 This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only. |
| Location |
| 1333 Arlington Boulevard (near Westlake Plaza) |
| Phone |
| Management |
| Website |
| Features |
| On-site laundry facility |
| Pool |
| Cats & dogs allowed, 2 pet max with a $500 deposit for the first pet & $250 additional for the 2nd pet. 35LB weight limit. |
Brush Creek Apartments is the former name of an apartment complex in West Davis. It has since been remodeled and rebranded as The Grove at Davis.
One user comments, "This Apartment complex is shady, it's scary. I went there to ask about housing for next year and found out that they never know their availability more than a month in advance. Tha apartments themselves appeared small, old, and dark."
I just went to check out these apartments - the manager is really nice, friendly and helpful. When we were in the office filling out an application, a maintenance guy came in to see what problems tenants had reported and went out to fix them. The apartments themselves was huge and really nice; the one-bedroom is 692 sq. ft. and has either a patio or balcony, A/C, a big walk-in closet and big rooms. The manager took all our info and processed it right away, offered us 4 available apartments to choose from (upstairs/downstairs and east/west) and told us that a certain one would be getting brand-new carpet and painting because the tenant leaving had been there 10 years. All in all, it seemed like a great place! Not shady at all, I don't know what was going on when the other poster was there.
I'm moving here in a few months, and I agree. The apartments are actually pretty great even when compared to the other ones in a similar price range. The two bedroom blessedly has two heat/ac units (one in larger bedroom), rather then just 1 in the living room. The manager is a little ditzy, but she is incredibly friendly. She similarly warned us about a couple places. Like, that one is nearer to the handicap parking spots so if you both have cars it might be an extra few seconds walk. Or there's actually 4 guys living there for 3 years, so it may be damaged as they wouldn't move out til the end of August. A huge advantage to this place is they do 11 month leases—with the option of adding one month. This is an amazing boon to both people who are graduating and leaving, and even better for people moving in. Sometime in Spring the office asks whether you want to stay through August or not. This is where the first poster may have said "doesn't know" about. She waits til everyone replies before she calls, but if you call her once or twice she can flatly tell you how many have said yes/no so far. The people in my apartment aren't staying...the apartment will be empty by August 1st. This gives management and maintainance weeks to clean and paint, not just 1 single day and night like the majority of other complexes. In mid-August, I can go check the apartment out and point out if anything else needs to be done before I move in. This is absolutely not shady at all, it's just kickass. And you can move in early of course. We elected to move in the 28th of August (have to pay rent for the extra days tho). This lets me avoid the huge moving day madness. No need to rent a U-Haul for me suckers, I can take my time. -ES
The manager is really nice, but can be a little weird. The maintainance guy always seems to be working pretty hard, and the place is pretty cheap(900 for 2 bedroom) for being on PQD line, and practically right next to westlake plaza even though the plaza has relatively nothing.
2005-08-30 11:53:07 I lived here back in 2002-2003 in one of the smaller single-story buildings in the back. It was fine. This was before they painted over the dark brown outer walls when it really did look "shady" compared to all the other complexes with lighter-colored walls. When I was there, the manager was the owner's son, so I don't know who the current manager or maintenance guy are. It was right off the D-line which was nice. And near the market, which was the crappy Ray's Food Mart at the time. I was glad to move closer to better supermarkets when I left. —IrenePark
Avoid this place if you can. The management/maintenance is completely incompetent. There has been a large tree limb broken off by the wind just hanging in the other branches for the past couple of months, just waiting to fall and smash in a car below it. Management has been informed of it several times and hasn't done anything. New people who move in aren't even given drapes or shades for their back door any more, people have been hanging sheets or blankets up, it's ridiculous. Recently someone's (who moved out recently) sink overflowed while they were out of town for the weekend because of the neighbor using their garbage disposal and their whole kitchen and living room was flooded and soaked in with rancid garbage disposal water. At any reputable place both the carpet and counter top would have been replaced, but not here. So some poor new people are living with no curtains, and a carpet and counter with god knows what growing in it by now. You really get what you pay for.
