Alvarado Sunset Apartments

An exterior shot of Alvarado Sunset Apartments A two bedroom townhome in Alvarado Sunset Apartments

Alvarado Sunset is an apartment complex offering two-bedroom apartments as well as two- and three-bedroom townhomes ranging from $1,115/month for Flats and $1150 Townhouses and for 3 bedroom/2 bath Townhouses $1,650/month with a $500 deposit April 20, 2011". Described in advertisements as a "quiet & spacious community; near shopping &;has large open space," Alvarado Sunset also provides a clubhouse and free parking to its residents. The complex is located on Unitrans F bus line with a bus stop in front of the complex. This property has been managed by Jon Berkley Management, Inc. since April 21, 2006;

They are now (as of April 20th, 2011) leasing for Fall 2011. Call for their move in specials.

In November 2005, UC Davis student Nicole Chun-Nelson successfully sued Sunset Apartments in Small Claims Court for charging excessive cleaning costs. The judge ruled in her favor in the amount of $414.00. There was a story in the California Aggie (U-Wire link)

apartment complex

diningroom livingroom

kitchen area

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• Older comments from 2005 up to the the 2010 change in management.
  

2010-11-10 17:23:11   To all Davis Wiki readers, I just want to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Vera and I am manager here since beginning of July. I made couple of changes to the complex such as we have an official study room and fresh hot coffee, tee or hot chocolate available during the day now; we are current with our responses on the work orders and I am personally making sore my residents in a good care. If you are looking for place to live stop by our place and give me an opportunity to accommodate your needs. Thank you for your consideration. —verap

2012-02-01 11:38:31   There haven't been any comments since 2010?? That seems like a good sign... I'll add my two cents. My roommate and I moved here in 2010 when Vera was the manager. The management changed three times since then, I think. Now the manager is Tamara. She's been nice and friendly so far and seems down to earth. My only complaint is that you can't go by the posted office hours; they seem to be pretty random. But there's always numbers that you can call for maintenance issues.
Getting to maintenance: When we first moved in, the blinds were really crappy and falling apart. We asked them to replace them and they did (it took a while). The next issue was the front door; it had no weatherstripping and you could see a ~1" gap of sunlight where air would come in all around it. It took them a few days to see to that and the first time they fixed it, they did it wrong. They did it okay the second time though.
The next thing was the ceiling in one of the bedrooms. When we moved in we'd noticed that there was a bathtub-sized spot on the ceiling that had been patched horribly and was yellowing and there looked to be water damage on the wall beneath it. Then the rain came. Yup! Water damage it was. The ceiling started leaking, lightly as far as leaks go, it just kinda dripped down the wall (no carpet damage). Then I realized the window was leaking too and I had to keep a towel under it. We told management of this and it took them about a week to fix it I think. At first maintenance couldn't figure out where the leak was coming from. We haven't had any troubles with leaks since then though.
Under the new management, repairs have always been prompt. When we complained that our freezer was not keeping things frozen, they replaced our entire fridge! That was really nice and the new fridge and freezer work great.
We've had some issues with the dishwasher, but this is Davis — don't expect any better at any apartment complex. Davis water is a bitch.
My other complaint that I haven't mentioned to maintenance is the screens. Before we moved in, whoever put the screens on the windows bought the wrong size. Instead of buying new screens, they used pieces of cardboard to make the screens stay there. Except, they DON'T stay there if there's a breeze, or if you have a cat that likes to sit on the windowsill (which we do). Also, two of the windows just don't have screens at all.
The heater has always worked fine and the A/C has only broken once and was fixed within days. Hot water has gone out maybe twice in over a year's time. I saw a single cockroach ONCE... So no bug problems here, at least not in our unit.
As for neighbor complaints - our previous neighbors were college jocks who took to piling bags of garbage on their patio. Included in these bags was old food and what smelled like cat feces and litter. So my roommates and I couldn't use OUR adjoining patio because the smell was absolutely horrifying. We complained to management and the garbage disappeared for a few months... Then they started doing it again. We complained again, and soon after, those neighbors left and others moved in (not sure if it was related to the garbage or if their lease was just up).
We have also had neighbors who played incredibly loud music with a powerful subwoofer on week nights after 11PM. My roommates and I all work on weekdays and two of us have to get up around 5AM most days so this is really uncool. We complained about it and haven't had any problems since.
Be aware that Alvarado Sunset DOES sit along Covell, a fairly busy street, and there will be traffic sounds. They don't bug me, personally, but then, I used to live right next to I-80.
Also, it is within walking distance of a grocery store AND the high school, so you'd think you'd see a lot of annoying high school kids or get some vandalism or something, but we haven't had any issues with that at all.
Don't get too excited about the pool, it's medium-sized and cleaned biweekly at best, and there is no spa.
All in all, Alvarado Sunset has decent prices for its location and amenities and I didn't really expect anything different. No horror stories here. It's college living, not the life of luxury, and not your mom's house.
Will be back when we move out for an update on how much our cleaning deposit we get back and if any other issues come up! —gurglemeow