Berkeley Central

I’m heading in to my last month at Berkeley Central after a 3 year stay. I have been pleased across the board with my experience. The Leasing Office management, in particular, has been absolutely outstanding. I have found them to be proactive and responsive in dealing with any issue that ever arose.
The apartments themselves are fabulous. I have lived in a studio for the entire 3 years and love everything about it– high quality materials, rarely hear any noise from neighbors, lighting, appliances… everything is really great quality.
The only negatives are a result of life in Berkeley itself. It is an urban area and has some associated issues with regard to panhandling, etc. that you just get accustomed to. I have never felt unsafe no matter what time of day or night I am out.
The location of the apartments really can’t be beat. It is in super close proximity to great entertainment (just one street away at the Berkeley Rep, among others), wonderful food options from every corner of the globe, and many wonderful places to walk.
If I didn’t need to move closer to work I would stay here forever.

I absolutely love my one bedroom apartment at Berkeley Central!
Pros:
Gorgeous finishes
Modern style
Wood flooring
Designer appliances
Large balconies
Free package locker system to keep packages safe
Washer/​Dryer
Office staff is always friendly and helpful
Maintenance is quick and professional
Roof deck has beautiful views
Great location, everything is within walking distance
Pet Friendly
Quiet, I never hear my neighbors like other places I have lived
Underground private parking garage
Safe
Clean
Previous reviews make it sound like stuff is always broken in the building and that has not been my experience at all. I’ve had a few things that needed fixed in my apartment and maintenance took care of it right away with no problems. The staff is friendly and responsive.
It is expensive, but you get what you pay for. This building is totally worth the price. I have lived in other «high end» buildings in Berkeley and nothing compares to Berkeley Central!

I have lived here for about a year now and have no complaints. The ladies and gentlemen in the front office are very friendly and awesome to work with. They always greet you with a smile and are always helpful regardless the situation. I live on the backside of the building, which I highly recommend. Apartments are amazing. Furnished with top of the line appliances. You are getting what you pay for. Location is perfect. Bart is less than a block. Plus there is always some sort of entertainment and excitement going on in Berkeley. If you like to walk and explore this is the place to be. Enjoy living here.

To future residents:
I couldn’t care less about random girls at my apartment complex because really, how often would you interact with them? Don’t fool yourself… Everything breaks. your screen, toilet, plumbing, A/​C, trash, people steal your packages, homeless people steal your bikes, the garage breaks… You will find yourself talking to these idiots almost EVERY WEEK. This means that them being morons will severely impact your ability to get simple things done. They don’t do shit — they either don’t have to or they don’t know how… Stay away!
Berkeley Central,
Your automated Unilocal response is hilarious. The fact that you have to tell me that your comment is genuine is ridiculous. I know the girls at your front desk don’t do ANY work so no one would ever take the time to post a Unilocal response.

Great building, great location, awesome staff!

If you value quality, cleanliness, convenient location, and security, then Berkeley Central is for you. It’s just so easy and convenient to live here, and the apartments are great. Admittedly, it’s not inexpensive — but you get what you pay for. I’m on year # 2 here, and I love it!

I love living here. The building and the units themselves are beautiful and the location is absolutely ideal – if you don’t like the idea of living right in the center of downtown, warts and all, then this might not be the place for you – but I have to say that the people who work here really make it a great experience. The building manager and technician are so friendly and helpful and Khadeeja, Kaylin, and Natasha in the leasing office are fantastic at taking care of just about any annoying concern or request that I have (which is often – thanks guys!) The other big plus: the building’s dog friendly!

When we were looking for an apartment in Berkeley we were having a hard time finding one that met our needs. Berkeley Central was the only building that provided good customer service and good parking for large and small vehicles. The apartments are modern and larger than the competitors. Every apartment is equipped with a dishwasher, a washer and a dryer. Furthermore, you can BBQ and relax on the 9^th floor terrace with a great view of the bay. Moreover, the location is great because is close to the campus and the Bart. The apartments are great for people who prefer to live in a relaxing atmosphere with no loud parties.
The negatives comes with living in downtown, there are a lot of homeless people in the area (totally a sad situation for them) mainly because the apartments is a block away from the shelter. Parking is way too expensive, $ 150.00 for one car and $ 200.00 for a second car. If living on the Center Street side of the building, there is quite a bit of street noise, but usually nothing too distracting.

With out a doubt the best place to live in Berkeley! Love the apartments but the staff and the girls in the office are top class. Professionally run with the customers needs in mind. Not only are you in the heart of downtown Berkeley but you can be assured that if you have any questions about the area or anything for that matter, the employees in the office will be there for you. They will literally drop everything that they are doing to assist you. I think that you would seriously need to question the overall happiness of anyone that didn’t just Love this place!

