Griffis Lafayette Station Apartments

I lived at Griffis Lafayette Station (GLS) from May 2022 - Aug 2024. Overall, my experience living here could’ve been worse, but also could’ve been better. I wouldn’t recommend it for most people.

I had two different neighbors with extremely loud dogs that would bark constantly whenever their owners were gone. A lot of the dog owners here also didn’t seem to care about picking up pet waste either. Unfortunately, I think issues like this are pretty widespread throughout much of Denver. This was... admittedly the first place I’ve ever lived in Colorado, and I had no idea so many people owned dogs here.

Another thing I didn’t know about before moving here were trash valet services. GLS (among many other apartment communities in Denver) hires a third party to collect people’s garbage door-to-door, and instructs residents to leave their trash out daily. An unfortunate side effect of this is large quantities of garbage sit outside for a long time and stink up the breezeways year round. I’ve even seen other properties with indoor hallways do this kind of thing, which seems really stupid. I have no idea why so many property management companies out here think this is a good idea.

And I’d speculate that’s probably why there’s mice in some of the apartments. My downstairs neighbor caught over a dozen in Nov 2022, and a few of them made their way up to my unit.

On a different note, during warmer months, a landscaping company is present on the property most weekdays. So if you work from home, this means you’ll hear loud industrial lawnmowers and leaf blowers being used throughout most of the day.

A few other things worth mentioning: The exterior stairwells on the residential buildings are beginning to show their age (cracks are forming in the concrete steps all over the place). If you don’t rent a top floor unit, you’ll hear your upstairs neighbor walking around a lot. In spring/summer they have lawn sprinklers on a daily timer and don’t seem to care about turning them off whenever it rains. The outdoor pool is not looked after very well. It’s never covered up and usually turns green like a swamp once a month. Lastly, the quality of service from the on-site maintenance staff was often hit-or-miss. Read More

My apartment often smells like cigarette smoke, and I've been begging the office to do something about it for 5 months now but they haven't stopped the issue even though this is supposed to be a non-smoking property. I have asthma from long covid but I'm trapped living in this place that's really unhealthy for me because of their really strict lease requirements and huge lease break fees. I hate it here so much. I have to hold my breath when I go into my bathroom and I have to sleep on the... living room couch instead of my bed because the cigarette smoke comes in through the bathroom and into my bedroom.

I'd caution anyone considering living here that several lease policies are *much* stricter than anywhere else I've lived in the Boulder area over the last 7 years. I'd recommend renting from another management company if you might need to make any changes to your lease during your time there (e.g., changing roommates, adding or removing pets, etc.) because you aren't allowed to make more than one lease change every six months. For me this means I can't have one roommate leave and another move in a month later because that would be two lease changes too close together, but the complex does not allow subletting either.

You also aren't allowed to find someone to take over your lease if you need to leave early, but the fees to break a lease are also exorbitant (like $4k). This is really unlike anywhere else I've lived in the area so if you aren't 100% sure that you won't need to make any lease changes I'd suggest going elsewhere. A few years ago I needed to leave a different apartment in the area before the lease was up, and that apartment complex showed the unit for me and found new tenants to replace me and I didn't pay more than a few hundred dollars in fees. But honestly I feel like Griffis's rules are so strict that I'm trying to leave this apartment but I'm trapped. Read More

Charged $2075 after giving them only 36 days notice to vacate. $200/month in additional hidden 'community' fees. The police actually raided some unit one day. The pool is frequently left in a swamp-like state where it is green with algae and has mosquitos/dragonflies living in and around it.

The thermostat in my apt doesn't work. The hot tub usually has no water in it. And sometimes there is garbage strewn throughout the one parking lot with the only recycling dumpster. The lights outside... are frequently left on all day and the pool is left heated in the winter without anyone using it. The tenants pay for community electricity. Much of the apartment complex is left in a state of disrepair. The stairwell outside my unit is crooked and the steel plate on the right side has actually cut its way through the floorboards and has actually bent the wooden beam below it. Read More

Lots of spiders and insects inside apartment. Stained carpet. Broken toilets that back up all the time. Bathroom smells like mold. Broken fireplace. Thin walls. Can hear upstairs neighbors all the time and sump pump activating every time a toilet is flushed. Be very familiar with Colorado landlord tenant laws. Take lots of photos on move in/out. They will keep the deposit regardless, but make sure you have something to show a judge just in case you want to fight it.

The layout of the apartments are good, the location is great, nice community. But one (for me) GLARING issue is the complete lack of sound-proofing between floors. We hear EVERY.SINGLE.FOOTSTEP from our neighbors upstairs. They aren’t particularly loud people, it’s just the super-cheap construction of the flooring. It’s bad enough that I seriously doubt I will opt to renew once our lease is up. It’s a shame, because otherwise I like it here.