Let’s face it. Facilities-wise, I will probably never have the chance to live in an apartment as nice as The Grove until I’m, like, 30. I live in a four-bedroom apartment and my roommates and I share a kitchen and a huge living room. We each have our own walk-in closet, bathroom and bedroom. We even have our own laundry setup. It’s spacious and new, and it will make you cry tears of joy when you think about your grungy dormitory days.
But there are definite negatives. Because The Grove is a gated community, you will probably never want to throw a party, unless you plan on being attached to your phone all night so you can let people in through the gate after 8 p.m. There are no elevators in typical unit buildings, so if the workout room (which is really, really nice) isn’t your thing, climbing three flights of stairs will be your daily exercise anyway.
Transportation can be an issue. The Grove shares a shuttle route to campus with two other complexes, so there are some days when the bus is actually too full to fit everyone. The schedule isn’t the most convenient, either — the shuttle’s last weekday drop off at the Student Center is 6:09 p.m. and the shuttle doesn’t run on weekends.
What has bothered me most about living at The Grove is the lack of communication between management and residents. Last August, there was an armed robbery in one of the apartments. The management did not notify residents, and I actually had no idea about the incident until a friend saw it on the news a few days later.
Small but important things — like getting all residents shuttle passes or changing the shuttle schedule or explaining to new residents how to open the gate — were turned into annoyingly inefficient and messy processes. For example, after my first week there, I once came home to find the gates shut without warning. Taking the time to send a mass email explaining how to open the gate electronically would have been helpful for residents who just moved in.
Bottom line — you get sort of suspicious that the management is disorganized and doesn’t really know what it’s doing.
Still, I would recommend The Grove to anyone who’s never leased an apartment or lived on his or her own before. Leasing is an easy process, prompt maintenance is never a problem and it’s a very luxurious living space. Sure, the management isn’t efficient and can be downright frustrating, but if you’re lucky, the times you will actually have to interact with the main office are pretty few and far between.