Fourth & U

Wish I could give them negative!
Move-​out: good luck with getting a penny of your deposit back. Additionally they will charge you for a complete replacement of everything in the apartment, including painting after normal wear and tear, replacement of the whole vinyl floor and the bedroom carpet where they seemed to have messed up (or made up) urine inspection results. Pet owners be aware. They seem to assume people will just pay whatever numbers they pull out of their heads without knowing their claims are illegal. In my case they are planning to pocket my $ 1000 deposit and charge me additional $ 1800, even though I only lived there for a year with minimal wear and tear. I can’t help wondering whether this is their common practice or for some reason they think I am easy to take advantage of (I wonder what that would be…). Just initiated legal actions against them, will come back update you on the proceedings!
Parking: like everyone before me mentioned, you have to park in a stacker cage that breaks all the time. If you are scheduled to be somewhere like to work or an appointment and your car is stuck in the cage, fixing it takes at least a couple of hours. I once had to take a cab, and of course they won’t reimburse you but they WILL charge you for the parking space.

UPDATED
Okay, after talking with the office, it turns out the huge charge was actually an honest accounting mistake (at least as we were told). This makes a BIG difference in the post-​move-​out assessment. The rest of the move-​out charges certainly made sense and we’ve been contacted and refunded the huge carpet charge. That Essex helped reached out and right this was a big positive, too.
REVISED REVIEW:
The staff was always great and supportive and while the train was noisy, it was nothing we didn’t know about going into. It can feel sort of isolated and with Grocery Outlet getting shoved out for a new building across the street, not sure what future grocery options will be available. But the 51B nearby is convenient if you don’t have a car and maybe there will be more options once these new apartments are built. Pet-​friendly was a big plus as was the fact we could never hear our neighbors.
We spent one year there and moved out mostly due to being priced out from rising rents (and a little because of the train, but the train is an issue in a lot of places with similar buildings in the East Bay near those tracks).
Any other issues were mainly with the other residents, not the staff or building, and I can’t hold that against the building since you’re going to get that anywhere.

Where to begin… Fourth & U is the absolute worst apartment complex I have ever lived in. EVER.
Look, if friendly office/​maintenance staff and proximity to 4^th street are everything you’ve ever desired in a living situation and you don’t mind paying out the nose to deal with 75+ trains a day (not kidding), running back and forth to open and close your windows after pausing your movie or stopping your conversation because of said trains, cleaning your counters and floors every two days from all the dust (GROSS), and sweating at night is just not a big deal to you then this is your place!
THE DETAILS:
TRAINS! This is no joke people. The 75+ trains that pass through blaring their horn every single day and all night makes this place almost unlivable. You will have to pause your movies and stop any and all conversations with people while in your apartment. You’ll spend most of your time each day while you are actually home (which is rare as you will want to escape the train noise) running back and forth opening and closing the windows because, as prior reviews have stated, the apartments are really warm without the windows open (poor air circulation) but its too loud with the trains passing. Don’t think for a second that you’ll «get used to it»… you won’t and they will jolt you awake at night at all hours.
DUST. The amount of dust that blows in from the trains is simply disgusting. I moved from Phoenix where I lived for 12 years and never had a place in the middle of the Sonoran desert that accumulated even half the dust that Fourth & U does in a single week.
NO AC. As stated before, if it is above 65 degrees outside it will be 74 degrees or hotter in your apartment overnight. Have fun trying to sleep in those conditions… because remember, you can’t have the windows open… because of the trains.
ELEVATORS: Its true, these elevators are among the slowest I have ever encountered. Not sure why it would ever make sense to have an elevator take well over a couple of minutes to go down to the lobby and then up to the second or third floor. Use the stairs.
HOMELESSNESS: Its Berkeley. There are just gobs upon gobs of homeless people always wandering fourth street and making it «home» as well. At least share the cost of rent with me if you’re going to stay on the property! When you start giving your resident homeless names there is a problem.
BEING «NIT-​PICKY»:
The electricity went out more than once for much longer than had been identified in the notice (not all Fourth & U fault but none-​the-​less annoying).
The materials used to build the complex are noticably cheap and went to the lowest bidder just to get the it up and running. There isn’t a lot of noise from neighbors next door but could hear nearly everything going on above.
Noise complaints over the course of many months never ended up being fully resolved and made for many many sleepless and frustrating nights. As if the train noise wasn’t enough?!
But its not ALL bad:
Fourth & U Staff are friendly. Anything that has been broken or gone out in the apartment has been replaced quickly.
Obviously the proximity to 4^th Street is great, which now includes Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo room and the complex is within a mile from N. Berkeley Bart station.

