I lived in the building since 2014 when it was owned and managed by Su development and was called Soma apartments. And so my hubby and I got to see a lot..
Our experience was, frankly, marginal until the management changed. They had the same number of people running everyday business as they do today, but we started feeling more taken care of just about when the management changed. We have been pleasantly surprised by the service.
A few notes:
(1) I like the fact that the building isn't big, because it means there can't be too many people competing for the same space or resources (gym, common area or even the elevator :)) ...That said, I am guessing that's the reason why there is only 2 people resourced to support the residents.
(2) All the flooring in the apartments was carpet (who likes carpet??). Sylva finally started changing to hardwood floor all the vacant apartments now.
(2) The building is made of concrete, which supposedly is providing a little better sound insulation, other than the echo from the courtyard. Yet, living in the building for almost 4 years, I remember only a couple of times a resident would be inconsiderably loud in the courtyard or around the elevators. (Speaking of courtyard, it used to be a swamp, and they just added nice walkways.)
(3) When we moved in, we lived in a west-side apartment for a couple of months in the winter. I remember it being pretty warm inside the apartment, to the point that we didn't have to worry about heating, though I bet summer would have been really hot without A/C. Then we moved to one of the 6 town-homes in the building, which had 3 A/Cs, super high ceilings etc. It was great.
(4) People working in the office have been excellent with our needs. A burnt lamp or other issues like that are addressed very fast.
(5) There have been many more social events happening lately. I was super happy to participate in a live music event in Sylva recently, when they brought in a jazz band.
(6) In the past, when the building was managed by Su development, we really felt forgotten.. I had friends living in Soma tower owned by Su development too (a block away from Sylva), and got to attend a few of their monthly community events. The difference between how much was done for their residents vs. ours was huge and that seemed unfair. (and, in fact, not just that... I remember we had a window that wouldn't close well and we'd have water coming in from the rain and we had to ask/remind for a few weeks for the staff to fix it. Thankfully, not the case anymore. read more