You’d just LOVE to live here if you:
1) Love grossly OVERPAYING for a glorified studio (efficiency) apartment and parking.
2) Enjoy the LOVELY scent of sewer in the morning/​afternoon/​night/​anytime :D filling your home from all drains.
3) RELISH the guessing game of whether your AC/​heater will turn on or off on its own and stay on for the whole time you’re out. You’d also relish the electric bill for all those times you didn’t turn on your AC/​heater but it stayed on for days because the building’s systems are «cheap».
4) Enjoy the EXCITEMENT of not knowing whether the garage door will break this week, leaving it wide open for bicycle and car robberies regardless of the so called «onsite security» assurances. Also the suspense of not knowing whether the garage door will actually be open at the time they promised and you might have to circle the block a few times for about 30min until they decide that maybe they should live up to their promises and open the damned garage door on a weekday at rush hour in downtown berkeley.
5) Enjoy being scolded like a CHILD by email at least once a week about EXTREMELY important things like missing ping pong balls and correct recycling sorting.
6) Enjoy being sold services you don’t want or need and have them being pushed down your throat with the excuse of AWKWARD «social gatherings».
7) Enjoy being told anytime you complain about anything that this is a NEW building and therefore it’s normal for it to smell like sewer and get your bicycles stolen from the garage because of the garage door breaking down every other week.
8) DELIGHT in the smell of cigarette smoke from neighbors who don’t get far away from the building to smoke almost to spite the rest of us who are disgusted by it, even though this is supposed to be a non smoking building.
8) LOVE waking up to the sounds and smells of bums all round you, having to side step (human) vomit, urine or feces, having one of them bums come up and ask you for money while you’re trying to walk your dog.
9) LOVE dealing with overly entitled leasing office employees who think that they are the customer and you are just here to serve them. Where they tell you that they will check with the janitor to see if HE is available for YOU, not the other way around, your schedule be damned.
10) Enjoy calling UPS/​Fedex/​anyone (and WHO DOESN’T enjoy this???) to reschedule/​reroute packages because the aforementioned employees are NOT present in the office to receive packages when they’re supposed to and therefore you will NOT receive your package when you wanted/​needed it and have to re-​route it to your work/​gym/​crying corner. The building IS supposed to be fully occupied so they’re not showing units to prospective tenants soooo where do they go??? keeping us all guessing IS definitely part of their charm.
If you love all those things, then you will love living at Berkeley Central.

constantly either dealing with broken garage door, broken elevator, broken air/​heat unit, broken on/​off nozzle in bathroom or cigarette smoke smell from another unit. this is supposed to be a smoke free building.

Apartments are nice and modern and big. Trash pick up service is cool. Things are always broken though. Air conditioning was broken in the whole building for a while. Today, is the 2^nd time the garage door broke allowing anyone access to the garage. Not to sound paranoid or anything, but there are hobos all around the area.

I moved in on March 1, and it’s a great building. The location is fantastic, the finishes in the units are top-​notch, the on-​site staff are friendly and efficient… and it’s pet-​friendly! Yay!
The roof deck has outstanding views, and I like the rocking chairs up there. It’s a wonderful place to spend some time in the sun.
Yes, it’s expensive, but I think it’s a reasonable value for the money.

My wife and I moved in to the building the week it opened and we’ve been really happy with everything.
Con:
— The 1 and 2 bedroom units have a very open layout which is nice for light but stinks if one of you wants to go to bed and the other’s trying to watch TV.
— It’s expensive. it’s cheaper than SF for sure and you get a lot more but it does hurt writing that check each month. Parking isn’t included, and you pay extra for pets, and you end up having some of the utilities added on top of the rent.
Pro:
— The apartments are really nice. Maybe it’s because I’d never lived in a new building but it’s all high end. I love having a dishwasher and washer/​dryer.
— Neighborhood is awesome, great restaurants, a board game shop, a dog park, Trader Joe’s, and farmer’s market on Saturday, all in walking distance.
— Literally right next to the BART, and all the busses, so if you don’t want to have a car it’s easy to get around.
— All the neighbors we’ve met are really nice.
— The ladies that work there are awesome, super helpful and friendly. There were some delays getting the initial certificate of occupancy from the city that prevented us from being able to move in on the original date, but they found and paid for a hotel where we could stay with our dogs until it was all sorted out. They’re always willing to help you out.

Awesome place to live! Very modern clean flats with lots of open space and natural light.
2 minute walk to the Bart. Around the corner from tons of restaurants, the Berkeley Rep, 3 cinemas, trader joes… the list goes on.