Vermella Union — Attraction in Union

I wish I didn’t have to make this review. I loved living here! The sense of community that I felt from Skylar, Stacy, and the other staff in 2022 and early 2023, made living here enjoyable. Now, the new leasing staff’s inaccessibility, dismissive, and nonchalant behavior makes it uncomfortable to interact with them or bring up concerns. Especially, now that they’ve locked their doors during office hours in order to not be bothered. They brag about getting rid of the old concierge, but the real focus should’ve been the people in the leasing office. These are the people who are the representatives of Russo management and idk if this is a reflection of how Russo feels about us, once we sign our lease, but they no longer make living here feel inviting. They no longer update us about policy changes via email and I’ve been provided misleading information several times.

The on site leasing office has decided to now be inaccessible, have their office dark, shades pulled down, and locked during office hours, because they do not like to be bothered. I’ve been here for 2 years and this change was only put into place 2 weeks ago, however, we didn’t receive an email letting us know that going forward, if we have any questions or concerns, we must make an appointment instead of being able to walk in, as we did before. Keep in mind, they will make you wait a long time before speaking to you, as they choose what concern is a priority and not based on leasing staff availability. Yet, they will pretend it’s because they’re busy helping other residents even though their office is empty, which is why they pulled down the blinds, so you won’t be able to see inside

When I spoke to someone from the leasing office about their New protocol, asking if there was an email sent, so we could be aware of leasing office changes made, she told me they don’t need to update us or let us know anything, because that’s what concierge is for. How hard is it to email residents to let us know when you make sudden changes? It just lets me know how they feel about the Vermella residents.

Another issue, my mom came to visit me on March 9th, 2024 as she does every month, and I went to get a guest parking pass from the concierge desk for her as usual. I was told by concierge that I needed to make a reservation with the leasing office in order to get a guest pass for my mom, which was weird because that was never the protocol before. Once concierge notified them of my concern and was advised that I can go in, when I attempted to go inside, no one from the leasing office got up to open the door to let me in, and concierge had to come from behind their desk to use their key fob to let me in, where we were able to see the leasing office staff sitting down and looking at my mom and me.

When I explained to them I needed a guest pass (something I would get from my mom from the concierge desk every month) they looked at both of us and said “we don’t give guest passes, we have QR codes”

I’ve been here for 2 years and not once did I have to scan a QR code for any guest that visited me! Also, to make matters worse, they would not tell us where to find these qr codes. They told us it’s all over the building, which we found out isn’t true. When we left the office to look for the QR codes, couldn’t find them, and tried to come back to the office saying we need help locating them, we found out that the office was closed for the day. So, they rushed my mom and I out, just so they can go home lol.

Security came to assist and explained to concierge that the QR code is not for the residents in this building, they’re for the residents in Sol. What’s funnier is, I just received an email last Friday about the parking policy reminder, and the email states that we need to get guest parking passes from the concierge (as we’ve always had to) so, where did this sudden QR code situation come from?

This is only one of the many discrepancies Ive had to deal w/ coming from the new staff. Out of respect I’ve emailed Russo management about this, but have yet to...

My family and I wake up everyday to a enchanted garden (enclosed courtyard view is magical at night).

2023 update: I’ve been living here since late 2020 and wrote the original review in 2021. I like living at Vermella however I want to point out a couple of things that have become frustrating. The common areas such as gym, fitness rooms and outdoor sitting spaces need more daily attention other than once over by housecleaning. Since residents do not return the equipment back or clean up after themselves, its like living with a messy roommate. It’s disappointing for people that frequently use the gym and have to clean up after these people.

Gym area: Management doesn’t monitor the untidy gym area. This has been an ongoing issue for a long time, especially now that more people live in the building 1 and building 3 has opened. It appears housekeeping does what they can but more attention needs to be given besides just vacuuming, mopping, cleaning mirrors, and refilling disinfectant wipes. The space looks disorganized from the scatter equipment.

A suggestion could be to have create storage to store unused equipment attachments, put up a return equipment sign and have someone strong come up throughout the day. This can help with organizing and to make sure the free weights, attachments (placed in a baskets or hung), and mats are where they should to be. This will also show the residents management is on top of the issue. Hopefully the lazy residents will start to follow by example.

Side note: I want to highlight the new gym additions such as the new Smith machine, free weights and additional exercise equipment attachments. Gym rats would be pleased. I know others were involved in making this happen but thank you Stacy (admin assistant) for checking on the broken gym equipment, asking the right questions, and being active in getting maintenance done on some equipment. **Is there a time frame on when the 5 treadmills will be back up and running?

