Lark Bloomington, bloomington-in

I lived at Lark Bloomington 2 years too long. Immediately after we resigned our lease, the apartment discontinued its shuttle service. Our first floor apartment flooded due to a pipe burst on the 4th floor, sending water cascading down every floor beneath. Not only did the staff not know how to handle the situation, but they denied all liability and refused to recompensate us in damages (posters, electronics destroyed) or rent. They provided us with the option to move upstairs or terminate our lease. The staff harassed us with messages urging us to sign an unofficial document as fast as possible to retain our lease. When we asked what would happen if we did not sign, Jessica at the front desk suggested our belongings may be forcibly removed. As your landlord, Lark will exploit you and throw you under the bus rather than accepting any responsibility. At move out, they charged us exorbitant damage and cleaning fees, including for a “loose door hinge” that they installed improperly after the door was missing the hinge at move-in. On a past inspection, they threatened charges on the basis that there were “too many personal items in the common space,” a space shared by only our 5 tenants, free of clutter. I cannot warn you enough, DO NOT SIGN A LEASE HERE. The corporate management will make you regret it.

I lived at Larke last year, and as much as I loved the people I lived with, the apartment complex itself is a NO for me! I genuinely felt like they cared more about making money than they did about their residents. At one point, we were charged $25 because we left a trash bag in the hallway for literally five minutes while we ran back inside to grab something. Meanwhile, I constantly saw other residents doing the same thing without any issues. The worst part was move-out. I spent HOURS cleaning the apartment and even repainted areas myself, yet I was still charged around $180 in move-out fees. About $60 of that was supposedly for paint touch-ups, even though the paint I used cost me $12 and it took about 10 minutes to do the touch-ups myself. I was also charged cleaning fees even though I had already thoroughly cleaned the apartment before moving out. I eventually got all of the charges removed, but it took TWO MONTHS of emailing and following up because I rarely received responses or updates. Overall, my experience with management was extremely frustrating. You already pay way too much money to live off campus, and for the price, I expected much better treatment, communication, and customer service.

Absolutely do not live here. You can tell from the replies already, but choose absolutely anywhere else in bloomington to live then this place. My experience here was horrible, and I regret ever signing a lease. After moving out, I was hit with charges that I felt were completely unfair. To make things worse, the managers were EXTREMELY unhelpful. Trying to address my concerns with them only made an already frustrating experience worse. I’ve paid the charges, but that does not change how disappointed I am with this place and its management. College students already spend enough on housing without dealing with ridiculous move-out charges and managers who offer so little help. I would never live here again or recommend it to anyone. Save yourself the money, stress, and frustration and find somewhere else to live.

Here’s a direct, no-nonsense review: I would not recommend living at Lark Bloomington. The apartments may look nice during the tour, but the problems start once you move in. Management is disorganized, communication is poor, and billing lacks transparency. Residents are charged fees that staff often cannot clearly explain, and additional costs seem to appear without accountability. Maintenance and cleanliness are also major concerns. Reports of insect issues were not taken seriously, and move-in conditions did not match expectations. At move-out, excessive cleaning and damage charges were assessed for issues that either existed before move-in or were simply normal wear. Parking is another frustration. Residents have paid for parking only to lose their assigned spaces, then be forced to pay more for garage parking after rates increased. To make matters worse, utility charges continued even when the apartment was unoccupied, leaving the impression that students are being charged without reasonable justification. Overall, Lark Bloomington feels more focused on collecting fees than providing quality housing or customer service. There are far better student housing options in Bloomington. Save yourself the frustration and rent somewhere else. P.S. Take pictures of everything if you are silly enough to live here!

Definitely look for somewhere else to live when you are moving to Bloomington. As the other reviews say, they look nice on the outside, but they are a whole different story. Management is below average and they don't help with anything. I only remembered one person that was nice and helpful with things. To tell you how poorly made the apartments actually are, after a storm somehow water leaked all the way to a smoke detector in my apartment! I lived on the first floor by the way. It caused a really bad burning smell and it made the alarm go off at 2:30 am! The fire department had to be called and when they opened the detector tons of water came out of it. And guess what, the maintenance team never replaced the smoke detector! To put icing on the cake, they charged all of my roommates and myself a ridiculous $350 cleaning charge. Most of it was normal wear and tear but they claimed they needed to do a full repainting of almost everything. I bet they do this for even the smallest mark on the wall. One of the silliest charges was marking the washer and dryer installation manual as trash that needed to be thrown away. Really???? All they care about is getting as much money from you as possible. I tried to dispute some of the charges but got responses that seemed like they didn't even look at my disputes. Whatever you do, do not sign a lease here.