Protea City View Apartments LLC

Don’t bother, especially if you have a pet. The very small space you have to walk your dog is full of dog poop, trash & cigarette butts. The pet policy here is null & void, assume there isn’t one. Dogs 20+ lbs over weight limit, tenants not picking up poop, poop bags get filled maybe a few days out of every other month. During winter expect to be woken up in middle of the night due to pipes freezing & fire alarms going off. A very regular occurrence. Better have low deductible rent insurance, without a doubt your apt will get flooded no matter what floor your on. The mgt will make you claim against your rent insurance before they would even consider giving you any compensation. You’ll need good auto insurance too. When you drive around here there’s no mirrors on a 1 ½ lane drive around the apt, your constantly playing chicken while driving around here. The pool is dirty & there’s no functional outdoor furniture. Only 7 people can workout at once. Machines were down all winter, they got fixed 7 mths later AFTER winter when no one was in there. Don’t bother getting packages sent. They’ll get «lost», total gamble that you’ll yet anything by mail. Aug-​Oct is obnoxious. All the silver spoon medical students go back to school & since they don’t pay for the apt, this place turns into a frat party quickly. Got concerns? Too bad, your on your own here. Office full of ladies that whisper & gossip when your around. They’ll stand there & stare at you as if your the most uneducated, ignorant idiot they’ve ever laid eyes on. This place is a joke. Not 1 person who lives here is satisfied or even content with this place but were all stuck here until our leases end. Even if your friends, locals, relocation companies tell you this place «looks nice». Pay more for the Grove or save several hundred a month & downgrade. We could not have gotten out of this place faster. Told at least 50 people we work with would could afford this place to steer clear.

I am writing this review 3 years after living at the City View apartments because I am still salty about my experience living there. The apartment manager (leasing manager?) whom I like to refer to as Dan the douche-​bag was a complete a-​hole. I was moving to the apartment from Iowa City, IA not knowing anything about the area and was really trusting him. He was completely charming, polite, and patient when he showed my mom and I the apartment complex and helped me sign my lease. Things pretty much went downhill from there…
Strike 1: MOVE-​IN DAY
When Dan showed me the model apartment I asked him if my apartment would have the same finishes – appliances, paint, etc. He told me yes so you can imagine my surprise when I had old appliances, no light fixtures, white walls, and plain countertops. They were all cosmetic so I got over it, but still it’s annoying and it’s a lie. Thanks, Dan.
Strike 2: Parents come to visit, car gets towed
My parents came to visit and Dan instructed us that «Guest parking is anywhere on the first, second, or third floors of the parking garage.» My parents parked on the second floor and were utterly shocked the next day when their car was towed. After paying the $ 200 to pick it up we were informed by the towing company that City View calls them to patrol parking garage and tow cars – City View and the towing company split the profit of the tow. Apparently guest parking is actually anywhere on the first, second, or third floor on any spot with a BLUE TRIANGLE on the ground. Wtf? Thanks, d-​bag Dan!
Strike 3: Birthday Blues
So it’s my Birthday and City View places a note on my door telling me that flowers have been dropped off in the office for me. I go down there and Dan is talking to a group of people. I show him the note and he leads me to 2-​dozen roses and tells me they are not for me and says they made a mistake and he starts laughing. I thought he was being sarcastic so I laughed too and opened up the flowers. Nope, they totally weren’t for me. Dan definitely «mistakenly» placed a note on my door telling me I had received flowers, lead me to somebody elses beautiful bouquet, watched me read the card that wasn’t for me, then laughed hysterically in front of his colleagues. Thanks, D-​bag Dan.
Strike 4: The douche-​bagetyness continues through MOVE-​OUT DAY
(yes I give people 4 strikes because I am a nice person)
After a year of dealing with Dan’s passive aggressiveness we decided to move out. We complete the paperwork, reserve the large moving elevators and hire a moving company. On the day we are supposed to move out I head to the office one last time to visit Dan the d-​bag and collect the elevator key. Dan informs me that unfortunately, we will have to use the stairs because the person who last had the elevator key did not return it. You’re telling me you have one key for the elevator and you rely solely on tenants moving in and out to be responsible and turn the key in? B. S! The moving men make a couple of trips down 5 flights of stairs and I decide this is absolutely ridiculous. Dan is showing the apartment to a group of sorry souls that have no idea what they are getting into and I confront him on the elevator situation. I tell him that I am going to call a locksmith for the elevator and start informing his potential tenants how they do NOT want to live at City View. Magically, the elevator «key» shows up and we are able to use the large elevators. My moving cost went from the estimated $ 350 to $ 725 thanks to D-​bag Dan’s shenanigans.
I paid my bills on time, I was quiet, I didn’t trash the place, and I followed the rules of the community spaces of this facility. Dan was and still is one of biggest d-​bags I have ever encountered and I hope nobody else has to go through the crap I went through living at City View under Dan’s immature ways.

