Parkside At College Park

They haven't refunded my deposit for 2years. (Still waiting) The head manager is a liar. This apt has a lot of roaches too. Just don't move in. I leaved there before the current management agency took over the apt including deposits. They used to have units bought by individuals. That's why they don't record about me. Do not trust them. My deposit is 500. They still ignore and do not make anything to refund my money for more than 2 years. It's very a funny situation. The head manager? She doesn't response on time and repeats the same answer. "We are trying our best to ......"

Please do your research before deciding to sign the lease. I know housing options are very limited for poor college students here at UMD. There exists a spectrum of housing from a box-sized subbasement bunker room with dirt cheap rent to an over-the-top apartment with exorbitant 2k monthly rent. But the reasonable middle-ground choices seem to be few and far between. You would think Parkside was one of those rare finds with seemingly reasonable 1k rent and 5 min walking distance to the campus. However, this could not be further from the truth.

If you do not care about living quality, then do me a favor find the cheapest bunker room in a nearby house which not only saves you 500 bucks every month but also provides more reliable utility and maintenance. The decade-old piping in the houses seems to hold up a lot better than those in the Parkside, which erupts as regularly as the Old Faithful and shuts off the water every month. And take caution as if you are visiting the geyser, since the bath water in the unit could scorch you as easily during the cold water outage. If you are lucky enough, you would even enjoy some flooding in your unit exclusive to the beach-front properties and get to stay at a better property across the campus for a week.

For those of you blessed with a thicker wallet, you probably won't consider this place as a first choice. However, on the off chance that you decided to save some money, trust me the suffering you have to endure is not worth the couple hundreds you might have saved. You would thank me when lying on the larger queen sized bed while bathed in the sunshine from some real windows. Everything in Parkside seems to be smaller at its price point: the closet, the bed, the window and the bathroom. While I am not being exactly correct here, you do get a bigger bottom gap in the door which provides convenient key-less entry for roaches and the likes to grab some quick in-N-outs.

I would only recommend this place to the most extreme masochists who derive pleasures from being waken up by loud door bangs when the fierce maintenance team enters for an unannounced repair work, and the cold unapologetic notice for an outage the night before. I hope you have been completely disillusioned at this point and wish you best of luck for your housing search.

DO NOT LIVE HERE!!!

The management is made of liars who cannot keep their information straight. They consistently make promises they won't keep. 3 months of living here will make you feel like you're living in the wild. Don't be fooled by the good reviews, they were all bribed with the promise of pizza for a good review. Let me explain the situation.

RELOCATION
After being relocated to an apartment across campus that is not convenient at all and being told repeatedly that rent would not be charged as long as residency at Parkside was not happening, management decided to charge rent and utilities that was used by maintenance. When complained to management they kept pushing it to corporate.

With every new email they send, it is clear that they are making things up as they go as all these sudden new options keeps coming up after the decision time has already passed. They CLAIM that the waived rent option is only for those who found their own alternate housing but when notified of this relocation they made the choices clear. If there was no alternative housing tenants would be placed in a different apartment, no rent would be charged. Again, NO RENT WOULD BE CHARGED.

ROACHES
For months there were roaches in apartments that the front desk and pest control would not address. When pest control would grace tenants with their presence they would simply walk around, tracking in dirt, and leave. Then when complaints were made, the front desk, especially Ryan, would gaslight tenants into believing it was their fault for not moving appliances or something as simple as that. As a result of this tenants lived with roaches crawling around their kitchen cabinets, floors, bathrooms, bedrooms for MONTHS.

The rent may make it appealing and you may think it would be worth it to stick it out for a couple months or a year and it wouldn't be so bad. You may be lucky maybe you won't have this experience but if one thing goes wrong believe me when I say Parkside management will some way to make things even worse. To each their own but beware this review's warning.

