From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
8/10/2006
Years at this apartment:
2005
-
2006
The good:
- Some of the best management you'll find in Seattle. Leeann in particular is an excellent manager who takes as many tenants under her wing as will let her. Yvonne is an extremely hard worker who even sweeps out the parking spaces outside the building. Both are extremely personable and care about their tenants. You will not get screwed here the way you will at most other places in the area.
- By Seattle standards, a very reasonable price for the size of the unit, with water, sewer, garbage, and (steam)heat paid. There are only six one bedrooms in the building, and none will ever be available for rent, but the studios are extremely large for the price. When my girlfriend moved in with me, we still had a decent amount of living space.
- Extremely good water pressure, especially for such an old building.
- Within walking distance of downtown, Capitol Hill, bus routes, parks, lots of excellent restaurants, and culture such as the Frye Art Museum (free, extremely cool, and only four blocks away).
- Friendlier community than most apartment buildings. There are a lot of nice and personable people who live here, so you can likely expect to have decent neighbors.
The bad:
- Like any place in the middle of a city, it's noisy. There are sirens going by 24-7, people honking, subwoofers, drunken idiots coming out of the bar down the street loudly swearing at each other, and all other manner of distractions. Do not move here if you want total peace and serenity. It's a city.
- This building is older than most peoples' grandmothers, so it has its quirks and "old world charm". Management tries to fix problems as they occur to the best of their abilities, but sometimes it takes a while, especially when the pipes burst.
- The bathroom has a pedestal sink and lack of counter space is noticable. There's ample storage outside the bathroom door, but if you want to keep things in the bathroom, you're mostly out of luck, especially if you have girl toiletries. (I didn't notice the lack of bathroom space until my girlfriend moved in with me.)
- The bachelor kitchen could be a lot better; plenty of storage space and a counter, but inconsistent quality of appliances. In my unit, the stove was basic at best and the kitchen sink only slightly bigger than a wet bar. The fridge, at least, was adequate. I just lived mostly on frozen food because it was such a hassle to cook and clean with such a small sink and inconsistent stove.
- Extremely expensive groceries which are not worth the price. The only grocery stores in the area are QFC and Safeway, and the only alternatives Trader Joe's and the natural foods co-op. The regular grocery stores are expensive beyond reason - Trader Joe's is actually the same price or cheaper for most things, though we had a lot of problems with product quality at the Seattle Trader Joe's that we haven't had anywhere else. (Bad milk, pasta containers not sealed correctly, etc.)
The Broadway QFC, which caters to most of downtown as well as First/Capitol Hill, is an enormous ripoff - disgustingly unsanitary (including the guy at the deli who operates the cash register while wearing his deli gloves. Eww...), poorly stocked (sometimes out of things for a week at a time), and extremely overpriced. We started buying as many groceries as possible at the Bartell Drugs across the street and found it to be much cheaper. Living in Seattle, expect to pay at least $300-400 a year more than average for groceries; more if you like to prepare meals from scratch.
- Bus service to this area could be a lot better, especially at night, especially especially if you need to travel to and from the U District after work (i.e. continuing education), as I did. Don't expect any help at all from Metro or the city if you don't fit neatly into their plans for the area.
- If you live here, try not to have a car. It's nearly impossible to find street parking in this area, and the waiting list for parking under the building is long. Parking here is not as bad as some other buildings in the area, but the spaces are still extremely small, and barely adequate if the person next to you parks over the line.
- It's a nice area for being so close to Broadway, but there are still a lot of skeezy people coming and going. My girlfriend was harassed at least twice and chased once by sketchy guys on the street when I wasn't with her (and leered at once when I was by a disgusting guy outside the McDonald's down the street). I didn't have any problems as a male, and there are still far many worse places to be female, but I'd be careful outside if you're a girl, especially in the early mornings.
Overall, this would be a nice place to live if you were a student or single person starting out in Seattle (there are a few retirees who live here, too), but couples and professionals might want to look elsewhere (such as not in Seattle.) For the price, however, you're not going to find a better living experience anywhere in the heart of this city.
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