I moved into Spectrum in May, impressed by the great kitchens, pools, hot tub and BBQ spaces, but my enthusiasm quickly faded as one thing after another began to go wrong.
First there were the fire alarms. Loud, incessant alarms that went off in the middle of the night due to both pranks and ""wiring issues."" Standing outside for over an hour at 2:30 in the morning on a work night is cool. The prank alarms were the result of Spectrum welcoming any 22 year-old with his own keg tapper and GED. Luckily, they have worked hard to filter out the crowd that constantly left a mess at the pools and pulled fire alarms, but it's not all roses. You also have to worry about fires due to idiots who leave storage containers on top of the electric stove and actually end up setting their apartment on fire.
Fires aside there are the constant maintenance issues. That great TV at the BBQ patio? Never works. The hot tub? Jets aren't a guarantee. Secure parking garage? Half the time the gates get stuck in the up position so that anyone can get in. Leaks in the apartments, power outages, incredibly cheap and ineffective washers and dryers . . . there is always something new and annoying to greet you at Spectrum.
I have several of my own stories and any time I mention it to another tenant they will have at least one such story to relate as well. It is a shoddily built building with substandard materials and it shows. If the wear and tear is happening a year into construction what is going to happen after you've lived here for a while?
The staff is friendly and they try to be helpful, which is nice and the two younger maintenance guys are always great, though you can tell a little exasperated. At the moment I still have a hole in my wall, a crack in my mirror (here when I moved in), and torn up carpet from it being improperly laid after they tried to fix a leak.
On the surface it's pretty and the people are great, but the noise is substantial, quality is poor, and the reality is a far cry from the first impression.
more