Unsafe, noisy, fighting in the lobby, sex in the common restrooms, no security, upper management doesn’t seem to care at all, stay away from this building, there are much better options in the neighborhood. Quick update, more commotion last night, the fire department came the night before, 60 people in the lobby in the middle of the night because somebody pulled a fire alarm for no good reason, we need a safety officer at night time in the building. Third night this week, cops, screaming in the main lobby, EMT… still no building safety officer… condescending site manager, what a joke this place is, I’m about done with this circus!

Takes forever for them to fix anything in the apartments. When I left they said everything looked good and then charged me extra fees later. Why not just be honest at checkout

Update: The day after I posted this review, and three days after Vista was issued what the fire marshal called, “a very serious code violation,” I was served with a 24 Hour Notice of Entry,. They also served me a termination notice for not allowing the five of them to wander through my apartment when my 11yesr old son was home sick. These are TRULY terrible people, with no understanding of family values. Yesterday, five employees of Vista/Commerce Properties, including the owner, walked through my entire apartment, for an hour and determined that they need to terminate my tenancy to renovate.. None of the other 301 units received this notice. I am getting kicked out under false pretenses because I notified the proper authorities of a serious safety hazard. Like I say below, if you let them break the law, you’ll be just fine. If you expect them to follow the law, they’ll get even. Awful. Truly awful. They care about one thing—money. They will lie to get it, they potentially steal to get it…by all appearances, they will do anything to get it, all while knowingly ignoring laws and safety regulations, regularly placing their tenants in harm’s way, and possibly even in jeopardy of death. Let’s start with tenant safety. They do what they want and ignore the codes/regulations they want until a government official forces them to comply, even though the codes are for tenants’ safety. For example, they regularly prop open fire doors, which is illegal, because fire doors are meant to compartmentalize fire/smoke and create a safe exit in situations of a fire. I notified them that they were breaking the law, and exposing tenants to risk of serious harm or death, and they simply ignored me for months. I finally had to inform the city fire marshal, who issued them a code violation. That’s what it takes to get them to care about the safety of tenants. I have attached an email from the fire marshal in the photos, as well as the complaint I was forced to file. Moving on to behavior—staff/management lie about certain tenants, and target them with termination notices. Tenants who try to avail themselves of their legal rights are very clearly retaliated against, with termination notices, significantly longer response times for maintenance issues, and harassment by staff. Tenants have been physically assaulted by staff, called awful names by staff, and had their exit from parking garage blocked by staff. Concerns sent to management are ignored and met with silence, or the threat tenant arrest. As far as dishonesty and theft, I believe they grossly overcharge for utilities, which is against the law. Adding up utility charges for all 301 units, I come up with roughly $30000 Vista charges monthly for utilities. However, in reviewing their utility bills, they only pay an average of $25,000 per month. I believe Vista illegally profits on utilities by $60-$70k/year. I believe the same is true of electric. Vista just throws a charge on every month. In all, I believe Vista may be profiting by over 100k/year on utilities and electric, which is highly illegal. I have sent them emails asking for clarification, and they do not respond, which makes me think I’m likely correct. They’ve also started refusing to provide me with utility bills, which makes it appear they have something to hide. Additionally, laundry is listed as costing $2 for washers, and $2 for dryers. However, I have had numerous experiences of both washers and dryers overcharging my card for $4 each. To this date, I have been unable to get the charges reversed, and management does not help. These are two examples of the lengths they will go to maximize profits. They will be nice during your tour. If you ask them to follow laws, they will get nasty…very nasty. And they will make you suffer. Please look elsewhere. Maintenance: 0/5 Management: 0/5 Price: 2/5 (hidden markups like security deposit issues, turning to make tenants pay for fixing issues) Construction: 0/5 (noisy when going on, used to illegally kick tenants out) Parking: 1/5 Gym:2/5 Office: 0/5

The Vista St. Clair has been my home for over thirteen years and I've been very happy here. In my opinion the location is the best in the city. The staff has always been helpful and I've enjoyed knowing the other residents I've met.

The Good Stuff: ------------------------- * Location location location! Easy access to Washington Park, the gardens, Nob Hill, and downtown. * A great sense of community! Several long term residents treat each other like family and welcome new residents immediately. The majority of people are super friendly if you take the effort to say hello. The residents have formed their own little groups for Friday Night drinks, morning coffee chats, travel groups, book clubs etc. * Maintenance staff is super friendly, polite, and eager to help. * Management is prompt with addressing whatever they can handle without escalation (more on that later). * A lovely patio with a community garden! * Rents are on the lower side for this part of town...but that is not always a good thing either, IYKWIM. * The building is pet-friendly! * There's free coffee in the lobby every day until 2PM. The Not-So-Good Stuff: ------------------------------------- * This is an old building so stuff always seems to need fixing :( Things seem to break down frequently. * The magnetic locking mechanism for the front doors (there are 2 in the lobby) fails ALL THE TIME. The explanation given is that summer time causes a negative pressure situation that affects these magents. This is unacceptable. The doors are practically open 24/7 whenever the magnets fail to lock. Management has to escalate this issue and replace the doors completely. The aesthetics are not as important as security for all residents, especially with Goose Hollow seeing an increase in drug peddlers and homeless people. * The low rents attract a lot of younger folk who are mostly fine residents. But the place develops a 'dorm-like' vibe frequently. * This is not an issue that Management can 'fix' but maybe better enforcement of community rules can help. - A lot of residents are , frankly, quite careless and negligent. They let visitors/strangers into the building without question and don't lock doors to common spaces. - Some people let their dogs pee on the property walls right by the entrance or ignore the mess their pets make in common spaces. - Some residents park their vehicles in invalid spots at the entrance to garages. This is a real danger to cars that enter/exit the garages. - People smoke weed or cigarettes not far from the building entrance, and often in the fire escape area. The stench fills the hallways. - Some residents do not bother to return/replace moving carts or furniture in common spaces. - Some are frankly uncouth to put dirty shoes on nice furniture in the lobby. That is just disrespectful. - Some residents are not mindful of the noise they create. No, it is NOT ok to let your kids treat the lobby or the hallways like a playground. There are a lot of senior residents, senior pets, and people who work from home who struggle to copy with the disturbance. * Cross ventilation is terrible. Most apartments do not have a ceiling fan anywhere and the windows only open 4 inches wide. * Elevators and stairway entrances do not require key fob access. If an unwelcome visitor were to enter the building, and they could easily do so with the front door broken), they could access any floor. * No washer/dryer units in apartments. There is a large laundry room though. * Parking is NOT cheap and for the price, you can expect to park a toy car. * Management can handle most issues that do not require escalation. But when something needs $$ for approval or change, things seem to come to a grinding halt. Finally, a quick note on some other reviews I saw here for the VSC. A lot of reviewers seem to expect the property to make up for living in this neighborhood. Complaining about street parking or fast drivers is just silly. The property cannot help with that. Yes, parking is tough in this area but that is the price you pay for the location. Overall, I would say this is a very good deal for the location if you do not expect perfection.