Balfour Riverfront Park — Local services in Denver

Update: reducing from 5 to 2 stars

It's now three years that I have been at Balfour Riverfront Park and I am leaving this week. The last few months have seen a serious down-turn in the quality of the services here. My move away was prompted by a desire to be closer to family, but I am glad I am going for other reasons now. In the last few months many of the best staff have either left on their own or been fired for no apparent good reason. Example: one injured her foot at home (so not a job related injury.) Instead of offering her light duties until she recovered, she was summarily fired. She was one of the few people on the staff that had energy and motivated residents to participate in activities.

Other recent changes are 1) The meal plan has been changed so that beer and wine can no longer be purchased out of the included meal plan but must now come out-of-pocket, an increase in the cost of dining here. 2) The number of resident activities has been dramatically reduced. 3) The valet ride service has been reduced from going until 9:30 at night to 8:30. 4) The valet ride service no longer guarantees a return ride from where they take you; you might have to buy your own Uber ride back home. 5) The new executive director (here 8 months now) has exhibited a lack of concern for resident input. He stopped consulting the Resident Advisory Committee on any matters. He canceled the biweekly meetings where he used to update residents on what was happening in the community.

All of these changes have happened without warning or consultation with the residents. The change to the meal plan was done in such a way that even the staff did not know how to implement it when it happened. Everything now is in chaos. This once delightful establishment is falling apart. Only the great fellow residents remain, but if they choose to move out, this place will be just another old folks home with nothing to recommend it.

I have been living at Balfour at Riverfront Park for five months now. The transition to Independent Living was made much easier than I expected by the staff and fellow residents here who almost all have been welcoming and helpful. The several activities organized are varied and stimulating, not just the card games that most other senior living facilities have, but discussions of current events or serious book clubs for example. As the pandemic winds down more activities will be scheduled.

The food is excellent and the servers friendly. They all know most of the residents by name and engage in conversations with those of us who want to. There is a standard menu with 6 main items that changes quarterly and daily specials with 5 items. Everything is quite tasty. Examples: filet mignon, rack of lamb, salad Nicoisse, Fettucini Alfredo with chicken, lasagna, halibut with mixed vegetables, pub burger, hot dog, really good onion rings!, salmon filet, boneless chicken breast.

Our apartment is adequate to our needs. The common spaces are plushly furnished, but not overly so. Other recent reviews have mentioned problems with a serious water leak that happened recently. For two weeks there was no hot water and during a few days the water to the building had to be shut off from 10 am to 4 pm while the plumbing was replaced. The management offered free bottled water and arranged to take those who wanted to a nearby five star hotel where they had a couple of rooms booked so people could take hot showers. Since our son lives nearby we did not do this. During this event the director was upfront about every step of the process and kept us fully informed of what was happening. As a retired architect I could tell that the problem was being handle professionally as well as could be expected in these pandemic days.

Overall I am extremely happy with our decision to have moved here and can not imagine a...

Stay away from Balfour at Riverfront Park! The once privately owned facility was taken over by a group of investors a few years ago, and the result is a single-minded focus on profits at the expense of people – both residents and staff. EVERYTHING they do at Balfour is about making money: Staff are paid so low and treated so badly that there is a revolving door of staff members. No one stays very long and so there is no continuity of care. They are constantly understaffed, and in the worst cases, important details are overlooked (like when someone needs their medications in assisted living)

But this constant focus on profits shows up in everything at Balfour. Even before the pandemic, they were cutting down on the numbers of activities, concerts, outings , classes, etc….When covid began and they moved classes onto Zoom, they were unwilling to pay for more than one Zoom account ($15/month BTW) so they could not have more than one activity going on at the same time. It used to be that included in your rent were buffet breakfasts every day and another 16, three-course meals per month. But they switched to an ala carte approach so now each resident gets a specific allotment of their rent every month for food, and each item is charged separately. Portion sizes got smaller and smaller as food prices have gone up and up, so the same amount of money goes half as far. But it hardly matters since the quality of the food has become so terrible that you wouldn’t even want to eat the tiny expensive portion you were given! The residents are treated like commodities at Balfour to be squeezed for every cent they have and not treated like precious and vulnerable human beings.

One of the many reasons why this is so infuriating is that while the quality of the food, services, and amenities has gone way down, the rent continues to go up, 5%, 6%, 7% every year! And keep in mind this increase is on rent amounts that range from $6,000-$10,000 per month already, with an initial non-refundable buy -in of $25,000. (I hear that is going up too)

The nasty executive director, who both staff and residents live in fear of, likes to throw parties (at additional expense to residents of course!) instead of thinking carefully about what an elderly population might really enjoy doing. Throwing a Valentine’s day ball for a population many of whom have lost their spouses seems unnecessarily cruel. And having a party to honor Marie Antoinette (why exactly?) for no other reason it seems than making her staff dress in period costume (who paid for those?) seems odd and inappropriate. That particular event was wildly under attended (I can’t imagine why?).

Recently they scheduled a series of Mystery Dinners, which might be enjoyable except that they are charging their already overcharged residents extra for them. and serving the same awful food they serve every other night.

With people moving out weekly and no one new moving in, I believe that Balfour at Riverfront Park , in its prime downtown location, will soon be sold by its greedy investors and made into a hotel or downtown condos. Everything surrounding the facility is lovely, its whats on the inside that is awful and only...

Balfour Independent Living at Riverfront Park in Denver is a mixed bag. When you walk into Balfour, your breath is taken away by the exquisitely designed common areas. The five star decor is beautiful and elegant, bright and welcoming. The apartments are nothing to rave about, but every inch of the common areas from the main living room to the dining room to the library, and even the salon, are pure cheerful delight.

The three star service, on the other hand, is disappointing and unpredictable. The members of the upper management team are disconnected to the residents and to each other. They don’t know what they are doing because the turn over rate is off the charts so they are always new (or absent because their positions have not yet been filled). Communication amongst the different teams and with the residents is lacking. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing leading to inefficiency, chaos, and levels of incompetence that are just down right unacceptable in a place such as Balfour that is intended to be of such high caliber. Non management members, however, are wonderful, accommodating, compassionate, and the best part of what Balfour has to offer and in some ways make up for what the upper management team is incapable of accomplishing. Unfortunately and sadly, their turn over rate is also very high. It appears that Balfour has not figured out how to show appreciation for their Riverfront employees enough to keep them happy and on the job.

With a turn over of four chefs in less than a two year period, the dining room service along with its food quality (other than the to die for pastries) is less than mediocre and has been an ongoing never ending disaster.

For a facility that sells itself as a five star community and charges exorbitant fees to match the five star promise, their residents deserve better than three star service.

With all of that being said, Balfour is dog friendly and centrally located. If you or your parents are culturally oriented and consider pets part of your family, then you cannot beat the dog loving environment and the downtown location. The best part about Balfour are the residents and the supportive camaraderie they share. Sure, you could rent a beautiful unit in a full service apartment building for half the cost but you wouldn’t find the friendships and companionships that you find amongst the Balfour residents. For that reason, Balfour is worth a shot. Just understand that the service isn’t as pretty as the decor and be prepared for a lot of frustrations and disappointments...