The Retreat at Columbia

The Retreat is overall poorly run and not well kept. The management has changed several times since I moved in and it is difficult to get someone to return a phone call or handle a maintenance request. The buildings themselves are not well kept and the gates are usually broken and left open, so we had several break ins.

You can find a cheaper place, the area is terrible, the “gates” are almost never actually closed, there has been six trafficking, shootings, and break ins, my roommate had chairs stolen off the porch. And the worst of all is the management, they barely respond to you, steal your money and then try to get you back next year. Parents, who find your kids a safer place to live.

In the first 10 days. 20 cars have been broken into. The security gates are never closed, and a house was broken into last night. They kicked down the doors while the people were at home. Roaches everywhere. Would not recommend this place. Not sure how it gets a 5 star rating would give it a negative if I could.

Save your time and pick literally any other place to live while you are at USC. They advertise a gated community but the gates have not worked in 2 years. None of the gym equipment works and the pools are constantly green and full of beer.

Upon move in, the students were expected to reside in a cottage infested with roaches and containing roach bait in dresser drawers and on walls. No alternate housing was provided as this unit was inhabitable at time of move in. After many calls to property, finally was able to speak with manager, who informed me that the pest control was being taken over by her fiance's company. Asked for a schedule of pest control visits as well as tentative move in date. Neither were given. After 3 weeks, unit is still not able to be lived in, forcing some students to seek housing elsewhere. The management team and CEO at corporate office are just as unprofessional. Refusing to take calls and ignoring the severity of the issue. There are other cleaner and more professionally managed properties in Columbia for student housing: don't make the mistake of choosing this one.

I thought that The Retreat would be a great place for me and my friends because none of us wanted to have walls shared between us and neighbors. Unfortunately, on top of the shuttle service being inconsistent as well the gates consistently being broken, the amount of bugs in our house was unbearable. We used our own sprays to get rid of the roaches and ants as well as the extermination service that The Retreat provides; however, nothing seemed to do the trick. There were bugs crawling all around our kitchen, living room, and up our drains in the bathrooms despite there being not an ounce of trash or food sitting out. This seemed to be the case with many other people when I asked around.

My daughter lives at the Retreat. This is her second year since she is required to sign a new lease in December. The Retreat advertises a shuttle to and from campus ever hour. Last spring the shuttle broke down and was unavailable for the last several months of school. It was finally repaired just in time for this fall semester. Now there is no driver for the afternoon shift so the students can get to school but not back home. Obviously e erroneous has co planned but nothing has been done. My daughter did not pay for garage parking because I called the office before the school year to be sure the shuttle would be running and of course they guaranteed me it would. She has incurred much expense from gas and the stress and time looking for a parking place. Do not lease from the Retreat!

If you want an apartment that is an individual home, with great managerial service and close to USC's Williams-Brice Stadium, The Retreat is the place to be. Only complaint would be that some residence don't clean up after their dog or themselves.