Kelvin Court Apartments

I have lived at Kelvin Court apartments for about 7 months now. I have to say, in all of my years of renting this is by far my favorite complex ever. It’s almost like a small, hidden complex in the Irvine business district (I work in Irvine). I’ve lived in this area for years and I never knew this place was here. It’s very quick to kind of go out the back way (McGaw) and get to South Coast Plaza, The District, or other places I like to go to without hitting many main streets.
It’s extremely quiet (except for my upstairs neighbors!), very well kept up and clean, and people seem to keep to themselves which I love. It’s definitely working professionals here.
My patio overlooks the 2-​story office building next-​door which is also perfect for me — you do not get neighbor noise from that area — the dog walk is below my patio and it’s really cute to see people walking their dogs.
The leasing office people and maintenance are very nice to deal with — always polite — and always get back to me quickly.
Guest parking has never been an issue. My brother/​sister-​in-​law come over for dinner often and they park right in front — there are always open spaces. Also, getting in and out of your assigned spot is a breeze — it’s just a single level covered area — super nice!
The only reasons I did not give this a 5-​star review:
1. My upstairs neighbors are a nightmare. They are so loud with the stomping, slamming and wall banging. I don’t get it. I’ve talked to them a few times, and so has the leasing office. They aren’t as bad as they used to be but still very annoying (especially when I’m trying to work from home). I suppose I’m lucky that they aren’t up all hours of the night. Apparently they have 3 adults crammed into a tiny 1-​bedroom apartment. I personally think that should not be allowed as they are bothering professionals who are paying full price.
2. The water bill is insanely high. I live alone in a small 1-​bedroom and my last monthly bill was about $ 65.00. It’s not like I’m sitting in a bubble bath running the washing machine ²⁴⁄₇ — I work all day like everyone else. $ 65.00 doesn’t seem like a big deal but when you add it to already extremely high rent, it makes a difference.
Unfortunately, I got in while they were having a very good deal on rent (they had several empty apartments at the time) so I know I will not be able to renew when my year is up as I’ve heard they raise the rents significantly and it’s very expensive here. I’m at the top of my budget since I do live alone.
The only things I would recommend are (1) definitely rent a top-​floor (3^rd floor) apartment so that you don’t have the horrible loud stomping and banging above you; and (2) pay attention to the location of the unit you are going to rent as they can be very, very dark inside. Sliding door and windows are all on one side of the apartment.
All in all a fantastic place to live and I couldn’t be happier!

Had the opportunity to live here from June 2014 to October 2015. Unfortunately due to some life events, my family and I had to move back to the Bay Area, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time living here. Nicole the leasing manager is super friendly and was always very attentive to any issues we had. Roy and Jeremy who were maintenance were always there when we needed them to fix anything. Roy even helped my family and I catch and release a bird that had flown into our 3^rd floor apartment. Aside from some residents using the trash cans by the elevators as a dump and not caring that they would overfill them, the front office addressed the issue right away by sending out an email the following day when we mentioned that it was becoming a problem. As residents we didn’t want our place to look like a dump. However, the overall cleanliness of the complex was excellent. Every morning Ray and/​or Jeremy would be cleaning out the pool. Parking is a little slim, but I know before we moved out they were working on improving it. Overall, I would highly recommend this complex! Yes, the prices would increase every year, but it was reasonable! Especially in Irvine. When you’re paying almost $ 3k for a 1 bedroom 748 sq ft apt in the Bay Area this is definitely a deal!

