Cortland Research Park

I love my apartment but heating and cooling in the bedroom needs to be fixed.

I moved in on 11/10/25 and on 1/11/26, I submitted my 17th maintenance request. Beyond frustrating. There should not be this many maintenance request, especially only 2 months of living in the unit.

Overall: The unit and location are the only positives. Everything involving management, billing, and basic services is a constant grind.

Noise:
Ongoing loud, repetitive thudding from the upstairs unit for months (very clearly not just “normal apartment living”). Think ball being thrown for a dog inside the apartment, over and over, at all hours. I cited the lease, the pet addendum, and documented the problem. Management even admitted in writing they weren’t sure their team ever followed up with... the neighbor after my earlier complaint. The issue is still not fully resolved.

Maintenance:
Maintenance eventually fixes things, but slowly and with little regard for the impact on you. A refrigerator problem dragged across multiple visits and delays while I threw out food and rebought groceries. No real urgency, no meaningful “we’ll make this right,” just me absorbing the cost and hassle.

Staff / Management:
Turnover is constant and on-site hours have been cut back. Getting promised follow-ups requires repeated chasing. Senior staff (including Nicholle) repeatedly came off as snarky and defensive instead of apologetic or solution-oriented. There’s a lot of explaining and hedging, and very little, “We messed that up; here’s what we’re doing to fix it.”

Valet Trash:
This is mandatory and non-optional, even when they don’t show up. For well over a year, I had to log every missed pickup and fight for credits for days the service simply wasn’t provided. It wasn’t the on-site team who proactively fixed this; it only moved when I escalated far beyond the property.

Lease / Billing:
I had a renewal term and rate confirmed in writing and still got a bill far higher than what was agreed. That only got corrected after I escalated the issue outside local management and made it clear I was ready to involve state-level regulators again. This is not a place where you can just assume your bill is correct.

Corporate context:
Cortland has been named in government actions over alleged rent-setting practices using RealPage software and later agreed to a settlement with North Carolina, while denying wrongdoing.

Would I recommend it?
No. The unit and location are fine, but you pay for them with your time and sanity. Expect to act as your own auditor, project manager, and complaints department just to get what you’re already paying for. Read More

This really is a good community. I intend to be here for the foreseeable future.

Leasing office is terrible. They only care about new tenants and dont care once you move in and give them money. Service team quality had plummeted in the last year since couple of the team members left. We have 2 month old work order and a garbage disposal that hasnt worked for over a week. They will just mark the work order complete when they didnt even come to look st the problem