2007-05-14 20:00:29 This place is shaddy. Loud neighbors and cockroaches of all different sizes. Some of these people are "wanna be" thugs and talk a lot of crap. Everything is very old and though the rent is somewhat cheap (They raised it this year to $810 for a 1 br apartment) its not worth it. Pay a little extra and don't deal with the crap. Cheap places attract cheap people. Not worth the trouble to save 30 or so a month. —JonathanLee
2007-06-08 16:01:49 FACTS - Just the facts...
CURRENT MANAGER WON'T CALL YOU BACK - YES ROACHES - YES FLOODING - YES DIFFERENT MANAGERS - YES RAISED RENT - YES $50-$80 (two years - NO INCREASE) PROPERTY UPKEEP - MINIMAL COMPLEX - 1/2 painted for five to six years now.
692 sqft - Larger than most in Davis. I did the research.
Apartments are old and dark.
THINGS TO REMEMBER: Make Good Choices
Do research about where your going to live (ask people that live there)
What is important to you (e.g., no roaches, modern living area)
NO MATTER WHAT - PUT YOUR REQUEST IN WRITING AND TAKE PICTURES
AFTER THE ABOVE...CALL FAIR HOUSING, IF NEED BE
CALL YOLO COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AGENCY 530 666-8646
OR IF YOU JUST NEED THE CALIFORNIA TENANTS HANDBOOK ~~~~ WELL, HERE YOU GO... www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook
2007-08-23 10:41:50 The apartments are big, but quite dark. I was going to rent here this year, but had a horrible experience when I went to sign the lease. The manager mentioned that I would be charged for carpet cleaning and painting upon move out. I mentioned that that was not typically how things are done and would like to read over the lease. Sure enough, right there in the Davis Model Lease, it mentions that the owners are responsible for both painting and carpet cleaning. I pointed this out to him, at which point he called the owner and then suggested that he was going to cross it out of the lease right then and there, as I have a pen in hand and am in the act of signing. After that, I decided that the business practices were a little too sketchy for my liking and signed elsewhere. Also, I'm not sure of the quality of your neighbors at Brush Creek. When I was in the office originally filling out an application before the lease fiasco, I saw him calling in a credit check, but asking the guy on the phone to avoid looking at evictions, implying that they rent to just about whoever, history of rental issues or not. The upside of my experience is that if you currently live here or signed a lease before 8/22/07, you shouldn't have to pay for carpet or paint when you move out, though they are going to try to bill you for sure. —gert
2008-09-10 21:56:44 I strongly advise not renting at Brush Creek Apartments. There are apartment complexes in the same price range that are better maintained and much nicer in Davis. Check Craigslist, the Davis Enterprise, and Google websites of apartment managers in Davis for other places to live.
If you do decide to move in—
1. Security Deposit: Be sure to do a walk through of the apartment with the manager and take photos when you move in. The apartments are old and not maintained, and management will attempt to take your security deposit when you move out if you do not document everything that is a problem with the apartment when you move in. They may attempt to take your security deposit anyway, but at least you will have evidence if you need to go to mediation and/or small claims court to get it back. Documentation should include paint, level of cleanliness and whatever might be on the carpet when you move in. As mentioned by Gert, the management does cross out in ink provisions in the Davis Model Lease that protect you as a renter. If you look around you will find that other places do not do this. As an earlier poster wrote, you will probably need this while you live there and when you leave: www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook. Renter's Legal Assistance is also a good resource that will help you out: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~asucrla/.
