Where NOT to Live

"NEW" Arkledun Apartments 130 St. Joseph's Drive, Hamilton

2008-03-02T22:14:00.005-05:00

You simply must visit the web site for this building before you read this.....

Is that car from the early 1950's? Oh my, if they can't update their pictures what is the building like? BE AFRAID.....Its not too often that an older building will give away money or show incentives to new renters, but this one does. NLM - No Last Month rent is required and they also include a free parking space under ground for one year.....Whats the catch?

MURDER !!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right. As quoted in the Hamilton Spectator on July 1/07 www.thespec.com/article/214014. Residents awoke to load gun shots around 1 am from the stair-well. Management was not quick to give a statement but the apartments super-intendant said "probably drug related....looked like a shifty character........

So are we starting off on a good note? No wonder they are offering a few perks. Now its time to get down the the remainder of this post and have a look inside and outside the Arkledun...

Building Exterior - Watch out for falling objects. The outside of the building is greatly aged and is starting to fall away from the main structure. Missing bricks, broken garage doors, horribly cracked pavement and garbage....I guess the entire fron and side area of the building are used for free dumping. There is everything from couches, househild garbage and even rusted bicycles littering the yard way and supposed trails.

Building Interior - The enterance way recently been updated, but above and beyound that, its back to the 30+ year old paint, wallpaper and uncleanliness you may fear after reading this blog so far.

Units - This review is of a 2 bedroom unit on the 4th floor. Other units may vary slightly. So for a 2 bedroom you are looking at approx., 1200sq feet for around $900/mth plus utilities. Not a bad price for what you get. The units are spacious, with a very long rectangular master bedrooms, smaller 2nd bedroom and fair sized living room/dining rooms. If you are able to get up to the 9th floor or above you maybe able to get a nice view...otherwise, buy some nnice curtains!

Please feel free to add comments or to send me your experiences from this building or others in the Hamilton/Burlington area..........

Finally, A Place To Call Home !

2008-02-27T09:35:00.005-05:00

Yes, this is "WHERE NOT TO LIVE".....but I just had to write about at least one good experience. Here it is, the Apartment Building to end your search! 945 Daryl Drive, Burlington ON - RATED #1 http://www.drewloholdings.com/burlington/daryl.htm Welcome Home........ Upon pulling up to the apartment building a warm sense of calm came over me. The exterior of the building is magnificent, as far as they go and invites you to go inside and have a look.....so I did :) The main lobby to the building is decorated in a tasteful and modern decor complete with leather furniture and a fireplace in the waiting/sitting area and granite/stone tile on the walls and floors. The elevators are quiet, as well being outfitted with tile. The hallways are clean, crisp and odour free. The units are all different sizes and styles so for the purpose of the entry I will be commenting on a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1366 sq foot unit with 2 sets of sliding door out to the balcony. "Home" Greeted with a large, heavy secure door, the units opens to show an over-sized hallway, new cream carpeting and cream walls. Please keep in mind that this is a new building and these units have never been lived in before. What a bonus! To the right of the hallway is a large storage area with shelving, big enough to store many, many, bulky and unused items. After the storage area comes the 1st bath, the main bath... Tiled flooring opens this huge bathroom up to show new cabinets, sink, toilet, bath tub & shower. All rooms in the unit are cream coloured. For an apartment this bathroom is HUGE ! After the main bath there is a large closet to the left for coats and shoes..enough for 40 people. The first large room in the apartment goes to the kitchen on the left. This particular unit has a large eat-in, walk thru complete with pass-thru over the sink to the living room. All units come with brand new stove, fridge, dish-washer and double sinks. The cupboards are beautiful in either pure white or natural wood.....and there are plenty!.. The kitchen is large enough to have a full sized dining room table, with lots and lots of extra room to walk about. Walking thru the kitchen or hallway you are greated with a large living room/dining room area. Each unit has sliding doors off of the living room and the dining room portion of the area has a new chandelier for over the table. NOTE: ALL UNITS ALSO HAVE THEIR OWN CONTROLLED HEAT AND A/C INCLUDED !!! To the right of the unit is where you will find the 2 bedrooms. The smaller of the 2 is still a larger sized room with huge closet space, window and would be approx. 10x12 or larger...just a guess. The master bedroom is MEGA HUGE !!!! It is also my favourite feature of the apartment. At on end of the bedroom are the sliding doors to the balcony, with a nice view regardless of which way your unit faces. To the extreme opposite side of the room is the 2nd bath. Complete with Shower (no tub), sink, cabinets and lots of space, this added bath gives a place for the man in my life to retreat, sight unseen .... lol....... All units are rented with heat, hydro, a/c, parking (1 space) included....but wait there's more.... How about never having to drag clothes to the laundry mat or down to the basement? ..... Now you have your own WASHER/DRYER in your unit! FULL SIZE !!!!! There is a huge indoor pool, fitness area and sauna which is fully accessible to all who live here... This truly is one of the best places to live in Burlington/Hamilton!!! All units are currently rented in both of the Drewlo Holdings buildings...... but I have good news....as you are reading this they are currently taking action to begin building another building with plans for a total of 5 more buildings total coming soon..... So, start planning your move and picking out new curtains cause this is when YOU want to be......

