Aero Apartments — Local services in Alameda

⭐☆☆☆☆ Avoid Aero Apartments – Ongoing Harassment, Noise, and Management Negligence

If I could give this place zero stars, I would.

I’ve lived at Aero Apartments for over a year, and it’s been nothing but a nightmare of harassment, retaliation, and negligence. The management team, under Equity Residential, has repeatedly failed to enforce community policies and actively disregards tenant concerns — especially when those concerns involve harassment or discrimination.

Here's what you should know before moving in: 🔇 Chronic Noise Issues I’ve filed multiple formal complaints about my upstairs neighbor who stomps, slams, and creates constant disruptive noise — day and night. Despite months of reporting this issue, management has done absolutely nothing. No warnings. No follow-up. No enforcement of quiet hours. My sleep and peace of mind have been destroyed — and they simply don't care.

🚫 Retaliation for Complaining After speaking up about the noise and other valid concerns, management retaliated by issuing me a baseless lease violation without evidence — while allowing the actual violators to continue unbothered. It was clearly an intimidation tactic meant to silence me. I’ve since filed a formal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department due to their behavior.

🔒 Privacy Violations There were multiple unauthorized entries into my unit without notice or consent. On one occasion, my belongings were moved around with no explanation. When I asked for clarification, management gaslit the situation and refused to take any accountability.

⚠️ Lack of Accountability from Corporate I escalated the issue to Equity Residential leadership — including the CEO — and received nothing but a dismissive legal response denying all wrongdoing. I was even told to stop contacting them, a clear sign they have no intention of protecting their residents.

🛑 Poor Communication & Unprofessionalism Trying to get a straight answer or resolution from the leasing office is nearly impossible. They rely on scripted responses and avoidance tactics. They’ll claim they’ve “investigated,” but will provide no documentation or updates. It’s clear they protect certain tenants and retaliate against the ones who speak up.

📵 Harassing After-Hours Messages To make matters worse, management has sent me aggressive and retaliatory text messages after hours and on weekends — sometimes late at night — in response to my complaints. This is highly unprofessional and creates a hostile living environment. No tenant should be subjected to communication outside business hours about issues management is failing to address.

Amenities You Pay for That Don’t Work: Broken washing machine for 18 months. Broken sliding door Broken fireplace BBQ grill that hasn’t worked in months Front entrance doors were broken for 3 months — residents were locked out of their own homes Stomping from upstairs neighbors without repercussion “Free” guest parking if you’re friends with management — otherwise, $200/month

Bottom line: Aero Apartments is not a safe or peaceful place to live. The building may look nice on the outside, but behind closed doors it’s full of discrimination, retaliation, and mismanagement. The staff gaslights and targets tenants instead of helping them.

I would never recommend this place to anyone. If you value your sanity, privacy, and dignity —...

So lets see at the pros and cons of living here from start to finish (1 year lease):

Pros: The community itself is great. The maintenance team are incredibly responsive. I've only ever seen Todd work on my unit so all the kudos to him for doing a great job and he definitely gets a 6 stars from me. Cassandra the community manager is very helpful and responsive whenever I needed to contact her through email about something, especially when there are security breaches in the package room or any questions I have with the apartment. Jessina is usually very welcoming and is a pleasure to talk to. All of my interactions with her is usually positive and as long as I have any simple questions or small little things to ask, she will usually help immediately.

Cons: (and this is why the entire experience soured for me instantaneously even though the Pros sound so good, and hence the 1 star.)

Parking - Parking is insanely expensive. Some people might say, "oh but there are places that are same or just expensive", sure but 200-250 for parking still doesn't diminish the fact that it's super expensive. Saying something "not as bad as - " still means that something is bad.

Package thefts - Although it is entirely the community's fault, there could be a safer alternative to have the mailboxes inside the building or something that prevents theft. I've seen emails about theft at least 4 to 5 times living there and have had my items missing or stolen once or twice.

Lastly, and this is the single thing made me reconsider ever seeking out Aero or even Equity apartments anymore.

Based on my leasing terms, I'm not allowed to terminate my lease early and the Equity app also warns me so when I submitted to notice to vacate - sure. I had some friends help me move out 3-4 days early and since the unit is completely empty, I decided to leave my keys with Jessina because I wouldn't be in town to turn in my keys on the day I needed to vacate and didn't want to incur penalties.

WELL, I also didn't know at all that leaving my keys with the leasing office early also meant that I was relinquishing my ownership of the unit early, thus I was penalized for this. I reached out to Jessina and Cassandra explaining that I was NOT aware that leaving my keys behind with them would mean I will be paying 350 dollars extra on top of having to pay 450 for 5 days between 2/1 - 2/5.

I wish that Jessina would've looked up my file and gave me a courtesy call confirming with me if I'm sure I wanted to leave my keys with them because then they would have to submit it officially and I'd be charged extra money for forfeiting the keys early.

So, is nearly 800-900 dollars a lot of money? In the long run, no. But after a pretty decent experience, memories, and time living there, I did not expect that Equity would be this shady and try to milk every little penny out of the tenants. I understand that it is partially my fault for not knowing that forfeiting my keys early would initiate these fees, but it certain leaves a very sour taste and experience.

I don't know what else to say except I'm disappointed in myself and the Aero team, and I won't be returning...

I lived at Aero apartments for two years and overall it was a good experience.

The pros: Area is nice close to the beach and the ferry if you need to commute to the city constant patrol officer driving by the apartment (shout out to them for saving me one time) Street parking is available (my car was broken into once, but they put cameras up since then and I don’t think it’s as common now) -The building was always clean. It always smells good, and I would always hear compliments from people on how well maintained it is. outdoor areas are awesome, grills are great too you get a good view of the city and the area around it has new businesses moving in. the gym is perfect and usually not very busy they take the no smoking policy seriously which is nice because you do share air vents with neighbors automated doors so you can unlock your door for guests remotely and never need to carry a key -Mailroom has fridges for food deliveries (huge plus) best apartment finishes I’ve ever had, all neutral colors and white/clean look which makes it easy to customize your space to fit your style.

The cons: -The area is not as safe as it used to be. I was followed home twice. Once a guy approached me on a bike, telling me how he was “going to F me up”. Although you’ll probably have this issue in a lot of the Bay Area, I didn’t feel super comfortable walking alone at night. You’ll also occasionally see some homeless people around or little kids trying to access the building, just be aware. A lot of people come to do car meets in this area. You can constantly hear people squealing their tires during burnouts. you have to pay for garage parking but the garage door was broken 90% of the time that I was there. Seems like a waste of money since it’s about a secure parking on the street. I recommend just doing street parking unless you really want covered parking/assigned spot people at the front desk are nice, but never seem to know anything. Even simple questions about move out I couldn’t get a direct answer for, and when I had a billing question it took six months of following up to finally get an answer. the new manager Cassandra has been really helpful but other than that the workers are always clueless trash chute isnt open so if you’ve got a lot to get rid off it’s a pain bikes are always getting stolen out of the bike room. You have to pay for a monthly rental which is odd considering it’s not exactly secure and there’s plenty of spaces available for the building. moving out was a nightmare which is why I gave 2 stars instead of 5. They locked me out prematurely so definitely check your automated check out time is correct with the leasing office management is always changing. Celina and Sunny were there when I first moved in and were awesome but things have gone downhill since then. don’t miss rent payment or they’ll start charging you random “legal fees” with no justification and definitely be careful when asked to sign anything. I’ve heard of people being mislead by the...