Grand Prix Apartments
3205 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312
515-255-6677  WEBSITE save favorite
AVERAGE RATING
recommended by:
0%

overall rating:
1.0
2.3
2.33 Parking:
1.0
1.0 Maintenance:
1.0
1.0 Construction:
2.3
2.33 Noise:
1.3
1.33 Grounds:
1.7
1.67 Safety:
1.0
1.0 Office Staff:
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Consider yourselves warned....

From: dr.reddog
Date posted: 6/30/2008
Years at this apartment: 2005 - 2008
Photos are available. 1 photo
 
The management company keeps the property very dark at night (I assume to save money on the electric bill). There are lamps next to every unit that are controlled by a master switch, and only every-other-lamp is operational; this makes it dark between each unit. There is a flood-lamp at the back part of the parking lot near the back steps and the trash, but this lamp is also always kept off; making the backend of the parking lot and building pitch-black.

Parking is an issue. The lot is directly across the street from DMU, so many students park there during the day, making it difficult to obtain a spot. Parking permits are "required", but the management company rarely enforces this. In three years of living there, I only saw them enforce parking four times; and they only put a sticker on the offending vehicle, they never tow.

The building is old and poorly kept. When we moved into our unit, they hadn't cleaned it. There was dust and filth everywhere, and they had not painted. They claimed that they cleaned the carpets, but the carpets constantly turned our feet black when we went barefoot in the unit.

Poor maintenance. They required multiple reminders to fix things in the apartment. We had a dysfunctional smoke detector in the unit, and it took over a month of phone calls before they finally replaced it. We also had a running toilet, which they refused to fix. We made multiple complaints about the toilet, and they came over to "look at it" three times, but they never fixed it in the three years that we lived there, claiming that the toilet could not be fixed and that we would just have to deal with it.

The office staff is rude and disorganized. Whenever we went to the office for anything the office staff would generally ignore us, and when we finally did get there attention they were very short with us. On more than one occasion they tried to scam us. Once they tried claim that we had left garbage out on the porch and tried to charge us a $25 fee. On another occasion they claimed that we didn't pay rent on time and they tried to charge us a whole bunch of late fees and processesing fees. Luckly, we got a reciept when we paid rent and we were able to prove that we did pay on time.

There are good things about the complex though. It is directly across the street from DMU, which is good for students. It's in great proximity to many businesses on Ingersol, such as Walgreens, Dahls, Subway, and a few bars.

In summary; I would definately not recommend living at the Grand Prix. If you're a DMU student without a car you might want to check it out, but consider yourself warned. If you do end up living there, heed the following advice:

1. Always keep your receipts when you pay rent. They will try to scam you, so this will save you a lot of money.
2. Document (photo, video) the condition of the unit when you first move in. The place is filthy and falling apart, you'll want proof of its condition so that they don't try to blam you for the damage when its time for you to move out.
3. If there are any maintenance issues, be patient and persistant. They will try to blow you off and ignore your maintenance requests. If it's something you can live with (like a running toilet), it might be best to just let them win.

Recommended: NO
Overall Rating
1 out of 5
Parking:
1 of 5
Maintenance:
1 of 5
Construction: 1 of 5
Noise:
3 of 5
Grounds: 1 of 5
Safety: 1 of 5
Office Staff:
1 of 5
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