The Grand Apartments

I'm a fan but way too pricey for an apartment in Oakland at this time. The rent quoted 2500.00 a month is the equivalent of a mortgage payment. I suppose if you had an income where 2500 a month was only be a third of your monthly take home then this is the place for you. Or you could just live in San Francisco. An RTO would work at this place, I'm itching to use my VA Home loan but not through an RTO.

So my fiancee and I went to look across the street and then down Broadway to the Ellington back in January. Still waiting for the new lowered prices to be released. The Units are huge and the building has a pool and balconies unlike 100Grand. The Tokyo floor plan is my favorite at the Grand. They scrapped the New York floor plan I think because they couldn't sale any units before the end of construction. So then it was turned into a rental building. I fear this is the same fate for the Ellington building.

I ended up living here for two years, and I have to admit I'm a bit sad to leave. The location, view, staff, amenities, etc are all well worth the price, in my opinion. Hoping the Grand stays amazing.

Looks can be deceiving, Nasty rat infested property, horrific garbage smell in Lobby Horrible management, nasty attitudes from maintenance, gossiping concierge staff , talks about property management with residents, then talks about residents to staff members.. Some residents really think they live on Park Avenue .. NOT...what a horrible place and an even worse experience..

I lived at The Grand from June 2020 to June 2024. Overall it was a good experience. I'm leaving primarily because there's no air conditioning.

Pros:
* Some of the best unit layouts in the area; little wasted space, built-in desks are amazing especially for the WFH crowd
* Internal sound insulation is great. I very rarely heard my neighbors through the walls
* Great location. Short walk to BART, Lake Merritt, Whole Foods, several restaurants and bars
* Great amenities, especially the gym and hot tub
* Street parking for guests is _somewhat_ easily available
* New management is easy to work with (previous management was more difficult, so consider than when reading other reviews)
* Maintenance staff and front desk are responsive and always eager to help

Cons:
* No in-unit air conditioning (except 23rd/24th floors) and during the summer it is a _problem_. Portable ACs are feasible but the windows make it tricky.
* Elevator outages have been somewhat regular over the last two years
* Certain units have an unfixable ticking sound coming from the walls (beware the *05 studio units in particular)

Mixed:
* Crime/homelessness in the immediate area is... not bad relative to the greater area. In the 4 years I was there, my guests and I only faced 2 car break-ins and one assault within one block. You do see some angry or erratic homeless people around but not as constantly as in some areas nearby.
* The area can be a little noisy during the day and sound insulation from the windows is mediocre. It was a problem for a moment when AU Lounge was using loud speakers outside all night but they've stopped that.
* Parking garage has only 2 EV charging spots and you can only see if they're available by going down there, and they often aren't. But they do have them at least.
* No community events. I've heard that they used to do fun things before Covid...

This is no longer "The Grand." The property is on a rapid decline.

CONS:
- Elevators constantly broken,
- repugnant smell in the lobby from trash room,
- no community events,
- anemic services (no more office with printing,
- no more coffee for residents or social events with catering),
- no more customer service
- no heat for days
- no central air or AC

The positive reviews are from the good, pre-COVID days. This place isn't luxury. Package theft, rats in the trash room, toxic waste odor yet luxury pricing when Vspr, 17th & Broadway and the countless newer high rises offer more amenities.

No wonder they have so many vacancies. Do yourself a favor and rent elsewhere.

lived here for two years...while the location and size of the apartment are great...that's where it ends..

Management is terrible. They are not located onsite and good luck getting in touch with them. That requires multiple calls. Specifically the managers Vanessa and Erin are no help, no added value and will lie straight to your face. Literally lied over and over about a homeless man living in the staircase. I reached out to the execs and no response.

Maintenance staff is cool. Andy always went above and beyond.

Sauna and gyms are old and outdated. Always dirty. Small as hell.

Elevators always broken.

Trash collector noise all the time in the morning.

Windows are filthy. Don't bother asking them to clean "never good weather".

Don't get me started on how they wanted $2900 from me a month but we're offering it for $2500 online with 6 weeks free. I asked if I could get the $2500 without the 6 weeks free And they said no. Oh and Eric on the staff is beyond rude.

Lastly, they expect the concierge to be security for the building (not their job at all) and somehow get up 30 times a hour to let delivery folks up the elevator. Only started giving them a 30 min break recently during which time no one is at the door.

My lease is coming up and they raised my rent $152/mo to $2492 per month. I didn't want to renew it because it was to much, given there were other properties around here with better amenities at a similar price. Then, I see it advertised online for $2281 and for new residents they also get $5850 in incentives. I got an incentive when I moved in, so I'm not hating on that. I know they need people to move in because so many leave. I do think it's shady to ask me, the current resident that you don't have to incentivize or spend time and marketing $$, to pay $211 more. That seems crazy to me.

