Apartment Reviews for Alara Greenwood Village - Englewood

We've lived at Alara for about 6 months and over all we like it. Here is a low down on the goods and bads. Bad: It took them 3 months to remodel the pool/clubhouse/fitness center, and another 2 months to get everything working correctly. Parking is lousy. Many tenants don't clean up after their dogs. Haven't had any maintenance issues so can't comment. Kitchen is rather small and outdated. We'd have to move into another unit (and pay all of the deposits again) to get a remodeled unit. Poorly insulated so heating bills are high in the winter. Air Conditioner is archaic so we'll see what the cooling bill is like now that it's actually getting warm. We haven't really had noise issues. Who are we to complain? We have a 5 year old and two big dogs. Here are the goods: we live in the bigger 2 story townhome. It has an oversized 2 car garage and we get both cars, plus still have room for dog kennels and quite a bit of our extra stuff. Big bedrooms and bathrooms. Vaulted ceilings in the bedrooms upstairs. Way less expensive than the Timber Creek Apts across the street (and they have about the same rating). Belleview Elementary is the home school, and is in the top 8% of schools in the state. Tons of places to bike and walk the dogs. Tons of parks in the area. Really great Chinese restaurant down the road. Greenwood Village is an incredible place to live. We want to stay in the neighborhood, can't afford to shell out $600,000+ for a home, and to keep our daughter at Belleview we will continue to rent here. The goods outway the bads ALOT!

The management at Alara is appalling. They try to raise rent without sending notices. They over charge for water. We have lived here for a year and we wish we had gone elsewhere. There are much better places to rent in the Tech Center than here. No one in the management offices wants to help, all they want is your money.

I moved here coming back to my home in CO. I had one of the remodeled units. It had newer appliances and finishes throughout. I loved my place. I never had any significant issues that the maintenance team didnt handle in an appropriate fashion.

The negatives are the parking situation. My place didn't even have a driveway that could fit a car without blocking the street, so when I parked my truck in other places I got notices they would tow. The parking situation is a complete joke, and if they actually towed cars atleast 50% of the residents would be towed. I had a motorcycle and truck, so only the bike and other stuff got to be in the garage. They really need to fix that.

The place is pretty poorly insulated, so you hear lots of noise in the main corridor during summer, when peoples kids are getting rowdy, or barking dogs. It wasn't much worse than most apartments. If you can't deal with a little noise, don't live in an apt.

I moved out after buying a new home, but would have renewed my lease. By the looks of the other reviews, definitely look for a re-modeled unit.

Great location!!

My wife and I moved to Brookside (ALARA's former owners) in 2006. At the time the property was quiet and the maintenance was on-site. The location was awesome and the available parks was unbeatable. The management was professional and they worked hard to know your name. When you called the main office for an issue, maintenance would call you or fix it within 24-48 hours. Once Alara took over the place has really gone down hill. The place has turned into a corporate money mill. I have felt like my money for rent is all they want in times when people cannot afford homes. Maintenance is no on-site (they need those apartments to rent out). The trash policy was not enforced and we got mice in our apartment. My wife and I have always kept the place clean with both the dyson and the carpet shampooer. We have also kept all food in plastic containers. When we called for mainatance...they took note of our situation but never came out to see what the problem was. During the winter our fireplace went out, took 7 days to get fixed. in December 2009 we had a pipe burst and was shootign water inside the wall, it took my wife 20 minutes to finish the call to the "central" maintenance line, because the girl on the phone wanted to know exactly where the water was coming out of the wall. My wife's explanation of "we have a leak in the kitchen wall next the sink" was not sufficient enough. Don't be fooled by the maintenance here. The leak in the wall took 2 days to fix. The maintenance guy was very nice but obviously didn't know what he was doing. He had to call the supervisor who fixed the problem in about 10-15 minutes. Prior to the supervisors arrival water shot out of the pipe all over our walls. I had to quickly run and take down our 2,000 dollar paintings I bought my wife as a gift. I am not a person who like to bash people or places over silly things. However, I felt a need to write this review so that people become aware and that maybe the place will do something about all the negative reviews. My wife and I moved here from out of state and this place seemed like the perfect place to settle until I finished my Ph.D then buy a home. Now that we have closed on a house I cannot say it came soon enough. This place has spent alot of money and time on the "cosmetics" new paint on doors, siding lighting. However, what everyone must realize is that the place has a good location, but it was built cheaply. The walls are thin, the appliances are outdated; The floors squeak; the structure is breaking (look at it, don't just take what I say at face value); the windows are drafty, and the staff is unfriendly. All in all, I would not recommend this to anyone until they shape it up. My wife and I payed 1100 buck for a one bedroom for 3 years (1000 for one year). This is a lot of money to shell out for the things that I and others have mentioned. Honest reviews are important in today world. Money is limited and times are tough, had we not found a house, we would take our chances elsewhere when our lease was up, because we have had enough, and believe that for the money this place is "no longer" worth it.

I have lived here for over 3 years now. When I first moved in, it was called Brookside Village and they had a different management company. Since then, the property has been sold and is now managed by Riverstone. When the old management company had it, granted, things weren't great, but if they screwed something up, they fixed it. This company claims no responsibility even when they are at fault. For example, water bills have increased 69% (yes 69%) in one month. According to the office, first it was that Denver water raised their rates. They raised their rates @2.22 a month, not 69%. Next it was that the bills were actually for the summer months, meaning we were being billed 3 months behind (that's right, all new tenants that just moved in, supposedly you are paying for water 2 months before you ever lived here), then the excuse was that we weren't billed right. They hired a new landscaping company that waters all the time, and why not, after all the cost gets passed to each resident.

Next, the week of Thanksgiving I started having problems with my hot water heater. It would run out in less than five minutes, so couldn't take a shower and/or wash dishes, or laundry in the same day. The management company sent a maintenance guy over who said, no problem. Then I talked with the manager (CeCe) who said they would have it replaced, they didn't want anything to happen that would then cause damage. Two months later, still not replaced. Woke up one Saturday morning, and the **** thing exploded, flooded my garage (and everything in it). Guess what the response from management company is - not our problem, you have to file for a claim from your renters insurance. Oh, and too bad that you're rates are gonna go up, we're not liable. Fortunately my lawyer says that they are liable, so now they will have to pay court costs and attorney fees to boot, and guess where that expense will get passed on to?

By the way, any current renters should look in their closet at their water heater. If it looks old, it is the original water heater. The maintenance man told me that the original water heaters are completely dead, and the word from the office has been that they are NOT to replace them until they go out completely, any damage will have to be paid by the resident. Does that make you feel welcome? Or, does it make you feel like filing a class-action lawsuit against this idiotic management company and force them to do the right thing and replace these outdated water heaters? If you don't believe me, ask the office how many water heaters have gone bad in the last week alone. Paying 1100.00 a month for a 1 bedroom apt ought to at least buy some common level decent respect from the management company. Just a shred.

I was referred here by a friend - they tried to deny that i was referred which had a $500 impact to the tenants who referred me. Pretty lame first experience. Combine that with the fact that in the middle of july when i turned on the A/C - the heat came on.

Then we tried buying a home which took longer than anticipated and we were charged over 300 a month to continue renting on a monthly basis - after renting for over a year from them.

So, pets are a goldmine for them.
They charge you here for pets.
Charge you large pet deposits 500 plus a monthly fee per pet, and then charge you again when you move out. Several hundreds of dollars being charged 2 days before Christmas.

I would avoid this place at all costs.