Worst Burlington Apartments

2008-02-19T16:16:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Where NOT to Live in Burlington..... 1460 Ghent Avenue, Burlington ON "Burlington Square Plaza" http://www.burlingtonsquare.com/residential.html BEWARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pictures Lie.......If you visit the above web site in consideration of moving here it appears to be a well kept, modern and newer building. Truth...... The apartment shown is a model ONLY... NONE of the actual apartments that they have to rent look like this. Each apartment has a kitchen that has not been updated in approximately 15 years. The cupboards are old, stained, broken, chipped and made of particle board which is warped. The kitchen faucets all leak or spray and the counters are scratched, chipped, dented and tired. The appliances are not bad if you don't include the vent which is, well, gross! The living area/dining room is an odd shaped rectangle which makes accommodating furniture a nightmare. There are more coats of paint on the wall then humanly possible to count (still doesn't cover-up old grease stains! yuck!) and the trim throughout the units is broken, missing or so old its no longer secured to the walls. The sliding doors which go out to the balconies are also old and no longer sealed. Watch out for a windy day as the doors bend under pressure and allow cold air and sometimes snow to enter your unit. Bathrooms. Yes there are 2 full bathrooms. That's about the only good thing to be said. The fixtures are old and rusted and the tile is either a sea grass green colour or pastel blue (not a nice pastel). The tubs are worn and show the signs of just how many people have bathed there (gross, I know). The cabinet under the mirror is painted shut and there may or may not be a cover on the light fixtures.....Oh, I almost forgot....as an added bonus, while you are using one of the showers/tubs, the water then fills up in the other shower/tub!!!!!!! Closets are through out the unit and are very large. Just don't expect the doors to function properly. Now on to the building.... It is a very large, older building with commercial space in the bottom part. The under-ground parking is large but extremely under kept. On February 14/08 the fire department and health inspector where called in to try and ventilate the entire building as 10 out of 10 exhaust fans in the parking garage were not working and it allowed for a dangerous amount of CO2 to build up and enter the ENTIRE building. Residents were not allowed to leave their apartments due to the unsafe level of poison in the hallways and stairs. Do you smell smoke? That's right, smoker or non-smoker get used to that smell. While in your unit you may have the wonderful experience of smelling and sometimes seeing smoke enter your unit from adjacent units! There are small hols in the walls and the "shared" air circulates throughout the building allowing all sorts of wonderful and offensive smells to enter your home. Elevators are always slow, broken or on service. If you are lucky enough to be in the elevator when it does break down please don not waste time with the Emergency button......No one will answer! Police/Fire Department - You know its bad when you haven't seen either the police or fire department in a few days and then you worry. It wouldn't be a Friday or Saturday night if the cops weren't in the building for one reason or another ( probably something to do with the nice smells!). Finally, if you do for some reason decide to move to this building, bring ear plugs, tools and a lot of patients....your gonna need them!