I am a reasonable man. I know nothing can be perfect. However, 4^th And You was the worst apartment ever. I’ve lived in many different apartments before, and living in this apartment was the worst experience. You can hear the washer/​dryer running at night through the ceiling. The train noise is much more than you’d expect. Apartment is overpriced for sure, when you consider their horrible management, extra fee for parkings and many more. Garbage is not always taken care of and I often see the pile of garbage in the trash-​chute room for days. Above all, management is the worst. It starts with when I first signed a lease. As far as I am concerned, I didn’t know that I have to show more than $ 30,000 in my bank account to get the 1 bed room apartment. I was a student at Cal and didn’t have any credit history, and that’s why it was required. It’s okay because that’s their policy. But they waited until few days before the move-​in date to tell me to show my balance in the bank account. I had no option because it was too late to find another apartment. This was a real pain in my ass, and barely handled the situation. I lived there only 7 months of course because I didn’t like living there. When I move out, I, again, found that the my experience here was the worst. I’ve moved to another apartments before more than 5 times. They never deducted more than $ 300 from my security deposit. First I had to put more than $ 1300 for my security deposit and only got a refund in the amount of $ 579. They charged for everything from carpet replacement, cleaning and painting. It’s not all about money, but it’s how they think about their customers. I am just furious about how they treat their resident. It’s not just because the apartment is overpriced. You’ll find yourself being furious about how they’ll treat you. Never recommend!!!

Oh man. This is the WORST place Ive ever lived. We stuck it out for a year and that was torture. There is no A/​C and the place gets HOT! You would think opening the windows would be a good idea, but you can actually throw a rock from your apartment and hit the passing trains. So, «no» opening windows (But really, you have to, due to the heat)
The mess of dust and dirt coming from the railroad tracks is disgusting and can’t be healthy. I also wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said I lost a bit of hearing at this place. The stationary train whistles can be up to 110 dB (I measured). Its actually lawsuit material.
The only redeeming quality of this awful place is the office staff. They are friendly and professional with all they have to deal with. If it wasn’t for them, I would have lost it in this place.
Essex is a horrible property owner. If you can avoid moving to Fouth and U, I would advise it (and their new sister building across the traintracks… I can’t speak for anyone living there, but if its anything like the Fourth and U property, stay away!!)
I feel bad giving this review, because Christian and Christina are such nice folks (The office staff) but if someone just told ME not to move in here before I signed a lease, I would have saved my hearing, my sanity and a lot of money. (Did I mention the place expensive? It sure is.)
Also, I would advise against being a single female there. The homeless congregate on University ave and tend to wander around the property, screaming and yelling. or just passing out around the building.
Pluses, if you’re going to move in anyway:
You’re close to 4^th st shops and restaurants.
You can use all those food delivery apps because EVERYONE delivers there.
ITS SECTION 8 so if you need that, I imagine thats a good thing. (I personally thought it was a load of shit that I paid so much and there were people not paying even half that… but its Berkeley.)
They have a locked bike room and in building parking.
The Grocery Outlet across the street is AWESOME if you think of it like a huge convenience store.
Brennans is a place you can go get drunk when you’re sick of the trains. They are actually quieter in there… go figure.
None of these are enough for me to recommend Fourth and U. But it helps.