2. Cockroaches: There were cockroaches everywhere in the apartment throughout the year. I kept the apartment very clean, but I would find lots of cockroaches in my silverware drawers, on the kitchen counters, bathroom and bedrooms. I couldn't do anything to keep them out. This is one of the reasons I chose another place to live in Davis. —davis.renter
2008-12-01 09:48:29 I live in Brush Creek, and have had no similar problems. I have lived there for like 4 months now and have seen 2 cockroaches; one in the kitchen when we'd left food out, and the other was trapped in the bathtub. I have found management to be friendly, understanding, and helpful. I am signed onto the lease of a tenant of 3 years, who has had several other roommates over that time and has gradually run out of mailbox keys. The manager lent me the master so I could have a copy made.
I admit, some of their practices are a bit sketch in that the apartments are old, and were not constructed to the highest possible standard when new. I'd say it rates about a 3 (equivalent to "Live Journal Drama") on the Shadiness Scale.
I have no idea about the legitimacy of the above poster's comment RE tenants not being provided blinds/curtains. If it's a big deal to you, buy your own and take them out when you move out, dude. —MasonMurray
EDIT: All 4 of us from our apartment are moving out after several unfortunate events. The manager seems to keep getting snubbed by the owner whenever he tries to put any real money into keeping up the place. Cellphone signal is wretched (not a primary concern, but we have no land line). And I am an avid internet user who has high bandwidth requirements. The property has has trouble with comcast keeping up their lines which led to over a month of downtime which we were required to pay for(!!!) because of Comcast. We have stopped using comcast, but the alternative is much slower DSL. In short the problems we are having here are probably not the management, nor any one person's fault. As I said, it is unfortunate. —MasonMurray
2009-01-18 18:48:31 The apartment is quiet.My boyfriend and I decided to move out last summer because of its bad management. The manager Henry's service was extremely bad and his attitude was very rude. If he still is a manager there, it's had better not choose to rent this apartment. —michelle188841
2009-01-19 21:24:43 Henry is gone —DavidGreenwald
2009-01-23 15:52:26 When Brush Creek Apts. opened in 1977 my grandparents, Madeline and William Wright, managed the place and I basically spent almost every weekend and every single summer break from school through my whole life there with them and my brother up until my grandmother passed away in 1993. The place was always maintained inside and out and actually looked really nice compared to now. While the browns weren't all that great of colors to pick for attracting people to rent the apartments (that was Dana Mngt's. choice of color, not my grandparents), they were ALL brown and not all two or three different colors like now that don't even go together. When I go by that place it looks SO run down its not funny. One thing is weird though, on the apartment door where they used to live is the same exact X-mas wreath that my grandmother put on the door every single year. I miss living STILL there and all the tenants that I knew there and grew up with in my life, and I go drive through it every once in a while. Its shocking to see how bad it looks now compared to how it used to look. I wouldn't spend my money there. But just remember, while bad managers are obvious, some managers who might be labeled bad, really aren't trying to be. We all have to do what our boss tells us. —micahdepeche
2009-03-06 17:09:14 Actually those where WATER bugs: big-ass black cricket-looking things that live and breed in very wet places. Davis is filthy with then during the rainy season, and then when the rains end they hop people's places looking for more water. And then die, dehydration. Cockroaches are brown bugtanks, never seen even ONE here at Brush Creek in the four years I've been living here! —TylerBarrell
"Waterbug" usually still refers to the cockroach (wikipedia). "True waterbug(s)" are different.
