I'll break this review in two sections: management, and the apartment itself, since I can only…read morereally comment on the building I lived in.
Smith Apartments is family owned, so you don't have to jump through hoops to figure out who you need to talk to for anything. Emails were always answered promptly, and in general, there was pretty good communication between management and residents. You can set your rent to pay automatically, so that can be super helpful if you tend to forget to make rent payments. The biggest flaw I saw was that maintenance requests were not always processed quickly. When I moved in, the bathroom sinks were dripping, and it took a couple weeks for those to get fixed. Sometimes we had to send a reminder email or two to get a job finished. However, you'll note I still gave them a 5 star rating. I'd like to give a 4.5, but this is one of those cases where I think it's more appropriate to round up. My security deposit was returned quickly, and the few small deductions to it were justified, so no complaints there either.
The building I lived in was 1010 W Clark in Urbana. These two bedroom apartments were originally rented to four students, and as a result, they're huge! Rent was rather cheap, especially for the size of the apartment. I shared the apartment with my boyfriend and another roommate, and there were definitely no issues with space. The furniture is reminiscent of the '70s, but seemed to be pretty sturdy. The beds weren't the best, but they did offer to replace them if needed. My couch was probably the worst of what we were given, but it was obviously near the end of its life, and I'm pretty sure it was replaced when I moved out. I especially loved how there was a large storage closet in the apartments. During the winter, we fit two bikes in there easily. I guess my only complaint would be that the kitchen didn't have enough cupboards or counterspace, but I also cook and bake a lot, so I think it would be fine for the average college student. I never had any problem with noise from other residents, and the laundry room was always kept clean. The location is great if your classes are closer to north campus, but it wasn't bad getting to the main quad at all. Additionally, there are a bunch of restaurants right in your backyard, which is great if you don't cook or are just looking for greasy drunk food. Sometimes you can hear the drive-through from Niro's at night, but it's not normally an issue.
Overall, I really liked living with Smith Apartments. I definitely would have stayed in the same apartment had I not graduated and moved.