We had a generally good experience here.
The positives:
* Mgmt is generally responsive, if you have a maintenance type issue it will get handled.
* Maintenance and office team generally very nice. Move-​out was handled professionally.
* Mgmt is generally organized, no lost rent or other silliness.
* They seem to price so there is always availability. Good if you are looking for a spot in a hurry. Bad if you are looking to save money!
* Units are well insulated. Our electric bills were very low and we used heat minimally.
* We found the parking stacker system fine and very usable.
* Nice ice cream shop downstairs, and new beer place across the way.
The negatives:
* Pet owner irresponsibility. This is a pet friendly community. This means that you may find dog crap and piss in the stairwalls, sometimes hallways etc. In the stairwells particularly it can really stink if it gets warm as the air is trapped. Accidents I can understand, but if you can’t be bothered to clean up the crap as an owner I don’t have tons of sympathy. Of course this isn’t mgmt’s fault directly, but this is not one of those places were they test the crap in the hall and fine the owner a big fine so it goes somewhat unaddressed.
* A rather slow elevator. Taking the stairs is healthy so not a big deal.
* If you live facing the trains you will hear them — no getting around that.
* Bike parking is overloaded. They don’t charge anything for bike parking so bikes will sit there forever unused. It basically is unusable for an active biker which I was.
* Another tenant issue (which I think they are fixing). The folks upstairs smoked and threw their butts onto our balcony. Our balcony furniture had ash on it frequently, and we had to keep the door closed. What a bummer. We complained, but I noticed in the new lease they give other tenants some extra rights when someone starts smoking which may help, and it tapered off as an issue so either the upstairs folks moved out or they talked to them.
* Cost — crazy.

Amazing location and beautiful apartments. Very clean and new updates. Parking is a breeze. Love the neighborhood for shopping, biking, running. Close to tracks but depending on unit, trains arent bad at all.

Opps. I’m leaving. My view of the San Francisco Bay (see photo) is gone, taken over by a new 6 story apartment. As an original three year tennent, thought I might get a renewal lease deal, but no. A substantial increase in rent. And I was served with a $ 300 water/​garbage bill from the management company, which I never ever received in 6 months. There was a security issue where I had to call the police. Never followed up by the management. Finally, a ghetto resident let’s their dog poop in the halls. BTW, the mail carrier sucks too. See ya.

I was almost convinced not to take a apartment here because of one bad review. Now that i’ve lived at Fourth and U a few months, i’m going to go through each of the bullets of said review and counter/​agree.
1. PARKING: A very good parking system and only $ 50/​month. The cars get stacked in a machine. It’s kept secure, you don’t have to worry about moving the car for street sweeping or from it being vandalized on the street. Plus, if you travel on business, you can rest assured your car is safe. Yes, it takes a while when there is contention (another person in your row wants to get at their car), but contention is time-​dependent, and for my schedule, it’s quite rare. It only take about 3 minutes to get the car in/​out, with contention, it increases by ~3 min per person. I’ve never contended with more than 1 person.
2. ELEVATOR: Slow. Yes. But it and the entire complex is kept very very very clean. I love that.
3. TRAIN: Annoyingly loud. Yes, it is annoyingly loud. The trains must honk (5 times, 4 short, 1 long) because the building is next to a track cross-​walk. However, the double-​pained windows REALLY REALLY help. It’s not a problem when the windows are closed. It also rarely passes by at night. Sucks on hot days, but it’s a reasonable tradeoff, i think.
4. MANAGEMENT: Once you sign the lease, emails go unanswered. However, if you drop by the office during office hours, they are VERY responsive. I’ve had a broken faucet and a light that needed to be replaced. Both were replaced MINUTES after i walked into the office and complained about it. They literally radioed the facility manager to head over with me and fix it then and there. Unbelievable service.
5. RENT: Overpriced if you’re not used to paying city prices. I’ve only ever lived in Berkeley, New York, Boston, and Tokyo. If you compare with similar-​caliber properties in the area, the value for your money is VERY VERY good.
The service is the best i’ve ever had in a building in the US (comparable to consumer-​friendly Tokyo). The apartments are in tip top shape. The carpets are always replaced and the entire apartment is repainted before you arrive. The washer-​dryer is clutch! It’s amazing to have a washer-​drying combo in the apartment. The kitchen also comes with a new dish washer and microwave. Also super clutch.
The apartments are well insulated for noise. I hardly ever hear anyone. This is great and exactly what i was looking for. I also don’t have to worry about playing my movies loudly on a Friday night, when i’m watching them with my family. I would highly, highly recommend this place to others.
Another great service: the gym. I use it several times a week. They also have a recreation room that I haven’t used, but it kept in tip top shape. Also, to that point, a dog peed all over the stairs 2 days ago (Saturday night maybe) and by Monday morning, the entire stairwell was clean, no pee smell, nothing. Back like new. I love this place!