I lived here from January 2014 until January 2016. Of all the places in Irvine, I really liked that this complex was not part of Irvine Companies. It was a smaller community, which is great.
I liked that maintenance was fast and great at fixing any issues with our apartment unit. I did have a problem with a unit above ours had a leak and it was creating a problem where I lived. My roommates bathroom wall had to be torn down and the management brought these huge units that dried the wall. Thanks for taking care of it, but our electricity bill was huge the two times this happened. Since this wasn’t a problem we created, management should have helped by either reducing our next months rent or something but nothing was offered.
I liked the fact that towards the end of my stay, management said they were changing the parking policy, and will enforce the parking situation but I never saw it being enforced. People parked overnight who didn’t even live there and they didn’t have guest parking.
I had sent emails to management about people leaving their trash on the floor near the trash bin and they were good about putting signs up, but that wasn’t enforced either. I’ve sent notice that people leave dog poop in the hall ways but they never responded (management nor the dog owners).
The walls are thin so you can hear your neighbors arguing at any time of the day, having sex, or playing their electrical instruments.
Overall, it was a nice place to stay, but rent was getting too expensive. It was cheaper for me to buy a condo in Irvine since my mortgage was going to be cheaper than the rent.

Overall a pretty good place to live.
Pros:
The office staff is pretty on point in getting back to you with issues you’re having. They give adequate notice for things like tree trimmings or when parts of guest parking will be closed. The complex and apartments are nice, and the price is what you’d expect for Irvine. Definitely pricy, but convenient for if you work in the city. The walls are pretty thick and I rarely hear my neighbors (besides one group of neighbors who constantly fight and scream).
Cons:
Most of the cons just involve a few of the inconsiderate people who live there. Keep in mind this is a minority of the people and most of the people I’ve met have been generally nice. The complex supplies small wagons to make grocery carrying from your car to your apartment really convenient. however, a few tenants are incredibly lazy and never return the wagons back downstairs which defeats the purpose. The complex is very pet friendly, but again, a select few lazy owners never pick up after them. People constantly park in the guest parking with no guest pass when it’s obvious they have a garage space and are simply keeping it open for a guest or roommate. They don’t even bother using their guest placard in the window. All of the above are mainly small annoyances, but it’d be nice if the complex enforced the rules more on them.

I love Kelvin Court Apartments. Love the property & the staff. Great place to live. I thank God for this gift.

Kelvin was great. I lived there for 8 months.
Complex: buildings feel clean and new. Pool area is PRIME. Super nice. Pool is heated, clean, well maintained. Jacuzzi area is great as well, but hot tub itself is not as hot as it should be. Just a personal opinion. Pool area has showers that are real nice, and two large community grills which are kept clean. There is a fitness center which is small but nice. Clubhouse is also SUPER classy. Looking for an excuse to rent it out. It’s awesome. The complex also has fantastic landscaping, plenty of trees and gardens. Parking isn’t bad but isn’t great. There’s a reserved garage, a guest lot where, and street parking. I’ve unfortunately experienced multiple occasions where the guest lot was full and I wasn’t able to park (if you don’t have a reserved space in the garage, you can request a hang tag and park permanently in guest parking, this is what I do).
Community: in a safe, quiet, business-​oriented part of Irvine. Not much to walk to or do socially, but a very short drive to fun areas. The Spectrum is 10 minutes away. The District is less than 2 miles away. It’s in the part of Irvine that’s only blocks away from being in Newport Beach so that’s cool. Also conveniently located near John Wayne airport, probably only a 2 – 4 minute drive. Yet I never hear planes.
Apartments: clean, new appliances. Kitchens are neat, and though they are small they are well organized and well designed. Dark (ish) wood with granite counter tops. Bathrooms match, obviously. I don’t have the master bedroom in my apartment yet it is still the biggest bedroom I’ve ever had.
Cons: the hot tub issue but that’s a first world problem, parking can be a problem but you can call security or a tow truck to leave people warnings (which I’ve had to do), and the management. I like them, they’re nice (especially Matt), and they try for the most part, but I feel like sometimes there is more they can do but they don’t necessarily do it.
Overall it’s quiet, yet family friendly, dogs are around as they are allowed so that’s just nice to see, and well maintained. I love living here, but of course like anyone else I would like to see a few improvements.

