Promenade at Berkeley

Apartment (second floor): Been fine and over all little complaints. My A/​C unit is pretty much an energy hog costing over $ 140 a month for electricity during summer. I really don’t have too many complaints about the 2^nd floor but some lower ground apartments suffer because management doesn’t take care of the property. They have an irrigation drain that’s been clogged for 5 years now so when it rains a river hits our building and brings in water to the lower apartments… that’s your mold issue I read down in another review.
Property: Not horrible but no proactive maintenance to keep it functional. They’re all about band-​aids here. Cover it up and plant flowers… even though the clogged drains cause the rushing water to wash the flowers away.
Places to BBQ and hang out. If you like a small pool and a tiny gym, this is your place lol. They hold events with free hotdogs and such once or twice a year at the pool. They got a small paved trail that goes ½ the property then ends in a parking lot.
Now the bad. I’ve been here 6 years and the complex has had the Duluth police here daily from drug related murders, to domestic violence. I’ve been carrying my Glock now everytime I walk around here. The Police told me I should find a new place as this place is #1 on their most called on places in duluth! (It’s my last year here, I pray I make it).
Management: Not flexible on rent, will file an eviction with the court 7 days after the 1^st of the month. Will try to charge you for anything they can… their rent has fees that you didn’t see on your lease. They went from $ 650 for my single 900sq ft apartment to $ 881. All I got for the higher price was more crime and less management.
Parking: HORRIBLE. If your tag expired, the police give you 30 days, this place gives you 0 days and will tow. My only beef is they tow cars that are properly parked. My apartment entrance is blocked every day from improperly parked cars. I emailed management and NOTHING, they don’t care. They’ll tow cars with no tags yet leave the cars blocking the apartment building there… wtf. If I could add a picture I can go outside right now and show the apartment building is blocked by a ford explorer. God forbid if you have a handicap friend, he won’t be visiting you at the promenade at berkeley.
Don’t pay their high rent here, there are so many better places to live here in duluth 5 miles away with less crime and better property management.

Please do no sign a lease with this complex. They are awesome when you are signing your paperwork, but once you have moved in it is downhill. It is damn near impossible to get a hold of maintenance and when you do, they MAY come by in a few days. We had a toilet that ran constantly for a full week, our fridge blew out due to one of the very many brown out/​black outs that they have. It took TWO WEEKS to get a replacement. I finally after complaining nonstop asked why they did not just give me a fridge from an empty apartment. The manager just looked at me for a moment shocked and said she would see if they could do that. It was brought later that day. I had to call the corporate office and threaten to call the city of Duluth about a horrible leak in my kitchen that caused the light to droop on one end and smelled funny. My husband threatened to call a plumber out himself which would mean that we would be allowed to take the cost of repairs from the rent. They came out, stopped the leak then left a whole open for in the kitchen for another two weeks. We made the same threat about hiring a carpenter and suddenly they appeared the same day to fix the hole, but left the light drooping at an angle as well as plaster in a trail across the linoleum and carpet out the door and down the breeze way. Now let’s go back to the Brown outs. Every few months the power in the entire neighborhood goes out. If it’s too hot, too cold, to rainy, if your neighbor breathes too hard. The light fixtures in the apartment were constantly blowing out the bulbs. This was not a random occurrence. It was the same four lights that would pop and make a sizzle sound when you turned on the switch. Maintenance told me to just stock up on bulbs (no joke). The one thing I will complain about that is something not even the building management can fix is the noise. The walls are paper thin. You can smell what your neighbors are cooking, hear when they flush their toilets, take showers and a few time hear other more personal sounds if they are too loud. To give you an idea of just how bad it was, we were there for only one and a half years. All of our neighbors left as soon as their leases were up. We had four upstairs, three on our level and two below. EVERY SINGLE PERSON left as soon as the lease was up. We all would talk about how horrible it was to be there. The only reason we signed a six month extension was because we needed a bit more money saved to move out. I asked for our lease agreement TWO months before it was due and they waited until two weeks before it was due to give it to me. I came into the office and told the manager that I would wait for it. So I sat down and waited quietly for her to print it and make copies then put it into a manila envelope. I took it home, we signed it and returned it the same day. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not waste your time and money living here.

I have been a resident here for over 6 months and they have the worst management team I have ever worked with. They are lazy and never get back to you quickly. They find any way they can to charge you, and tow cars regularly without notice or even a courtesy call. I wouldn’t recommend this apartment to anyone unless you like the feeling of being treated poorly. Staff simply doesn’t care about their residents.

This place has mold problems. Management does not take care about tenants or their concerns. Legal action has to be taken to get anything accomplished here. If you do decide to live here, make sure you have a lawyer ready. Document everything. Send certified mail so you can have proof letters were received by the management. Horrible.