Got to love how they put the best review on top…
Where do I begin.
1. PARKING: The worst system ever and for $ 50/​month? The cars get stacked in a machine, SUVs won’t fit, they have to be at the bottom. You have to get out of your car to open the machine then get back in to park and if someone is before you-​good luck there goes 20 minutes. Its a hassle to get home, hassle to leave. One time it was broken for a few days. Street parking is decent if you arrive at a good time.
2. ELEVATOR: Slow!!! And only one per side. If you leave for work around 8:30am better take the stairs since the elevator is busy picking up people on every floor.
3. TRAIN: Annoyingly loud, why must they HONK every time they pass??? I’ve lived next to trains in SoCal and never had this problem.
4. MANAGEMENT: Once you sign the lease good luck ever getting any answers or help from them. Emails go unanswered, and they don’t really seem to care much for tenants. No sense of ‘community’ here at all.
5. RENT: Overpriced for what it is. we are crammed in a 700 square foot apartment and pay what it would be for a two bedroom HOUSE in North Bay.
Too bad I’m new to the area and became a sucker for living here. At least I can warn others to not make the same mistake.

I strongly recommend AVOIDING moving in here. I was just notified of a $ 1000/​month rent INCREASE (in addition to the $ 2000/​month I’m already paying) if I choose to go month to month at the end of my lease. I can’t believe they would even propose that. Shady. And if you sign the lease its $ 1900 penalty fee to break it early.
Plus the turnover for staff here is at least every month or two, which to me suggests a poorly run company. The risk of living here is definitely not worth the amenities.

