The Cottages of Columbia

Currently live here. I live in a Lodge-​style house.
Pros:
–Beautiful units
–Really, really big
–Fitness center is decently sized. Like 5 treadmills, 3 ellipticals, free weights, biceps machine, triceps/​chest machine, quads machine, cables, bench, medicine balls, mats, and kettle bells.
–Bus runs freakishly on time.
–Walmart, Dollar Tree, HyVee, etc. on Nifong are really close.
–Pool is decent. The Domain is the main summer pool spot now, though.
–Free tanning. Stand-​up.
–Was able to move in early for PHA recruitment
–Pretty well sound-​proofed. Or we just have really quiet neighbors
–Allows pets. Pretty fun when all the dogs are running around the quad thing.
Cons
–Clubhouse is not actually 24 hours. We have cards that are supposed to gain access after hours but those don’t work.
–FAR from campus. I didn’t think this would be a big deal when I moved in, but it is actually pretty far.
–Utility overages are so annoying, but now they have all-​inclusive packages for next year.
–Almost too much room. Pretty unnecessary for a college-​aged person.
–My roommates and I were told a gate code in the beginning of the year (our cards open the gates but the codes are nice when other people come over). Suddenly the code stopped working. Just found out there is a new code. No one told us.
–They came in during winter break and set our thermostat so that the pipes wouldn’t freeze. One of my roommates came home a week before the month was up, yet we still had a utilities overage. But again, the all-​inclusive utilities will fix that.
–Getting to and from downtown for the bars is a nightmare. I dread it every weekend. It gives me anxiety thinking about how I’ll find a sober ride to drive me 3 miles off campus. Would MUCH rather live within walking distance of campus.
Tips
–Get a check book because there’s a $ 1 convenience fee every month if you set up an automatic payment plan for rent online. Also, there’s a $ 20 convenience fee for one time payments online.
All in all, the Cottages is very nice. However, I won’t be signing again for my senior year, because there are cheaper places downtown or near downtown. My biggest problem is how far it is from campus. Save yourself the gas and look into realtors for downtown places. There are cheaper places than Brookside, the Lofts, Todd, or District Flats.

Our utilities bills have been about $ 800 every month since November… The «convenience fee» for paying online is $ 20… Since August, the gates have only been working 3 months. Their brilliant solution was to chain one set of gates shut and make everyone use the other set… which still wasn’t even in working order. They won’t let you move in until the 15^th even if you sign up for early move in (we had to call the VP of the company at home to get to move in on the date we were originally promised).
Oh and all winter my room was so hot I couldn’t sleep in it without the door open, the living room was so cold it was intolerable, and my pipes were frozen in my bathroom.
Basically terrible.