3209 Bishop Street

I have lived at 3209 Bishop for the past 3 years (going on 4) while attending law school at UC. My experience has not been particularly pleasant with my apartment, nor with Gaslight Property.

The building at 3209 Bishop is not well kept. It is fairly dingy, smelly, and often not too clean. The cleaning crew comes once about every 1.5 months. While the entrance leading to the apartments is secure, the mail area is not and there isn’t any surveillance. As a result, I have had several packages... become “lost” (likely stolen), with no recourse from Gaslight. Turning now to my actual apartment, first, it should be noted that the walls are paper thin. Conversations (and music) can—and will be—heard from your neighbors. My understanding is that the individual apartment units can vary, but mine was not updated and quite run down. For example, the bathroom floor, bedroom walls, and wood floors have cracks running throughout, and the windows are old and let in a lot of cold air during the winter months. The only thing I enjoy about my apartment is the balcony overlooking Burnett Woods. Overall, there are much nicer options that are comparably priced located in Clifton.

Gaslight is not very considerate of their residents. For instance, just this past summer they were repaving the parking lot and gave LESS than 24 hours’ notice that all cars needed to be removed from the lot, or the cars would be towed at the owner’s expense. Moreover, it took over 3 months of verbal requests for Gaslight to install a railing on my building’s (dangerous) back steps. The railing was only completed after I finally made a written request to the property manager informing her of Gaslight’s legal duty to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition. I also requested maintenance on two occasions when I found cockroaches and black mold in my apartment. Both requests were serviced within a few days. This is about the best you can expect from Gaslight.

I cannot, in good faith, recommend my apartment to any non-student. 3209 Bishop is not a place you will be proud to live. I only continued to live in the apartment because it was close to the law school, and priced within my budget. For students, this apartment will meet your bare minimum needs, while also allowing you to walk to school. For non-students, you can find something nicer for a comparable price. Now that I have a job, I will be moving out at the end of my next lease (thank god!). Lee mas