Similar to Michelle Z, I would have opted for a «no stars» option upon writing this review.
While the place does have a lot of potential — it’s all modern and clean with a great little fitness center — unfortunately, the rest is awful.
NOISY — You will hear the train no matter what the staff tells you. You will hear it every 15 – 20 minutes at all hours of the day/​night. Yes, that even means being woken up at 4am by an angry train engineer who is clearly annoyed that everyone else is asleep except him as he honks the horn an absurd amount.
SECTION 8ERS — While you’re being charged a lot of money to rent a small place, you got loads of Section 8ers renting units at extremely low rates, blasting music at all hours, and parking in non-​parking spots in the garage (not in the stackables or in the assigned parking spots, mind you). I would love to be PC about it but screw it, the place is hood.
PARKING — It’s awful. If you have a car that fits into the stackers, it’s still a pain but doable. If you came in with a larger car that won’t fit, good luck getting a ground parking spot in the garage. Planning is so poor at this facility that somehow, folks with teeny tiny cars are given those coveted ground parking spots instead of folks with medium/​large cars that simply cannot fit into the stackers. In this scenario, you will have to fight for parking outside or occasionally pay hourly parking fees in the spots on the side of the streets when you cannot find a spot.
ADMIN STAFF — I concur with the former reviews praising Liz, the manager. She is great but unfortunately, you will not always be dealing with her but rather the others in the front office… who are often difficult to track down. They are largely unresponsive, provide a lot of misinformation, will spell your name incorrectly on the leases or other documents multiple times, etc. If for whatever reason you decide to live here, please email ALL of your requests and have them in writing as I guarantee you will be sharing those with Liz to prove a point about whatever the subject is later.
MAINTENANCE STAFF — For the most part, they’re actually really easygoing guys who are responsive. Except for one instance where they came into the apartment without having provided us notice, they were fine. I chalk this exception to the failure of admin staff to provide adequate communication to both the maintenance guys and the tenants.
STREET LIGHTS — If you’re interested in renting a unit, make sure you don’t get one facing the street at a second-​story unit or higher. Seriously… the street lights are right in front of your unit windows and when you turn off the lights, your entire place will glow a bright orange. Good luck sleeping between the lights and the loud trains.
ELEVATORS — Slow moving elevators. Ridiculously slow.
SURROUNDINGS — Great aquatic park and sake plant nearby. Also, the proximity to Fourth Street is great. Personally, I’d rather live somewhere else and just drive here to visit these places.
To be frank, we ended up breaking our lease after 4 months. We simply couldn’t handle living here. It was an awful experience. Whenever we saw staff showing new people the facility, we just wanted to scream out to them «don’t do it!»
Best of luck.

I can’t be more grateful. Many housing providers are most interested in the bottom line. Fourth and U offers an environmentally ethical option and a friendly, human experience for applicants and residents.
I’d like to specifically praise Onika Campbell-​Johnson who navigated the application process for my partner and me with grace and kindness. Despite her time absent from the office for vacation (which everyone deserves) she ensured a seamless and timely start-​to-​finish. In light of my cross country move from New York City to the Bay Area, her service was beyond compare — more than I could’ve hoped for during a move that is very complicated.
As someone with high standards used to the brokers of New York, I am grateful and genuine in my high, high praise of Onika and Fourth and U.