I'm in unit 711. Let me tell you about my unit, in case you rent it. The unit is fine. I like the unit itself, just not the neighborhood. It has carpet, which I don't mind. It get's stuffy in here and very hot during the summer months. Also, I had to disable the heaters because they radiate heat all day. You'll have to dry your laundry multiple times. It just doesn't work that well. Directly across the street are numerous trash bins. The homeless go through them every night they are out. Then the trash collectors come 5 days per week from 5-8. Be prepared for a LOT of noise. I hear car alarms going off at all hours. There's a homeless man who likes to hang out in the parking over-hang. He loves doing his drugs there and then breaking things around him, including cars. My direct neighbor got shot while he was out on his balcony. There's a half inch between your front door to the ground. Unless you like your place smelling like everyone's cooking or weed, I'd get something to prevent that for your door.

There is no onsite leasing staff. They use a third party concierge and mostly rely on them. The elevators break down every week (no joke). One of them has been out for months. The gym is sub-par. Their 'spa' is just a jacuzzi. The rec room is really outdated. It feels like an old folks home in there.

All in all, I'm not going to tell you not to live here. But do your research. If you're ok with all the things I mentioned and want to pay what they're asking...then don't say I didn't warn ya! :)

I've lived at The Grand for 7+ years. I lived here during the pandemic and moved apartments from the bottom floor to the middle of the building.

tl;dr - do not live here if you want any type of customer service.

Pros
- Location. It's probably one of the best locations in Oakland.
- The building is cement which most of the newer buildings in the area are NOT. You can't hear your neighbors. It's wonderful.
- The hot tub + grills are nice but ... see cons.
- The maintenance team has always been SUPER fast and incredibly kind.
- The units are some of the biggest units in the area for the best price.

Cons
- The building management has been moved "off site" which means zero service. You call a line picked up in some offshore location which then tries to transfer you to a call center. It's abysmal. I've called multiple times. Never gotten anyone on the phone. They only communicate via email with 2+ days before getting back to the simplest question / request.
- The amenities have taken a turn for the worse in the location given the lack of onsite community management or leasing agents. Gross grills, the gym is starting to get dated, no one cleans anything anymore. It's headed down hill and fast.
- The blinds are plastic and break constantly - see other reviews. Basically everyone says this.
- Constant increase in rents. Be warned - they will increase the max every year even if it's a pandemic and half the building left.

So I'm updating this. There are far better options out there. This is a little past my year renewal and over all it's just not a good experience. When I lived here ten years ago it was great. Clean, secure, accessible in-person management.

Just to give you a sense of the management communications: windows have not been cleaned for over a year. The windows are filthy. Instead of communicating with tenants on timelines or informing folks the windows for the apartment weren't going to be cleaned, there was in fact no communication to anyone. Long story short, I basically project managed the situation - emailing asking for updates the last 5 months (once a month) on when the windows were going to get cleaned, only to find out that there is an issue and the windows will not be cleaned anytime soon.

If you want an apartment with great views, BUT with filthy windows that get cleaned less than once a year, then I highly recommend.

My partner & I lived on the penthouse floor here in 2020 & for the most part, we loved it! Efrain & Amalia, the maintenance staff, are absolutely AMAZING. We had some issues, but they took care of everything promptly. Joe, the manager, is also great and willing to hear you out/help if you're experiencing issues.

I do wish they had a pool and upgraded floor plan interiors to be more on par with newly built luxury high rise apartments in the area. However, the price is reasonable and you get a large space and incredible view of the San Francisco bridge/water/skyline, plus you can't even hear your neighbors! The location is also wonderful and much safer than other parts of Oakland.

Overall I would recommend, but be mindful that it's a bit older/dated than other high rise apartment buildings.

I was a perfect tenant at The Grand for 2.5 years, and the entire experience was ruined thanks to property management illegally withholding a portion of my security deposit it was not entitled to. I submitted my intent to vacate 33 days prior to my lease expiring. I then started to get one-off emails from several people at Essex - none of whom I've ever heard of - asking me to clarify my very clearly written email with all of the details of my notice. Eventually I put 2+2 together and gathered either their email system is having issues, or someone on the shared email alias is forwarding emails to team members without all of the details.

Anyway, they seem to have documented my notice date incorrectly, because when I received my move-out statement from Essex corporate in SoCal, they had charged me $800+ for extra rent, supposedly due to not having received 30 days notice (they never actually told me this - I had to piece it all together from a vague billing statement). I immediately emailed to correct them, sending them documentation (multiple emails between me and staff; Google saves all, including metadata) proving I submitted my notice even earlier than required. They apparently made some correction, but not all, because I got a check in the mail that was still short what I should have been refunded. They still charged me for a day of rent, despite me vacating the day prior to my lease ending and despite me giving 33 days notice. I again emailed, and emailed Essex corporate and finance department, and have received NO response.

I have consulted my attorney and shared with them the documentation, who says I would definitely win if I took this to small claims court - not just for the amount they withheld, but treble damages because it's now more than 30 days after I vacated and I never received any itemized invoice from them demonstrating why they were withholding the deposit. But... I don't want to spend more time on this. I thought potential and current tenants should know this, though, because it is infuriating that Essex is doing this just because they can - again, they didn't even return my emails to tell me what they were charging me for, and they certainly didn't apologize for keeping (stealing) my security deposit.

I will never rent from an Essex property again, and I warn anyone else from considering them.