Diega — Local services in San Diego

We lived at Diega for 14 months. It was a miserable experience with very little to recommend it.

Note. New applicants should be wary of overwhelmingly positive Google reviews. The salespeople push hard for positive Google reviews after you sign the lease, in the plush leasing office.

In no particular order, here are some thoughts regarding things we encountered over the course of our 14 months:

On 4th July last year, management/security entirely lost control. There were fistfights by the pool, excessive drinking, and then my fiancée’s car had been vomited on in the private parking garage. We followed up with Diega and were informed there was nothing they could do to find the culprit. Bodes well for security issues…

A couple weeks after that, residents got into a screaming match from the 7th floor terrace to an apartment several stories up. Objects were thrown and it was frankly lucky that no one was seriously injured

Unhoused folks threw a flare into the main lobby, resulting in fire extinguisher residue covering the north tower lobby. Other unhoused, intimidating folks are often trying to break into the garages using improvised blades. When it rains, the perimeter of Diega is packed with folks smoking crystal meth and other drugs. My 14 year old brother came to visit and it was frankly embarrassing. Diega employs ONE security guard in the north tower. He’s a great guy & works extremely hard - he’s just totally overloaded

Move out communication was poor. I was overcharged by several thousand dollars on move out and was informed this would be resolved swiftly. 3 months after moving out, and having chased via email for the past 3 weeks, I am yet to be reimbursed

The dog “facilities” are not fit for purpose. It stinks, is poorly maintained, and is positioned right next to the gym, which causes an unpleasant odor in the gym

The north tower garage doors were frequently broken, and it’s incredibly difficult to reserve parking for visitors unless you set an alarm to book it

My fiancée was almost hit by a speeding lime green G Wagon in the private garage. Apparently the staff couldn’t locate the vehicle… (how many lime green G Wagons have you seen in San Diego?)

AC went out for almost an entire month, with minimal communication from the management. My fiancée reached out for an update, and was asked sarcastically by Zac “do you want me to get up on the roof and fix it?”. A post to the community forum asking for thoughts from other residents was deleted by moderators.

All the focus is on alcohol-fuelled events & a frat house style atmosphere on the 7th floor. Don’t get me wrong, if that’s what you’re looking for, you will have a great time here!

Some positives:

Spec of the apartment is good. Location is useful if you work downtown or for some reason enjoy the “vibes” of unhoused camps & living directly opposite a discount store that is often the site of fracas

The cleaning staff are genuinely world class. I have no idea how they consistently cleaned up the human vomit, dog urine, and alcohol spillages that were par for the course every single day of the week. Those folks deserved to be paid a LOT more, and supported with more coworkers

Prospective applicants: stay away unless you are looking for a downtown frat house. Then Diega is...

I recently moved out of Diega after two years, and overall it was decent however there is a lot room for improvement. The units themselves are really nice, and some have great views. I highly reccomend NOT getting a unit facing the pool because of how loud it get on weekends. Overall residents are nice and very social however there are a lot of loud, tawdry people as well. Diega does do a great job with hosting lots of social events and meetups, probably the best building in the city for that. One cooking class that I took truly seemed to be a comedy skit and it is one of my most cherished memories from my time here and led to lifelong friendships. Minor complaint, but the fridge is extremely small for how much rent is. Best washer and dryer I have ever had tho. Parking is a joke and it’s possible Diega is even violating statue. Handicap parking is not assigned at Diega, which is fine. What is not fine is that Diega does not enforce handicap parking at all so most cars taking handicaps spots don’t even have permits, and they refuse to call tow trucks. Indeed, they had the audacity to scold me when I put notes on the offenders cars. If you are handicap I don’t recommend living here. Otherwise, good luck squeezing between a concrete wall and another car to get your wheelchair. It seems like every resident has dogs. This is fine with me, however Diega has no breed restrictions so you will have obviously aggressive 80 pound pitbulls snarling their teeth at you and your dog in the elevator. It is only a matter of time before someone or a dog gets mauled. I didn’t feel safe walking my own dog around the property because of the lack of breed restrictions/irresponsible owners. Also, the dog “park” is a joke and rinks of pee and attracts hundreds of flies. The area around Diega can be rough, especially at night. Tons of homeless, many of whom are aggressive. I have been chased by them before. Carry pepper spray at night, for real. Security is also a joke. I once found a homeless man with bloody feet sleeping on a couch in the lobby, with security nowhere to be seen. The security guys and gals are really nice tho. It is also ridiculous that management refuses to share video footage in any circumstance short of a subpoena. They even sent an email out saying the cameras were not there for our safety! How tone death is that? Overall the staff is really nice, however a couple are outwardly rude/dismissive/nasty. I should drop names, but I’ll control myself. Hailey is the nicest person there, if she is still there request her as your leasing agent for sure. Maintenance is also fantastic, super polite and always responded the same or next day. They also didn’t mind putting on shoe covered which I appreciated. Apparently, management does not let them fix the entry door on 7th street, it has been broken for over half a year somehow lol, so there is only one entrance for each tower. Diega was okay for me because the price was also fair compared to other stuff I toured. Some of the issues above are also just a given if you choose to live downtown. However, they have gotten truly delusional with pricing so I would only consider signing if you got major concessions, given all the issues above. I would say it’s worth a tour, but certainly tour other...

I would highly recommend anyone planning to move into the Diega building to choose another option for their housing needs.

The building, amenities, and staff will certainly charm you during the initial tour and through the lease signing process. The building and views themselves are incredible but there are other options in the downtown San Diego area which are under much better management.

Here's what to expect if you choose to live in Diega: At least once a month, there will be a day when elevators take 10-20 minutes to arrive and by that time, they may already be full. The entrance doors are never working at full capacity. By the time we moved out, only one of the four doors were working correctly. The B1 garage door was being held open by ratchet straps when we moved out in October 2023. I wouldn't be shocked if that is still broken. The building uses the Butterfly app to let residents grant access to guests. This service is constantly malfunctioning. The pet relief area is improperly designed and has a constant stench, which makes this area difficult to use. The strong odor draws in many flies.

I am well aware that these issues are not a crisis, but at the price Diega charges for rentals you expect better than what they are able to provide under its current management. The lack of accountability was also quite frustrating.

One of the more disturbing aspects of living at Diega is the constant "Weekly Resident Reminders" that the management emails to residents approximately once a week. The purpose of these messages is to encourage residents to follow the rules and guidelines of the building, but the current management uses these as an opportunity to threaten residents with lease violations and fines instead of addressing these concerns to those residents directly. The most disturbing message we received during our time at Diega was the following statement, “CCTV footage can only be shared in a response to a subpoena. Camera footage will not be reviewed for locating packages or personal items. Cameras are not intended to protect, monitor, provide security for, or give a sense of security to you or any occupant or guest. You acknowledge that, given the limited purpose for which cameras may be installed or used, we have no obligation to cause such cameras to be monitored. We have no obligation to preserve or make available the contents of any recordings to you or others.” It is disgusting that management would send out a statement to all residents that essentially, they are not here to make the residents feel safe or secure in their own homes.

I would also recommend that if you do decide to live at Diega, you are aware that they will return very little of your security deposit. We were warned of this by past residents and assumed if we cleaned our unit thoroughly, we would be the exception. That was not the case even though we spent 6 hours cleaning our unit post move-out.

I will restate that I highly recommend searching elsewhere for your housing needs. The views and amenities are not worth the mistreatment that Diega management shows towards...