Castle Bluff

"Not a safe place to live at all. I've only lived here for 6 months and can't count the number of blatant drug deals that I have witnessed go down in the parking lot right outside of my building. In broad daylight. No joke. My husband was robbed on the premises while walking our dog one night. I have a 1 year old kid and can tell you that even if it weren't for my child I still wouldn't feel safe here. I have read several reviews about bed bugs and roaches, and thankfully my building (or at least my unit) doesn't have a problem with that, but don't discount those reviews. There is a "Bed Bug Addendum" in the lease for a reason. That reason? Those reviews were true. Anyway, other issues I have with this place include the noise from other tenants fighting (screaming at each other) that I can hear coming from other buildings, people blast music all day and night in their cars and units, office staff does not respond to complaints in a timely manner or at all, they charge you for EVERYTHING THEY POSSIBLY CAN, and the lease is shady as all get out. If I have any words of advice to any prospective renters it would be stay far away and do not ever, ever, ever come back. Don't sign any forms, don't give them a dime because if you do they will take your for all you're worth."

"One word, TERRIBLE. Bed bugs, cockroaches, crime, and the halls smell of weed constantly. This place was nice for a couple of days but it went downhill quick. My wife and I had to break our lease to get out of this dump. We had cockroaches the first week, a month later bedbugs, and two months later we came home to a slew of police cars after 3 people had been stabbed. I have no problem with the staff, though it looks like my previous review has been removed... DONT LIVE HERE! The rent price is great but the saying "its too good to be true" directly applies. They need to bulldoze and rebuild to standard."

"My girlfriend and I have nothing but good things to say about our experience so far here at Castle Bluff. We have moved in recently and are still in the process of getting settled. We have a fully renovated unit and it is beautiful. It is super clean, there are new appliances, new cabinets, new flooring, and new light fixtures. All these improvements have really helped us to feel at home. We are very impressed with management and the office staff. They are more than willing to do what they can to make sure we are comfortable in our new place. Everyone has been very warm and inviting. It is true that Castle Bluff in general is an established complex. I'm sure there are apartments that are in need of some renovations. I feel the new ownership is moving in the right direction with regards to the apartment renovations, the property grounds, and the amenities they offer and expect offer in the future. We are new to Grand Rapids and are super excited with the proximity of restaurants, shopping and pretty much anything else that we would ever need. We are very happy to call Castle Bluff our home in GR!"

"Worst place I've ever lived. Constant maintenance issues that never get resolved. Pretty sure everything in this apartment is broken. Appliances extremely old. Pretty sure the AC unit is from before AC was invented. Might just be a box with a fan in it. Stinks to high heaven. Constant issues with neighbors. Office staff unwilling to help, even though they act like they will do something. Disgustingly dirty on inside and outside of apartment. Apartment was never even cleaned before I moved in, had to request they clean the carpets, and they still were dirty. Basically, don't even contemplate living here unless you absolutely have no other choice."

"ROACHES! I take back my original statement saying that the office staff was kind. Evidently they have called me a liar, and in the process tricked a resident into moving into an infested unit. I have photo proof of the roaches in our unit, and a long email string showing that the office staff acknowledged that there was an infestation. I can't believe this. Me and my roommates moved in and got settled without any issues, tentatively signing the lease after reading other reviews about roaches. We have a friend who lives in another building who said that he has never had a problem, so we went for it because of the price and location. We only stayed 6-8 weeks because of the roach infestation. I would turn on the kitchen light in the morning to make coffee, and one or two roaches would scatter. We found them in our cupboards, microwave, coffee maker, bedroom, and bathroom. Completely unacceptable. When reaching for a bag of chips, I shouldn't have to stare at a roach the size of my thumb nail. Castle Bluff has exterminators that come every month, just to do check ups. We were told that they would pull all of our appliances out and treat the entire apartment. One of my roommates was home when they showed up, and the exterminator barely did anything. It seems to me that this has probably been a problem for a while and the exterminating company has just given up. The entire building I was in is infested, and there is at least another one or two buildings as well because the office staff told me that the exterminators were treating 20-something apartments one day. This review is getting long, and I think you get the point. The apartment itself was relatively clean, but the rest of the building felt gross. Noise was not an issue on the third floor, aside from the train tracks that are nearby. If you decide to look into these apartments, DON'T TRUST WHAT THE FRONT OFFICE SAYS ABOUT BUGS. We were guaranteed it would not be a problem but I feel like that was just to get us to sign a lease. They will comfort you by saying that an exterminator treats the entire building, or that they have NEVER EVER heard of roaches being a problem (that's what they told me). Once we brought these issues to the office we were able to break our lease and received our full security deposit, but the hassle and expense of moving twice in 8 weeks was not pleasant."