Fellow Readers,
My wife and I are a military family and we have lived all over the U.S. I can say without a doubt that the Dakota Apartments are the second to worst place that we have lived in. I will begin by rating by category.
Parking: Each apartment gets only one and absolutely one parking spot. If you are lucky enough to be able to purchase a garage for an additional $65 (which has no garage door opener, no power source, and a 3FT shelf that comes out from the wall not enabling you to park anything but a compact within it) the only thing it is good for is storage. The staff's answer to the parking issue is to just park across the street at the Safeway and then walk from there. They could care less about the parking situation.
Staff: A collected group of individuals that are inept at their jobs, and who exhibit poor people skills. There is no 24-hour emergency number, there have been countless break-ins and thefts that have gone un-researched by the staff. The only highlight is the maintaince manager Jim who seems to be the only staff member who is making an attempt to care for those that live within the Dakotas.
Apartment Interior: Decent, but rather small for what they end up charging you ($1175 for 2BR, 2BTH). The paint and craftsmanship is poor, which is evident in the cracks and faults that are already showing within an apartment that was just completed in July of 2007. We would know because we were the first people to live in this section of the complex.
Exterior: Very vanilla.
Amenities: A decent gym that is hardly ever cleaned properly and a pool and jacuzzi.
Overall do not even attempt to consider this place at all as a place to live. Currently my wife and I are working with other military families that live within this complex to have the Dakotas "blacklisted" at the Fort Lewis and McChord AFB housing offices so that no military family member can live here and be subject to this insanity.