The Den, Columbia MO

The Den apartments are nice inside with good details. Unfortunately, our move out experience wasn't the best. Management kept our deposit and charged even more at the end of the lease. When referred to Client Relations to discuss the charges, no one returned my calls. Take a video of the interior upon move-in to protect yourself.

After 2 entire years, this is what I have to say: avoid The Den if you are able to do so.

Advertised amenities are infrequent-
**The first, and probably most important, is that the WI-FI is constantly out. I'm actually using my hot-spot to type this out right now. You aren't able to sign up for your own, either. So IT students should really, really avoid this place. I took so many trips to the public library y'all. **
Both summers, the pool has been closed without notice or reason for over three weeks, which sucks for the few residents that do actually choose to stay the entire time. A month without a pool? (just for it to open on move in day?) Go ahead and strike that one off.
The Starbucks machine (it's only 8 oz of black, chai, hot cocoa, or water, don't get too excited) is rarely ever cleaned. Every time I go down there, I never know if I'm going to get coffee, get coffee with grounds (and a flashing screen telling me the machine is dirty haha), or a sign on the machine telling me it doesn't work. I'd suggest purchasing your own coffee maker. Strike this off as an amenity as well.

SAFETY & HEALTH-
I am allergic to dogs, and when I moved in one of my original roommates didn't just have a dog, he was BREEDING dogs in the room over. Noteworthy, because if you document allergies, they aren't noted.
Guns cannot be stored in your personal vehicle on their property.
Methed out maintenance gave an old guy who followed my girlfriend here in a bout of road rage something to throw at her car.

Roommates-
I have had a roommate punch things in response to being asked to clean up after themselves.
If you are over 21, expect to room with minors who will store alcohol and/or bring over intoxicated peers. This risk should be self explanatory to all males. (And frankly girls too, you never know the people). This is just.problematic.

Misc-
All rooms are a different size, and historically, you won't see your actual room until move in day. You'll pay the same price to have the smallest room in the unit as the largest.
Zero move out cleaning is paid for professionally, even if they had pets.
Parking is a mess if you don't want to pay 15$ extra.

Additions:
10/12/23
- Communal printer has been unusable for 5 weeks.
- There are frequently dogs tethered to the bike racks forcing me to use the parking lot and poo- filled greenery as a walk-space

My car got stolen from the parking lot and when I asked for video footage they replied they didn’t have cameras for liability reasons. I will move as soon as my lease ends to some place where they have at least minimum consideration for tenants.

I would rather become permanently homeless than ever live here again. Bugs? Yes. Internet work? No. Competent staff? NO. I left my keys in my apartment and was told they charge $50 to unlock it. To get my internet up and working again for my building, I had to call their internet provider MYSELF. The employees at the front desk didn’t even give me a valid email when I asked for the property manager’s contact information. Don’t listen to the likely fake reviews on here, never ever live here.

I love living here at the den. I been in Columbia for 3 years and Jeff has been the best property manager I had. He has been the most understanding. I have decided that I will keep living here as long as Jeff is the property manager. He actual takes care of us and keep us in a good safe living environment. I will recommend to everyone to live at The Den.

The Den is an awesome place to live! I have worked with the property manager Jeffrey on several different occasions, and he is professional, organized and resident-first oriented. The effort Jeffrey puts in to making the Den a great place to live is unbeatable. If you need a place to live in Columbia go check out the Den and ask for Jeffrey, he will take great care of you!

Great amenities and residential events, nice units. Excellent management and maintenance. Treated like family

The Den has suited me and my roommates nicely for the past 2 years. We’ve resigned for a 3rd year. It certainly has it’s flaws, but not any worse than all of the other student living apartments around town. The shuttle is very reliable in terms of punctuality and only has 3-4 times a year where it doesn’t run (tho they usually don’t send a warning). The new management (Jeff!) this year seems quite enthusiastic and was very helpful over the phone. The maintenance staff has by far been the best maintenance team I’ve heard of compared to other apartments for all the years we’ve been here. They are very friendly, very easy to work with, and very fast, often addressing problems within 1-3 days! (Except during the first 2 weeks after move-in for obvious reasons). The den certainly gets the job done and has one of the best pools (size wise) comparatively if you use it. The study rooms are also pretty nice if you manage to grab one or go at an unpopular time. The facilities are nice to have, but not always the cleanest or of greatest quality. Comparatively, the rooms are kinda small if u get the smallest floor plan, but I don’t need much more than a bed and desk. The other floor plans are larger if you need more space. All in all, it’s worth not moving out and resigning at another place at least. Flawed, but we’re perfectly happy here.