2009-03-14 23:34:04 My roommate and I saw lots of cockroaches throughout our Brush Creek apartment. We didn't have them in our apartment, but apparently there are "big-ass black cricket-looking things" in some Brush Creek apartments as well. Perhaps certain buildings (e.g. the 3 bedroom, unattached apartments out back) or certain areas of buildings don't have as many problems with cockroaches. However, there are other cockroach/water bug-free apartment complexes for about the same price in Davis with more ethical landlord-tenant practices. —davis.renter
2009-06-24 23:35:44 A very convenient "secret" walk way to Westlake Plaza is found in these apartments; google_map —vladthedestroyer
2009-12-14 17:44:43 I live here now because it's cheap and there is no sign of bugs or anything like that. The manager is a good guy. The only bad part is the parking but I've never gone without. —slappy
2010-07-27 16:31:22 I have been a tenant for 11 months in this wonderful complex, and would come back again if I ever move back to Davis. The outward appearance was indeed a slight put off on first impression for me, but it made the inside a VERY pleasant surprise. It was at least as nice as many other complexes I checked out in the same price range (College, J Apartments, and Cranbrook), and even slightly bigger and cheaper ($800 for a 800-ft, 1 bedroom). There's a change of management & policy here. The current manager's name is Ray, the maintenance manager is Bob, and the maintenance guy is Jose—all of them are some niceest/friendliest people I have met in Davis. They went out of their ways to help their tenants and were proud of their work. I was initially worried about insects/roaches/rodents from general Davis wiki postings, so Ray explained to me that there's generally no such things in Brush Creek for years because they have people come in every other month to spray; to ease my anxiety, Bob came in to some stuff in the kitchen (boric acid?) and they promised to react on call during the year if I ever see the trace of a pest. Indeed, I lived in the apartment for the rest of the year. After I moved in, Ray also kindly offered to help me assemble an IKEA furniture or two (which I declined). During the year, my electricity was cut off on a Sunday thinking that something might be wrong with the electricity cables. I found Jose, and he pointed me to an empty unit where he said I was free to stay overnight. In 2.5 hours Ray rushed from out of town—and by then I figured out the "real" problem was that I never successfully set up auto-pay with PG&E. The neighborhood should be quite safe, since I have left my door unlocked sometimes and nothing ever got stolen. Lastly, when I moved out last week, Jose helped me get rid of some bookshelves—and even let me and the movers use his truck. And when I said I might need a reference later, they were nice about it. Look, I am not the best friend of these people and try not to bother them whenever possible, but the several times I needed their help they were there. If you are looking for a sane, reasonable, fast-acting, and friendly team of apartment managers, I highly recommend them. Besides, the apartment unit was comfortable to live in, which more than compensates for the outward look, which you get used to after a while. There's no water leakage/flodding or roache problems for me, and I see that the Bob-Jose crew is always fixing/improving something (just this year they changed the underground pipes, installed a new shower and new drainage system at the little pool, etc.). There is always enough parking spot near where I live, and it is a 2- to 3- minute walking distance to a plaza with a good supermarket (i.e., with a good collection of healthy, organic food) and a few decent eateries. —ArthurRimbaud
2011-02-12 20:08:52 I'm currently living here in a 2 bedroom apt. I like living here. Management and maintenance is great. I sent in a request to fix my disposal because I placed too much scraps in, and maintenance is always quick...one time the manager came in to fix it because the maintenance man Jose was busy. They painted our interior with really nice latex paint (a creamy white color). Bus lines are great. Living behind a plaza is a plus! My room is larger one with a huge closet and its own a/c wall mounted. —RyanaLove
2011-06-27 21:29:45 DO NOT LIVE HERE IF YOU STILL HAVE A CHOICE. The apartments are in bad condition; excessive leaking, crumbling and falling apart exterior and interior, cockroaches, dirty neighbors. The owner is a crook and the manager (though polite) plays along. The maintenance guy is shady. Heat doesn't get to the bedrooms in winter and only one bedroom gets AC. The apartments are dark as hell. When any maintenance is done inside they leave a mess. The location is not bad regarding buses and groceries but still far from campus and down town. There are apartments the same age that are better managed and comparable in price elsewhere in Davis. Don't waste your money. No matter how much you clean the apartment when you move out they're gonna steal from your deposit, even though what they claim to have fixed was not an issue when they did the walk through. I regret signing my lease here. —BobJames