I really like living at City View Apartments. I’m not a student but a hard working over 50 adult. I love the way that you don’t have to take a elevator to your apartment. Each level of floor has their own parking deck. Or you can park on any deck if your choose. Our apartment faces east so we have a nice view. The traffic isn’t really so bad I’m use to it but their is one thing I don’t like is that the plow comes at 6 am on the weekend and my bedroom window faces the road that has to be plowed and it wakes me up.
If you use to living in a home this apartment is a lot cheaper than cost of a home. We went searching for 6 months in different towns looking for a apartment/​condos. This is the high end living but we saw a lot of dumps noise smell people hanging out of balcony’s not for me. This is why we chose City View its safe and nice living.
You really have to look at other living before you come here. I believe this is the best that I seen and our electric and gas is a lot cheaper. You have full use of the community room for parties which I love with a deposit but you get it back if there is no damage. I have use it a lot. The staff are very pleasant including the maintence people. You have access to the cemetery so you can walk your dog but I don’t have a dog but a lot of renters do. Plenty of things to do and choices to eat.
I love it but it is high end living.

There are pros, and there are cons, though I think the cons outweigh the pros.
I picked living here because it is close to school. It is 1 mile exactly from Midwestern University. It’s very convenient living here because it’s so close. Additionally, it’s central to a lot of things in the area, so there’s a potential for some «nightlife» if you’re not overworked or in med school (or something like that).
Of course, it’s very close to many restaurants and the mall and the highway, so there’s tons of traffic all the time. Well, maybe not before 7 am or after 10 pm. Ok, I realize this isn’t related to the apartment. But, when you choose to live here, keep in mind all the people going to the shopping center that is right next to your apartment. There will always be traffic.
Ok. On to the related to the apartment building.
PARKING GARAGE: Pros — there’s a parking garage. Cons — My designated area is the first floor and not only does it house my car, but also a flock of pigeons. And their pigeon poo. The apartment complex made an effort to keep them away with spikes of some sort, but, alas, these pigeons fly right over them. So, it smells like pigeon poo all the time in the parking garage. Also, not all levels have safety mirrors. Even after requesting for mirrors to be put in on the 1^st floor, nothing has been done. It doesn’t make sense that some levels have them while others don’t.
COST: It’s fairly expensive, but that is just the way it is when living in this area. There are cheaper apartments nearby. 1 bedroom here is about $ 1200, 3 bedroom is about $ 2200-​$ 2300. However, for the cost, I don’t feel like I get the kind of service that I should. I think there are just too many apartments for a handful of people to take care of. There’s 4 office staff (or that’s the amount I have seen) that work in apartment building. I have no idea how many apartments there are, but it’s 6 levels so It’s probably safe to say over 100. Tons of people live here.
AMENITIES: Gym — small, but sufficient. Pool — Open during summer months, since it’s outside. It’s situated in the center of the apartments on the 2^nd floor so unfortunately it’s surrounded by many levels of apartments. Read: It’s shaded after about noon every day.
BATHROOM: My toilet clogs just about every other time I use it. I use my plunger about 4 times per week. And no, I don’t use a ton of toilet paper. It’s just the way things are. So frankly, I’m surprised it wasn’t my toilet that overflowed. Either way, if you’re thinking about living here, invest in a good plunger. The shower, seems to have pressure issues. Often, it struggles to get the water out and makes a very strange loud sound. Not so much a spa oasis when you take a shower, here. We’ve contacted them about it, but nothing has been done. I’m not sure if anything can be done. Just crappy water pressure, I guess.
KITCHEN: Our ice maker makes a strange noise. The ice gets stuck in it instead of dropping down. We’ve had it fixed 4 times with no luck. The last time the guys fixed it, they turned our freezer/​fridge off/​down. The temp level was at 0. Thanks for the heads up, but now our fridge/​freezer is completely thawed.
INSULATION: I don’t know what to say about it. My room (the master bedroom) is very well insulated. The rest of the apartment is not. My roommate put a blanket around her window and when she removed it a few days later, there was ice/​frost on it. Unfortunately, my room is so well-​insulated while the rest is not so that the A/​C and heat works overtime. Therefore in the summer the rest of the apt is an ok temp while the master is freezing. In the winter the rest of the apartment is freezing but at night I shut my vent otherwise it’s like a sauna in my room.
SAFETY: I feel very safe here. No sarcasm. I’d give it 5 stars if I were just rating safety (besides the fact they need mirrors in the parking garage).
We had a major issue when one of our toilets overflowed and flooded our apartment. Every time we called the office, we got a response that said something like «Well, I wasn’t there so I don’t know what’s going on. You’ll have to call back tomorrow.» So we ended up just calling the carpet company ourselves. It was a long process that still ended up taking 3 weeks. The carpet cleaners left marks on our carpet that fortunately we were able to get out with heavy cleaning.
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After moving out in June, we were told we wouldn’t be charged for anything while doing the walk through. Afterwards, we were charged. Shady, crappy service.