Some of these comments shed a little light about apartments she lived in. If anyone can find more I think it would interesting to read them. I cannot help but think someone would have had to post something regarding witnessing or hearing something.
It seems like some comments were removed
5650 Grissom Rd, San Antonio, TX 78238
Location
A girl was murdered in one of these apartments so don't ever let your guard down and you might request not to be placed in that apartment. By the way, the security gates won't help you. The apartment manager said that they wouldn't have prevented the murder because they are just there for "peace of mind." I am sure she doesn't tell that to her future residents. The appliances are out of date and the maintenance doesn't fix the real problem they just jerry rig it to make it work for a while. The air doesn't circulate very well in these apartments and every time I run the dishwasher, I smell something like mold or rotting wood. Overall this place is a rip off.
I recently moved into these apts. & the first thing I have to say is that it is super scary when you're alone! But overall, I really like these apts, the staff is sooo nice!
But I've heard a girl was murdered here. I don't know much about that, but whoever is reading this, can you please give me some info. Thank you.
anonymous
There was a girl murdered there about 6 years ago. Her name was Heather if I remember correctly, she was 22, lived alone, and it was before the gates were installed. There is (or was) an old, albeit brief, review on here about it, if you look back to 2005. Management will avoid talking about it, most likely they will lie if you ask, but call the Leon Valley P.D., that's how I found out more after hearing the story on the news when her mother returned to the apartment complex, the reporter said that she does it every year on the anniversary of her daughters death. You won't find anything about it on line, but the police department will tell you. The killer was never found. It's a scarier place than you know, I was there for almost a year and I regret every second of it, though I felt a tad bit safer after investing in a stun gun. Don't be surprised if this review of yours disappears. I've posted a negative one before, and it did not last long (I also see that a few other negatives have 'mysteriously' vanished since I read them...), though I assure you management will deny that it or the others were ever posted here. I wish you luck, and sincerely hope that you have a MUCH different, less terrifying experience at the place than I did. Stay safe, avoid going anywhere on the grounds at night, and leave NOTHING in your car. I will say though, the night patrol man is wonderful, so don't hesitate to call him. He genuinely tries to keep the place somewhat safe, and seemed actually somewhat angry about the pedestrian gates ALWAYS being.
there is some weird shirtless man who constantly stares at me and my roommates.
OVERALL:
Do not lease hear they trick you with smiles and cookies, once the contract is signed you might as well sign your soul over. This is a terrible experience and I'm counting the days til i can move out. i do not wish this this horrible fate upon anyone even the murderer!
I lived in Shadow Ridge for about 15 months. I will start of by describing the pros of this apartment community.
Pros:
1. Nice looking apartments. The apartments themselves are quite nice for the price point and in comparison to other options around. Crown-molding, laminate flooring in dining areas, kitchen, and entry way, black appliances that are relatively new (5-7 years old).
2. Maintenance. The maintenance staff here was the best of any apartment complex I've lived in. Any problem we had was fixed within 24 hours and all the workers were very nice and respectful. We had out bathtub crack/leak twice while we lived there and it was fixed at no cost in a timely matter. Our water heater was also replaced by a brand new one when ours broke.
Unfortunately that's it for the pros.
Cons:
1. Safety. If you have children do not, I repeat, do not move into this neighborhood! The management/advertising people do a great job of hiding it, but Shadow Ridge is a Section 8 low-income subsidized housing complex. If you are unfamiliar with this, it simply means there are extremely poor/low-life people that live here and have part or all of their rent paid by the government. While living here there were police called on a weekly basis. I was personally interviewed by a SWAT team member when they came to my door asking if I knew anything about a meth lab/crack den that was in a building around us. My wife wouldn't leave the apartment after dark without me due to being followed by strangers in the parking lot or getting cat-calls from cars passing by.
2. Move-out fees. Expect to pay 1-2 months rent EXTRA on top of your deposit upon move out. We lost our $800 deposit plus another $1500 upon move-out. Why? We were charged $1200 for new carpet throughout our apartment (our carpet was pristine when we left, no stains, no tears, we even steam cleaned it ourselves 3 times while we lived there), $150 for painting when even management admitted all they did was spot paint over holes from picture frames/paintings, and lastly $150 for cleaning. As a tenant, there is nothing you can do to fight these fees because the lease is written in such a way that gives the Shadow Ridge management group complete rights to charge you with any fee for anything they decide is called "damage".
3. The walls. I heard my upstairs neighbors having sex weekly. Now, I have no issues with people having sex as loudly as they want...and I do expect to hear some things through the walls...but it was like they were having sex in my room. I could hear every moan, scream, grunt, etc. I don't fault my neighbors with this at all...they should be able to go at it as loud as they want. But these apartments had the worst walls out of any apartment I've lived in (4 total).
where I had to call the police due to shady looking characters hanging out on the stairwell at night, peeking into the windows of the leasing office at 2 in the morning. The response from one man was, "Oh, well, I sit here because it's dark and I don't like to be seen." He said he lived in an apartment in the complex, but when I told management about it, they said the number he had given wasn't an actual apartment there. This issue would be easy enough to fix if they'd repair the pedestrian gates, as I requested numerous times, but I suppose they have more important things to spend your money on. Aside from the safety issues, the walls are paper thin. The people that lived above me constantly sounded like they were bowling all night, and despite being in a one bedroom apartment, they had 5 people living there. Management did nothing about the situation, despite multiple complaints. I'm not sure what was causing it, but something in the ventilation left a nasty haze of black on everything. I found mold along the windowsills, so it wouldn't shock me to find out that the black film was a result of mold. The grounds, I will say, were always the best part of living here. They're kept up nicely, though I wouldn't stray from the side-walk if you like to keep your shoes clean. Dog owners living here are not courteous enough to pick up after their pets, so land mines are abundant. I know negative reviews tend to vanish from this site, so I'll end this by saying that I will be checking back, and I will be posting this again if some "error" occurs and it "accidentally" gets deleted, as one that was just posted yesterday has already been. That review had nothing offensive, so I can't help but wonder on what grounds you were able to have it removed.
broken. Also, the staff may seem nice now, but if anything happens and you try to get out, you'll see their true colors. Vanessa hides a very rude side, and Sonia is far worse. Again, good luck, stay safe, and definitely call the L.V.P.D.