2011-07-13 09:36:45 I am going to have to disagree with most of BobJames points. I have lived at these apartments for 2 years and have had no problems with the management. The handy man, Jose, does not speak English because he is from El Salvador. I had no problems getting a long with him and actually had him fix things, like the bathroom towel rack, without even going through management and directly talking to him when I met him outside. The rack was replaced in 5 minutes. The apartments are old, but any issue, especially water leaking will be addressed immediately. We had and old refrigerator, which was leaking, and it was replaced with a newer one. (Granted not brand new). My roommate has seen one cockroach in our 2 years here. (Being proactive with the Raid insect killer does not hurt in any apartment in Davis). The heater works really well, but alas, the wall mounted A/C units are ineffective and have to be run constantly. The laundry room machines are old also and heavily used. Overall, these apartments are old but considering the price and the good manager, who is very flexible with move dates and otherwise very accommodating, I think these apartments are a good deal for the money. (2B/1BA is $950). —vladthedestroyer
2011-08-25 13:49:52 I also have to agree with vladthedestroyer. My roommate and I have lived at this complex for 2 years and have recently signed the lease for our 3rd year. The management has always been very responsive and is always helpful. They are very flexible with move-in dates and even let us store a couch in one of the empty apartments until we sold it. The maintenance guy, Jose, is also very helpful and polite. He does speak limited English but he is very easy to communicate with. He will even drop off your packages to you at your apartment. As far a bugs go, my roommate and I have also only ever seen one cockroach in our time here and it was dead. We've never had a problem with any kind of bugs or pests. Although the apartments are older, as the previous user mentioned, they are always updating things. They have recently painted the outside of all of the units, have replaced older appliances, and even replaced the faucet in the bathroom of our unit the day we moved in. Overall, I think this is a great place to live. The staff is very friendly, helpful, and flexible with the tenants, the complex is right on the Q,P,K,D and Yolo bus lines, and it's right behind a shopping center with groceries, take out food, laundromat, dry cleaners, and other businesses. The prices are also some of the most affordable in Davis. —LMT
2011-09-13 16:51:50 I lived here last year. I loved it. Cheap rent for good sized apartment, laid back management staff. It was the least hassle I have had moving out, not trying to nickel and dime me on my deposit. I never saw bugs inside, though did see lots of crickets outside. Any time I had a problem, Bob (employee at the time, not sure if he's still there) would have it fixed that day; plus he was a really cool guy. I miss it compared to the more corporate managed apartment I'm in now. —AnonymousRenter
2012-02-09 12:28:04 This place has changed so much for the worse. Not only has there been "landscaping" work going on for months (including on Thanksgiving day), but it will continue to go on for months to come. The workers are extremely rude to the residents and it has become an inconvenience to even live here. The management does not give out notices to all residents for things like parking lot work which means that your car gets towed (at your own expense) for parking at your own apartment. I used to love this place but I do not recommend signing a lease here because the new owners are more concerned about making money than they are about the people who live here. —LMT
2012-03-07 18:32:26 Note: The apartment complex changed owners and management in about early November. Any -previous posts were from management before (which was very good in the 3 years I’ve been here) Since the new owners took over, things have gone way downhill. It seems like every few days something has annoyed me about living here. The biggest pain has been the constant construction that has been going on for four months! (Trying to study is very challenging when there is a concrete saw being used outside the window and people yelling for weeks on end) This should all be done by the time new people move in but the owners’ disregard for the residents currently living here is very upsetting and shows how they do not care about their residents. This has mostly been landscaping that has not made the complex look any better than it did before. Here are some more examples of how the management/owners have no care for their residents: - 2 of 6 dryers broken for 2-4 weeks - Peoples cars towed for construction and non-construction reasons, at owners expense, and sometimes without the owner receiving any sort of notice (mine almost got towed and I had not received a notice but luckily someone else told me minutes before my car would have been toed. A