferential treatment. Additionally, we tried to communicate with the company about my security deposit after moving out, and we were frequently ghosted. We had to hunt down answers with follow-up emails and calls that were left unanswered. The person we spoke with, Marcus, was largely unresponsive, unhelpful, and seemed to not really care. If you actually care about your money and want to know where it goes and why, please don’t lease here. You should NOT have to chase down your money from the people you’ve spent a year paying thousands and thousands of dollars. The problem of my security deposit and it being sent far too late is still unresolved.

Finally, the people who rent here seem to be rude and entitled. I rarely had any positive interactions with my immediate neighbors, and they were often loud, disruptive and inconsiderate. I’ve lived in three other apartments/complexes and have never had so many negative experiences with neighbors.

I want to reiterate that Jennifer was the only thing that kept me from absolutely hating my life while living here. However, I’ve had better experiences living in other apartments while paying a fraction...

I have been a resident of Kierland Residences for over a year, and while there are positive aspects, there are several critical issues that potential residents should be aware of.

Firstly, the location is absolutely perfect, which was the main attraction for me. The community itself is beautiful and the residents are wonderful people. However, the positive aspects end there.

Misleading Information About Amenities: Management has been dishonest about the usage of the clubhouse. During the tour, they stated that it could be rented for private parties or used at no expense for community events. However, I was charged $682 for what they called "unauthorized use" of the clubhouse during a community gathering, despite being told it was open for community use.

Lack of Proper Maintenance and Staff: Despite being advertised as resort-style living, the reality is far from it. The cold plunge is frequently broken and takes months to repair. AC units in the apartments often fail, and repairs take weeks, leaving residents in uncomfortable conditions. Common areas are poorly maintained and rarely cleaned. The men's sauna and steam room are frequently out of order, BBQ grills are dirty, pool chairs are broken and not replaced due to budget constraints, and the exterior windows are not cleaned as they are at comparable properties. Additionally, the entrance garage door is often broken and left open, posing a safety concern. Pet fees are charged, but the common areas are not cleaned of dog urine and feces. The office staff are all temps so they can’t even assist you with day to day issues.

Unresponsive and Rude Management: The management staff is consistently rude and unresponsive to residents' concerns.

I am sharing my experiences so that potential residents can make an informed decision before signing a lease here. It's disappointing because with better management and maintenance, Kierland Residences could truly be a wonderful...