Strombeck Properties

worst rental company. woodridge apartments are the hell holes of apartments in arcata. walls are paper thin– you here everything from your neighbors. and there are tweakers that reside here, I do not feel safe. I just may have to break my lease and move out. can’t get a decent amount of sleep, ever. also no windows and natural light. I feel like I’m living in a cave.

I was residing in the Parkway Apartments, which is their better apartments. They were charging me a little under $ 700 a month for the Studio. In my opinion, it was too small for the price. If you’re lucky, your kitchen will come with a window. My kitchen did not come with a window. These apartments are notorious for having the smoke detectors go off while you’re cooking dinner– but not for other things…

The apartments and grounds are well kept. A little expensive for how small the studios are, but that is typical in any college town. Would recommend for students, walking distance to HSU, grocery, and plaza.

In regards to Parkway apartments and the company in general:
I lived at Parkway for a year and a half, and only that long because it saved me money and I had no other options at the time.
Parkway consists of very small studio apartments. The complex has all utilities included, but the price of utilities no where near equals what a reasonable price for rent and average utility use would be.
I chose this complex because I needed out of the living situation I was in at the time and it was available for a reasonable price. However, they wouldn’t allow a showing before I officially signed the rental contract because all units were occupied. Turns out, a lot of units weren’t, they were just being cleaned for the next people to move in to. I made the mistake of deciding to continue on with the company regardless of this and I really wish I hadn’t.
They aren’t horrible units, but they aren’t great either. Old, dingy carpets, cheap showers and toilets. SUPER thin walls (I could hear neighbors snoring and full on conversations).
By signing a 6-​month lease when I originaly picked out these apartments, I was able to get my apartment for less that $ 500 a month. When I went to renew my lease for another year, my price increased to $ 550 for no explained reason. If I had chosen to go month-​to-​month at this complex, it would have been almost $ 700 a month, which is outrageous for what they are.
When I did move in, I wasn’t very happy with the cleaning job that had been done. Residue from the cleaning products was all over the stove and cabinets, my carpets had stains all over them, and the floor o the shower was stained with rust as well. The carpet should have been replaced because it was so old and stained. My sink in the bathroom was being held up by very weak caulking and I had to have it repaved twice while I lived there.
The refrigerator did not fit properly in the space allotted for it (I couldn’t open the door all of the way), however in my friends apartment hers did. Turns out some of the units are bigger than others and have windows besides the sliding glass door yet the price remains the same.
Regarding the glass door…
the seals on the one in my unit were faulty and allowed extreme amounts of moisture in which caused mold to grow on my wall. I got rid of it as it would grow. Turns out the company knew about it yet did not tell me or do anything to fix it.
I was late on rent one time, and I was %100 ok with paying my late fee. Their fee is very expensive though! At my new place (2br 1ba) late fees are $ 25…Strombeck charges $ 65 even for the studios!
The laundry rooms also SUCK. Too few machines for how many tenants using them. They are old (tend to break a lot) and were rarely cleaned if ever (they always smelt mildewy and dingy).
When I got my deposit back, they had charged $ 77 for carpet cleaning… in a room just barely big enough to fit twin bed a desk and a tiny table tightly. While I understand that it was likely the cleaning companies fee that I paid for, they certainly can find somewhere more affordable that actually does a good job at cleaning carpets.
All in all, the staff are friendly and helpful, but the product is NOT WORTH HOW MUCH THEY CHARGE! Highly overpriced. Too much focus is put on landscaping and curb appeal.
If you are in a bind and really need a place to stay, temporarily this place may be ok, but not long term.