Parkside bribed students to leave good reviews with promise of free pizza then reneged on the pizza, and that pretty much sums up the experience here. They have a lot of maintenance issues, and you might think it won't happen to you, but even if you're not directly affected by the roaches, or the flooding, or one of the other biblical plagues that happen every other month here, one day they might just call you to say you have 36 hours to vacate and move to a different apartment across campus so they can fix the straw and popsicle sticks that prop up the building, and they couldn't care less if the literal one hour of moving time they give you is during exams. And after promising they'll give you a month's rent in exchange for the inconvenience, they quietly charge you anyway, and so you go down asking if this was a mistake, and then talk to people who smile at you while explaining that the powers that be changed their mind, before they go off to kick Oliver Twist down the stairs.

I strongly advise against choosing this place if you happen to be an international student. Here are several compelling reasons why:

Exorbitant Deposit Rates: Prepare yourself for deposit rates that soar above anything you'll find in the vicinity. They'll hit you hard in the pocket right from the start.

Pest Infestation: The living conditions are nothing short of a nightmare due to a rampant cockroach infestation. Your comfort and hygiene will be seriously compromised.

Leaky Roofs: Frequent water leakage through the roof is not just an inconvenience but also poses a risk to your belongings and overall well-being.

Pricey Parking: If you're a car owner, brace yourself for wallet-draining parking fees that will undoubtedly add to your financial burden.

Unjust Deposit Deductions: Be prepared for an uphill battle when it comes to getting your deposit back. They'll inexplicably deduct a substantial sum from your hard-earned money, offering little to no explanation. They will charge you no matter what.

Unpleasant Management: To top it all off, the management team exhibits a level of rudeness that is simply unacceptable. Your concerns and complaints are met with dismissive and inconsiderate responses, leaving you feeling unheard and undervalued.

In light of these glaring issues, it would be prudent to explore other housing options that prioritize your well-being, finances, and peace of mind. Your living situation should enhance your academic experience, not hinder it, and unfortunately, this place falls far short of those expectations.

The place has a prime location, is safe, has big rooms and is near to the campus. The maintenance team (Jose and Pharaoh) is up-to-the-mark and extremely friendly. Currently, they have adjusted rents appropriately to $599 for new residents but the old residents who renew and decided to stay with the community have to pay $795 (understandable it's just a business).

But compared to the pros, it has lots of cons as well. As first mentioned, the management gives out incentives but never stays true to the incentives. Even after I clean my apartment every week, I still have problems with tiny pests and some roaches every now and then. One of the elevator is out of work almost 90% of the time. There has been cases where packages have got lost. The team at the office is great but the main management team tries to get money from students in any way they can.

Worst apartment complex. DO NOT MOVE HERE! Halls smell like smoke, urine, rotten food, festering trash shoots, and body odor. Residents are loud throughout all hours and management does care even with written complaints.

$2000 for bargain-basement quality of living is robbery.
AND YOU MUST PAY FOR PARKING even when there are only about 20 cars parked in a lot with enough spaces for each resident. This is a college town and that's inconsiderate and deliberately taking advantage of the residents.

Roommates car was actually towed even with the proper tags within date and had to pay nearly $200 to get his car back from impound lot. Management of course pulled out every excuse in the book to cover their backsides.

Front office lost my roommates security deposit and expect him to pay another (we were on camera when paying the deposit on move in day) or face "legal actions." Poor book keeping and management was rude and disorganized.

Maintenance during covid only did essential services which was understandable, but didn't consider my broken air conditioners "essential" or an emergency! Heat index was in the high 90s and I got heat exhaustion in my own apartment and I have health issues/disabilities which get aggravated through high heat, and informed the crew of the necessity of air conditioning. Almost had to go to the hospital from a service that should be covered and prioritized.

On a positive note we only encountered a few roaches and one mouse…low bar but had to add something.

The parking is crazy. My friend had guest parking permit and parked in visitor parking area. It got towed. When called mgmt they told they need to park in regular parking. It was not mentioned where to park and car beside was with blue parking permit( permanent) also parked in visitor area but was not towed. Mgmt also said there should not be other parking permit which does not make any sense. These guys confused with their english. They should make clear. This everything makes no sense and just want to make money. The towing agency is JJ Towing. Stop looting people. I was hoping mgmt would take some action but nothing.