My window faces California Ave so it's quite noisy even at night.

Living in Verano is very convenient as I can just walk to class. The community is very safe and quiet and perfect for families and studying. However, there is not much to do in Irvine when compared to other cities like Long Beach. I like that other cities are not too far away to visit when I want and there are many food options available in the surrounding cities.

Located on campus. Less than 10 minute walk to class. Has community grill/bbq areas, which are a great place to cook out or have a get together. Amenities include basketball courts, playgrounds, and laundry facilities. Very convenient, safe, quiet area.

Overall nice apartment

Verano Place has been great in some aspects and horrible in others. I've been here for the past 2.5 years and have enjoyed being close to campus and my family, but management at Verano is really bad.

First, the apartments do not have air conditioning. They say that you don't need it because of the temperate climate, but I use my portable air conditioning unit every day. We moved into the apartment in the beginning of August. My wife was seven months pregnant at the time and it was unbearably hot. It was unbearably hot for me too, I could only imagine what my wife suffered through for a day before we had to purchase an expensive portable a/c unit. They don't allow you to use window units that hang out the window. Fans are not enough!

Second, they are really bad about managing situations/issues that may arise with your apartment. Our back door did not have a lock on it, but we didn't get anyone to fix it until a year later when I had to vehemently complain. Another time, there was an exposed outlet that needed to be repaired. We submitted the request, but never heard back from them. We only noticed that they had fixed it. Nobody told us they were entering the apartment or when they were going to do it. They just found a time when we were gone and came in to fix it. Mold is always a situation at apartment complexes, but they don't do a particularly good job of handling a situation with mold. Our neighbors had a leak in their apartment. A pipe had burst in their walls and flooded the apartment. Verano put them up in a hotel to fix the pipe and dry out the apartment. At no point did they do a proper inspection. When our neighbors got back into the apartment they requested an inspection and someone came out and just did a superficial look at the apartment. They had an outside company come in and take samples to see if there was actual mold. Sure enough they discovered a horrible mold situation. To accommodate our neighbors, they offered them another apartment in another complex. Their original apartment was on the first floor because one of them had a disability. The apartment management offered my neighbors was smaller, more expensive, and on the fourth floor of a complex with no elevator. they ended up moving off campus because they just couldn't take it anymore. The situation lasted for more than a month with Verano giving them the run-around.

Third, Verano was really bad at crisis management. Last semester there was an issue with the alarm. One night the alarm sounded at 1:00am. Everyone evacuated the buildings in our complex to learn what happened. We learned it was a false alarm when no smoke was rising from the building, but we had to wait an hour outside in the cold with our 18-month-old son and all our neighbors before somebody could get a key to open the door to the panel that would shut off the alarm. Unfortunately, the alarm sounded again at 2:30am. Everyone left the buildings because the noise is awful and it terrified my son. We waited another 30 minutes before the individual with the key came back. Again, the alarm sounded at 3:15am. We couldn't stay in the apartment because of the horrible noise and had to wait outside for another period of time with our terrified child. Nobody in management apologized or explained the situation.

Finally, the apartments have a termite infestation, which they are trying to remedy. Verano told us two weeks ago that they needed us to be out of our apartment for the day because they are heat treating the complex for termites. They told us we would have a storage container for our things that are susceptible to heat. The list they provided was much shorter than lists I found online. Hence, according to their list and online lists, I would have to move all my furniture, electronic devices, computers, laptops, magnets, plastic items, candles, pictures, frames, basically everything out for the day and put it in some storage container

Verano is student housing, and it comes with everything you would expect student housing to come with. My main concern is that the buildings are pretty old and there are ALWAYS insect problems (spiders, cockroaches, termites). However, maintenance is quick and the convenient location/cheap price make the apartment a pretty good deal. All that being said, I am not staying here for another year. I will be moving out to privately-owned apartments.

The apartment is reasonably priced for the location and size. It is within walking distance to UCI School of Law (5 minutes), as well as the gym (5 minutes) and a shopping center (10 minutes). Only graduate students and families live in the complex, so it is generally very quiet.

It is common knowledge that the UCI graduate housing offices (e.g. Verano Place housing office, Palo Verde housing office, etc.) have poor management practices and do not address graduate students' housing needs. The offices have poor communication practices, and do not make themselves available to address students' inquiries. With that said, once you do get into an apartment complex, the apartments are safe -- which is the upside.

Great bargain, that's about it.

Verano Place is a campus apartment. It's close to Merage business school and arc.