There should be a «no stars» option. I don’t even want to waste my time writing a review for this place, but I really don’t want future residents to go through what I had to at Fourth & U. so I’m sharing my story.
Before I go on, I need to say that there was a period of good living at this apartment complex. Liz was the manager and she handled everything well. But she left and was replaced by new management, and since then, phones go unanswered, resident complaints go unsolved, etc.
Do you like to be woken up in the midst of a comfy nap? If so, this is the place for you! The apartment is literally RIGHT next to the train tracks: freight trains, amtrak. all pass thru here. They told us «oh you won’t really hear the trains, and if you do, they only pass by every couple hours or so»…WRONG. Every 15 – 30 minutes actually. And YES you hear them… you here them like NO OTHER. It’s right by a road that crosses the train tracks so passing by trains must toot their horns loudly and repeatedly to alert crossing traffic. The double pained windows dub the blaring a little bit, but not by much. And when the summer heat comes and you want to leave a window open, forget about having peaceful sleep.
This place will do whatever they can to get you into signing the lease — «free parking» or «small security deposit». But don’t be mislead…
We were offered a security deposit of only $ 250.that’s awesome! But come move out day, they told us that it would be ~$ 125 for cleaning, $ 250 to repaint, $ 100 something for carpet cleaning, and other fees. So we ended up paying more… and this isn’t because we left the apartment a mess: we didn’t want to be charged for cleaning services so we cleaned the place as best as we could. The leasing stuff told us that even if we clean it, they still have to do a thorough cleaning again, so the fee would be charged regardless. Even though our walls were CLEAN, they still have to repaint the whole place, and it is OUR financial responsibility to pay for cleaning and repainting. Yep.
Also, they reward residents $ 250 to report fellow residents seen not picking up their dog litter. ANY information regarding a resident not cleaning up after their pet will be rewarded $ 250. I understand they want to keep the apartment complex clean, but seriously? A bounty for ratting out your neighbors? Give us some respect, and just kindly tell us to please pick up after our pets.
They RARELY answer their phones or return your phone calls. I thought maybe they were just trying to avoid answering MY questions, but other residents told me they had the same issue. I even called once while standing right outside their leasing office, and watched as the employees played on their cell phones as the office phone continued to ring.
About a month before our lease ended, we received a notice saying our rent would increase $ 200/​month and if we renewed the lease now, it wouldn’t increase anymore than that. I immediately called the leasing office and left a message for them to call me back regarding this issue, to see if there was anyway to reduce the rent increase. No one called me back. I called back again during normal business hours, left another voicemail, waited a few days. No response. I sent in an email and they responded that they would get back to me. I couldn’t drop in the office because I work, «conveniently» during their business hours (~9:30−5). They are rarely open on Saturdays… so my boyfriend took a day off to drop by finally on a work day. We explained to them that we would love to renew our lease but the $ 200/​month rent increase was a little unreasonable. Not only could they still not answer our question about possibly lowering the rent increase, but they said that because we have not given them 30 day notice of not renewing our lease, we will now be charged the INCREASED rent fee for the days remaining. I don’t think I need to explain anymore my frustration with that.
Oh, and after I called several times to ask about my move out costs, without a phone call back (surprise surprise), I dropped in to ask them. One of the employees said to me, «Aw are you sure you don’t want to stay another year?» …You’re joking right?
The only good thing I can say about this place is that maintenance crew is very helpful and they’ll replace your light bulbs or whatever in a timely manner.
I am so excited to say that I am OUTTA here. and have moved to another location. I hope this review can prevent other residents from being victims of this unprofessional business. I could go on with other problems I’ve encountered with them but I think the reviews before mine speak for themselves.

We only lived here for 9 months but ended up buying a house so we had to break our 1-​year lease. Well, GOOD LUCK getting your security deposit here. Also you will be charged up the wazoo for breaking a lease here! When you move out, if you don’t clean the LIGHTBULBS, they will charge you. All in all, it was a good location close to 4^th street shops, but DO NOT break your lease! And do not expect your security deposit returned!

Been a while since I moved out, but felt the urge to share. These guys charged me $ 650+ upon move-​out. I didn’t find this out until I called asking where my deposit refund was. They subsequently provided me with a list of things that were not damaged + cleaning that the management explained was «mandatory».
Fortunately, I had made a high-​resolution video-​recording of the empty and clean apartment prior to moving out. I informed them that I had made this video and that I would be suing them, and that in any event they were illegally withholding my deposit, as they had not provided an itemized list of expenses within the time allotted by CA law. They took $ 450 off the charges, and refunded that portion of my deposit. I really wanted to go to small claims for the remaining $ 200, since I had recorded the condition of the apartment before moving out, but I’d lose more by taking the time off of work.
I hope things have changed since then, but be very careful with your deposit money and document everything when you move out.

Okay, like the others, I now like the manager, Liz. She gave me a lot more of my security deposit back than I ever thought. She was really nice about it too.
THANK YOU LIZ.

