The Stuart at Sierra Madre Villa Apartments - Pasadena, California

Francisco S.

Coming up on just about a year now here at the Stuart, my wife & I’s stay has been amazing and that’s largely due in part that the staff here is incredible! Robert & Victor are the kindest & most helpful maintenance staff you can ask for on the property. With our lease coming up I was able to connect with Aaron who was thorough and extremely helpful with the renewal process - thank you to all the staff for not only keeping up with the property but making this an enjoyable stay here.

Makayla

My family is military so we've traveled all around the world but this place has to be the absolute worst place we've ever lived. From no security, anyone can walk into the building, termites, rude and loud neighbors, dog feces all over the place, packages getting stolen, things breaking constantly, management very unhelpful and took forever to get back with us anytime we had a question or issue, and we even had a very scary situation with a very aggressive male neighbor which they did nothing but blame us for. Please don't live here it's very unsafe and the rent is ridiculously outrageous. Save yourself time and money and avoid this place at all cost, it may look nice on the outside but please don't be fooled. Run don't walk away from this place.

J (.

I've been holding off writing this to gather my thoughts.

Maintenance: I found the maintenance team to be super helpful and reactive to issues brought forth; I would have appreciated a bit more protocols to respect one's home (wearing shoe covers, setting up areas for ladders, etc).

Management: I did not find anyone but Marjorie really helpful, in the year+ I have been living here I've never seen anyone from the property management team. In one example they announced food trucks (trucks never showed up; no one followed up as to why), another example is requesting callbacks / follow-ups (I have to personally get back to them on major issues; a big red flag).

Property: This property is a giant echo chamber; people don't respect noise laws in Pasadena and noise is rampant at all parts. Neighbors late at night 3-4am loudly chatting, throwing parties, and just general disregard for others. Sometimes dogs bark for 8 hours straight without any warnings from management (inhumane behavior by owners).

Security: With the exception of a few regulars; they are mostly useless, clueless, and ineffective. They don't know the property and stating the "pool area" they find themselves getting lost.

Pricing: Way overpriced even for covid standards; if you don't sign a lease renewal they will tack on highest possible limit to your rent (bad business practices).

Garage: People park like they own the place; taking up two spaces with countless reports going unheard with no changes in those tenants doing so.

Overall: Area is nice, but there is clearly a lack of proper management; I don't think the venture capital firm really care as this is just a real estate investment property.

I would not recommend anyone live here for peace of mind

Bailey E.

We have been very happy with our move in experience and all of the help that we have received from Aaron. Aaron has been very kind and helpful throughout the move in process!

Tugce K.

We lived here for 1.5 years and cleaned the whole apartment before we moved out. You can see the pic below. But what happened after we spent the all day for cleaning this apartment?! They charged us for “cleaning fee”!!!
Also they have probably lack of management. They emailed us for inspection several times and missed all the appointments that we decided.
You guys have to treat old residents same as you treat the new ones.
You shouldn’t go after a couple hundreds of dollars if you want to maintain customer satisfaction. Now we DEFINITELY assure you that we wouldn’t recommend neither just this apartment complex nor Essex Properties.

Betsy T.

My husband and I have enjoyed living here at the Stuart since 2015. Over the years I realize a big part of our positive feeling about this place has been because of the helpfulness of staff members in the leasing office (Marjorie, Alyssa, Eli, Myra, etc), as well as the great maintenance team of Robert, Victor and Esther -- as well as Alex and John when they worked here.
The apartments themselves are nice. The mountain views to the north, particularly from the higher floors here are pretty amazing. If you like the convenience of the Gold Line metro station next door, as well as a number of restaurants and grocery stores (Ralph's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Sprouts and Amazon Fresh) within walking distance or a short drive, you just may want to check the Stuart out if you're looking for an apartment in the Pasadena area to see if it will fit your needs.

Danielle G.

I just moved into my unit at The Stuart at Sierra Madre Villa and I like it so far. The area is nice and quiet. I like that it's close to a lot of things (Hasting Village shopping center, Starbucks right across, Whole Foods nearby - to name a few). Looking forward to my lease and getting to know the Pasadena area.

Also, the Essex team was a pleasure to speak to. Marjorie, the Community Relations Specialist, who helped me throughout my move-in process was friendly, thorough and knowledgeable (answered any questions I had with a positive energy and made sure I had all the info I needed - thank you!) I also briefly spoke to Erik and Miguel during my application process and both were friendly and informative as well.

Lastly, the application and move-in process was smooth and organized. Aside from the in-person self-guided tour and the ID verifications via Zoom and in person, everything else was done online/electronically. Very convenient ~

JAMES X.

Alyssa, from the Leasing department, is very professional, considerate, and helpful, particularly to the elderly. I recently had a move and Alyssa walked me through the whole process and assisted with any required documentation. She worked hand in hand with my assistant to make sure I didn’t miss any deadlines and provides excellent customer service to residents. She always greeted me with a smile and was eager to assist.