University Garden Apartments

Absolutely horrible experience! I was relocating to Sacramento for a new job. I wanted to move into their 2 bed 2 bath with a split lease option. Andrew, had me complete all the requirements including the background check for $ 28. He advised that everything was good to go. My apartment would be ready by the predetermined date for move in. Even had me sign the pre-​lease. This date happened to be less than a week before my start date at work. An hour before my appointment to sign my lease, he informs me that they changed the policy the NIGHT BEFORE. Now they require both roommates to move in at the same time. As a result they could not sign the lease.
This business is extremely unscrupulous with absolutely incompetent staff. Rent somewhere else.
Btw, if you give them $ 100 for the pre-​lease. You might as well kiss it good bye.

For your sake, do not rent from 1255. It barely deserves one star.
My boyfriend and I turned our «refundable» $ 100.00 check in and were added to the waitlist. We were excited because it is close to CSUS and the staff seemed exteremely professional.
And then they weren’t.
We signed our paperwork with Josh, who seemed a bit ditsy at first.
I thought, OK, well maybe he is new. He informed us our deposit was refundable if we informed them of a different apartment selection before our proposed move-​in date at the end of August.
He also showed us the tiniest one bedroom I have ever seen in my life. Way too much money for hardly any room. He also informed us that the asbestos on the ceiling is actually «healthy and has a bad rep.» Josh said it is necessary to have in a house because it is a flame retardant. Be that as it may, it is not actually healthy.
My boyfriend and I found a cheaper place so we went back to 1255 today (July 28) and asked that we get our refund.
Josh, now manager, said, and I quote,“We cannot give that to you. Go talk to an attorney.“
We left, fuming, ready to call their corporate office and then Josh calls and says that he can take care of our issue if we can figure out if the office deposited our refund already. (Shouldn’t he do that?)
After a few minutes of scrambling around and trying to call our bank, Josh calls again and says he found our check «lying around» and that we could come back in to claim it.
It was a mess. I have never felt so upset at a leasing office.
Please do not move there. They are very unprofessional and have the worst idea of what «customer service» is.

This apartment complex used to be owned by the Cambridge Management Company before it was bought by a new company. Things were never that great to begin with. Unfortunately, the new company made a mediocre situation unbearable.
Problem #1: There’s a pipe that runs through all the rooms carrying all the nasty garbage disposal water from the whole complex. Unfortunately, the nasty garbage disposal water comes up through the sinks from the pipe and floods apartments while the occupants aren’t there and soaks through the wall into the hallway. I had to plug my sink and stack weights on top of the plug to prevent the problem from reoccurring. The previous management had a plumber come out to try to fix the problem in the unit across the hall from me, but it didn’t work. The unit continued to flood when the occupants weren’t there, flooding into and smelling up the hallway.
Problem #2: My rent on my studio went from $ 550 per month with no utilities to $ 715 plus $ 75 utilities per month in 9 months after the new company took over. That’s a whooping 44% increase with poor living conditions! Nobody has a problem with someone becoming wealthy, but everyone has a problem with greed and someone gaming the system. The new company takes advantage of the housing shortage and the overwhelming desire of students to live close to campus with Obama’s monopoly student loan money that will never be repaid.
Problem #3: The new company completely remodeled the whole complex with constant banging, sawing, and hammering that lasted for over a year and was still going on when I left. The unbearable noise started at 7:00 AM and lasted until 5:00 PM Monday through Friday and sometimes Saturday. I should have gotten a discount on my rent for emotional distress, but kept getting stiff rent and utility increases instead.
Problem #4: The noise from the unit above comes straight through the ceiling and is extremely irritating.
Problem #5: The water tastes almost too bad to drink. I would have to run the water for one minute before drinking it to get rid of some of the bad taste. If I left for the weekend and then drank upon returning, YIKES! It would be best to get bottled water.
Some of the problems here started a very long time ago, but the rent and utility increases along with the noise from the remodeling made living here unbearable. The management is very professional and respectful, but it didn’t do anything to alleviate the unbearable situation. I know they aren’t the ones jacking up the prices. It’s the ones above them. I hope this information is useful and would strongly encourage everyone to shop for a better deal farther away from campus.

