I moved into this place 7 years ago, when it was under Camden management. I chose this complex because I was downsizing from a 5 bedroom house and the square footage was the largest in the Arrowhead area. The folks at Camden were wonderful and set us up with a nice unit on the quiet side of the complex. We were thrilled with living here for the first couple of years, before Camden was bought out by another management company.
At that point, the place went to hell. Horrible staff, long waits for maintenance and dead landscaping were just the beginning of the horrors. I honestly don't know how or why I kept renewing after that, except that I'm too lazy and busy to pack and move a big household again. The straw that finally broke the camel's back happened about 2 years ago, when the management gave my parking space away to a new resident without notifying me, and that resident had me towed. (Out of my own space that I was paying monthly for!) The management at the time took no ownership over their mistake and refused to restore my space to me, even though I was the more tenured resident. Before my last lease renewal, I made the choice to start looking for a new complex ASAP.
I'm only telling you all of that history, because I feel it's important to put my current opinion in context. Luckily, very shortly after the parking space situation and right in the middle of my lease renewal time, there was another management change and Avenue 5 took over. I was skeptical to renew, but the new manager promised that big positive changes were coming, and they certainly did.
Now we are happier here than we have ever been. The staff are all kind and professional, and treat us like valued residents every time we interact with them. Which is a lot, as I'm down in the office picking up packages at least twice a week!
I just finished my second renewal with Avenue 5. Yes, there was a big jump in rent this year due to an increase in the market, but the manager padded that blow with outstanding customer service and reasonable incentives. She asked us to go home that night and make a list of improvements we'd like to see made to our unit. We did that, and our list was very comprehensive with everything from minor stuff like replacing dimming lightbulbs to major stuff like replacing the dead landscaping outside of our unit that had been dead for years. The maintenance staff had our entire list completed in less than a week.
Apartment living is apartment living. You'll never get the same freedom and luxury of living in your own house unless you're paying $5k/month over in Scottsdale. Fountain Palms is about the best you can get when it comes to the ratio between cost, quality and service. It's definitely not luxury, but it is nice, affordable middle class housing.
And they're still improving. With every set of improvements and renovations, the complex seems to attract a better clientele, too. I haven't been woken in the middle of the night on a weeknight by the sound of people partying or fighting in my courtyard since Avenue 5 took over. (Though I'm hesitant to put that here. I might jinx myself!)