The Hillcrest 189 East 1st Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT 84103

"The apartments are charming and many of them have a good view, but the negatives far outweighed the positives during our time living here. It’s clear that the management company* ignored the many years of neglect that plague this very old building, and opted for mostly cosmetic renovations. For that reason, you’ll experience very frequent water shutoffs, uncomfortably hot radiators that tenants don’t control, and a plumbing and sewage system that’s rotting the building from the inside out (we spent nearly an entire month with a 3-foot wide, wet, leaking hole in our bathroom ceiling, with an odor that fluctuated between must and sewage). We ended up moving out because of the bathroom/sewage issue mentioned above. We were able to terminate our lease early because I pointed out potential black mold in that area. As far as I know there was no mold testing or mitigation done. I really wish we had read the reviews on this place before we moved in. There are reviews dating back several years, citing issues with the building that have still not been addressed. Finding a decent apartment in this city can be challenging, but I’d still encourage anyone considering renting here to look at other options. *The building is managed by Apartment Management Consultants, LLC (AMC). Would definitely recommend checking out their reviews if you’re considering renting here."

"This is a lengthy review but if you are considering renting from Hillcrest or AMC Property Management, it’s worth a read! Positives: - No deposit required - Location is great with good views from many of the units and close to downtown while still being right on the edge of the avenues neighborhood - Units are spacious with high ceilings and windows with natural light - Plenty of closet space/storage - Price is decent in comparison to other spots in the aves/downtown (before factoring in utilities) - Option to rent a garage Negatives: Very high $$ utilities - During the winter utilities would often be around $300/month for a two bedroom unit - You do not have control over heat which consistently runs at 80 degrees or higher - We had to keep our windows open all winter long and it was still way too hot even when wearing shorts and tank top - When we tried to work with management to address the issue they kept telling us it was because we were a south facing unit despite the heat being consistently 80 degrees at night and on cloudy days - In the summer we noticed our water bill was going up which we learned was because we were getting charged for the water they used for the sprinklers for the grass outside TWO FIRES in the building in the span of 1 year - One took out a whole wing of the building because it was so bad and required us to evacuate for four hours - In both cases fire alarms did not go off - Property management never addressed either of the fires afterward so tenants were not provided with any post fire instructions including when it was safe to return to the building, had we not been working from home that day I don’t know that we would have ever been notified so we could get our cats out of the building Plumbing: Bathroom ceiling flood - The ceiling in our bathroom flooded from above which resulted in a huge hole in our ceiling for almost the full month - We had multiple plumbers come by nearly daily for about 2 weeks to fix it but each time it continued to leak - We noticed possible black mold in the ceiling hole and after notifying management were given a notice allowing us to get out of our lease early (they never confirmed if it was black mold or made attempts to address the issue) - Because we opted to get out of our lease and move, the hole was never fixed while we were there - We asked for compensation given what we dealt with in the last month of living there and were only offered about $500 dollars which was tied to a NDA and liability waiver that we did not feel comfortable signing Sewage smell in hallway and units - The hallway leading to our unit began gradually smelling like sewage and got so bad that we could smell it coming up through our kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and bathtub - We had to contact upper management due to how bad it was getting and we overheard the plumber telling them that the basement was literally just a mess of “steamed shit” and that they expected it would cost close to half a million to fix mentioning evacuating the wing of the building would be needed while they worked on it - When the leasing office followed up they said there was just a “small crack” in one of the pipes that was getting addressed that day - Their “solution” consisted of putting high power fans in the basement blowing the bad smelling air outside while also putting a scent diffuser in the hallway stairs leading to the apartments Amenities: No amenities to speak of but yet you are charged fees that goes towards maintaining the “shared” space Frequent Water Shutoffs: There were nearly monthly water shutoffs within the building either by maintenance or the city. These lasted anywhere from a couple hours to a full day Overall, I do not suggest the risk of renting from the Hillcrest or AMC property management. We only rented from them for a year because of all the negatives and had to move at an inconvenient time of the year with short notice. If you read through some of the other reviews you will see a lot of common issues that have been going on for years."

"I appreciate everything about this place. The architecture, the location, the newly remodeled kitchen. Everything. The staff is friendly, and everybody does a great job of doing their best to make this a comfortable place to live. Unfortunately, you are contractually obligated to pay for Xfinity as an ISP. I cannot cancel my abysmal services, so now I have to pay for decent and reliable internet through Google, as well as the mandatory Xfinity charge. Updated: Just had a Google Tech come in to look for the fiber jack. Turns out Hillcrest yanked the fiber cables out (even though it was already wired) and patched over where the Google Fiber jack was installed. They got rid of all the evidence of their mandatory ISP misdeeds. No freedom of choice. The illusion of necessity through Xfinity. The first response "Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the mandatory ISP requirement. We appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration for future improvements." The part that wasn't mentioned was the mandatory ISP requirement from a SINGLE ISP provider, something which federal law seems to be fighting back against. As a renter I should not be required to get my internet through the ISP management has forced on me, especially if a) the service is terrible, and virtually unusable for my work b) my particular unit was already fitted for another ISP (and management destroyed it) or c) what if I didn't WANT internet at all? The revised response "We apologize for any misunderstanding about the required lease fees. We do our best to ensure that everyone is aware of them. They are listed on our property brochure, on the application, on the move in cost sheet and in the lease." It isn't a question as to whether they're advertised on the brochure, it is a question of whether it is good business practice to force such abysmal services from Xfinity with no options to opt out, and whether it is even ethical to destroy the hardware for other ISPs (like it was in my unit). I can't find anything on the website that mentions the forced internet through Xfinity, and I only heard about it once I was signing the contract. "The FCC unanimously approved the new rule. It will prevent broadband providers like Comcast, AT&T, or Verizon from entering into revenue-sharing agreements with landlords, preventing tenants from choosing between all ISPs in their area." "One-third of this country live in multi-tenant buildings where there often is only one choice for a broadband provider, and no ability to shop for a better deal," said Chairwoman Rosenworcel. "The rules we adopt today will crack down on practices that prevent competition and effectively block a consumer's ability to get lower prices or higher quality services." -From an article from last year ...Telecommunications Act of 1996 also talks about this a bit too... I didn't even mention the mandatory service through Amenify... Or the fact that there is no climate control in every unit, just a radiator. So there is no way to adjust it, except for opening a window, and we all have to fit the bill for the radiator going full blast. We can't turn it off. We can't adjust it. So we are forced to pay whatever they say we need to pay. No negotiation. No way to adjust my usage. Now let me make this abundantly clear: I love this place. This apartment is so charming, and beautiful, and comfortable. And the folks that run the office are very, very kind, and I know they do a great job (I even saw one of them help clean up the doggy bag containers earlier today). There were just some parts that I outlined that make this whole situation a little less palatable, and a lot more irritating. PS, while I was typing that my internet cut out--again."

"Recently moved into the apartments. They have great characters and charm. Reminds of my place back east. I needed help with the lights and had the maintenance technician Brody and I was impressed with how clean he was and very respectful."