This posting is in regards to my experiences at Woodridge. I have rented from several places throughout my life, but never have I had a worse experience than I have had with this apartment complex and property management company.
Before I moved to Arcata I needed to find a place close to my work, and fast. Because I was also looking for a place that was both affordable and quiet (I often had to bring work home), I settled on a studio at Woodridge. Boy was that a mistake.
When I first moved in, you could tell it had been a while since the apartment had been updated, but it appeared clean and acceptable. However, I actually had a similar experience as another reviewer on Unilocal.I was lying in bed when I heard this strange rushing water sound. Within a minute, I felt a drop of water on my head. I looked up and a couple more drops fell on my face. I quickly shoved my bed and all my furniture as far away from the area as I could, and grabbed a bowl. Thank God I did – within a couple minutes it was as if someone had turned on a hose and stuck it through a hole in my ceiling. The neighbor above refused to answer her door despite my profuse banging on the door (the people who lived there were STRANGE), so the water continued to pour into my apartment for some time before finally stopping. I contacted the landlord and they said they would cut a hole in my ceiling to fix the pipe, and come back the next day to sheet rock and paint it. The next day, sure enough, there was a giant hole in my ceiling. But that was the only work they did for the next WEEK. So, in the meantime, despite frequent calls to get it fixed, I had to live in a tiny corner of my apartment while a pile of sheet rock and ladder sat in my apartment. Finally, after one of my calls, they came in and sheet rocked the hole. Of course, they got sheet rock all over my dresser, the walls, and the floor. They said they would return the next day to paint it and never returned, so the sheet rock remained all over everything. I gave up and just left it the way it was; given how long it had already taken I was just done with trying to fix it any further.
The rest of the apartment was just as bad. The bathroom sink ran just a trickle of water. The toilet often kept running so you would have to lift up the lid on the tank and manually stop it. One of the burners on the stove was not even operational. One of the outlets only worked intermittently, and in the studio unit, outlets were hard to come by. The pipes were also loud: whenever my upstairs neighbor ran water, I would get a loud knocking sound on my ceiling (and you wonder how the plumbing failed?). And, the place was full of earwigs. I found myself killing at least one per day, and I think they nest in the molding around the floor.
And oh, the neighbors. Loud and extremely disrespectful. On one occasion, I ended up having to contact the cops to get neighbors who were blasting music to turn it down (they refused my request to turn it down at 11pm). Another neighbor had been blasting music from 6pm one night until 10pm the following night, and refused to answer the door when I knocked to ask them to turn it down. It took a note threatening to call the cops to get them to finally stop. The kids who live here are also loud and disrespectful, like screaming as if they’re on a playground at midnight. And if you’re not a fan of the smell of pot, don’t live here. Take a step outside in the evening and you choke from the smell.
Maybe this place is okay for students at HSU, but I wasn’t a student and I worked more than 40 hours per week. I often had to be up by 5am for my job so sleep was already a precious commodity. If you’re in a similar position, this place is not for you. I was constantly sleep deprived from how loud the neighbors were, and I simply didn’t have the time to deal with the frequent problems with the apartment. I can guarantee, anyone can find a better apartment than this (it’s not a high bar to meet).

Overall, Woodridge apartments was a terrible experience. While initially it seemed pleasant, we ended up with neighbors that frequently got drunk and would stay up all night with many guest having drunk fights, and relieving themselves through public urinate all along the apartment walkways. This made studying, or even sleeping, after 7−8p.m. nearly impossible on most nights. Calls to strombeck did nothing, and it eventually ended with us and a couple neighbors having to call the police often. The lady who works maintenance at the apartments does a wonderful job and response quickly, but that’s if you contact her directly. Going through the office will often ensure that she’ll never know of your maintenance issues.
Things to be prepared for when you move out: You will NOT get your full security deposit back. In fact, you won’t even have it resolved within the California State tenant regulation laws limit of 21 days after moving out. While the contract makes it sound like cleaning is a subjective thing based on how well or poorly you leave your apartment, it does not matter. My housemates and I spent 2 days fully devoted to cleaning the apartment leaving it perfect, but it turns out that doesn’t matter. They have a few ‘regardless of condition’ systems that occur no matter the state of the apartment. They will replace your drip pans (13.96 $), they will devote at least 1hr to repainting your walls even if you never touched them (35 $), and they will use at least ½ gallon of paint to do so (12.50 $). This guarantees that you are out by at least 61.46 $. But it doesn’t stop there. They also have a cleaning crew that goes through your apartment after, which was 250 $ for us (In talking to previous neighbors and other students for the 3 years living in the area, I have not know it to be below 250 $ for those living there for only a semester, to a full academic year), yet it can be up to 400 $ easily. That’s 311.46 $ that, regardless of the apartment condition it was left in, you will have to pay. So I advice saving a few hours of effort and just leaving the floors unswept or counters unscrubbed, as their cleaning standards insist that they have to charge you for them doing it regardless. On top of that, they have a «Good Faith Cleaning» charge of 395 $ of your security deposit that they will put on hold till they get around to cleaning your apartment, despite the California tenant law that requires all these fees to be settled and resolved within 21 days of moving out, making this portion a bit sketch. Also, it will take 2 – 3 months to get whatever they didn’t take out of this portion of the security deposit back; meaning if you move out in May, it won’t be till late July to late August that you’ll hear back, if even then.
A positive to all this is that when you move in, you have a semi-​decently cleaned apartment with a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Yet this soon loses it’s appeal once you notice that there are bugs painted over and stuck in your wall that you get to stare at all year in your kitchen, or the fact that while the cleaning is okay, for 250 $ I’d expect a lot cleaner of an apartment moving in.
If you waited till the last minute to find a place before college, and you are aware of these consequences, it is better than living off the streets, and it is a fairly short walk to campus. But the best path will be to find a decent place before the housing rush for college starts in August. Your ability to study in peace, get a decent amount of sleep, and not having to leave your apartment to the reek of piss in the morning, will surely pay off.

(This is in regards to the Parkway Apartments on Union Street in Arcata) Sure they’re cheap ass apartments and they are renovated but you get what you pay for. The walls are so freakin thin I can hear my neighbors think. And that’s a loaded statement because I believe 70 percent of them are high most of the time and how much can a half baked person think anyways… I know, that was a mean statement…
I wish I did my homework before I moved into the apartments. If you’re an HSU student, by all means, move into the studios… but if you’re a working professional, like myself, just pay the extra money and get a 1-​bdrm with thicker walls.
Another important thing to note. The banners say «ALL UTILITIES PAID FOR.» Those utilities include water, electricity, and garbage. It does NOT include internet and cable.