Building was purchased by new owners 6 months into my first lease. The change between the old owners (who are a notoriously crappy Seattle management company) and the new owners was night and day. In the end, I ended up living here for 3 years before moving to Bellevue for work and purchasing a condo. You won't get all the bells and whistle's you will from a new building, but you'll get a clean and updated unit (what up granite countertops + hardwood floors), good neighbors, and an attentive staff who goes above and beyond. Seriously, it's like Costco-level customer service. If you've ever lived in an apartment building that had a shared laundry, have you ever seen the staff clean the washers and dryers? They actually do that here. .
There's definitely a mom-n-pop feel to the staff/policies. They responded to all of my maintenance requests the same day, usually within a couple of hours. And they won't try to nickle and dime you. For example, I locked myself out and the old management company charged me $150 to let me back in. After the change in ownership, I locked myself out again at 3 AM and the new manager came in 25 minutes to let me into my unit. Guess how much I was charged? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Basically, if you lock yourself out they'll let you back in without charging you anything. No questions asks, 24/7. Honestly, who does that?
Overall, they've done a ridiculous amount of work to make the building more livable. They gutted all the units and completely remodeled everything. They put up awnings above the entrances, put in new plumbing, remodeled the laundry, beefed up security, etc. When I had moved in, security was a joke and there was a giant dumpster behind the building. The dumpster honestly attracted all of Seattle's homeless congregated at our dumpster. Like on a weekly basis, there'd be homeless people IN the dumpster looking through our trash. There also wasn't a fence by the back of the building, so crackheads would constantly shoot up and take dookies outside my window. After the new owners took over, they hired some old-school Greek welder who built a cage around the garbage and built a bunch of new fencing.
Putting the building and staff aside, the location is *so fetch*. You're one block away from Pike/Pine. All of the restaurants on Melrose are literally right there. You're a 5 minute walk from Downtown or Broadway. If I'm being picky (which I totally am), the landscaping is kinda meh and the exterior of the building could use a new coat of paint. From what I was told, they plan on repainting the building but want to take care of all of the higher priority thins first (which makes sense). read more