My husband and I have lived at Shadow Valley for three years. We have enjoyed living here. As I read the reviews I feel that I must be living in a totally different Shadow Valley. Yes, robbery does occur, yes there might be some suspicious people lurking around and yes, a girl was murdered here...one apartment building over from us as a matter of fact, but you have to understand that bad things happen everywhere. You have to make sure that you lock your doors...bar latch on your sliding door should always be in place even if you are at home. Lock your car doors. Lock your front door even if you are at home. No one in my building has been broken into in the three years that we have lived here. We don't walk around the complex at one o'clock in the morning because that is just plain dumb and immature. We don't leave valuables in our cars visible for the whole world to see. YOU have to be responsible for YOU.
The maintenance crew is to be commended for their dedication and hard work. They are also some of the nicest people you could meet. They have always come through for us. We take good care of our apartment.
Safe living begins with you. I would recommend this place to others looking for secluded neighborhood and large spacious apartments.
APPLIANCES AND MAINTENANCE:
for the first few days it was fine, then the toilet started over flooding or not flushing at all every other week. AC isn't the best in the world. One room could be hot the others cold. Maintenance guys were informed of the toilet issue and the ac issue and on both occasions blamed the problem on us. within the first week our fridge broke. Maintenance quickly replaces it, with another broken fridge.
RENT:
Rent goes up every month, we are charged water waste for everyone in the building, it even states it on the back of our statement. Its $25 per person on top of water waste. My mom lives in a 2 story home with 4 other people and doesn't pay as much as i do with 2 room-mates.
NOISE:
Walls are paper thin, you can hear your neighbors walk around, shower, and even speak.
STAFF:
Everyone in the leasing becomes extremely rude and unprofessional as soon as contracts are signed. Everyone is impossible to work with, except Tracey, who is a sweetheart. but from what I've seen she no longer works there. Whenever they DO answer their phone, if they DON'T like what they hear, they hang up on you.
SAFETY:
The place is very unsafe, the gates don't keep anyone out. And i was told by a police Marshall and other residents that there was a brutal murder here, that we were not informed of. He has also told me that the department has frequent calls to this apartment complex. Every time we walk out of our apartment
4. Increases in rent. Our original rent was $1550 w/ the pet fee. After our lease was up it went up to $1800 for the 3 extra months we lived there. If we had signed another 12 month least it would have gone up to $1680.
5. Pool/pool-goers. There is a very nice pool at shadow ridge. Unfortunately the people who go in it are disgusting. Remember, this is a section-8 neighborhood. People use this pool as their personal bath/toilet. People throw their cigarette butts in the pool, throw up in the pool, and pee from outside the pool into the pool. The police were also called to the pool once while I lived here for an attempted murder/stabbing.
I hope this helps anyone who is considering shadow ridge. If you're young and can put up with all the BS that happens here...well, it is an OK place to live. But for my wife and I (we're 25 and 27) this place was just too much.
Just some information for people wanting to move in here. This place is unsafe, and management does not care. If you get an apartment on the first floor, you will more than likely be broken into, and loose all of your valuables. A girl was murdered here, which the police speculate as a random incident, which makes me think it could have been anybody. The manager here says that the security gates weren't up by then ( they were promised over two months ago to be working ) because they have to order a key for the fire department, do you really think that takes over two months. The gates are still not working, the apartments are noisy, you wont sleep if your neighbors decide to throw a party in the middle of the week, and maintenance doesn't fix anything, they look at it. If you care about your well being, or the well being of your family or valuables, don't move here! There are better places for the money anyway. Cant wait for my lease to be up.
EDIT 11/4/13: If negative reviews from current and/or recent residents were not deleted within a day or two of posting, I wouldn't have bothered. Judging from the review that was deleted yesterday, it appears that the problems I encountered have not been remedied, but worsened. More break-ins, less care from staff, etc. The fact that it was removed without any offensive content should be enough proof for anyone. Even the most up-scale, safe, well-located apartment complexes have far more negative reviews than this outdated, poorly maintained complex. Negative reviews have been disappearing from this page for years, which is why I consider it important to at least have my honest opinion posted. I genuinely regret the decision that I made to move in to this complex, and I'm certain you will as well.
I genuinely believe that most of these positive reviews were written by staff members. Though when I lived here, there was much bribery to write a good review on this site ($100 off rent, free month, entry into various drawings, etc.) so that's likely a huge part of it. This place was awful to live in. There was an attempted break-in at my apartment where the moronic would-be thieves went at my lock with a crowbar. The staff, of course, didn't care. They gave the standard "Oh, I'm so sorry. Leave the porch light on next time." It had been on, but oh well. In 2005 a girl was murdered in one of the apartments. I had outright asked if there had been any serious crimes at the complex before moving in, as I was nervous being a young single woman. The response was to check online, that they couldn't say. Well, of course you won't find anything online, but if you contact the Leon Valley Police Department, they'll let you know the story. Aside from the attempted break-in at my apartment, there were multiple occasions
