Jia Apartments — Local services in Los Angeles

Besides the reports of rampant package and vehicle theft, a few incidents from my residence here stand out.

In April, 2024, someone attempted to break down my front door while I was asleep. Management never followed up and security (we only have a contracted intermittent roving patrol) brushed it off as a drunk resident. A few hours later, a homeless person trespassed onto the property and set up camp in front of my door (I've since picked up a Ring and routinely capture all kinds of bizarre things). Several days later, a staff member casually mentioned that some other apartments had recently been forcibly broken into, at least one while the residents were inside.

More recently, strange events have become much more commonplace. Last month, a visit by police officers resulted in a resident or guest quickly jumping from a 5th floor balcony onto the sidewalk on Cesar Chavez Ave. Just before that incident, in August 2024, I smelled smoke inside my unit. While it is not uncommon for homeless people to set up camp on Jia property and start little fires, this one persisted longer than usual. Directly below my unit, someone had lit debris on fire next to a power transformer, jeopardizing not only the building and its many residents, but the entire block (you can find clips from this incident on youtube). Even though Chinatown security (CBID) had already responded to the fire/perpetrator and I emailed the LAPD senior lead officer assigned to my district, an Equity Residential employee named "Sam" assumed I did nothing and suggested on our residential messageboard that I call the police next time. Even though management was well aware of the situation (their response was to call the head custodian), the arsonist hung out at the building for the next two days and built an elaborate encampment. Ignoring the obvious logic that a request for LAFD is probably the first course of action, a renter has no legal standing to order police to remove someone from a property that they do not own. This responsibility lies solely with owners and/or management. While I understand that office staff are leasing agents and have little incentive to assist residents and prevent criminal activity, inaction that leads to the loss of life or damage to a valuable investment property represents the epitome of mismanagement that borders on psycopathy. As a desparate measure to at least elicit some sort of response by Jia, I have public posted photos and video of all incidents and tagged the names of Equity senior management in the metadata. This company is publicly traded, so I figure that its executive officers and investors might be curious to how their properties are run.

On a lighter note, for the month of September, 2024, clothing became optional. Pictured below, a gentleman stripped down to his boxers and ranted and raved in front of the Ord Street entrance for most of the morning. By a stroke of luck, I found another jerk hanging out at the parking garage entrance. Even though the latter incident took place during the middle of a weekday (not on a closed Monday), the office was closed, they did not answer their phone, and the call forwarded to a security dispatcher who didn't even ask for a description of the person. A couple weeks later, a fully nude man ran through the hallways and parking garage and did not leave for many hours (although someone eventually threw him a blanket). If you have children or value your safety, keep in mind that individuals who exibit this sort of behavior lack inhibition and may even be convicted sex offenders (before you decide to rent at Jia Apartments, visit www.meganslaw.ca.gov and check the box to include transients just to see what kind of locals you may need to deal with).

January 2025 edit:

Added photo of another arson (several fires have been lit just outside the property off Hill St. and inside Jia itself). I also included a photo of a guy smoking meth outside someone's window. Strange that his is the only review from the past 5 years that hasn't been responded to...

I have lived at Jia now for almost 12 months and have been upset with the overall decline in security with associated minimal transparency among the leadership of Jia, maintenance upkeep, and unsustainable market price increases in rent.

First, regarding security, there has been an obvious reduction in investment of security staff with an unnerving uptick in crime in the area and even within the apartment. There have been multiple crimes within the apartment complex, including a break in during the day, with minimal communication with residents prompting many concerns/complaints. Unfortunately, rather than meeting these concerns of the residents for increased security, they have implemented a system that uses solely security cameras to protect its residents.

As for maintenance upkeep, there have been increasingly more breakdowns of community resources including elevators (one elevator was not fixed for weeks), hot tub, and the garbage disposal. While these occurrences happen in any apartment complex, it has felt increasingly apparent that these issues are happening more often and inconveniencing the residents.

Lastly, I have been upset with the algorithms that are used in creating a “market price” for rent renewal. We just found out they increased our rent by over 10% after our first year of living here. It makes it hard to feasibly and financially live in an apartment like this for more than 1 year. Rather than building a network of reliable residents, Equity is transparent about their modus operandi in optimizing their bottom line financially.

With all these factors, I would highly recommend looking elsewhere to live. While I have enjoyed the amenities and the location, Jia is not a safe or sustainable place to live. The transition of leadership and falling out of security has manifested as the issues as...

Lived here for 7 years. First 3 years were great and then really went down hill. Look at the number of reviews of people who had given this place 5 stars when they moved in to 1 star as time went on. Glad to have moved out. The price relative to other complexes in the area is cheaper but you get what you pay for and is probably why upkeep has been failing.

1. Packages constantly get stolen because management won't install cameras or access points are broken for delivery people so they leave it out in the open
2. Multiple access points for homeless and transients to access the building.
3. Trash dumpsters are out in the open which attracts homeless people to go dumpster diving
4. Quality of residents have decreased as well with dog poop and piss all over the common areas.
5. Parking gates have been broken for about 1.5 years now so don't even bother paying for parking as there are no gates so anyone can park for free
6. Police are constantly at the building waiting outside or looking to come in serving warrants. Sometimes in what looks like full seat gear so I'm not sure if it's for violent offenses like murder or rape.
7. Management is constantly entering the units for various reasons
8. Cars are constantly broken into and management won’t help turn over security recordings.
9. No on site security during the day.
10. Elevators are broken for months to almost a full year at times.

Pros

1. Price is cheap relative to other apartments around the area blossom and la plaza. But you get what you pay for.
2. Units are spacious with lots of storage and closet space.
3. Area is convenient for access to all highways and is relatively...