At this time last year, one of my BFFs and her family were about to embark on a great adventure. They were rearranging all of their finances, and taking a gamble with their life savings. They bought an apartment complex in a crappy neighborhood that was poised for major revitalization. (As Denver expands the light rail system to the outer communities, rough areas of town are getting new life, and becoming gentrified.) This apartment complex was... well, let's be honest with ourselves and call it like it was at the time. It was a slum. The place was falling down, the amenities were non-existent (even the laundry room was barely hanging in), and the residents knew they were the forgotten ones. My friends hired a property management company to oversee the daily operations, and they were being told that many of the apartments were getting renovated so that better tenants would move in and pay more money. By late spring, they discovered that the property management was not on the up and up. They were guilty of many levels of gross buffoonery, and they were promptly fired. My BFF quickly found she had no other option but to quit her job and work as a full-time manager, investing every bit of reserves she could find plus every favor she could pull to do the things that the property management company was supposed to have been doing all along. She had to hire contractors to flip the apartments that were offline, get emergency crews in one after another when disasters happened, and she fielded phone calls and complaints and sob stories and every other nightmare that these people could throw at her. She evicted tenants. She met with the city dozens of times. She learned that the city had been preparing the groundwork to eminent domain one of her buildings (before she bought it), planning to knock it down and turn it into a through street. She fought like a mama cougar and got the city on her side, and she showed that her spine is pure titanium. She won.
This is the apartment complex where we stayed for six weeks when we first moved out here. Where else could we go with all the animals, on short notice, without signing a lease? This is the place where the parking lot flooded the day Mr S-P arrived with the moving van. This is the place where one of our neighbors allegedly (I have no doubt it was her, but no charges could be filed) flushed an entire box of feminine hygiene products a few weeks later in an almost successful attempt to destroy the place, out of spite, when she didn't get a good enough response after fighting with another neighbor. On the third night we were there, on the third night in a row that the police were called to the complex, one police officer asked my BFF why on earth she bought the worst apartment complex in Westminster. Her answer was simple: because she knew she could make it better.
Today was a big day for all of us. We moved out at the end of July, but our friend has been working her ass off every day since then to turn the apartments around. (I mean that literally -- she lost weight with stress, and now that she is radiant in victory, the weight loss looks fantastic on her.) Most of the vacant units are remodeled and her vacancy rate is low now. Most of the problem tenants have moved out. The ones who remain finally recognize the incredible improvements in quality of life and safety. There are security cameras all over the property, the street lights function properly now, and there is a beautiful new iron fence surrounding the complex, preventing non-residents from using the place as a walk-through to bars and quickie-marts. This week, one of her final giant projects has been completed. The parking lot that was an uneven ocean of rubble has been regraded, covered in brand new asphalt, and painted clearly with assigned parking slots. She brought several of us who have been on this journey with her out this morning for the Big Reveal. One of those in attendance was her real estate agent who helped her buy the property. He was absolutely stunned at the progress. He kept saying, "Do you remember what this looked like last year?" He was downright giddy to see it all. I think we were all feeling that way, in various levels. They still aren't luxury apartments, but they are safe and clean, and already renting for more than they did a year ago. Once the light rail stop is open two blocks away, the clientele will come from even higher up the socio-economic ladder. Now, a new property management company is taking over, one who we expect to perform to a higher ethical standard. After six months of hell, I will finally get my happy, fun friend back. I know she's excited to get herself back from that miserable state. Let's all send her congratulations at a job well done. Huzzah!
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