Apartment Review for Breakers - Denver, CO

I lived at the Friday's Harbor complex from early 2006 to mid 2008. While I didn't encounter major problems, there were some definite annoyances. The walls in the FH complex are so extremely thin that I woke up everyday with my neighbor's 6 a.m. alarm clock. This would be nice if I needed to get up at 6 but with my usual 7 a.m. wake up...yeah that's not so nice. Also if the neighbor above me (I was on the 2nd floor) decided to take a shower, it seriously sounded like an airplane was taking off. They really need to insulate the plumbing! Noise should be expected in apartment complexes but I feel like this was a bit excessive. My first year there the upstairs neighbor pounded his music until 3 a.m. on a daily basis and that became very annoying. Light sleepers beware! The parking situation is a bit crazy due to lack of availability. I saw cars and motorcycles parked in the same spots for months and without official Breakers decals. I guess management caught on because one Friday, a series of tow trucks appeared and started hauling off violators. It was fascinating watching the owners dash out and make an appeal to the tow truck drivers which went nowhere. Also every month or so, someone breaks the side gate on Valencia street meaning everyone has to funnel through the main entrance which is annoying and time consuming. At one point it was down for an entire month. It shouldn't take a month to fix a gate which is an important access point to the complex. Maintenance was so so during my time there. The garbage disposal was broken when I first arrived and this was taken care of quickly. However, I had an issue with the stove that took three weeks and many calls to get maintenance to fix it. The amenities on the property are nice- pools, workout room, movie theater, bar. These are nice to have but since I belong to another gym, I rarely used the facilities. It's a selling point for sure but unless you really are determined to use these things, they don't really matter all that much in the scheme of things. That being said the lake is beautiful and I used it on a few dates during my time there. All in all these things are typical of apartment living. However, I was a little angry how they jacked up the rates significantly before each renewal period. In my opinion loyal customers and in this case renters should be rewarded for sticking with a place and not penalized. Also the first time they didn't give me the new rate until 10 days before my lease was up. Since you need to give a full month notice to vacate, I was stuck either renewing at the increased rate or going month to month at almost twice my normal rent. That is pathetic and bad customer service. All in all this place is ok. It is no "resort" but offers a decent place to live if you need one. Be aware that rent has gone up dramatically in the last year and where I was paying 700 a month when I first got there, the same apartment is renting in the upper 900s.