When I got my apartment, the space for the price was unmatched $1440 for 851sq feet on the 17th floor with an awesome view. Since then, the price has increased to $1550 for 12 months, with a maximum of $1850 for 1 month. I like that Archstone is flexible in that they give you a price sheet with all the prices from 1-12 months.

The views are amazing, especially from the corner units. The windows aren't big and there is not balcony but their small size helps to keep it cool in the summertime. Archstone took over a month after I moved in, and after a slow start, they have made some nice improvements to the renting experience. They have a nice website to make maintenance requests (24-hr guarantee that is true), securely store and email you when you have packages, and allow for automated monthly payments. They have improved the workout room a lot, they improved the computer room, and lobby/business room wireless seems to work better. After two years, they finally tuned the grand piano in the lobby.

I have to dock them in that they removed the outdated entertainment room and made it an apartment. I don't blame them as vandals did routinely mess up the system, but I believe it could've been updated with better security. Also, no laundry in the units sucks, but they have a pretty good website to remove some of the pain of traveling to the second floor.

Parking
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Parking downtown sucks everywhere. The attached garage owned by Republic Parking has very cramped parking spots and costs $135. Don't forget to change the next month's parking tag (they conveniently mail you it) ahead of time or they will ticket you $35 a day for not changing your tag. Remember this before you take a vacation that crosses months. If you arrive after 9pm, you will likely have to park in the underground floor, which is a real pain if you have groceries, but otherwise not a big deal. The good news is they have plenty of bike racks. Just make sure you don't use cable locks or even basic Bell U-locks if you have a decent bike. I give it 3 star, bc of the cramped, non-reserved spots, and with 2 cars, it will get really expensive. It is nice to have covered parking in a temperature regulated environment.

I parked in the street for my first two months as I was on a waiting list. If you drive to an 8-5 job, it's definitely doable to not have the garage although I wouldn't recommend it for a girl and you have to do something about Saturdays.

Noise
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Outside
You will definitely hear a lot of sirens throughout the day from various emergency vehicles. If you keep your windows shut, the room is very quiet. My understanding is the noise rises as you go down.

Neighbors
I had a neighbor above me who hammered a lot and played the saxophone and electric guitar. Still the concrete walls dulled the sound enough that it didn't annoy me too much. My other neighbor played his TV throughout the night at a fairly high level. After a request, he turned it down, but I still needed a fan to create some white noise so I could fall asleep. I don't think the tv would've bothered most people.

Grounds
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As I mentioned, Archstone has made a number of improvements to the grounds that removed the ghetto feeling that the computer and workout rooms had when I moved in. They made the laundry room a lighter color.

Safety
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I feel safe in the building, but it's downtown outside, so take the typical city precautions. The area isn't bad, but you see a lot of shady people pass through. Note that the new buildings all around Archstone will drastically improve the feel of this area when completed at the start of 2010.

Maintenance
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Great overall. We have had a couple days where the water heater broke and at one point, my kitchen sink regurgitated some junk into the sink basin, but 99% of the time, there have been no problems. The maintenance guys have been really nice changing light bulbs, touching up spots I nicked, giving me small cans of paint for cables I was hanging. They fixed my toilet when after long vacations, the flusher would leak a bit of clean water when flushing and explained that without regular use, the rubber washers loosen.

Staff
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I have the staff very friendly and professional.

Overall
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I have to give them 5 star due to the maintenance, staff, and the fact that grounds, safety, and construction are really 4.5 stars with the half star deductions being for things out of their control like natural dangers of living in a city, vandals/fools who break things in the elevator, and fact that the building was built in 1949.

PS. Spend a couple hours viewing the historic photographs in the halls on the various floors that show all the amazing work that was done in Seattle in the 1900's. It will keep you from taking downtown Seattle for granted. Seattle didn't naturally appear as this great city.

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