We moved our daughter in this last weekend. The property manager Jeff really made this a great experience. First he went above and beyond in coordinating our move in date. When we arrived not everything was working right. He was extremely apologetic but we understood as he rushed things to accommodate our move in. He quickly had everything taken care of and has reached out to my daughter to make sure she was happy. It’s a great feeling to know there is a property manager who cares so much about doing his job well and making sure residents are happy and safe.

I would recommend never living here! I couldn’t use my dish washer because everytime i did it smelled like rotten eggs not to mention the garbage disposal made the house smell for weeks if it was used… Then the maintenance people have zero clue what they are doing and do not fix a single issue with anything! DO NOT LIVE HERE tanning bed is broken most the time.

Looks nice. That’s about it. I really tried to like living here and did for a while. The thing that killed it was having to get up early on weekdays in the summer and residents are just at the pool blaring music until well after midnight. It’s literally the most mid music. No taste.

Literally live anywhere else in Columbia, definitely the worst apartment I've lived in at my 4 years at Mizzou and definitely partially ruined my Senior Year. The entire complex is incredibly loud and obnoxious, and they refuse to do anything about noise complaints. An apartment below me had 3 dogs in it that would bark constantly, and the office always told my roommates and I "there's nothing we can do. " If you live near one of the fire pits buy a noise machine. From when I moved in until October people would use the fire-pit and play music on speakers until 2am (even later some nights) multiple days of the week (I have pictures and video) (that is for legal reasons so this does not get taken down for libel). See the picture below of four people standing over the fire pit. Part of the lease agreement stipulates "behaving in a loud or obnoxious manner;" as prohibited conduct. There was broken glass on the stairs near my building for months. When I first moved in there was a hole in the closet ceiling, which still yet has to be fixed, and probably will not be fixed before the next tenant moves in too. During the first week of classes in the winter semester they had food they were giving away each day of the week. In the original email they said they were giving away McDonald's breakfast on Monday, but they never gave away anything that day and the office was locked lmao. Then they had the audacity to resend the email with the Monday removed from the schedule. I lived at Central House the year before and they were infinitely better than the den. Literally live anywhere else but here, even a cardboard box would be better.

While the amenities seem promising, any concerns or complaints that you might have are only halfway dealt with. For example, external access to our mailboxes has zero signage. It is also kind of in a weird, creepy, not very well lit hallway. When I shared this via form, the responder only talked about the fact that I had called it creepy. But the responder did not say anything at all about the fact that there was no signage or indicator as to where we could access the mailbox from the outside while the office is locked. This is only one example, but there have been many times when I had asked a question, and had not received a full answer.

If you don't mind being ignored, or living in an area where it is often very loud, even within their so-called quiet hours, then feel free to live here.

I have lived here for 4 months and the second I stepped foot into my bedroom I just knew it was going to be a long 4 months. I am very level headed and honest, and you definitely get what you pay for.hence the very decent price.
- On move in day, be prepared to take half of your day to clean.
- My toilet was clogged whenever I moved in, so make sure you have a plunger on hand because you never know.
- Do not get a reserved parking spot. It will always be taken by someone else
- Staff is friendly most of the times, but no one is ever on the same page so it is hard to get a right answer.
- The walls are very thin
- So many parties.
- Our couch smelled awful so I asked if I could request to get it steam cleaned but apparently that is not a thing.
The Den has great amenities and maintenance is fast and very nice! In the end, it is student living with a bunch of college students so it is not going to be perfect. I would give them 2/5 stars strictly based off of MY experience.

Great place to live! The office staff are very friendly, and the maintenance staff took care of the few issues I had on the day I moved in within a few hours.

Absolutely Wonderful Community to live. Awesome location! Great amenities lounge area’s and more. Definitely 5 star.the den