Jia Apartments - Los Angeles, California

Kayrawk

I came in as a walk-in for a tour and was fortunate to have Linda as my agent. She was incredibly welcoming, helpful, and accommodating, especially on such short notice. She made the whole experience seamless and enjoyable! I’ll be starting school in the fall, so I was looking for the perfect place, and this community truly stood out. I toured both the one-bedroom and studio apartments, and the studios caught my attention the most. This location is definitely at the top of my list, along with Jia and a couple of others. I’ll be in touch as fall gets closer—looking forward to finding my new home!

MARIA G.

I’m a few weeks into living at Jia and I am glad I chose this place to call home for my daughter and I. The leasing consultant Chelsey was beyond helpful through the process and still continues to be very welcoming as questions and concerns arise. The location of the apartments is very convenient as there are a lot places you can walk to or take public transportation. My favorite part of living here has been catching the sunrise!

Plains E.

Besides the reports of rampant package and vehicle theft, a few incidents from my residence here stand out.

In April, 2024, someone attempted to break down my front door while I was asleep. Management never followed up and security (we only have a contracted intermittent roving patrol) brushed it off as a drunk resident. A few hours later, a homeless person trespassed onto the property and set up camp in front of my door (I've since picked up a Ring and routinely capture all kinds of bizarre things). Several days later, a staff member casually mentioned that some other apartments had recently been forcibly broken into, at least one while the residents were inside.

More recently, strange events have become much more commonplace. Last month, a visit by police officers resulted in a resident or guest quickly jumping from a 5th floor balcony onto the sidewalk on Cesar Chavez Ave. Just before that incident, in August 2024, I smelled smoke inside my unit. While it is not uncommon for homeless people to set up camp on Jia property and start little fires, this one persisted longer than usual. Directly below my unit, someone had lit debris on fire next to a power transformer, jeopardizing not only the building and its many residents, but the entire block (you can find clips from this incident on youtube). Even though Chinatown security (CBID) had already responded to the fire/perpetrator and I emailed the LAPD senior lead officer assigned to my district, an Equity Residential employee named "Sam" assumed I did nothing and suggested on our residential messageboard that I call the police next time. Even though management was well aware of the situation (their response was to call the head custodian), the arsonist hung out at the building for the next two days and built an elaborate encampment. Ignoring the obvious logic that a request for LAFD is probably the first course of action, a renter has no legal standing to order police to remove someone from a property that they do not own. This responsibility lies solely with owners and/or management. While I understand that office staff are leasing agents and have little incentive to assist residents and prevent criminal activity, inaction that leads to the loss of life or damage to a valuable investment property represents the epitome of mismanagement that borders on psycopathy. As a desparate measure to at least elicit some sort of response by Jia, I have public posted photos and video of all incidents and tagged the names of Equity senior management in the metadata. This company is publicly traded, so I figure that its executive officers and investors might be curious to how their properties are run.

On a lighter note, for the month of September, 2024, clothing became optional. Pictured below, a gentleman stripped down to his boxers and ranted and raved in front of the Ord Street entrance for most of the morning. By a stroke of luck, I found another jerk hanging out at the parking garage entrance. Even though the latter incident took place during the middle of a weekday (not on a closed Monday), the office was closed, they did not answer their phone, and the call forwarded to a security dispatcher who didn't even ask for a description of the person. A couple weeks later, a fully nude man ran through the hallways and parking garage and did not leave for many hours (although someone eventually threw him a blanket). If you have children or value your safety, keep in mind that individuals who exibit this sort of behavior lack inhibition and may even be convicted sex offenders (before you decide to rent at Jia Apartments, visit www.meganslaw.ca.gov and check the box to include transients just to see what kind of locals you may need to deal with).

January 2025 edit:

Added photo of another arson (several fires have been lit just outside the property off Hill St. and inside Jia itself). I also included a photo of a guy smoking meth outside someone's window. Strange that his is the only review from the past 5 years that hasn't been responded to by the owners.

Esther B.

Today I had a tour with Linda, she was friendly and knowledgeable on the area of the building. The building itself was clean and beautiful walking distance to restaurant and Starbucks. The other thing I liked, was that the building is close to the 101 freeway. I would recommend to check the building out and schedule with Linda

Catherine C.

This place is close to everything, clean for the most part, management and maintenance crew are promt and courteous. the apartment for me is just right size , clean functional and roomy and has lots of closets, inviting, hallways are wide. Modern kitchen, quiet so far, with lots of anemities and pet friendly.

Jason A.

If you’re in a rush or a hurry to move in to an apartment, please do look further. Trying to get information from this place was like pulling teeth! I’m thankful that I was not in a rush, but seriously if you’re trying to lease quickly, this is not the place! The tour went okay and the apartment and apartment building itself is nice. However, the leasing agent was not nice nor informative. At my 12:30pm scheduled tour, I was told to be aware that their lunches start at 1 aka rush had to rush my tour. I was maybe 4 minutes past 1, so I’m glad they waited for me to get my ID back, but the follow up was terrible. Didn’t hear back for 3-4 days and once I responded, another 2 days (post my follow up). My questions went ignored, apartment got leased to someone else and then went back up. However, I wasn’t informed until I asked. I just gave up trying to lease here. I went over to a nearby building with much better amenities, a better location, better area, at a great price. Best of all, that agent was so on top of it! The difference was night and day. Maybe I just got the wrong leasing agent, and hopefully others experiences will be better!

Jess C.

Former resident - this complex started off nice but things started going downhill around 2021 (at least to me). Other reviews also reflect the shift in quality of life. Even though my apt unit itself was nice and I loved being able to walk to delicious Chinatown restaurants, I eventually left of fear and anxiety attacks which thankfully went away once I moved out.

Stolen packages. 2 strangers banging on my door trying to break in. The unhoused would sleep in front of residents' doors (caught on Ring cameras) and despite many residents voicing their safety concerns, management still did not re-hire building security. Our former security guard Jesse was an angel and truly the man. Jia has too many entry points which always for anyone to be able to get in with little effort. Management was allowing units to become Airbnbs knowing full well residents felt unsafe already and having random strangers roaming the building "looking lost" wasn't helping. Entry parking arm was always broken. They also raised rent significantly with no regard whether you were a good tenant - my renewal was above what their website's market rate was listed..... the resident theory is they wanted to get rid of the folks who knew previous nice Jia so we'd stop comparing. But who knows. I hope things have improved since 2022... recent reviews indicate otherwise as of 2025.

Ms. B. H.

Pros: Great location! 💕 Chinatown
Cons: Lived here for a few years now, but the office/management turnover is high, safety/security, and cleanliness has gone downhill considerably. If you enjoy annual rent hikes, noisy & smokey neighbors in the non-smoking areas, dog poop and pee, and roaches, trash all over the parking garage, and playing roulette with your car getting broken into, by all means, come on by to sign a lease!