Station at Five Points, columbia-sc

I am a current living here for the 2026-27 school year and I’ve got to say so far this may be one of the worst apartments in all of Columbia! There is nothing that I could think of that would rank this apartment above others in the area. The cost of living here just does not justify what all issues comes with the apartment complex such as trash, noise, and maintenance issues. I tried to get out of my lease before I ever even moved back in April of this year and was told there was absolutely no way out. They also never would allow us to see our unit all the way up to move in day which was probably the first red flag. My biggest concern originally was online and in person we were only ever shown units with a balcony and told multiple times we would be given a unit with a balcony, on move in day we were given a room without a balcony and still expected to pay regular price as if we had a balcony. I’ve been moved in for about 3 days now and since I've moved in we have had no A/C and no working Fridge. We had to put most of our groceries in our neighbors fridge as ours cannot maintain a cold enough temperature to keep them good. Also our apartment has sat at temperatures over 85° for the past 48 hours which is just unlivable conditions. on top of all this to get inside my apartment I now have to walk past a mountain of trash at the door as well as insulation and fiber glass in front of my unit door. I’ve tried to be released from the lease due to these issues but again was told there is no way out. I’ve tried to go about this as positively as possible without going the court route. I hope future tenants can have a better experience than I’ve had and hopefully changes are made!

There are very few aspects of this place that are good, and overall I would never live, or suggest anyone to live here—especially for the price. They have gone through three managers this year alone—one of them I actually spoke with and they said the station left them with too much and not sufficient support to actually solve issues. They have lied multiple times, saying they would come to fix things or do things and did not—on top of not communicating. They also would say different things depending on who you spoke with. The trash room is always overflowing and disgusting. It smells up the hall by the parking garage. I noticed the manager recently responded to another commenter saying they have not had issues with WiFi in the last year, which was insane to me because that is a complete lie. I came home frequently to my internet out, with no communication from the station—as of this February. Yet interestingly enough they’d make sure to send emails warning of fines from the trash room even though it was always overflowing. The fire alarm was constantly going off. They ended up fixing it on my floor at least, but I heard it going off on a nearby floor weekly, just as of three weeks ago when I moved out. Maintenance would not fix things, or would put that they did when they never came. To be honest maintenance was really kind, they probably just didn’t get paid enough or enough support to deal with it all. It’s really up to your luck what unit you get. If you get a unit with little to no problems you’ll be fine more or less—but if not prepared to hate your time. They also have gates at the entrance that do not work. In fact they got new ones this year, just for them to never be down. There also were multiple vehicle break-ins in the garage, yet the garage cameras don’t work (at least that’s what they said). They also have numbers on the move in packet and on the resident portal that don’t work—it’s actually some complex in Florida—so if you ever have an after hour issue, don’t count on anyone to come and help you or even respond to you. The apartment itself is decent. I lived here for two years. There are definitely older and newer apartments. The first one I lived in was a newer one, and overall it was fine. But in both, they had hair and dirt that they would paint over on the ceilings and windowsills. They also have tons of holes and cracks all over, so not great for bugs. The second one I was in, the couch was disgusting. I had an allergic reaction the first week, and when I pulled up the couch cushions, it had tons of animal hair. There were also fake fingernails on the carpet, clearly evidence they did not clean before move in. The inside of the HVAC closet in the unit is awful. Looks like it’s never been cleaned. Crazy to think you’re breathing it in. My washer was broke for a month, and I had to go to the laundromat—which they didn’t pay for. They kept saying they would come to fix it, but didn’t until I hounded them about paying for the laundromat expenses. Safety wise, keep in mind this is five points and that’s not the station’s fault. However, the precautions they take are basically none. As other commenters have mentioned, yes there are homeless people who get in the building. Overall, while the actual apartment is ok (and that’s generous) the way things are handled and the overall living here is awful. The only good thing is the resident team (those who live and work here)—specifically Emilie and James. They were always nice and tried to do what they could to help. I’m so happy to be gone. I went and visited a friend who hadn’t moved out yet, and took a picture of the trash room. Granted it was move out time, but you can get the gist of how it would be on a weekly basis outside of move out. Wish I had taken pictures of that. Frankly, they break a myriad of health/fire safety codes. Surprised they haven’t been penalized for this, if they haven’t already. Do keep in mind as you read reviews, there’s incentives to leave good ones and I’ve seen multiple written by resident staff.

I’ve had a really good experience at The Station at Five Points, and I especially want to give a huge shoutout to Gabby! She has been extremely helpful, patient, and supportive throughout the whole process. She helped me a lot personally, especially when I was trying to get two of my friends moved into the same apartment as me. She made the process much easier, answered our questions, and really went out of her way to help everything work out. It’s always nice when someone in the office genuinely cares about the residents and is willing to put in the extra effort. Gabby definitely deserves recognition for everything she did for us. Thank you Gabby and The Station at Five Points team!

