Review for The Paladin Apartments

Paladin boasts "luxury apartments." I'm not quite sure what makes an aging, outdated facility luxurious.

The managers are friendly, the pool is clean and enjoyable during the summer. There are on-site coin-op laundry facilities (when I was there it was $1.50 to wash $1.25 to dry). Covered parking is available, and there are no assigned spots. There aren't covered spots for everyone, so during a storm there's the risk of being in the open.

The actual apartments are adequate for the price. It was 325 for a single bedroom with water included; fifty bucks more a month gets you a two bedroom. Everything is electric, my bill probably averaged around $80 for utilities (trash, electric, waste) and the appliances are old, so they will suck energy even if you don't use them often.

It is hit or miss what will be new (if anything) in your apartment. One I looked at had new carpet, in the few hours it took me to get them a deposit check that magically filled up and I ended up with a 'new' fridge that was very basic and still sucked energy. My carpet was a bright crimson. The few ceiling lights included are dark, even with bright bulbs. No bedroom light, just one in the 'hallway' and the 'dining room.' The dishwasher and stove/oven were old looking like they were installed 20-30 years ago. They worked, but weren't the greatest.

AC/heat is a below window unit in one bedrooms and central heat and air in a two bed. My wall unit looked to be Holiday Inn surplus from 1979. It would easily trip it's own breaker, and I'd have to reset that often. The high/med/low didn't seem to make a difference, all were the same speed. Trying to have something other than extreme heat or cold didn't make a difference, meaning that if I had the dial at one extreme, it would produce the desired effect, but anything in the middle just blew ambient air. The unit was in the LR, and the hole cut in the wall to the BR wasn't always effective, it would take quite some time to cool down or heat up. Definitely the result of a poorly functioning unit.

One major issue I have with the apartment is the lack of maintained sidewalks. Several areas have big cracks and destroyed concrete. The walk near my apartment would flood every rainstorm, causing a trek through the grass (the side walk would become covered in 2-3 inches of water due to poor landscaping. The frequent ice storms in winter time also caused sidewalks to become very icy. The maintenance wouldn't salt or sand walk ways or the parking lot. Fortunately I never seriously hurt myself in one of my ice-capades.

If you are looking for a bare-bones, cheap apartment. This maybe the place for you. Much of it is outdated, and ugly, but if you need a place to keep your stuff like I needed, it will work. If it wasn't for the price and the relative closeness to where I worked, I wouldn't have chosen it. All in all, I gave it 3 stars instead of 2 because of the price.