The District Apartments — Local services in La Mesa

I would not describe this place as luxury apartments as they do on their website (I actually wonder if they're not presenting false advertising via their website). At best, this is a fairly standard apartment complex. This lack of luxury emphasizes just how overpriced it is. I have lived here for over three years and it has routinely been more expensive than it is worth. And now, I am coming up on my lease renewal and they want to raise my rent by 10%. This is over $200 a month more (and I should note that I have one of the cheaper units available). If you're looking at this place to move in to, make sure you can afford the high rates and the rate increases to come.

Some of the downsides to be aware of. There's plenty of noise in the area; the trolley can get pretty loud (it took me at least 2 years to become used to it and no longer have it impact my sleep), depending on where you're located, you can also expect vehicle and pedestrian noises, I no longer open my windows because there's too much noise at all times, which means relying on A/C too much and the subsequent high bills. The appliances are pretty basic; certainly not what one would expect in a luxury apartment. Related to that, they are technically LEED certified, but I wonder what they are actually doing to sustain that. There's plenty of areas where they could be greener but don't take advantage of such as providing a smart thermostat or newer, higher efficiency appliances. The complex has a unique layout which is routinely an issue when trying to get deliveries (packages/food/etc.); people will constantly have difficulty finding your unit, after getting access to the complex to begin with. Related to this, there will be times when Amazon delivery people will just not try to make the deliveries and leave your package at random places in the complex. The management staff are sometimes lacking in their communication for complex-wide events or updates. The elevators are out-of-order more often than you would expect. Security isn't the greatest here; pretty much anyone can get onto the property at almost any time without too much issue. It also feels like there's been a slow but steady decline in residents taking care and having respect for the place; there's been some issues with pet waste not being cleaned up.

In summation, I don't personally think it's worth the ridiculously high cost to live here (although everywhere is getting too expensive to live any more). I can honestly say that the only reason I still live here is the proximity to the trolley which I use to commute to work. Without that need, I would move from...

Although the units are newly renovated, there’s a few small issues that make it a frustrating place to live. The garbage disposal has a tendency to unscrew a bit after every use which led to it leaking and ruining under sink cabinet. The admin didn’t check for any mold damage which is pretty dangerous for future tenants. Our AC didn’t work upon move in (in early summer) and took until August to get it fixed. The ceiling hatch to inspect AC was never properly closed so that’s always frustrating to see. Although this is also fault of SDGE, it was a 3 month debacle of figuring out why we were being extremely overcharged for electricity and we found out through having to independently call a SDGE technician that our meter was the only non-working meter on our floor. So it’s just hard to seek help from admin and for them to brush you off when you are already paying decent rent. The pipes to the shower head started leaking through the drywall during every shower and when we called in a work order, maintenance just inspected it and never came back on any plans to check the pipe/ replace drywall in case there’s mold. So again another unsafe environment for not just us but future tenants. Finally, there’s only 1 elevator per building and ours was constantly broken or shut down for maintenance, one time it was broken for almost a week. Luckily we do not have disabilities that could prevent us from using the stairs, but for any wheelchair users or people with mobility issues, they wouldn’t be able to reach their units on the 2nd or 3rd floors. Also the there’s 2 gates to get in/out of the 2nd floor parking, 5 months after move in, the fobs to 1 gate stopped opening it, which moved most people to use the main gate. Both of these gates also frequently break and need maintenance and when the main gate is broken, people have to park in 1st floor parking for 1-3 days until the gate is opened/fixed. The leasing office is so hard to get in touch with, I returned a call 2 minutes after they left a voicemail and I was sent to leave a message and they didn’t call me back till 2 days later. I wouldn’t want to pay as much as we are considering these small inconveniences that add up and when not addressed can actually...

Lived here for 4 years with few problems, but, in this past year, the quality of our experience has gone down with no sign of improvement. This is a non-smoking complex, but some tenants have started smoking in the building all hours of the night and day. The smell is leaking into the neighboring apartments, making us sick and contributes to our insomnia, but we cannot identify who it is. We've reported it to leasing, but they can't do anything if we can't tell them exactly who it is. So, now we have to be our own detectives and find out who it is or nothing will be done about it (not even post clearly visible non-smoking signs or send out a mass email). I am not keen on walking around sniffing apartments or knocking on doors because the current social climate has proven to me that it is now, apparently, entirely too much to ask people to respect others. On that note, we have also noticed a larger amount of unfriendly people hanging around outside that makes me afraid to go anywhere. Homeless people have followed me while taking my dog out. Our car has been broken into, and we noticed multiple other cars with clear signs of people attempting to break in with crow bars. Many times, I've opened the gate to the upper parking level and witnessed a pedestrian sneak in behind me. Can't help but think those are the people casing the cars. I understand managing a plethora of tenants means leasing can only do so much, so this is not an attack on the office, only an updated critique of the complex. Not sure why the quality has gone down, but I would no longer recommend this place to anyone who wants to live in a safe, smoke-free...