Menser Building, columbia-mo

If you're looking for downtown living in Columbia, the Menser Building is a great option! Unlike some of the other downtown complexes, the rent is reasonable and you absolutely can't beat the location. You are right by downtown and all of the great bars/restaurants! The noise level at night (mostly on the weekends) can get a little loud but you can close curtains or use earplugs. The size of the apartments is amazing. The room I lived in was by far both the biggest and nicest apartment that I have ever lived in. Beautiful wood floors, huge windows, and gorgeous ceilings. The apartment usually stayed very cool in the summer and warm in the winter so utilities were never crazy. The main entrance and hallways of the apartment were very clean. There was always someone cleaning up or mopping, so that was very nice! Additionally, there is a security guard on the weekends that stands by the door so you feel safe even though you live downtown. Apartment management is usually very responsive. Everyone has small complaints about management, but overall it is good. One request: I would have preferred if management would alert tenants before maintenance came (with more than 10 or 15 minutes notice, especially if maintenance is coming early in the morning) but they always fixed things on a quick turnaround. All in all, the Menser Building is a well maintained, nice building in an unbeatable location.

Although I loved living here, management is not responsive. I moved in August and asked for my curtains to be cleaned (there was a visible pizza sauce stain from the prior tenant), and there wasn't anything done about it until January. When they brought the curtains back, He complained the whole time that they were so expensive to clean and it was ridiculous because they were Italian drapes. Honestly I didn't care what kind of drapes they were I just didn't want pizza stains on them. He also hung them back up so poorly they continuously fell off the rod for the remainder of my lease. They toured our apartment while we were still living there. It was fine for a while when they would give us notice, but there was once that they told us they were coming 15 minutes in advance, and I had an online interview at the same time. I was the only roommate home, so no one else would be able to show them. They knocked and knocked on the door meanwhile my dog is barking, after telling them I could not show the apartment as I had an interview. Luckily I still got the job. Throughout college I was a lash artist and worked out of my apartment. There was one time I had a client in my room and management wanted to come inside to hang a marketing/leasing sign in my window. They asked my roommate first and she said no because she knew I had a client in my room. They proceeded to walk into my room, whilst the middle of my service. I couldn't believe it. They will not notify you of pest control coming. You will have random men knocking on your doors and you will have no clue why until you open the door and they tell you. Huge safety issue, it was a gamble opening my door. Oh also, they charged me $500 for having 22 people over for a birthday (4 bedroom apartment). This was in September (the beginning of my lease), the rest of my lease every time someone else had people over they were never fined (we had a group chat and talked about this as residents). Security is only there to make sure you don't break the rules, not to make sure that people don't get in. On top of that, they charged us $900 for paint off of our security deposit after telling us we would receive the full deposit back. It took me months for someone to answer my emails and calls, and the guy who eventually responded was not helpful - Scott DeYoung.

The Menser Building was the perfect apartment for my last two years of college. The location on Broadway and distance from campus is the absolute best in downtown Columbia, even Brookside can't beat it. While other downtown apartments would've cost me upwards of $900, the Menser building rent is so reasonable. The rooms and closets are HUGE, and all of the floors and utilities were brand new when we moved in. Management was so timely and easy to contact and assisted whenever needed. Even though it's downtown, it still manages to be a calm apartment building.

I am a parent of a student tenant. My low score is representative of a number of issues. There have been 3 management company changes in the 2 year time span my daughter has been a tenant. As per the lease agreement tenants are suppose to be notified of a change prior too…never happened for any of the changes. There has been 2 times that Real Property Group has not responded to the emergency after hours hotline. BUT the thing that infuriates me…during a hush-hush management change, the owner and 6-7 grown men from Real Property used a key and gained access to the apartment as my daughter was exiting the shower! No knock, no notice, no regard to her safety. It’s bad enough that this has happened once…now imagine 3 additional instances of random walk ins from Real Property and their vendors. I’m fed up. I am breaking our lease because of multiple breaches of contract!!!! Mom & Dads beware.

The location of these apartments is perfect! Very easily accessible and in the heart of downtown. I love that you can open the door or let a friend in the door through your cell phone. The security guards on weekends are very reassuring and helpful when so many people are walking by at night. The only problems I had with the apartment are the roaches and the shower. The roach problem was not fun to deal with but got under control relatively quickly. Our shower tended to have poor pressure and water temperature. Other than that, this was an overall great place to live!