The neighborhood is not safe, and I do NOT recommend moving into Mariblu. There is a significant homeless population, transients, drug use and theft. I often see drug deals and drug use across the street and next door. It is very easy for someone to follow a resident into the parking garage by car or on foot. Within 3 months of living here my locked bike in the garage was stolen along with others. Management refused to send out a warning to residents because they do not want it to be public. I've seen homeless sleeping on the bench just outside the front door and hanging out by the garage door. I've heard gun shots at night and there was a shooting at the mall down the street. If you have a dog, there is no place within the community to take them to the bathroom. Therefore, I have often seen dog urine and feces in the elevator, garage and stairwell, because it is necessary to go outside and walk down the street with your dog, and it's not safe.

My brother will be moving out of Mariblu Southcenter's independent living today. He was there not for the same reason that other people probably are. He really thought that he could handle independent living, and he did not want to be in assisted living. He went there more or less against my will. I did not want him to go in there and neither did his children. We didn't want him going anywhere except into assisted living because he could only take two steps on his own before he went there. He had to prove himself, by living there for like a month, that he was adequately healthy enough to live to be there. The reason that he's leaving is that I have to go over there every single day to take care of him. He really is not equipped, medically, to be anywhere except in assisted living. It's nothing against the place, but that was the experience. He was always treated absolutely wonderfully. We have nothing negative to say about them. It is more about my brother's health conditions. It's just impossible for him to live there. He has to be where we can get adequate services for him because he truly is an assisted living patient. Finally, a week and a half ago he said, "OK, nobody here looks like me." I think he looked at all of these bicycles downstairs and knows that a lot of the people that are living there are out on those bikes. They go out and they ride. It's a wonderful place for people since there are trails over there that they get to within a half a block. They go along the river and go for miles. They have things that they do downstairs. Like yesterday, they were putting together these beautiful flower arrangements. They provide some very fun things, such as a special holiday going on like Mother's Day or St Patrick's Day. People get to go down and have special things. There's also always something special on Thursdays, and those are always very fun for people to go to. He would not go down to those though because he's in a wheelchair and is on a catheter. That is not something you want to hang around with people who are very fit and on their own feet. They're not having to wait for their sister to come and take them to an appointment because they can take themselves to an appointment. It's set up for people who either live with somebody that can care for them or they themselves are really independent. That's the best scenario for anybody living there. It's located right in such a great place. You're right in the middle of the shopping center, almost two blocks away. You have every kind of opportunity for eating, shopping, and the whole thing. You can walk; you don't have to take your car, which is a great thing. He is not the typical person who would move in there, so he basically was only there for 2 months. For him without me, it would have been a disaster. I would just have to say as far as my experience and how they treated me, I was able to make things happen for my brother because of the people at Mariblu. I would give the highest rating just because of the way that they made things adequate for me. If you're a resident, you get covered parking, and it's secure. If you are coming to visit, parking around the place is very difficult. My brother has many different specialists that come and work with him, like PT, OT, the nurse, and the whole thing. We've had to work out some very creative ways for them to get into the building with me because of the parking. If you come to the front door and my brother cannot go down, you can't be let in. That's the other thing because people that move in there can go down and let people in; but he can't do that so I had to be there every time.

Marvelle Southcenter was really nice and upscale. They have good signage in the building for all the activities available. They have concierge, expensive espresso machine in the lobby for anyone to use, exercise room, and yoga. They have an events manager. On a regular basis, they have outings and a whole lot going on to keep people active and involved. They have brunch. It had studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms. They had good layouts and nice sizes. They're very spacious, and they all have balconies. There is a washer and dryer in each unit. They have assigned parking, which is an additional per month. They have great views. You could see the mountain from some of the units.