The new management is so horrible it’s not even funny. Barely anything is maintained and whenever I request for a work order in my apartment nothing is done. I have requested for a spider extermination, plumbing problem, and leaky ceiling and I still haven’t had anything fixed. FYI this is under the new management of twelve55 apartments not University Gardens. The front desk attendant lady is utterly rude and Josh seems to never be around. When the «will return» sign is out in front of the window they’re never on time. It just sucks that we had to lose two great managers in Pam & Luna to people who really don’t care about their tenants. The only reason why me and my cousin stay is because rent is relatively cheap and it’s right next to Sac State.

I was just at the leasing office to check out the place because of the positive reviews but I was faced with racist and degrading insults of the manager. I was shocked how I was treated! The units looked ok but I will see to it that the staff will be responsible for their behavior.

In December, the east side’s mailboxes were broken into, in January ’14 a motorcycle was stolen, and they knew parking lot security was an issue, because there was a night light installed specifically to light up their trailer. The owners changed, (and the new owners locked access to the pool only on 3 sides, so you have to walk the long way around to get to the weight room and sauna… wtf?). Plus they removed the ping pong table, you can hear people running through the halls at night (poor insulation in the walls), etc… These are the crappiest apartments I’ve ever lived in. BUT it’s close enough to walk to school. So there’s a trade-​off.

University Gardens portrays the beauty of Sacramento. There is something truly beautiful and empowering about living 2 minutes away from the American River. Originally, I gravitated towards this complex because of the accessibility to the trail. I’ve already lost 15lbs since I moved here. I can literally look out of my window and see runners here, runners there. This is very motivating. The buildings are pretty old, but it suits just well for a young college student. The complex is always clean, the pool sparkles. The apartments are mostly populated by young students. I have yet to run into children or the typical family. I have made new friends here and even gained a crush on a girl on the third floor. For singles, every semester there is a new wave of college kids moving in and out of the complex. This brings you more possibilities of meeting students. I’ve noticed students move here in groups, usually one tenant will be friends with 2 – 3 others. So if you make friends with one, you can easily make friends with others. Staff is great, Pam and Luna are world class hotties. Heck, even the maintenance men are awesome. Don’t get me started on how cool our mail man is.
There are talks of a big remodel, the owners are selling the building. This might change the experience for better or worse. I’ve even heard of the possibility of a staff change. Which would be downright stupid.
Ohh Yeah. Parking is great!!!

I will never forget the kindness that the apartment manager showed me when I first moved into this place. Her name is Pam, I believe (sorry if I got your name wrong). I had graduated college and was trying to leave behind a controlling life of my parents and this is the place I moved to. I told Pam that I had no references because I have never lived anywhere before and my father would be furious if she called him. She said she understood and wanted to know if I needed to move in early. She could have the apartment ready before I was scheduled to move in. I said no. I had to mentally prepare myself to leave my old and constrictive life behind.
The pros of this place — The rent is cheap. It is next to Sacramento State Campus. You could just walk to the campus in 5 minutes if needed. A great place for Sac State students if you cannot afford parking, car or gas. The manager was super nice.
The cons unfortunately are many :(
You have to take the stairs most of the time due to lack of elevators. The parking is out in the open. My car was broken into many times. I had a car alarm but that does not prevent anyone from really breaking into your car if they want to. I had just bought a new Toyota RAV 4 and it was broken into like the same week that I purchased it. The one bedroom apartment was really small — about a little over 600 square footage which is a lot if you lived in New York for example but this is Sacramento People!
Maybe it is because I was accustomed to living in a 5 bedroom house when I moved out and that is why this place seemed so little. Whatever!
The halls are creepy and dull, grey color. No art on the wall. Scary place to live if you lived alone. It is a quiet place, if you like the quiet. I guess the students did.
Me, not so much. I am glad I lived on the 3^rd floor. The chance of me getting murdered through the balcony seemed slim. I never actually had any problems with the renters out there.
Just the breaking into my car bothered me a lot, especially since it happened a lot. I moved out mostly because of the car break in. And the creepy halls. And the small apartment.
Oh, they do not allow pets. I was not happy about that. I sneaked a cat in. My first pet. I was so lonely. I needed a pet. I still have my baby boy (my cat Rajah) today and I love him.