I would strongly caution students and parents to avoid this property. What they show you during the leasing process is clearly not necessarily what you get when you move in. We were appalled by the condition of my son’s apartment when we arrived. It was filthy and looked as though it had not been properly cleaned in months. There was obvious damage from the previous tenant’s dog, dirt throughout the unit, mold, a filthy old air filter, a dirty HVAC/furnace area, damaged cabinetry, and numerous other issues that should have been addressed before anyone was allowed to take occupancy. We spent essentially an entire day cleaning an apartment that should have been professionally cleaned, inspected, and ready for move-in. What made the experience even worse was that there was no one available during move-in to address any of it. At one point, a dog had defecated throughout the garage area, and there wasn’t even anyone available to contact to have it cleaned up. For a property catering to college students and families—many of whom are moving in from out of state—this level of preparation, communication, and support is unacceptable. Parents should understand that the polished property you are shown during the leasing process may be very different from the apartment your student actually receives. I’ve attached photos so prospective residents and parents can judge the condition for themselves. Based on our experience, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere. Update 8/20: I spoke with Leasing Manager Raven, who told me she would look into the situation and call me back. Update 8/21: I never heard back from Raven. A customer service representative named Elliott contacted me and said maintenance would be at the apartment around 1:00 p.m. It is now 6:30 p.m., and no one ever showed up. I called again and spoke with a very nice representative named James. Unfortunately, by that point they were after hours and there was nothing he could do, although he said he would continue escalating the situation. Most surprisingly, Leah—the person apparently in charge—has still never reached out to me directly. This is the same Leah who regularly responds to Google reviews on behalf of the property. At this point, it is difficult to understand how there is time to respond publicly to reviews, yet apparently no time to contact a parent who has been repeatedly trying to get serious move-in issues addressed. Update 8/22: I called again this morning and reached Elliott. Once again, he was very nice and professional, but there is apparently little he can actually do at this point because maintenance is now off until Monday. Ironically, Raven and Leah are also apparently off until Monday. I still have not received a return call from Raven, and I have yet to hear a single word directly from Leah. So we are now several days into this, after multiple calls, promised follow-up and a maintenance visit that never happened, and the result is essentially that we have to wait until Monday and hope someone finally takes ownership of the situation. The condition of the apartment was bad enough. The lack of follow-through, urgency and accountability since then has made the experience even more disappointing. Update 8/24: Shocker - no calls today from Leah or Raven. And I called 8 times today (photo attached) and not once did they pick up the phone. Sad when Arthur the automated AI agent is the most customer service focused "person" at this property, maybe he should take over the GM's role?

I was a resident at the Station at Five Points for the last year (July 2025-July 2026). Overall, my experience was appalling and I would not recommend living at the station to anyone. Although it is convenient for college students, I have heard awful things about most of the local college apartments in general, and would recommend looking into a house rental instead. Before I begin my review, I would like to mention that the maintenance men that came whenever there was an issue were always very kind and helped resolve the issue. However, there were many more cons than this one pro. First and foremost, the most detrimental part of my experience living at the Station was feeling unsafe. There were several safety concerns such as: the parking garage gate not working (always open), unlocked doors into the hallways, homeless people sleeping in exterior doorways, and car break in’s due to the lack of a functioning parking garage. Over winter break, I stayed at the Station and the majority of residents went home. One of the nights I was there, I heard screaming, loud music, and arguing from the courtyard. There were random people in the courtyard that did not look college aged having a party. Due to the parking garage gate being stuck open, it was easy for anyone to just get inside. I went downstairs to the front desk to speak to the “security guard” on duty about this issue. The security guard had no idea where the courtyard was or what it was in the complex. I felt extremely uncomfortable with the fact that the security guard didn’t know the layout of the building. Ultimately, I ended up leaving and driving 40 minutes to my boyfriend’s house due to feeling extremely unsafe on the property, and couldn’t even stay where I was paying to live. I brought this issue up to the front desk where they apologized and said the garage gate would be resolved, and then it was still broken for months. Additionally, there were a string of car break in’s due to the broken parking garage gate. This was never communicated by the Station to residents, and the only reason I became aware was because this happened to my roommate’s car, and the police told her they had been called to our parking garage multiple times. Despite this, the parking garage gate was still not fixed. There were also homeless people sleeping outside of exterior entrances to the apartment complex. As a young female, I did not feel that the Station kept a safe environment for its residents. Earlier in my residency at the Station, there was a period of two months where the fire alarm went off constantly in the middle of the night. One night, it was on and off for almost two hours. The Station would always just say it was due to residents tampering with their fire alarms. Regardless, it was excessive and made a good night’s sleep incredibly difficult and not ideal for college students. Next, the hallways were more than not unkempt. There would be stains on the wall from mysterious liquids, used fast food cups left on the hallway ground for days, and the hallway always had an odd smell. Additionally, communication from staff and management was extremely lacking. At one point during the year, the Station lost the master key to the resident mailboxes. Rather than communicating this issue to residents immediately, staff was taking mail and putting it into postal boxes. The mail was completely unorganized, and when they finally did alert us of this issue: people had missed important documents in the mail they received two months prior. My roommate spent 45 minutes looking for all of our mail due to the disorganization. Lastly, garbage was a major issue at the Station. Garbage was often extremely piled up for days at a time. Additionally, at the end of my lease they locked all of the floors’ garage doors to the trash chute/garage room. They expected residents to walk all the way down to the first floor dumpster with move-out trash, which would’ve been fine- except the elevator was not working at this time.