Yelp Reviews Of Complex In Deadly Berkeley Balcony Collapse Are Either Grim Or Glowing

BERKELEY (CBS SF) - People who say they used to live at the Berkeley apartment complex where a balcony collapse killed six people and injured seven seem to either have fond memories of their time there or a long list of complaints.

The collapse at 2020 Kittredge Street, about a block from the UC campus, happened just before 1 a.m. on a fourth floor apartment of the Library Garden Apartments.

KPIX 5's Lisa Chan was on the scene Tuesday and said investigators have red tagged all of the balcony at the apartment while they investigate what caused the collapse. A search of reviews of the complex shows that many people claiming to be former tenants had complaints about the property or management.

"Please don't move here.  There are just too many problems to mention," said Yelp user Rickey L. "It's noisy sometimes, but that doesn't bother me.  The apartment maintenance bothers me the most.  It's very nasty here."

"Too bad this company preys on (Cal students) by creating a building that looks nice and new after that first visit, but suffers from poor construction, terrible maintenance, security problems and bad management. Great for Library Gardens, not so great for the Berkeley student population," said Yelp reviewer S.R.

"Kind of nice. Mostly miserable. Management is unreliable. Super friendly fairly helpful. But over worked. Never take care of anything on time, Constantly screw up, Don't show up, Aren't there when you need them," said Chan N. "This place is a huge rip off in just about every way. But if you need to be near BART and want to live in downtown with all the problems we have in downtown then go for it."

In all, 11 of the 18 reviews on Yelp gave the property one or two stars, for an overall score of 2.5 stars. But many commenters actually enjoyed their experience at the complex.

"I'm a UC Berkeley student and lived at Library Gardens from Aug 2011 - May 2012, and loved my time here. I signed up for Yelp just to help with their ratings and get the word out," said Jessica Y.

"This is a great place to live. The price is worth it because you're paying for a premium location and new everything. Unlike most surrounding apartment complexes, Library Gardens is located on a quiet street," said Maxine B.

Yelp records indicate that apartment staff reached out to several commenters in 2014 with contact information in an attempt to address ongoing concerns.