The Reserve at Empire Lakes Apartments

I moved in about 6 months ago and I love it. Staff are super nice and attentive. Maintenance is quick and effective. I love the new dog park b/​c sometimes I don’t have time to take my dog out for long walks but now I can take him to the park and get him tired. Which is great and convenient. Parking can be a bit of an issue sometimes it is limited especially guest parking. I have not experience loud music or loud neighbors. I like the fact that is a dog friendly community. A plus that is around the shopping centers and around most restaurant. So location is my favorite by far.

Disappointed. Been living here since end of April 2015. Any service requests are usually addressed promptly and the girls up from are amazing! Always so nice and remembers my name and unit number when I come in for packages. Recently they entered my unit to upgrade light fixtures and they gave me notice however did not mention to remove my belongings on the counter because they would a leave behind — debris and dirt everything and even things left on the floor. The unit is carpeted and the kitchen is not. The piece where it begins and ends was prickly like needles or something are underneath. Property manager Stacey said she could put in a service request for me but I held off for a bit because I like to know exactly when they enter my unit. David at the front also said I just need to put a request to have the carpet pulled back. Anyways after months of living here I finally decided to put in a service request (around end of November) and after they fixed that and pulled the carpet over well they pulled it over too much so there’s a gap from the carpet to the wall of the dining/​living room. I emailed Stacey the proper manager where she reassured me it would get fixed and handled. They have entered my unit now 3 times to «fix» this and all they have done is glue a smaller piece of carpet where the gap is. That is such an eye sore and such unprofessional work. If I knew they were going to do that I could’ve done so myself. I chose to rent here because I thought it would be worth it but it seems to be not the case. If I knew I was going to pay for half ass work I would’ve rented closer to work for a fraction of the price. I’m completely disappointed and I better not get charged for this poorly placed carpet when I move out. When I first moved in I didn’t notice at the pre move inspection but shortly after I noticed a bunch of cracks everywhere — in the fridge — in the tub and all over the kitchen, bathroom and front floor. There are sticky patches all over the walls too to cover previous residents holes. Such an eye sore. It didn’t initially bother me since the girls up front are always so wonderful to me anytime I come into the office but now with this carpet issue I am utterly annoyed beyond all. I wanted to renew my lease when it was over but now I have to reassess my situation and reconsider.

Parking is TERRIBLE here. There is never any available parking after 3:00pm and people leave their cars parked in the «prime» parking spots for weeks at a time. People’s garages are filled with junk instead of cars, but they are never checked or reprimanded. Trash is constantly flung EVERYWHERE, leaving a fowl stench and stains all over the ground (including hallways! Gross!). The dumpsters are almost always overflowing as they aren’t emptied frequently enough. Random cars drive in to dump their trash and «dumpster dive» because there isn’t any security here. Worst of all, the neighbors above our garage wash off all their dog excrement onto the concrete directly in front of our garage. The rancid smell of dog urine & feces is always rampant in our garage. The pool closest to my apartment is NEVER cleaned; there is always gross debris floating in it and sediment on the bottom. The insides of the apartments are nice and the staff working in the office seem friendly, but that doesn’t matter when management refuses to pay any mind to your concerns regarding safety or sanitation. I’m very disappointed in this community.

Our lease ends in 2 weeks so I will update this if they piss me off in that time, but as of now, everything has been totally good. Maintenance is quick. I did have to ask them to power wash our stairs and sidewalks once, but there is no trash around, the grass and trees are kept neat, the office staff were totally nice to us. They didnt ever bother us about anything. Our cars and house were never broken into or anything like that (and we lived right next to the 7 – 11 where wierdos hang out). We lived right next to the roads on the outside of the property, so the roads were loud at night. People get drunk and fight or yell outside sometimes because theres alot of stuff near the apartments, and people bump their music outside 7 – 11 at night, but that wouldnt affect anyone unless their apartment was going to be near there, and i wasnt too bothered by it. The location of my apartment allowed us to watch the traffic and the planes land and take off. I liked that.
UPDATE: they hardly charged us anything to move out!!! Soooo cheap for paint and carpets and all that! Im amazed! So happy with my experience living there!!!

Apartment communities, just like regular communities come with their pros and cons and I’m happy to report that as of now, I’m finding a lot of pros within the reserves. I am loving my apartment (home) and have Sokhom the leasing agent to thank for that.
From start to finish she was very helpful and responsive. On the day of my move in, David and Stan were thorough in walking me through and making sure I understood all the features of the apartment. I don’t think the process could’ve been any easier. Being new to the area, their resident portal is also amazing and gives me a sense of what is going on around me.
For me, access and convenience is everything and I think I’ve found just that here at The Reserves.