Details.
. Lived here from Jan 2013 — Jan 2014.
. Moved due to rent increase of over $ 250 to renew.
. 1 bedroom/​1 bathroom (A3) plan with my boyfriend.
prOs.
. The community was everything we were looking for & wanted. Beautiful landscaping, practically new building (under 5 years I believe), very well taken care of amenities, & an amazing location (prime spot in Irvine, but tucked away just enough to not be disturbed by the hustle & bustle of Jamboree).
. The maintenance staff is amazing. Very responsive & quick with issues. They’re also great people to just have a conversation with if you see them around.
. We LOVED the fact that this community was small (under 200 units). Everyone mostly keeps to themselves, but there are events that are held every so often if you do want to socialize.
cOns.
. The front office staff. During the one year that we were at Kelvin, we had 3 different managers & 2 different leasing agents. They seem to always be understaffed because it is a smaller property & if the leasing agent is giving someone a tour, there is no one at the office. Also. good luck trying to call them — most calls to the front office went to voicemail 90% of the time from my experience.
. Our move-​in costs were miscalculated by roughly $ 500. We were sent an email maybe a week or two after we had moved in informing us that we still owed X amount on top of what was already paid. That’s it. No explanation as to why that amount was owed. This threw us for a loop because we expected our move-​in check to cover all move-​in expenses in addition to the prorated rent for January & our rent for February. Also, it wasn’t something simple like «Oops. We forgot to include your deposit.» — I actually had to sit down & do the math to figure out how they had so badly miscalculated the costs. For all of our troubles we were given a small credit on our next month’s rent AFTER I provided a very detailed comment about it on my move-​in survey.
. Another issue that we had was with the ridiculous renewal rate that was offered to us towards the end of our lease. The rate was $ 251 more than what we were currently paying. Long story short, we were given the renewal rate in November, tried working with the leasing agent/​manager throughout the month of December, & ultimately just gave our notice because we didn’t appreciate how we were being treated. We both fully understand that market prices typically go up & were fully prepared for our rent price to increase, but $ 250+ was just outrageous in our opinion. We went to them multiple times to show them that the unit we were in was going for at least $ 100 less than what we were offered on THEIR website. To this the manager explained that the rate we were offered is what they project our unit to be worth in January & what we saw was the going rate for December. Funny story — the day we moved out (in January). the rate on their website was still at least $ 100 less than what we were originally quoted for a renewal rate. What a rip off.
mOre.
. We truly did enjoy our time at Kelvin, but I am not going to pay more for something than what it is worth. We were good tenants who paid our rent on time, didn’t disturb other residence, & did not cause any type of damage to our unit. I hope this review helps if you’re considering this property.

I used to live in Irvine about 5 years ago and was then renting with the Irvine Company but since they have left a bad taste in my mouth, I decided that this time around, I was going to hit up all the non Irvine Company communities.
I am a new resident here at Kelvin Court and I have absolutely nothing but nice to say about this community. I scoped out all the other non Irvine Company communities here and hands down, this has to be the best I came across. The floor plans here appear much larger than other communities and the price that I was able to lock it in at was a total score. The closet space is much larger compared to other places like Avalon and Calypso but the bathroom tops the cake. You won’t find a bigger bathroom anywhere in Irvine than the ones here at Kelvin Court. This is definitely a must have and way better than the mini closet ones at the other communities. The kitchen is fully equipped with black appliances so you don’t need to rent anything. This community is hella quiet and far from being frat house-​ish which is a total plus. If you’re a party person, check out another community. If you’re a parent, this community is the bomb. It’s super safe and small compared to other places which is a good thing if you have kids — as they won’t get lost running around the maze like buildings at other communities. They don’t have a playground here but hopefully they will add one soon. The pool is very clean, as well as, all the other amenities. And because it’s a small community, you don’t have to deal with the crowds like the bigger communities who share one pool. Oh ya and if you have AT&T — there’s SERVICE here and not the kind where you have to stay by your window to use — heck, there’s even service in the parking garage. You also have the ability to get U-​Verse as Kelvin Court is U-​Verse ready unlike the community next door.
Now don’t get me wrong, the bathroom is awesome but that wasn’t the deal breaker for me here. It was the customer service that I received that sealed the deal. Again, I toured all the other communities and this one was the shiznits. Some other communities have OLD wanna be young plastic barbie dolls who judge you from the minute you walk in the door of the leasing office or ones that just want to be all nice in the very beginning but you can smell the fake-​ness the minute they say Hi.
Here at Kelvin Court, Branden Downs was the guy that my family and I dealt with from the beginning and he was the most «REAL» leasing agent we came across. He was a super humble dude that showed us exactly what we wanted and not wasted any of our time to upsell anything we didn’t need. He followed up on us the next day and everyday after that. We actually got approved for another community that we had toured prior to coming to Kelvin Court but after the service that Branden gave us, we were sold! We turned down the other community and never looked back. Kelvin Court also offers some killer benefits to their residents, as well, such as Home Builder Credits.
I would highly recommend this community to families with kids verses college frat students. I am insanely satisfied and super stoked to be a part of the Kelvin Court family.

