I've lived here for a little over 5 years and I was the first one to move occupy my apartment and one of the first in the complex. My comments are an accumulation of my experiences over the last 5 years.

1) Parking. It has always been bad here. There are garages and covered parking available for an extra fee. One caution with the garages - the openers are pretty cheap. They have the habit of opening by themselves - aparently the frequencies on the openers crossover and some odd 'noise' can cause the door to open. Many times, I would come out in the morhing to find that my garage door had been open for who knows how long. Once, someone just walked in and took my golf clubs. The management replaced the opener but that didn't fix it, so I just gave up the garage. If you come home even at around 9pm, you probably won't find a spot anywhere near your apartment and will have to walk a long way thru the rain.

2) Noise Level. Sound insulation in the units is good. I don't hear from neghbors and even the outside noise is quite manageable. No complaints there.

3) The grounds are very plain. Units are all crammed together. When the groundskeepers come thru and mow, they blow cedar chips all over my patio area which stains the concrete and dirties it up. I imagine when I move out that they will try to charge me for powerwashing it all off, even though I didn't put it there and I don't like sweeping up after the mowers.

4) Safety seems to be ok, nothing special one way or the other. Some occasional thefts but I don't think you can blame the management for that. Cops do patrol thru the area routinely day and night, but they are not a big presence.

5) Construction. My 1BR is quite small. There are no built in lights in the living room or bedroom - very annoying. Also, the light in the dining area is just a flood lamp stuck in the ceiling. Kitchen and bathroom lighting is good. Counter tops are cheap and stain easily. Dishwasher is just a basic unit and you have to cleanly wash all dishes before using it. No built in microwave. Dining area is very small. If you enjoy booking like I do, be careful as the smoke detectors go off easily if you blacken fish cor instance. Nice walkin closet in the bedroom. Good storage on the patio comes with the unit. All windows are covered in blinds. Full sized W/D are included in a small laundry room that also houses the hot water heater, right next to the kitchen - a nice feature. I've had no mildew problems, which is a concern in the Pacific Northwest.

6) Office StaffManagement. About the only thing they are good for is to sign for and store packages. They never managed to lose anything of mine. In every respect, they are pretty much apartment nazis. I was the first tennant to install a small sat. dish on my balcony. The sent me a letter telling me I could not have one and they threatened to remove it against my will if I didn't do it myself. I had researched the laws passed by congress that forbid apartment management from excluding these dishes. I went to a lawyer and got a letter promising to sue them if they removed my dish and they relented and I've had the dish ever since. I guess I paved the way for all other tennant. The manager told me that the cable company 'made it worth her while' to keep dishes out and that's what she cared about, apparently. They like to post threatening letters to tennants and threaten fines, etc. (See Garbage below).

7) Garbage. When I first moved in, there was only one large compactor at the far end of the complex. You either had to make the long walk or use your car as a garbage truck. Very inconvenient. Eventually, thy added a recycling area with a few smaller dumpsters. Tennants started putting garbage in them instead of recycle material and the mgmt. sent out letters threatening fines, etc. Everyone just ignored them and I guess they just gave up.

9) Locale. Close to shopping and I-405 access. Close to the large mall in Lynnwood. Good access to outdoors in the northeren area and ferry service in Mukilteo. If you work in Bellevue or Redmond, the commute of 15 miles can be brutal - often 45 minutes. Coming back north in the evenings is awful, all the way to Everett. You'll spend about $50 per month on gas alone.

8) Quality of life. Very subjective and depends on what you're used to. Coming here was a step down for me, but they had rents that was more in my budget range. I can't say that I'd recommend this place to anyone interested in quality of life.

Overall, I would not recommend this place to anyone. If you're just looking for basic living conditions, then I suppose this will do. You'll probably have decent neighbors, low or no crime, a clean basic home with a pool available.

I will be moving out soon and if I have any problems in that area, I'll post another review.

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