I have been a resident for the past 5 years and a lot of change but not for the better.
The staff is very friendly and good hearted, however communication can be lacking on problems and issues, normally the front staff can resolve problems quickly, however not always depending on the situation. My case the neighbor up stairs was making too much noise and after going back and fourth for MONTHS did it finally get resolve.
The landscaping has gone down since I been here, it used to be top notch but not anymore,
The gate openers they assign break easily, or don’t even work, parking is horrible, it is now assign by apartment and your gotta have a car in good running order, and insurance must be showed to the office which is nice to get rid of the cars that don’t belong here, however I did the fallowing and a car has been parked in the same spot for over a month and its wrecked and haven’t been towed. So obviously they are turning a blind eye or don’t care.
They do have a small pet policy which they don’t abide by, I see full grown dogs over 40 pounds, I adhere to their pet restrictions and cooperated, however it’s unfair and garbage that I can’t bring my dog over 40 pounds, when they have dogs here roaming which are over 40 pounds and breed restricted.
Also people here drive too fast and it’s unsafe.
I was happy the first two years but after 3, this place is horrible, I don’t recommend anyone moving here not even my family. I can’t wait for my lease to be up and move.

I love love LOVE this community. This is my very first apartment I got on my own with my sister and its great! Very friendly residents. The office staff is the best, they are always around via email or in person if you need them! Sokhom was very helpful in finding us the perfect apartment that met our needs. Sokhom as well is always fast when it comes to responding to my emails. She is such sweetheart! All of our paperwork was processed very fast and got us approved short;y after that. David was also very helpful on move in day, turning our stressful morning around. They have really awesome food trucks that come on Thursdays for when you have that busy work day and do not feel like cooking. All in all. I speak highly of this place:)

DO NOT MOVE HERE!!!-
Let me start by saying how disappointing living here was. We had moved to this complex due to a job transfer, the units themselves looked great, but after moving in it was nothing but NIGHTMARES from start to finish. All of the other complexes with Equity Residential that we have lived at were great, not here.
Neighbors are doing drugs here, Domestic violence, Fights in parking lots, Trash Dumpster Divers, Dogs not on leashes, Trash all over grounds, Pool and Hot Tub always dirty, People jumping fences with alcohol to sit by the pool in the middle of the day! There is a reason all the apartments have alarms on them! It is not safe here!
Also, if your in with the office and maintenance staff, you too can have your own personalized parking spot in the handicap parking without a plate or placard, ANYTIME! For the rest of us parking is a nightmare.
But wait there is more. Upon Moving out we took the time to fill holes with spackle and touch up the walls. Don’t bother. They still gouged us on our return money.
As far as the staff here– Stacey the Manager was great, but her hands are tied, and Sokham is great also. The rest of the staff could care less and u are a bother to them, regardless of what the issues are. There is a office girl there people call her «the Jersey girl» and she has terrible customer service skills. Stay away from her!
We were very patient with our issues and the only saving grace here was we were able to move out of this nightmare and move on. I know I will get the generic response from this review, if there were no Stars i would give it to this complex.

These apartments have a ridiculously high turnover rate and for good reason. They gouge their residents for anything they have from parking spot fees to increased rents and additional fees. Every year our rent is increased to a higher rate than what they offer to new residents. This means that a new resident can get the same apartment for cheaper than an existing resident. They do this so they can gouge existing residents for higher rent so they can encourage people to leave after the lease ends so they can take your entire rental deposit and start fresh. DO NOT MOVE HERE!

With my busy schedule these apartments do accommodate to me. I just renewed my lease.

I have been living in these apartments for 7 months and my experience here has been horrible. My first issue was during the 2^nd week my car got broken into in my garage. making my life hell for the 1^st month at my new home. There has also many other break in’s in other people’s cars and apartments. I have seen fights in the parking lot between residents where there was blood left on the ground. My neibors upstairs we’re drunk one night and a guy pissed on our patio so there was pee splattering everwhere, Discusting! Just a week ago someone from the 3^rd floor poured a keg of beer all over our patio. All tho the apartments inside may be nice the people that live here are ghetto. So recently the apartments have new parking rules. Everyone that lives here are to have parking permits starting August 31^st. Also residents are able to reserve spots. This is all new as of a week ago. It’s already hard finding parking. I don’t understand why people can reserve extra parking spaces. That’s what garages and stalls should be used for. Open spaces should have been kept first come first serve like when I first moved in. Now everything has changed. It’s all about the money because it costs extra to reserve parking. Last nite after driving around for 30 min with my 2 yr old son and not finding parking, I finally found a spot so I was happy and pulled right in. I woke up this morning to take my son to daycare and go to work to find my car gone. My car got towed because apparently I parked in a reserved spot. I wasn’t aware of this because it was at nite and didn’t see the reserve print on the ground. I’m a single mother already struggling and now I have to worry about how im going to get my car back. This really happened at the worst time. I pay 1,625 to live here. My car shouldn’t be getting towed! Also maybe if they focused more on security and safety for the residents that live here, it would be a better place. Instead they focus on towing cars. The parking rules are not fair and this was a pure accident. I will tell everyone about these apartments and not to move here. All bad!!!

I loved living my first year but after that, when my apartment needed maintenance and fixing around, I got no help. They don’t seem to care. The only thing they are on top of is getting their money. Not to my mention this place is crawling with water cockroaches and bugs. I have had the Orkin come and spray my apartment 5 times in the last 6 month! I’m literally afraid to go home because it. I lived in some pretty run down apartments before and I have never EVER had this issue. It’s driving me to move out. This year I said enough is enough and I’m leaving the complex in August and I cannot be happier!!!