I have lived here for over a year now and I love it! The staff is awesome!

Pleasant and quiet community. The staff here are very nice and helpful. I am surprised at how quiet the apartment has been. Originally I lived in a first-​floor 3-​month temporary rental and now my family has moved out from RI and we live in a third floor unit. Sometimes I forget this is an apartment and not a house. Two dedicated garage parking spots here seem to be a plus when I was looking around Irvine. No parking issues.

Upfront Caveat — I am living here via a corp. housing rental, so do not know how the rent prices compare…
That being said:
The Good: Nice interiors, granite, fake hardwood or bamboo in the bathrooms? Quite spacious 2 bedroom floor plans. The cabinets etc are all pretty nice. Good storage space etc. Nice pool, spa, and workout room. Overall the location of the complex is VERY quiet, which is nice. At least in my experience. Being in an industrial area, although odd, its quiet after 5 PM because everyone goes home, and weekends are very quiet as well. There is very low traffic on these streets so thats a plus too.
Walking distance to Diamond Jamboree is a HUGE plus, if you like that place.
The ok: Walls aren’t too bad. Can hear people talking when they walk by your door, but that’s really just about everywhere. People above dont know how to walk without stomping around though… But that’s not really the apt co. fault.
The not so good: The DOG RUN as they call it is quite nasty. I don’t think its really anyone’s fault, but there are just a lot of dog owners here, and there isn’t a lot of green belt space etc in the rear of the complex. So some owners dont pick up their dog’s crap. And the grass is all yellowed out from over utilizing the same areas… There are other areas that you can walk your dog to, just dont use the grass RIGHT out front of the leasing office, as that is supposed to be off limits for dogs.
Also first floor apartments unless, you are facing the street, or rear, get really little sunlight, so be wary of the location you choose. The jungle brush they have in between units is nice for privacy and all, but really doesn’t let in much sunlight which stinks for the first two floors.
Again, I can’t comment on price to value ratio. But from what I could tell online, the prices seemed pretty average, if not a bit on the cheaper side for the same options at an Irvine Company property. Not a lot of guest parking, but there is a decent amount of street parking available in front as well.

I live here, it’s hard to complain really — I’ve been here two years in a brand-​new 1 bedroom.
Some tips:
I live on the west end facing the creek and Main Street, and I get a lot of morning noise, sunlight, and dust on my patio. I’d advise you to avoid choosing one of these units. The same goes for the parking; I park against the wall on the creek side and my baby gets dusty, so ask for an inside space.
Aside from occasional animal waste scents that get cleaned more or less before I smell it again, this place has it all.
Also, I created a Facebook page for residents, please visit if you are a resident or want to hear things from the horse’s mouth.