Porto Flats

Beautiful apartments and community along with a very friendly leasing office. I love living here!
Apr 4th, 2022

EXPERIENCE Very quiet & relaxing area to live. The first time I rented these apartments, it was a sublease that I found on the IU Housing Facebook group. At first, I was very cautious about subleasing, but the process was super easy & trustworthy. The previous tenant loved living there. And I loved living there so much, that I eventually signed a new lease for a 2nd unit in the same building. The walls are so thick, you barely hear anything. If you live near the stairs, there may be slight noise from people occasionally walking up/down. But the corner units have so much natural light, that you only need to turn on the lights at night & the sun warms the unit in the winter. The building also has a stone siding which helps reduce noise & temperature fluctuations. Gas heat. This all helps to keep the utilities a bit lower. VIEW Grass fields, residential buildings, walking paths, pond, trees, etc. INTERNET Every unit comes pre-installed with a Smithville router (local internet provider). The internet is very fast (gigabit), reliable, quick to setup, and doesn't require early notice to cancel upon move-out. The connection reached the parking lot when I lived on the 3rd floor - so emails could be checked from a car. LEASING / MANAGEMENT Renaissance Rentals is the most trustworthy rental company in Bloomington. When apartment searching, I asked every apartment for a copy of their lease before filling out an application. Most apartments didn't like showing their lease prior (for a reason - it's not good). Most leases in Bloomington have a section or two that will make you cringe, but the Renaissance Rentals lease is a breath of fresh air in comparison. If you need to move for some reason, the sublease fee is only $100, whereas other apartments will sometimes charge a fee equal to 2-3x the rent. I was very happy to be renting from a local company creating a seamless experience, rather than renting from a huge corporation targeting college towns for quick & easy leases. AMENITIES The amenities are minimal, but still nice. There's a few seating areas outside, a fountain, BBQ, gas fireplace, top floor lounge in each main building, and over the summer the apartments also gave access to the pool at another neighboring community they own. They also gave some nice little move-in gifts. COMMUNICATIONS Many apartments are overly disruptive with constant emails & "sales", but Porto Flats is not like that at all. There's minimal emails (important information updates, food drive, renewal check-in, etc.). MAINTENANCE Fast, reliable, and super friendly. Helps to text & submit a ticket. ACCESSIBILITY For those who use wheelchairs, walkers, or other assistive devices, the main buildings are fairly accessible. The front door is a fob key, so it takes a bit of time/practice to get to the door in time before it re-locks. The door is a bit heavy, and one building has a flatter frame to roll over than the other. The apartment unit doors also have a slight bump (door trim) to roll over. But, all doorways are very wide. The building looks nice & new inside with flat tile flooring through the halls & a nice elevator. The bathrooms are relatively easy to use in a wheelchair, but you likely have to back out after. The bedroom is a yarn-like carpet, so a thick plastic carpet cover may help for ease of rolling. The only bummer is that the patios have about a half-step to get onto, but keeping a chair outside makes for an easy transfer. Some units have flat showers, making it easy to add a shower chair. All windows are low with a simple bar to turn to open. Some units have pantries, which add to the amount of accessible cupboard space. The handicap parking is on the opposite side of the building from the entrance, and the accessible path to the entrance is also the longer way around. There's usually accessible spots available, but there are retail shops on the bottom floor, so customers might use them. There's a nice flat trail for going on walks. NAME Porto Flats is also called Verona Park. There may have been a name change at some point.
Feb 19th, 2022