The Griff, columbus-oh

I have loved my time at The Griff! The apartments are cost-friendly, which is really hard to find in a city like Columbus. Additionally, the units are spacious and the staff is INCREDIBLE! Anytime I have had any issues or questions, they answer in a timely manner and always do so with a smile on their face.

Do not live here. If I could give zero stars, I would. This is the worst apartment complex I have ever lived in. Management is rude, unhelpful, and refuses to take responsibility. When residents report problems, nothing gets resolved, and management finds a way to blame the tenant. During my two years here, I had more than five packages stolen from the lobby. Although cameras could have shown the packages being delivered and taken, management told me to contact the sender and treated the theft as my fault. I lived on the fifth floor, and the elevator broke at least once a week. The parking garage was also constantly broken. My car was once stuck inside for three days, preventing me from going to work or class because no one would fix it. My friend’s car was towed despite having a visible guest pass, and they still had to pay the $250 fee. When it snowed, staff pushed snow directly in front of residents’ cars instead of moving it to empty spaces. Residents pay monthly for trash collection, but trash was regularly left in the hallways or overflowing around the dumpsters. Entire floors smelled like garbage, the carpets were stained, and bugs were common. Maintenance requests were often canceled or marked “resolved” even though no one entered my apartment. When the battery in my electronic door lock died, management refused to fix it promptly, leaving me worried that I would be locked out. However, staff had no problem entering apartments without proper notice for supposed routine inspections. Ants entered my shower through holes in the structure, but management refused to fix the issue because no ants were visible when maintenance arrived. I also submitted at least four requests for my broken washing machine. Staff repeatedly claimed nothing was wrong. Someone eventually confirmed it needed a replacement part, but the part was never ordered. The washer remained broken and filled completely with water regardless of the load size. I moved out two months early, yet staff continued entering the apartment, running the washer, leaving lights on, and changing the thermostat. This increased my final utility bill. Utilities were based partly on community usage, and management never clearly explained the charges. I lived alone, was usually gone from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and still paid about $200 per month. The fire alarm regularly sounded for more than an hour once a week, especially in the middle of the night. On several occasions, it went off around 3:00 a.m. and continued until approximately 4:30 a.m. The apartment was dirty when I moved in, and I had to submit numerous requests for issues that should have been fixed before the previous tenant moved out. There were also unexplained monthly fees added to the advertised rent, and renewal rates increased without clear notice. Security was another concern. Cars were frequently broken into, and nothing meaningful was done. The complex charges more because the apartments are furnished, but the furniture was cheap, damaged, torn, and falling apart. The blinds broke constantly, the water pressure was poor, the walls were extremely thin, and residents were not allowed to replace the showerhead. The pool was rarely open because it was dirty or awaiting inspection. The Wi-Fi went out every few weeks, which is unacceptable for housing marketed to Ohio State students. Mold was also present throughout the building, especially in the bedrooms. Everything is cheaply maintained, and residents should not expect management to help when problems arise. Management changes frequently, but conditions continue to worsen. In my experience, they were more interested in collecting fees than providing a safe, clean, and functional place to live. Do not live here.

I had a very positive experience with Griff. The staff has always been helpful and professional, especially Alison. She was incredibly kind, patient, and responsive throughout my move-out process. She clearly explained everything I needed to do and made the whole experience much easier and less stressful. I really appreciate her excellent service and friendly attitude.

I’m extremely disappointed with both the noise situation and management’s complete lack of action. The upstairs neighbors frequently make extremely loud footsteps and heavy impact noises, as if heavy objects are being dropped or slammed onto the floor. The floor also creaks and squeaks loudly whenever they walk. This is not just a daytime issue — the noise sometimes continues until 3:00 AM. At this point, the situation has seriously affected my sleep and well-being. I often feel anxious when trying to sleep because before I even have a chance to fall asleep, I am disturbed again by noise from upstairs. It is incredibly frustrating to lie in bed wondering when the next loud bang or heavy footstep will come. Being unable to sleep peacefully in my own apartment has become a recurring problem. What makes this even more unacceptable is management’s response — or rather, the complete lack of one. I formally reported the problem three weeks ago and provided video recordings uploaded to YouTube so management could hear the noise themselves. Yet three weeks later, I have received no meaningful follow-up, no update, and no explanation of what action has been taken. Poor sound insulation is one problem. Management doing virtually nothing after receiving a documented complaint about repeated noise as late as 3:00 AM is another. Residents should not have to repeatedly chase management just to get a response when their ability to sleep in their own apartment is being seriously affected. I am paying rent for a place where I should be able to sleep and live peacefully, not spend my nights being kept awake by upstairs noise while management remains unresponsive. Based on my experience, the sound insulation is terrible, and management’s handling of serious noise complaints has been completely unacceptable.

I lived at the griff during my first year of grad school in 2025 and 2026. It’s overall a faux-luxury apartment that promises nice amenities but is poorly built and somewhat frustrating to live in. It feels very similar to an on-campus apartment, without the advantage of being walking distance from most of campus. If you are looking for housing west of the OSU campus, you can find much nicer places for similar prices. Pros: - Comes pre-furnished, which was very convenient for someone moving here from out of state - Has a very nice gym that is almost never busy - It has a pool, though it was closed almost the entire time I lived there either due to cold or chemical issues - Free coffee machine - Bedrooms are very spacious, with in-room bathrooms and walk-in closets - Bus stop nearby - Walkable to west campus Cons: - Frequent late-night fire alarms that will wake you up in the middle of the night - Mandatory valet trash service, hallways often smell like garbage - Outdoor dumpsters are often overflowing, covering the parking lot in trash - Parking is paid, garage costs more - Not easily walkable to main campus or high street (takes about an hour) - Walkability in general is very bad, surrounded by fences on 3 sides in a middle of warehouses and parking lots with very few businesses and amenities - Furniture is very low quality, incredibly loud and squeaky beds - Very thin walls, with neighbors often yelling or moving around furniture - Wifi was very inconsistent throughout the unit - Inconsistently cooled apartment, with some areas being freezing cold - Hallways often play a loud beeping noise - Disorganized mail room, with packages often being left out in the open in the lobby - Once they have your number, they will constantly spam you with advertisments trying to get you to renew your lease. This is also the same number they send important info to, so you cannot mute it. - When you call their phone number, you are met with an AI chatbot instead of a real human. A few anecdotes from my time there: - We were lied to on our tour about being guaranteed a balcony, we did not get a balcony. - Before move-in, I called to confirm that my apartment was ready for me to arrive, they said yes. When I got there, workers were all over the unit including my bedroom. They were ripping up the floors and my toilet was on the floor (I was given a $100 gift card as compensation) - I had two packages stolen from the mailroom, one of which was worth over $100. Management said there was nothing they could do about this. - Our upstairs neighbors' laundry machine started leaking causing parts of my room to be absolutely covered in water. A less extreme version of this happened again later in the year. - Maintenance woke me up one day saying they needed to go into my room to measure my sink. We were never informed they would be going into our rooms for this. - A week before we began to move out, they decided to do very disruptive renovations in all of our bathrooms and kitchen for around a week. They were not at all flexible about this.