Luma Apartments — Local services in San Diego

I lived here for 4 months earlier this year. Luma was one of the few buildings that offered a 4-month rental (albeit at a much higher price), so I didn't have many choices.

Fees: I was charged a $540 move out (cleaning/painting) fee despite leaving the apartment in pristine condition (see video attached). If you decide to live here, get the move-out fee schedule up-front and expect to pay the 'maximum' by default. See the fee schedule that I was given at move out (attached).

More Fees: Also expect to pay around $100/month in utilities (water, sewer, water heating), $100/month to SDG&E (without using heat or A/C), and a $24/month mandatory damage deposit to Luma. Note that the numbers above are for a studio – fees will be higher for larger units. They will also require you to use a third party billing service (which charges an admin fee) and will try to convince you to sign up for a bunch of pointless apps (one to open the front door remotely - but you'll still need to come down to meet your guests as the elevator cannot be authorized remotely - and a package service which will charge you a daily fee if you don't pick up the package quickly enough).

Elevator: There are 3 elevators. In my 4 months there, I never saw all 3 working. Pretty often they were down to 1 elevator, at which point you might be waiting 10 minutes for one to show up (and it'll probably be too full for you to get in).

Window Cleaning: No window cleaning during the 4 months I was there. Windows are grimy and the view you are paying for will be seen through dirt-encrusted glass.

Noise: The building has a direct line of sight to the airport - which is cool until you realize that it also means noise. Flights take off from 6am to midnight. Expect it to be loud as the engines throttle up for takeoff. While the units have double pane windows, they are not thick enough to drown out the sound. Also, the vent fan in the bathroom has a clear (non-soundproof) path to the outside - so the sound will actually be louder in the bathroom.

Location& Amenities: The location is nice (in Little Italy) and the gym and the pool are quite good (the big screen showing stunt sports in a continuous loop in the gym is pretty annoying - especially at night when you can't look out the windows because of the reflected screen). Also, everybody in Little Italy seems to have a dog - so the area around the building smells of dog pee and full of skid marks from dog poop (and occasionally human poop). They have a function room that you can rent for approx. $500 for a few hours (+damage/cleaning deposit that you might not get back).

Guest Parking: They have around 6 guest parking spots for the entire building. You can reserve them (one-day at a time on the date of the reservation - not before - and overnight only), but no guarantee that you will actually have a spot (they may be taken by the time your guests get there - and despite the 'reservation' the 'concierge' won't do anything to help).

Service: Service is nonexistent. They have a 'concierge' who will never bother to open the door for you (even when you are carrying a bunch of stuff and struggling). Getting the staff to respond to a simple question requires multiple emails - and if you are lucky, you'll get half an answer. They'll be nice until you sign a lease. After...

I am not used to put reviews is actually my first review ever in google but the luma management people crossed the line with us . I lived in luma for 2 years . The AC never worked on my unit they never did anything to fix my issue and they never compensate us .The AC is a recurrent problem in the building it doesn’t work . During the summers you are not going to be able to sleep well . We put an AC request since the 1st month will moved in and it never got fixed. The management keep avoiding our requests and they never compensate us. So if you are a person that cannot sleep well without an AC don’t move to luma .

The other reason we are moving out is because luma just got bought by MG properties two months ago the new management sucks they will tell you one thing and will do the other . The new management people is not good at all.Luma is not good anymore if your are looking to live in a high luxury building . The community that lives in Luma is fantastic that’s the best thing of luma but I feel that with the new management , the recurrent ac problem and the new buildings that they building around the area , the community is going to start moving out from luma . I don’t recommend this building you are going to be paying a lot of money to not have AC and to not have a good service from the new management.The new management is so bad that they told us they will reimburse us $500 because of the AC and instead of giving us the discount they add the $500 to our rent . We also asked how the moving out was conducted and the management told us that we only needed to return the keys/garage stickers to concierge on the last day , we did that , concierge forgot to give the keys to the management and 3 days later they called us letting us know that they never received the keys and they were trying to charge us an extra day of rent . The new management really sucks is something that I heard from the community since the beginning that I didn’t care and at the end they were right. In case you are interested in living in luma and want to hear about my experience I am happy to get in...

We had a HORRIBLE experience touring Luma Apartments where we actually ended the tour early. Last Tuesday we made the hour and a half drive down to Little Italy for our tour appointment. We were barely greeted by a woman who I believe is named Hanna. She showed us a 1 bedroom but didn’t know the price or the square footage and couldn’t get ahold of her manager.

We asked if they had a model to show us and she said the only model they have is a two bedroom. According to her there was another “tour” group there but she took us anyways.

As we entered the model apartment we stumbled upon 4 employees and managers having a lunch party/meeting. There was food, papers, and folders strewn all over the kitchen and island and they were talking loudly. The entire apartment had a strong smell of subway which grossed us out. There was a woman manager and also a male manager present which was the manager that she couldn’t get ahold of earlier in the tour. They didn’t even have the decency to let us look around in the kitchen since they had it taken over.

We left the model apartment feeling disgusted, disappointed and offended and the whole situation. Once we got back to the desk we made it clear how offended we were that we made the long trip to be treated in such an unprofessional way. Employees have offices and meeting rooms for such activities, not the model apartment which is designated for showing future residents like us who had a set appointment time. We immediately left and went to tour some apartments across the street.

Also as a side note they had canceled our first appointment less than an hour before and we had already driven the 3 hour round trip to San Diego. No one even followed up with me the next day to reschedule and it was almost impossible to get someone on the phone.

Super unprofessional and it’s not held to luxury apartment standards. I recommend that corporate restructures their...