Outdoor space: I live in an enclosed courtyard and frequently use the grill and sitting space in my area. I also use the other sitting areas in addition to the pool cabanas. It’s perfect for relaxing, entertaining with family and friends and all of the things!

2022 was my 3rd summer and the patio cushions and cabana covers looked grotesque! They looked like they had not ever been cleaned. I hope between now and when the weather gets nice, new patio cushions will be purchased or the cushions in storage will be cleaned! Clearly someone is not checking the details. It is really a shame because the space is so beautiful but yet the grease spots and sunscreen lotion on the seats or stickiness on the tables distracts you from appreciating the area.

On another note, I’ve put in numerous work order requests to so call help but the reality is folks aren’t taking their job serious. If I see it, I know the staff and security have seen it to also. In case you need proof, I’ve submitted work orders for fire pit not lighting (forcing residents to use a lighter), outdoor water faucet spewing water, propane grill not lighting (forcing residents to use a lighter), security doors not closing shut, and filthy carpets. Notice these issues have nothing to do with my own apartment which is great. This is not to get folks in trouble. When I have an issue, maintenance staff is good at responding and resolving the the problem.

This is simply about expectations. VU expects me to pay my rent on time, which I’ve done since I moved in. In return, I expect management will maintain the building in the same or similar standards as when I moved in. As more people move in to this building and use the facilities, a proactive approach will be required instead of this falling reactive approach.

Another suggestion is to place a suggestion box in a common area so residents can give you constructive feedback quietly instead of needing to post frustrating reviews publicly to bring attention to...

I lived here for 2 years and it was very nice in the beginning, but then I started noticing the small things they neglected.

Amenities: I used the gym almost every day (around 4PM) and it was always so crowded with personal trainers using it for their business and kids hanging out with their friends. There are many treadmills but in my 2 years, I have never seen all of them working at the same time, since management says it will be too much electricity. When machines go out of order, it takes weeks to fix it. One time the smith machine broke and it was out of order for 2+ months.

While the pool is beautiful, it is unfortunately only open between 10AM – 8PM. One time, I left my waterbottle in the pool area and I needed to wait until the next day to get it even though cleaners were in there. Many parents also leave their kids unsupervised. One time, another resident and I were sitting in front of the lounge chairs with our phones on the ledge next to us and a kid came over and started pouring water directly over both of them. Another time, another resident and I were the only two sitting in a corner with our legs dipped, and nobody else in the pool except one kid, who kept coming right next to us and doing cannonballs and splashing us even when we asked him not to and when we moved twice. In both instances, their parents had nothing to say. The lounge beds under the pergolas are also stained and dirty-looking.

The sports similutor has almost no right handed clubs in the golf bags, no golf balls, no footballs, no soccer balls, etc. Either we need to bring our own or ask concierge if they may have any extras in their supply closet, which they usually do not. The pool tables are okay, but the cues are in very bad shape, where some don’t have a tip anymore and it’s pretty much just a wooden stick. There are a lot of times where there is also no chalk or balls are missing

Fire alarms: Room Smoke Detectors are too sensitive. Fire Alarms in common areas go off more often than anywhere I have lived in the past and management is bad with notifying residents whether they were a drill or if it was real, whether it was resolved. For alarms that go off outside of mangement hours, they have told me that they have no way of knowing about it so there is no communication for them. At this point, barely anybody goes out of the building for fire alarms.

Notifications: In terms of general notifications, I received little to no emails about the trash room moving locations multiple times, power outages, or cops swarming the front. If you want to get in contact with anyone from leasing, good luck because they do not answer phone calls in my experience. With the new management, you typically have to wait half an hour to an hour for them to see you in person unlike before when you could just walk in during their office hours.

Parking: Random cars always parked where they cannot park. By the front office, many cars hazard-park in a way that nobody can go around them. The problem was heightened every Thursday when there would also be food trucks and lines of people going through the crowsswalk before the garage for building C. With the new management, they enforced parking spaces specific to every tenant. Every day, there would be a car parked in my assigned spot, but because they were not registered in the system, concierge and security told me there was nothing they could do and I just had to park on the roof (I live on the first floor). Vermella even gave me 2 spots, however, the second spot was painted over and I was not allowed to park there. Additionally, the garage parking on the first floor by the trash room is always flooded with dirty water.

Finally: Animal poo everywhere (indoors and outdoors) Thin walls Faulty Appliances “Complimentary” Coffee Machine is always broken unless there are big tours no roaches, but problems with ants, millipedes, gnats, lantern flies,...