Meadow Ridge Apartments 1301 49th Street, West Des Moines, IA 50266

"Meadow Ridge has been a great place to live. I lived there with my Mom before moving out of state and she stayed for several years after. It's location, location, location! Close to the interstate and minutes to both Jordan Creek and Valley West. Having an apartment with a standard huge and beautiful fireplace is amazing for the cold Iowa winters as well as having a garage! I encourage you to check them out! Under new management...Ask for Cami, she's awesome!"

"The apartments are under new management and a lot of good changes are happening. Cami, the property manager, has done a good job with other properties in the past. She makes sure properties are well maintained and that everything goes smoothly for residents. I haven't had any issues with her under management."

"The apartments themselves are not awful, although outdated. Neighbors in the complex often complained to each other about sewer lines coming up through kitchen sinks, pipes bursting, and poor laundry facilities. We thought this was excusable because of the older building and were willing to overlook those because of the cost. What is NOT excusable is the management. Rude, condescending, and do not care about tenants well being. They are there to make a dollar at any expense. We had a broken shower (dripped constantly) and they told us they wanted to wait until we moved out to fix the issue because it would cost too much. This dripped for 2 years and eventually burst a pipe in the apartment below us, so they had to shut off our water for 3 weeks in that bathroom and gave us $50 gift cards to make up for the inconvenience. We signed a lease that was up in April 2017, we continually contacted them for a new lease agreement but they never delivered. We lived there without a lease for months until we moved out. When we moved out, they screwed us on our deposit. Instead of getting $500, we received $155 because they claimed we destroyed the apartment. I spent hours cleaning the entire apartment head to toe. A complete waste of time. When we moved in we believed the dog area would be nice. It was, until the doggy bags ran out. Management has not updated them in 9 (NINE) months which has caused neighbors to stop picking up poop. Dog poop is everywhere. Neighbors are fine, we were on the third floor so we did not hear a lot, but many dogs and kids live on the property. One neighbor continually spray paints his car in the parking lot which ruins cars around it. Another neighbor has children who steal nearby shopping carts and brings them to the parking lot. Nothing is EVER enforced from management."

"I like living here, and I wouldn't mind renewing my lease. Cons -As a bottom floor unit, I can hear just about every person on the floor above me. I don't actually have a unit next to mine, I am next to the laundry room, which I can hear pretty well. I joke that my room has a heartbeat. So while no one is obnoxiously loud, things can be easily heard. -The parking is a bit disappointing. You are assigned 1 parking spot, and 1 garage. Which is nice, unless you have more than 2 cars. People don't always follow their assigned spots, which is frustrating during a snow ordinance with 2+ cars. The office doesn't do a great job of enforcing the assigned spots, which I can understand, it seems like a little thing, but it can be really upsetting when you have nowhere else to park. - I love pets and animals, and it's great that this apartment allows pets (A Pro). But, the people here are not super concerned with picking up after their animals, and the office has done next to nothing to enforce their own rules. They even have a little station for pick-up, but I have yet to see anyone use it. - I have definitely heard tiny scratching and squeaking noises coming from the walls. I have never seen anything, but take that as you want. - The hot water pressure is pretty abysmal, our showers never stop dripping, and something we addressed when we first moved in is still broken. It's been 8 months, and we've survived, but still, a bit of a let-down. -I have noticed some staff turnovers. For a while, there was no maintenance person on staff. I'm not sure if that's changed. Pros - Great location, super convenient and close to just about everything. - Pretty decent sized apartments for a great price. - Management has been pretty nice, even if they aren't always able to help much. - Neighbors are fairly quiet. They stomp a little, but no parties or rambunctious noises. - You only pay the electric bill. But, as nice as that sounds, your heating and cooling are electric, so winters and summers are a bit of a bite (Con). We suggest budget billing. So, to summarize, I like living here, I think it's ok as a first apartment or affordable living. But that's about it. If I had the means to live in a better place, I would. And obviously some of the other reviews mention issues at the end of their leases, so I might not feel the same way in a few months."

"The two reviews from the past few months are clearly planted by management. I have been here over two years and will provide a very honest review here. The price is good, the location is good, it is the only reason I am here. I have been renting in central Iowa for 20 years, and this is easily the worst apartment I have been in. I typically stay at a place over 5 years, so my experience of units is only of a handful, but by duration at each place gives me a deep view of the apartments I live at. Over the couple years I have been here, I have had seven different 'managers' who have been my main contact when issues arise. There was a change of ownership at once point, which accounts for some of that, but even with this new ownership the staff is in flux and accounts for four of those seven. It's technically non-smoking in the sense there are signs that say non-smoking. However, those rules simply push everybody to smoke on their small decks...often...very often. You will not be able to leave your windows open on a nice day here without your apartment constantly filled with smoke. You will not be able to sit on your deck to enjoy some air without being in a cloud of smoke from the various neighbors. This makes the windows and deck essentially unusable for me. I've never felt more confined in a home then I do here. Also the halls always smell like weed, but that really doesn't bother me. The constant cigarette smoke does though. Parking is a constant headache. Management will leave notes and make some kind of effort, but in general you will still have other tenants and their visitors parking in your spot on a regular basis. A week doesn't go by without some kind of parking headache. I am not alone in this. The management stocks the units with the worst batch of neighbors I've had in 20 years - worse than my college apartments. The noise levels are unbearable at times. Between barking dogs, and the neighbor's noise below/above/beside, disrupted sleep happens more days during the week than not. These concerns have been mentioned to management, and friendly conversations had with neighbors, but nothing really ever changes. When management staff changes so often, such complaints are kind of lost to the wind and you don't have an ally helping to remedy things in any ongoing kind of way. The neighbors generally just don't care, even if you're polite. With regards to neighbor courtesy, it extends well beyond parking and noise. Just today a tenant was spray painting his entire truck black while parked beside numerous cars that belong to other tenants. It was a breezy day, all of these cars were dusted with black paint. This is one of countless random things that happen regularly. It advertises washing units, but that's not the full truth. A year and a half ago the building was broken into and the washing units all destroyed for their change. It took management over 6 months to repair the units (so there was no laundry for all that time, or building security), then when they did, they cut corners and the new machines are very loud when modestly loaded. I feel bad for the units that have shared walls with the backs of these machines. Also the tenants heavily overfill the machines and dry their work boots in them, which causes extremely high noise levels. For about 18 months of my time here there has been a problem with pet waste. People not picking up after their dogs, so the lawn is filled with dog waste, and people regularly disposing of dog waste in the inside shared trash, causing the inside of the building to constantly smell like warm dog poop. To the management's credit, they have installed an outside dog waste bin with bags and made a consistent effort to resolve this problem. You will see a broken window on the main entryway when you arrive. I don't blame the management for not fixing this, because it's not the first time. Tenants stand outside and throw rocks at the windows late at night The management means well. However, these are real issues I experience daily. Worst apt in 20 years is a fair description."