friend of mine had to chase his/her car down the lot as it was being towed away!) - Blocking of peoples doors with construction stuff and renters having to move it to just get inside their own apartments - 5 minutes’ notice that the water would be turned off for an hour or so (happened several times) - I could continue, but am getting agitated. The other thing has been the remodeling of a few apartments (they will be doing all of them before people move in (Yay, more construction!!!)). The new apartments look very nice inside and have new appliances. However, rent is going up by $150, $250, and $400 for the one, two, and three bedrooms respectively! This is an insane rate increase for what they did since the apartments are no bigger than they were. As a comparison, a 950 sq. foot 2 bedroom at Clubside (almost next to “The Grove”) is $1195. Not quite as updated but much larger. A three bedroom townhouse at Portage Bay (down the street) is $1725 and has 1219 sq. feet. A good way to sum up how poor things have gotten is this: out of the 6 or 7 apartments with people I know, 1 will be staying next year and before that all 6 or 7 had been planning to stay. It’s that bad and I recommend looking elsewhere. * Just found out that the only laundry room will be closed for 5 days so they can remodel it
—BG7
2012-06-20 14:37:39 2012-6-20- We've lived here a year. The whole place was sold in Dec 2011. The old manager, Ray, is gone. The apts have been HUGELY renovated. Trees have been cut way back/removed to make it safe and pretty. Landscaping has been done. Sidewalks have been repaired. They're putting in new countertops, hardware onto the cabinets, new stoves with windows, adding a narrow dishwasher where some drawers used to be, and adding ceiling fan and new lighting, new carpet, new paint. Seriously looks amazing. Rent used to be 900/month, but hadn't changed in about 9 years, so it was time. The pool deck has just been expanded. The laundry room is still the same machines (not those pretty frontloaders in the pics, but maybe that will come later?? They took all the machines out and de-did the flooring & paint in there, and just reinstalled the old machines. The noise from all the renovating has been annoying to say the least. Should be done by September. The thing I DO dislike about this place is the fact that the shopping center is RIGHT on the other side, because the DELIVERY TRUCKS come in and out late at night, but worse, is when it's 6am and you hear them beeping for back up or rumbling from loading/unloading. The worst behaved kids are moving out. The demographic is changing since rent is going up 300/per month (to 1200 for 2 br). The manager lives on site and is really nice. The maintenance guy is nice too and gets a lot done. —JessicaLrmn
2012-07-25 14:59:49 Don't go here. The management is terrible. I received a deposit refund from them named to every resident in our apartment last year. Because of this, I cannot deposit the check and disperse the money. I asked the management to write a check only to me; she said it was against policy. I asked the management to write 4 separate checks to every member; she said "we don't do that". <<< translation: we're greedy and don't care about you. I told them my situation, they still expect me to somehow get together with the two people in LA and one person in London so that we may deposit the check. They're greedy, the apartment are overpriced (we only lived there last year b/c it was a different management with cheaper prices). Go live in South Davis - you'll get a better experience at the same price.
I have never ran into problems with deposit refunds in my entire life. This is the first. Oh, they don't pick up your phone calls either. You have to leave a message and wait two days for them to get back to you. Ridiculous. —StevenWu
Unfortunately, that's not that uncommon. I've run into the same things a few times before. I'm guessing it's a way for management companies to cover themselves; they don't want residents to be able to claim they didn't get their deposit refund because their roommate received the check and took the whole sum, and they don't want to get caught up in any arguments over how to apportion deductions from the security deposit. I'd suggest talking to your bank and see whether they can get anything along the lines of an e-mailed or faxed authorization from people overseas in lieu of an endorsement on the check in order to cash it. —TomGarberson
2012-11-29 09:09:19 AWESOME place to live. So reasonable and EVERYTHING was brand new when i moved in. I have been here since August 2012 and have not had any maintenance issues which is incredible to me considering my last place had issue after issue. The Community Manager is so nice shes always checking on us and making sure everything is going good. The property it far from shady looks to me like it had a bad rep in the past but new management full remodel i would RECOMMEND ANYONE to live here its a GREAT PLACE TO LIVE :) hope this helps and changes any negative opinion about The Grove. —YuHue
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