Avana on the Platte Apartments

I took a tour this morning with Vivian. She was wonderfully helpful, very pleasant, and a delight to work with! I obviously cannot comment on what it is like to live at this community, but my initial impressions of the complex were very favorable.

I really like this apartment. I had to move unexpectedly as the condo I was living in sold in 4 days, so I didn’t have a lot of time to look for a new place. This was really close to work so I decided to check them out. The apartment I’m in is the A3, a modern 1 bedroom with about 850 square feet. The fixtures throughout are nice, with beautiful granite counter tops with an eat in island, stainless steel appliances and plush carpet. Personally I would prefer hardwood throughout, but at least the carpet is high quality. The kitchen has wood look linoleum, dishwasher, ice make in the fridge and built in microwave hood. There is a washer and dryer included in the unit, which is a huge plus. The bedroom is large, with a large walk in closet and built in desk. The bathroom is large and has a great garden tub. The porch in this unit is just grand, with room for my table and 4 chairs, a bbq grill, my bicycle, and still plenty of room for my plants and entertaining space. The layout is comfortable and spacious, and the ceilings are 10 foot high throughout. Central air and heat are also included. The places is built well and I never hear from my neighbors around me, though I do think that possibly the one above me has smuggled in a baby elephant. Which reminds me, this place is super pet friendly. There are grassy areas with potty bags throughout the complex.
Any issues I’ve had here have been handled with a quickness, and the staff in the office and maintenance is super friendly. There are carports and garages, but availability is limited. The area is very convenient for me, and there is easy access to stores and entertainment. Target, Costco and the movie theater are a 5 minute walk away. Light rail is right across the street. The Platte river bike trail is literally outside the back gate.
The amenities are good, not extraordinary or over the top, but good. There is a nice pool, but there is only one and during the summer it’s packed. Every time I went there wasn’t a chair available. There is a hot tub open year round and I believe the pool area has a couple of bbq grills. They also recently added a couple fire pits and cozy couches. There is a SMALL gym, with some dated equipment. Every time I went there was a bunch of people in there. But, I am a member of 24 hour fitness and it’s 2 minutes away. There is also a clubhouse room you can rent for parties. The property is gated but in NO WAY secure, cars just sit outside the gate and follow people in. With that said, I’ve never had any issues with my vehicle in the lot or been concerned walking around at night. The areas are pretty well lit, there is a security guard that goes around at night, and Sheridan Police actually patrol inside the complex regularly.
The rent is not the best I’ve seen in the area, but it’s not the worst either. Rent in Denver as a whole is ridiculous right now. The proximity of the complex to 85 and 285 lends to highway noise constantly if you like having your windows or doors open, but shut them and it’s super quiet inside and you’ll hear nothing. Overall, Avana on the Platte is a pretty good option if your looking in the area for a place to live. Slightly better amenities (second pool, better gym, fenced dog run), and elevators (I wanted a 4^th floor apartment originally for the views but they have no elevators so my sister would not be able to visit because she is in a wheelchair), and I would have given it 5 stars. Check them out, tell Vivian I sent you.

My experience is the same as the previous reviewer. The front office is the worst part of the entire living experience. The community severely went downhill as they were prepping to sell the complex and after the complex was sold to Greystar. The one rule they didn’t start to enforce when prepping for the sale? Kids under the age of 18 playing around the complex alone. This always posed a safety concern for me as two specific children would play in the parking lot near the entrance gates. I saw these same two children (about the age of 6 and maybe 8) in the pool one evening with no one around. This was 5 minutes until 6 when the office closes, so I called to inform them of very young children at the pool alone hoping action would have been taken. I spoke with someone, but no one came out to say anything to the children. They just closed up the office and went home. Their ever so busy lives must have been more important than the lives of two children.
I put in my intent to vacate 4 months early due to the fact that the office staff asked me to sign an addendum for my newly acquired pet. No problem. I read and signed the addendum like I would any contract. It was signed by both myself and a representative of the complex. Seems like a valid legal contract at this point. However, when I went to pay, the deposit and fees they were verbally asking me for differed from the contract both parties had already signed. They made an error, but I had to resign a corrected contract that had me agreeing to pay more money. This was the breaking point for me living in a community with incompetent staff and I put in my notice to leave that day!
Additionally be expected to lose your entire deposit, because they will get it all regardless of what their lease says or services actually performed. Their lease says the first two hours of cleaning and repairs are not charged, and that charges will be assessed at $ 40 an hour after the first two. They don’t keep track of your cleanup charges by hour, they can’t prove the time it took, so they’ll just charge you for whatever. I got charged $ 80 to repair 12 small nail holes, clean a dirty oven, microwave, and fridge. It wouldn’t have taken me more than 2 hours to complete these items (and be covered under their 2 hour rule on the lease), but apparently their cleaning and maintenance services are just as incompetent as the office staff. They supposedly cleaned carpets three days after I cleaned the carpets so they could collect an additional $ 65 from my deposit. I’m about 99% positive this wasn’t done, but I was charged anyway. This is the only community I’ve ever lived in that’s kept almost my whole deposit, so you were warned!
Stephanie and Samantha have always been the worst to deal with in the office and unfortunately are the only two office employees Greystar kept after the sale. Good luck dealing with these two rude ladies if you ever have a problem, but I advise just staying away!

Stay away from this complex. The front office staffed with incompetent liars since the sale of the property. When it was Riverton on the Platte (owned by Wasatch), everything was fine. Now that it’s Avana on the Platte (owned by Greystar), it has sharply gone downhill in only 2 months.
Here you will find trash throughout the complex, overgrown trees and bushes that block walkways and parking spaces, and noxious weeds everywhere. The residents don’t pick up after their dogs and the office does nothing to enforce the policy. The pet waste stations are constantly overflowing with days old feces and run out of bags on a weekly basis. Scheduled maintenance requests are never completed on time. When they finally get around to you, the work is done with little attention to detail and as cheaply as possible causing repeated requests for the same repair over and over.
The property manager, Stephanie Terrazas, is the weakest link in the management chain and the primary cause for the issues. She is condescending, unapologetic, and rude. She speaks out of the side of her mouth and never follows through.
Stay away from Avana on the Platte.

I went to the office to discuss a few concerns I had with the leasing agents and I was told I would have to gather more information before they would do anything. Mind you this was something they could’ve easily found out for themselves had they cared enough.
I also asked them where I could access the switch to turn the jets in the hot tub on and was told that only maintenance has access to control the jets. At this point, I expressed that I felt the jets were not functioning properly as there was barely any water at all coming out of them It was brought to my attention that maintenance turns the jets on low when they leave for the night in case of emergencies. We went to the hot tub at 7pm the other day and they were «on low» with no way to turn them higher (the pool area closes at 10pm). I asked if there was any way to have them stay on until the pool closes and I was told that they would ask maintenance. They didn’t even offer to get back to me with an answer about this concern.
I have been very unhappy with the customer service from the manager and leasing agents at the front office since Greystar has taken over our apartment complex.