Merced Station - Merced, California

Star Zapien

Best place to work at !Love the co workers, managers and the people around! It’s also The nicest apartments you’ll see around Merced. The views from the top floor make it so much more beautiful when ur standing outside on a nice cool day just vibing 🔥

Reese Gonzales

Good place to live, and they offer a lot of activities for their residents. I’ve had a lot of good experiences with the staff here, and they’ve always been extremely kind. Nicole helped me secure my lease and helped with all of my questions, she was very helpful!

The amenities are also great. The gym is amazing, the pool is beautiful, and I’m happy to see a water bottle refilling station in the main building, too.

Markos Maduro

Rating: 1/5
While Merced Station seemed like a decent spot at first, my experience has been disappointing. When I moved in, the patio was filthy, covered in dust and debris that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in ages. Most of the furniture was in poor condition, and the floors also appeared neglected and unclean. It’s clear that little effort is put into cleaning the apartments before new residents move in. Management really needs to prioritize thorough cleaning and maintenance to improve the experience for future tenants.

Let me know if you’d like further adjustments!

Lisa Semlow

What an experience! From the time you enter the community is very impressive! The grounds are well manicured, and spacious! The office staff is friendly, helpful and everything you would expect for students going through the leasing process. The clubhouse is top notch, tons of amenities, from the café, to the game room, study rooms, computer area and work out gym. Outside offers pool, hot tub, lots of gathering areas, BBQ's, volleyball and more. There is a bus, offered only for this complex direct to the university, bike racks, community events, soo much to list! This is everything a student would want and the type of social interaction this generation needs! Not to mention the apartments are perfect, high end, and have options depending on each persons needs. The list of so many unlimited amenities is overly generous for the price of these apartments!

Tyson Rhodes

Love the community and environment. Ally and Itzel are so helpful and such a great time at all the little events Merced station host. The content they make for the station is enjoyable and entertaining. Staying here was a great decision and I can’t recommend it enough.

Cobalt Blue

even though the rent is rather expensive and the myriad bills predatory, I tolerated it for the spaciousness of the rooms and the proximity to the school - especially because of the shuttle service, starting at 7AM to 930PM. HOWEVER, this year, they cut the shuttle service times by more than half - starting from 8am to 430PM! They didn't even notify us - the only way you were notified was by a physical piece of paper schedule tacked onto the shuttle stop. I built my college schedule around the old schedule, so I have classes that end times well beyond what the station services. The rooms and amenities may be worth it, but considering how they butchered the shuttle schedule WITHOUT ANY REAL NOTIFICATIONS (really, I check my email daily) shows how predatory management is. Considering how many people depend on the shuttle as quick and reliable transportation to and from the campus, it is a major breach of trust for everyone deciding to rent at this place.

Vicky Liu

I’ve been really disappointed with this apartment’s unreasonable pricing, which continues to increase every year. I initially chose this place because of the convenient shuttle service. The shuttle was supposed to run from 7 AM to 9:30 PM, but now it only runs until 4:30 PM without any prior notice. This means I have to spend more than twice the amount of time commuting back home every day. Without the convenience of the shuttle, I could easily rent a house with my roomate elsewhere for the same price.

Michelle Pfann

I want to start by saying that for now my review is on the basis of our tour yesterday, because my daughter won't be moving in until August 2022. I'll update the review as time goes by with our full experience.

We were very impressed by the facilities, definitely a HUGE upgrade from dorm life. The clubhouse and pool appear to be very, very close to opening and I'd be shocked if they weren't completed within the next 5-6 weeks. Building construction appears to be largely complete as well (at least the exterior portions). For outdoor amenities they have fire pits, BBQ grills, an outdoor movie screen, lots of outdoor seating areas, a basketball court, and the pool/spa (under construction). Indoors there is a clubhouse that looks minutes away from opening with TV's, pool tables, lounge areas, what appears to be an indoor movie area, and a fitness room (which is open now).

We got a tour of the available 2BR and 4BR versions- 3BR is sold out right now, so not available to tour. Regardless of version, all the apartments have pretty much the same furnishings, with the number of dining chairs and bedroom furniture matching the occupancy. If you are unsure of which model to go for, I'd suggest that the B2 version for 3 people is the sweet spot, regardless of whether you want a single or double occupancy room. The single bedroom is nearly the same size as the double bedroom (HUGE), and the double room has a giant walk in closet. This was not the case in the D2 6-person 4BR unit - there both the single rooms and the closets in the doubles were normal-sized. I did take photos of the interiors, but I put my daughter in all of them so don't have any available for the review. The interior photos on the website are accurate, however, so you can rely on those.

Our main question before the tour was about roommate matching - we had the excellent fortune to be given the tour by Dallas, who works on unit assignment and roommate matching. She was very friendly and caring, and it was clear that she puts a lot of thought and effort into matching people up and tries to get to know the residents. I also asked about how many people came with planned roommates, and how many used the roommate matching service- Dallas said it was about 50/50, so don't feel weird about going through roommate matching! I'd also recommend if you were looking for something specific in your room location (what floor, what view, etc) or felt you needed to expand on your roommate questionnaire, call up the office and ask to speak with her, and tell her your preferences. Obviously she wouldn't be able to give everyone their very first choice of unit, but I do feel she would try to get as close as possible.

Other questions I had answered:
Shuttle: runs every 10ish minutes, from 6:30am (or maybe 7am.. two of us remember 6:30 and one remembers 7) until 9:30. The shuttle only goes to UC Merced, not to other locations, but you can go to the campus and then use the UC buses to go elsewhere in town.

Washer-dryers: All units have a full sized washer and dryer.

Unit availability: You have probably heard about last year's unfortunate start where many leased units were not completed on time for the start of school. This year (at least as of right now in May) they are only assigning people signing new leases to units where the construction is complete. It's definitely worth asking to confirm this is still the case if you sign a lease later this summer.

Oh, and one note about the lease-signing process. It's only online (no paper copies, even if you go to the office in person), so I'd suggest doing it at home. And it's a 90 page lease, and you have to electronically initial every page, so with the refresh time between pages, give yourself an hour or two. Co-signer signature portion is only 4 pages, not too bad.