It’s now June 2011 and things have CHANGED! The manager, Liz, has really turned the place around with top notch service.
Maybe it’s also b/​c many of the student residents have left and there are no more beer bottles and pizza boxes in the trash chute area which is supposed to be empty of all fire hazzards, or the Thursday night late nite buzz from a student tenant or friend of student tenant wanting to get in.
Regardless, the grounds are well maintained and improved, everything I’ve ever needed has been taken care of promptly and followed-​up.
Oh, and I did get my lease thanks to Liz — two copies, in fact. But if Liz leaves, I will leave. If she stays a while, I may consider buying if this place turns to condos.
~~~~~~~~~~
Was supposed to get a lease on Monday, April 4. I had to call them to see what was the problem. They confused me with someone with my name — got it cleared up (but again, I had to call them).
It’s now Friday, April 8. I had to call them again about my lease. Nope, they just hadn’t gotten to it yet.
Now, the reason I need my lease is becuase the idiot who lived there before me never turned off cable so Comcast won’t start service until they see a lease. I’m supposed to move in next week, but I’m not moving in if I don’t have cable and internet; if I don’t get my lease by tomorrow to take to the local Comcast office, I won’t have cable and internet for at least 4 weeks b/​c of the wait time to get a service tech.
I don’t know if they don’t want to rent to me, or if they are just slow stupid idiots, but this is annoying. I have be the one to get the work done when they get paid to do the work I’m doing.
Not sure if I will sign the lease… SINCE THEY FINALLY SENT ME A LEASE WITH INCORRECT INFORMATION AND RENT AT 6PM — right when they close.
To the leasing office: it’s called a «JOB» as in DO YOUR JOB not have your clients do the work for you.

After seeing several reviews of people who don’t actually live here, I thought it was time for a resident’s review. My wife an I moved into our brand-​new apartment at Fourth & U about 3 weeks ago and it’s been pretty good up to now.
First of all, the building is right next to the Amtrak train tracks, and the trains are loud, especially the horns. Even though the sound proofing is pretty good, you probably don’t want to live here if you are a light sleeper. Personally, the trains don’t bother me.
The apartment itself is very nice. We are in a Telegraph 2BR 2BA unit, which is about 1200 sqft. It’s spacious, has a great kitchen, nice bathrooms and a cool floor plan (the floor plans are on the Fourth & U website). Sound insulation is decent, and thermal insulation is really good. The in-​unit washer/​dryer is a big improvement from our previous apartment which had a central laundry room.
We haven’t really used the gym yet, but it’s nicely equipped. The parking garage had some issues, but those are being resolved one by one. They are still working on some other cool amenities, like a community room, bike parking and storage, and they’re finishing up some details such as landscaping, and fixing the inevitable new-​building quirks.
The building is just one block from the 4^th Street shopping area, and about 7 blocks from San Pablo Avenue with lots of restaurants, the post office, and other facilities. It’s right next to the Grocery Outlet, which turned out to be a decent supermarket: the selection varies from day to day, but the prices are rock-​bottom.
The neighborhood definitely has an industrial feel to it, but it’s a nice mix of residential, shops and businesses. There are some unique stores, such as the Takara Sake museum and the
retail store (both 1 block away). There is easy access to the I-​80, so we’re in San Francisco in 15 minutes if traffic isn’t the mess that it often is. Bus 51 stops next-​door, and North Berkeley BART is not too far either (1.3 mi).
We can walk our dogs in Aquatic park (2 blocks) or take a longer walk to Cesar Chavez park where they have an off-​leash area. We also go to the Ohlone dog park, which is about 1.5 miles away.
These apartments are certainly not the cheapest, but we got a good move-​in deal: minimal deposit, 1 month free rent, 1 free parking spot and free pet rent for 1 pet. We also looked in Oakland and San Francisco. We like Berkeley better than Oakland, and some of the nice places in Oakland aren’t that cheap either (The Grand, The Bond). In San Francisco we’d pay at least $ 1,000 more per month and still have a smaller place. So we feel we get good value here. If things change, I’ll update this review.

This place has a nice website, but reminds me why I prefer to rent from humans. I did appreciate that the salesperson gave me names of other apartment complexes in the area that might be less expensive.
However, for the size and quality of the units, I couldn’t pay this much and feel good about it, despite the amenities like the fitness center, proximity to Fourth Street, being brand new, etc. Pet rent? Bait-​and-​switch CL ads? Have you heard how loud that train is? Did I already mention bait-​and-​switch CL ads?
Yes, companies need to turn a profit, but who wants to live in a place that makes you feel like money-​making chattel? Sorry. 1.5 stars.