UH College Suites, albany-ny

PROS:This is truly a great building with a respectful, easily accessible and attentive staff. Maintenance requests are handled ASAP. Never had any issue with pests. Despite being a college focused building, little to no noise complaints. The building also has cool days where they giveaway food like pizza or breakfast to residents around the time that they're going to or coming from vacation breaks. The pricing is great, just under $900 a month for a furnished apartment with cable and Internet, water, gas, and every other utility under the sun covered. If you don't want a roommate I believe they have solo apartment options for just about $1000. I would recommend this building to anyone. CONS: The AC's can make the apartments feel damp due to a humidifier issue. The fire alarms are sensitive and go off anytime someone cooks with smoke. Sometimes you have to put your clothes back in the dryer for a second round because it may not be powerful enough. Yes it is a long walk from the parking lot to the front entrance. But those are minor inconveniences on the grand scale that this is a solid building.

Living there throughout the year was not the main issue. The apartments were okay overall. The rooms were small, but most things worked fine. There were definitely problems, like packages being misplaced in the wrong buildings or having the wrong room numbers written on them, which defeats the whole purpose of sorting packages by room number. The laundry rooms were also frustrating. Sometimes my clothes would come out soaked, and my white sheets were stained by the washer, which is ironic since it did the opposite of cleaning them. The main reason I’m leaving this review is because of the staff and how they handled move out day. I had a situation where the person picking me up did not speak English, and there was a misunderstanding about the move out date. One of my parents was hospitalized, and the other does not drive, so I truly did not have another option. I was already stressed from finals, cleaning the entire apartment after my roommates left it a mess, and trying to avoid any extra fines. I communicated with the staff about what was going on and was even willing to pay for the extra day if needed. I was told to move out by 8 AM before the cleaning crew arrived, so I passed that information along. My ride ended up being late, but there was no cleaning crew in sight. I even waited outside my room so I would not be in anyone’s way if they came to clean. Later, I heard loud banging on my door and opened it to a staff member yelling at me. I tried to respectfully explain that my ride was on the way and apologize for the delay, but I was cut off, rolled eyes at, and talked down to about the cleaning crew charges. I understand that I was late moving out, but the way I was spoken to was unnecessary and disrespectful, especially considering the situation was out of my control. I was told to move everything downstairs, but it was already crowded with people moving out, and I had a lot of belongings. I moved some things downstairs and the rest to an open lounge area on my floor so I would not block people. I was exhausted, had not slept the night before, and ended up breaking down from the stress of the whole situation. What made it even more frustrating was hearing that another student had a similar issue with their ride, but once staff realized he was on the basketball team, the tone toward him allegedly changed completely. He was not told to move all of his belongings downstairs or treated with the same aggression. That made the situation feel unfair and inconsistent. To make everything worse, there still was not a cleaning crew in sight. After dropping my things off in storage, I realized I still had my key, so I went back to check the room. It looked exactly the same as when I left it. No cleaning crew had come. I understand that I was not technically in the right because I was late moving out, but I also do not think I deserved to be yelled at or treated like that. The situation was not me being careless. It was a stressful situation involving transportation, family circumstances, and a language barrier. Staff can enforce rules while still treating students with basic kindness and respect. Unfortunately, this experience left a really bad impression.

Great and affordable option with excellent office staff. I lived here during all three years of my post-graduate education and I had very few complaints. Mostly that the noise levels are not really enforced too well, and the fire drills are obnoxious. Otherwise great place to live for students looking for hassle-free living during college.

SMCC (Southern Maine Community College) soccer games. The Referees were definitely more like middle school or rec. League material. I have never seen a AR communicate that much on the side lines with a center ref. It was crazy. Otherwise the fan base for home team was nice to see.

The apartments are ridiculously humid in the summer and freezing in the winter. And don't even get me started on the fire alarms going off. No exaggeration, somebody sets them off multiple times a week and I hate that it reflects badly on the business, but has to be factored in. If you want to be woken up in the middle of the night because some idiot doesn't know how to cook, then this is the place for you. Would highly recommend finding somewhere else to live where you don't get woken up or have to go stand outside multiple times a week.