If I could write a review with out stars I would. The staff seemed friendly at first but then has been rude to my wife. As you see below the parking has been absolutely horrible they are not finally coming out with a parking decal that was recommended by residents a year ago, there fast to raise your rent every year but slow to do recommends items such as the parking. Why would they care they just want your money. Pools and spas, the pools other than the main one constantly are dirty. Neighbors, some are good some as stated in the other comment are bad such as the «thugs» loud music random bangs from either a gun or fire works in the middle of the night, along with there loud music and there Reid’s that don’t understand why a gate or fence is in its place they constant jump them. And the «24 hour security» haven’t seen one security car or guard, and when you call they say if it’s an emergency call 911 and if it isn’t leave a message well I have left a message and it’s still hasn’t been returned after about 7 months. The apartments are nice just over priced for the hassle and the amount of break in that have accrued over a years time for a secure apartment building secure my ass. Gates constantly are down then up and then down. Overall I give this place a negative in stars but do to Unilocal they have to at least get one.

For the price you pay here, it sucks. There is absolutely no parking after 430pm, so your usually forced to park on the street outside of the community and walk to your apartment. As is typical with most of these complexes, they never like to answer their phones in the office. The stairwells are always very dirty and the insides of the apartments are low quality. They also have a roach problem, which when told about they don’t seem overly concerned. The property manager is also a complete idiot, as is to be expected of people in her position. They would instead rather spend more time sending «cute» emails with incredibly lame attempts at humor rather than investing anything in the actual property.

I have lived here now for a month and I love it. It’s a beautiful community with a breath taking view. It’s not peaches and cream but seriously what is? Unless you have an garage, parking is HORRIBLE! My building is really quiet except for when others are showering. I can also hear when people car are being towed. The office is great and extremely helpful with everything you need.

I absolutely love this community. Very friendly residents. Best office staff! Sokhom was very helpful in finding us the perfect apartment home. All of our paperwork was processed in a timely manner and got us approved in no time. David was also very helpful on move in day, turning our stressful morning around.

My family and I have lived at The Reserve for over 3 years. We love The Reserve and the staff! Stacey, Toni, and David are always so helpful and accommodating.
Toni is such a sweetheart and even when I’m in the weirdest of moods, she takes the time to calm my concerns and puts me at ease. I am not the easiest person at times so I admire the pure professionalism and care that Toni and The Reserve has shown me. When I need something done or have a question to ask, they are only a phone call away.
The apartments are clean and the layouts are spacious. The grounds are always maintained, and there is never trash or debris on the floor. There is always someone from maintenance checking on things and they are all so helpful and friendly.
The Reserve provides cool treats to their residents such as a variety of food trucks which park right outside of the leasing office and are conveniently there when I get home from work (which means I don’t have to hurry up and cook), they also provide events where neighbors can come together as a community (it’s so important to know your neighbors) and we have some really great ones!
Bottom line, The Reserve goes above and beyond the duties of a normal leasing office. They work really hard to make their residents feel safe and sound. Stacey and her staff always send updates and emails of what’s going on in the community so we’re never in the dark. I love being a resident at The Reserve and plan on staying as long as possible.
Thank you Stacey, Toni and All of the Reserve staff for all you do!
— Christine

As a travel nurse, I move from location to location quite often. I lived in these apartments for 3 months so my review will be based on that amount of time.
The front office staff were polite, fast, and very helpful, however I wish I could say the same about the management. There was a small misunderstanding to which the hubs had to speak with the manager on a few occasions and one time ended up waiting three hours to see her. Busy or not, I think better accommodations could’ve been made.
Aside from that, the grounds are always very well kept and with the amount of dogs it never smells. The pool and BBQ areas are usually kept pretty clean.
The biggest bummer at this complex in the gym, or lack thereof. VERY small room packed with equipment and guys who hog them all. Not to mention the smell… Lol
The unit itself was a good size, clean, updated appliances and just enough for a short-​term assignment.
Noise level was average, lots of kids, and the fire alarm only went off once in the three months I was there– impressive!
Overall, average. I think management could have made this experience a lot better.

Lived in this apt for 16 months. The place isn’t the best I’ve seen, but management and front office made it quite bearable to live there. Any maintenance or problems were taken care of immediately. All payments can be done online which is very convenient for people who are extremely busy. The community makes an attempt to organize several events to bring the neighborhood together. I never had a problem with management.
However, the environment is very loud especially on the weekends, the grounds are not well kept-​many dog owners do not pick up after their dogs and it’s disgusting. It’s very hard to relax at the pool when there are so many children and loud music playing all the time.
Nonetheless, kudos to the front office for quick responses to all maintenance demands.

Cons: load music from thugs driving in contently, Kids at the jacuzzi trying to party at 11 at night, the walk ways cement floors are very dirty and at night sometimes you have ghetto people that hangout around the APT. Something needs to change FAST.
Pro: Great location, close to the freeway and the apt are nice inside.