Belmar Apartments

What a fucking nightmare. I’m not even going to talk in full sentences if you decide to move here don’t say past residence didn’t tell you so. All the shit that was horrific-​black mold, broken window that they didn’t repair hung broken for six months till we moved out, paper thin walls, always smells like weed and is musty from the mold, homeless people sleep in guest room on bottom floor where the lobby is suppose to be, horrible management you can drive out to their headquarter office in Gresham and they will tell you they will fix things and then don’t, lived with a broken stove three months, lived with a fridge that had a broken fan for six months and it was so noisy we never got sleep because we lived in a studio, front building door constantly broken so anyone had access to the building. People were too lazy to walk past the front of the building and stand right inside the inner door area and let their dogs pee so the entrance always smelt like piss, and management basically just didn’t care and would never fix anything that broke and they wouldn’t call you back. Hallway and staircase lights would go out constantly and it would become dangerous walking up and down the stairs in the dark. The fire escape had two broken stairs that would flip up when you walked on them. And the washer and dryers constantly broke and no one ever fixed them even when they said they would. This place was a complete hell hole they didn’t even do a walk through with us when we were moving out after trying to schedule one for a whole month. The heater was also broken all winter no one came out to fix it after multiple calls and talks with the property management. I spent winter here with no heat! I lived here a year and a half and I would never ever ever recommend this management company to anyone they are all idiots even the two women who are supposedly in charge and care about your needs and the services they provide.

What a nightmare… I called to see this place and the person showing came late, that should have been a red flag. He showed me 2 different places and I went with the 3^rd floor apt which needed somethings repaired and I pointed them out to him. He a sured me that they would be fixed prior to me moving in. He set a time up to sign the rental agreement prior to me going to work… And he was late again… We got to the apt and nothing was fixed and it wasn’t even cleaned. He a sured me again that it would be done that day, it got semi cleaned but nothing was repaired.
The biggest issue is that I have NO HEAT FOR A MONTH. They missed appointments to fix it, they came and not fixed it. They say they order parts and the again next time say they order parts. This is the 5^th time they are coming to «fix it»
They don’t understand that people work and can’t miss it to be home. I have made my dog sit in the car while at my second job for them to have access…
DONT RENT FROM FORTRESS…

I moved into the Belmar in June of 2011. The owner at the time was an older man who was always around fixing the building and on-​top of things. He sold the building in July. A man in Canada now owns the building, but it is operated by Fortress Property Management.
Fortress advertises the Belmar as, «updated throughout.» The residents laugh about this. They painted. That is it.
During my year long lease, the following things happened:
1. During the «updating throughout» phase — they was hammering and drilling at all hours. As early as 8am on weekends and go until 9pm on weeknights. This lasted for over 3 months.
2. During their renovations Fortress «redid» the front door. There was no lock on the door for 3 weeks. When I contacted the on-​site manager, Gina Stephens, she was dismissive about the problem. During this time I had a very sentimental package stolen. I also had my identity stolen via another package that was stolen. And once, during this unlocked front door time, I came downstairs to find two homeless men in the building. I called all the contact numbers I had, but no one called me back and nothing was done for another week.
3. The lounge area didn’t have windows for over 4 months. Since this was ground level, it was easy for anyone to creep into the building. Safety last! And it allowed rain to flood in.
4. During construction, residents often smelled horrible fumes.
5. After they replaced the water heater, the water in the building became very inconsistent. Every single shower was marred by water switching from boiling to freezing without warning. When I reported this change, I was chastised that, «Thats’ simply an old building problem! What do you expect?!» When I stated it was a new problem, I was told I was wrong and must have been lucky. Yes, I was lucky for 6 months and then completely unlucky in every single shower for my last 6 months there.
6. Construction was done without warning in the laundry room/​bike storage area and my bike was covered in a filthy layer of black grime. I had to get it professionally cleaned at a bike store because I couldn’t get whatever it was off.
7. The door to my apartment fell off 5 times. Literally. It fell off the hinges.
8.There is so much black mold because none of the bathrooms have fans. I mopped my ceiling every single week with bleach, but couldn’t get rid of it. When maintenance came to fix my broken bathroom window, I told them about the mold. They told me to stand on my toilet post-​shower and wipe down the ceiling. They provided a towel for me to do this with.
9. We went through 4 onsite managers during the 11 months I was there with Fortress. Their names were: Rhea, Gina Stephans, Carolyn and currently Tammy. This meant our phone numbers to call kept changing, but we were rarely or belatedly informed of who to call. (Except for Tammy, she gave out a number right away.)
11. Emergency maintenance didn’t exist. You’d call the number and get an error. Then you could call your on-​site manger and then Fortress. It normally took over 3 days to hear back.
12. At one point, during the time we had no manager — between Gina and Carolyn — the hall lights all burned out. Since the hallways are enclosed, this meant it was pitch black. For 3 weeks residents used their cell phones to light the halls. I personally called over 5 times to have this addressed. No one returned my calls. Finally I ran into the new manager in the building and I told her. She said they had installed the wrong lights during renovations and it wasn’t Fortress’ fault.
Theres more, but that’s enough.
STAY AWAY FROM FORTRESS.