The Lodges of East Lansing, east-lansing-mi

DO NOT LIVE AT THE LODGES!!!!!! Please look past all the fake reviews on this place. I wrote out a big long story about why this place isn’t good but google puts a character limit on reviews so feel free to reach out to me and I’ll send you the unedited Long story short. Our apartment was nothing like the one toured. When we toured, my roommates and I were promised we would all have the same room setup. We did not. My own room was about 30% smaller than the other 3 rooms and one of the other rooms was about 20% bigger than the normal sized room. The condition of our apartment was poor. The couches were ripped and had burn marks in them, they had bad springs in them, and smelled terrible. The bar stools had bite marks all over them. Staff told us it wasn’t worth it to order new furniture. The floor was all beat up and the carpet felt like a burlap sack. My room had a huge yellow stain on it. But this is all normal for what the staff referred to as “college apartment living”. No insulation in the walls means you can hear your roommates every move and also that your heating and cooling bill will sky rocket in the summer and winter months so be prepared for that. Our locked never worked, there is constantly broken glass everyone on the sidewalks, the kids whose parents pay their rent do not care about the other residents, the payment system charges you an extra 20 bucks a month if you don’t set it up they way you want to. The bus isn’t that convenient, and you will have to get ready to go on a hike when it comes to taking out the trash. Like I said, I wrote a lot more about how this place is by far the best. For 700+ dollars a month you’re better off someplace else as it doesn’t deserve to charge anything more than 450 if that! I truly had nothing but problems with this place since the day we found out what apartment was ours to the day I moved out.

I am writing this review so that future students will know what they are getting into when they sign a lease at the Lodges. Please save yourself the stress and money and live literally anywhere else (gateway lofts, volaris, landmark, the hub, houses leased by Hagan). I truly thought I would have no issues living here but they just keep piling up with the management having no regard for the residents, who are mostly students trying to get through school. On April 17th, my apartment and many others were having the floors changed, which was forced upon us by management and were given no choice if we wanted our apartments to undergo this change during the most stressful weeks of our lives – finals week. They forced us to basically pack up our whole apartments as if we were moving out. I personally had 2 exams that week and had no time for the stress that management was putting on me, but basically had no other choice. The worst part was that the day that my specific apartment was to be done a tornado happened and there was severe rain and hail. All my belongings were outside in the rain. When I called the lodges to see how they were rectifying this they said that the construction men were putting our stuff under tents, but when I looked at my ring camera all my appliances were sitting outside. Then when I could finally come back to my apartment at 8pm, the apartment was covered in FILTH – dirt and mud everywhere, my furniture in completely different spots, nails all over the floor, walls scratched, glue residue all over the floor. This was the night before I was supposed to take a final exam. I had no one to help me clean or put everything back. The amount of stress I felt was extreme and the Lodges did not care that students were being put under this. They did not offer any compensation for students or a cleaning service. They probably did this so that students would be forced to clean their apartments before moving out right after finals weeks and then the Lodges would not have to pay for a more in-depth clean before the new residents move in. This was corporate greed at its best and I cannot convey how the stress impacted me and my studying in those days.

There’s a lot to like but so much to dislike. The shuttle is amazing, but it’s the best considering if you have a spot in a lot and you move your car you have a 95% chance you won’t get a spot again. They now charge $15 dollars a month for un-assigned parking which accumulates to $180 for the entire lease. They won’t ticket and tow vehicles, they have no signage like every other apartment complex in EL does giving paying residents rights to parking. The office won’t respond and if they do they ticket two cars a month that never get towed just to placate everyone. I really like the location and my apartment in particular. In comparison to some places I’ve been the maintenance and aura of the property is amazing. But underneath there’s a lack of tactfulness from the main staff and general disregard for the fact that you pay a lot to live here. Let’s just say if my friends ask where to live I tell them that they should overlook the Lodges.

I have been living in the Lodges for the past year and although they do have good amenities, overall the experience has been very poor. The biggest issue was the internet outages that have occurred through the year. Sometimes these outages last several hours and when paying over a $1000 a month this is just unacceptable. On top of this, when we moved in the unit was a complete mess with trash in the couch, marks all over the floor, and it was like none of the bathrooms had been cleaned since the following residents moved out. The images look nice online, but in reality the units are very cheaply made and my shower has had a mold problem due to lack of proper shower seal. Since the first week of school we have had problems with our neighbors and have called the cops 4 times due to parties and smoking on the porch. Trash left on the porch attracted animals putting all the other neighbors as risk due to the layout of the building. We have reached out to the leasing office, maintenance staff, and have called the 24 hour security officer and have never gotten a call or even an email back. This is unacceptable and it really just makes The Lodges look money hungry. I would never suggest anyone live here and The Lodges have made it clear that they aren't willing to help figure these issues out. If you signed a lease, I wish you the best of luck.

Lived here for two years. Would never return. From the perspective of the premium price you're paying (considering the fact that the location isn't actually that good), you'd expect maintenance to be a little quicker on the draw. The insulation in our apartment was terrible; cold air rushed in through the bottom of the door in the winter time, and since the electric bill is on you, the cyclic nature of your heat will not be kind to your wallet. Tenants"don't pay for water", but water heaters are run on electricity, so unless you exclusively use cold water... You do pay for the water. Lastly (and most disturbingly) the first year I lived here, residents had free access to the ice skating rink down the street, in addition to free access to two tanning beds within the complex. The 2nd year, the already EXORBITANT rent was increased by over $20, and residents were UNINFORMED that ice rink access and tanning bed usage were discontinued. When I called to ask about the tanning beds, the management told me that they "didn't get enough use" which is an outright lie, because I would use them multiple times a week, and I would often have to wait my turn for access because they'd be in use. Seems backwards, right? What housing situation annually RAISES prices while REMOVING amenities? Not one I'd ever want to live in. Too bad we were asked if we wanted to resign in October (I believe we moved in in August) before we experienced winter and amenity removal. I left 2 stars on because if your friends ever come visit your far-away apartment, they'll say "wow this is nice this must be expensive".