Terrace Station — Attraction in Mountlake Terrace

UPDATE: They sent their errant charges that I've been disputing since 11/20 to collections, in spite of our open small claims case. May the odds be ever in your favor at move-out if you move here!

Meanwhile, I thought I'd add all photos I had collected over my two years to show you what luxury looks like: you get to be best friends with South County FD, share your parking spot, have safe bike lanes, not use the bathrooms by the gym, wave "hi" to the banner flapping in the wind like a wacky waving inflatable flailing tube man, and YMMV with building doors. I would NOT recommend anyone move here.

Their communication was horrible which exacerbated the resolution of many of the below issues.

My final move-out statement is inaccurate. I'm now two months in without any resolution. When I first reached out on Nov 3 (and later followed up due to lack of response), they confirmed in writing my final move out expenses only to increase it less than a week later with an "oops, our bad" email. I disputed the additional charges, and they just keep sending me my final statement without addressing my concerns.

The level of noise at all times was terrible. Light rail had unpredictable overnight construction with noise, and they would shine bright lights below overnight that would light up my bedroom. I, regrettably, lived next to I-5 so I could "enjoy" the view of the golf course. The I-5 noise was much worse long-term than when I briefly toured the apartment. If "quiet" is what you're looking for, it's not here.

There's too little parking for residents. We were amongst the very first residents in the building and they did not have two paid spots for us. Construction will take all or most of the parking behind the West building during the weekdays.

Car break-ins were rampant. P1 is left open the majority of the day, so resident cars were unsafe. People broke in to the "secure" P2 garage. My bike was tampered with.

There was -at least- 7 ear-piercing building-wide fire alarms that went off in my 2.5 year residency. I lost count, but some of the dates were: 7/15, 7/30, 11/8, and 12/11. I stopped keeping track after so many.

Speaking of fire alarms... Fire alarm testing in 2022 ran the building-wide fire alarms for 5 hours 2 days in a row non-stop. There were many, many other apartment inspections that disrupted my work days. It was probably the most I've ever had maintenance in my unit than any other apartment I've ever lived in.

The "road" behind the West building is dangerous because there's no sidewalk and people drive too fast going through. The Montessori parents particularly drive recklessly, period. This complaint is especially relevant to those who will be taking their dog around the building.

I was harassed by another resident who was speeding late at night behind the West building. I repeatedly motioned for her to slow down; when she didn't, I flipped her off. She then ambushed me in the front of the building while I was walking my dog and pulled out her phone to record me. I filed a report with Security at 12am. The manager, Ann Marie, did not respond to my email the next day that I marked "urgent" because she said she was "busy" depositing checks. #priorities, I guess. They wouldn't issue the other resident a warning without also issuing me one as well.

In addition to the above points, I made numerous complaints about smoking and noise, both to Security and to management. Management would just keep referring me to Security. In fact, I wonder if I should file my Google review with Security because that was their refrain every time a problem came up and took no further action.

When I read back all the problems I had, I wonder what in the world possessed me to renew. The unit itself was nice, but too bad all of the other problems came with it.

Social media manager: don't offer to have me reach out to you to "discuss." You have an email with all of my listed concerns/disputed charges if you bothered...

This is the worst apartment I’ve ever lived in. I’m usually very easy going, live in most apartments for a few years without complaint. This place seemed really nice on the surface, but there are so many things they don’t warn you about.

I live above a daycare. They leave the garage open all day for them, so there’s no end to the break-in problem if you’re (like me) assigned to a garage space right next to the open door. There’s also noise all day. Packages - no idea what’s going on, but my packages take days to appear after being delivered, even when there’s photographs of the package on the floor in the mail room. This has happened a few times a month every single month, and once, a refrigerated medication delivery went missing and had to be thrown out by the time it showed up. My insurance wouldn’t pay for it a second time so it cost me $1240 to replace in addition to the initial $100 copay. Frequent inspections/services during the day. I work nights, and can’t be up waiting for them all day but they won’t give a specific time of arrival. One of the inspectors literally walked in on me sleeping in bed because the bedroom lock doesn’t work. The other banged on the front door for about 4 minutes before I finally got dressed and let him in. It was unlocked for him. He knew I was sleeping and still banged on the bedroom door on his way out too. What would they do if I wasn’t home that weekday morning? Why not just walk in if the door is unlocked and no response? The apartment looks nice, but on closer inspection, tons of little things are broken that I’m sure I’ll be charged for when I leave, but missed during my initial inspection. The blinds in the bedroom were down when I moved in and as it turns out, they don’t go up on one side (the bottom is broken off). There is a cracked tile in the kitchen. One of the drawers wasn’t assembled right so there’s just a hole to the next drawer down. The windows are nice to open but the highway/construction are very loud. That wouldn’t be so bad but they didn’t put AC into these brand new apartments, and the windows are not the standard shape to accommodate a window unit. You can rent a portable unit from them for $100/mo, but portable units aren’t made big enough to cover our 1400sqft apt so the bedrooms are dreadfully hot in the summer with no recourse. Also the “new” carpets don’t go all the way into the corners?! They sent us a threatening email about smoking on our balcony. We are lifetime non-smokers who were on vacation when the supposed offense occurred - turns out, the lady on the apartment next to ours is always smoking swisher sweets out there, and she lets her animals poo out there too right on the floor. Gross.

I’d normally never break a lease (so expensive) but I’m tired of everything here. I really wanted to love it and was so excited to be here but I’m now saving to get out of this mess. Don’t make my mistake; don’t be swayed by the pretty lobby and nice facade.

UPDATE: per the response, the community manager was supposed to reach out to me. I never heard from them. They did however completely fix the package situation after this review - I wish they’d done it when I emailed them but they do deserve credit for fixing it so quickly and then sticking with it for several weeks now. Thank you to whomever made that change - I know I sound mean in this review, but I’m just frustrated. Please note if you are considering Terrace Station West, we’ve been evacuated twice this week (Dec 2023) for false fire alarms, at 9:30p and 1:30a. I’m hoping it’s a fluke, but it may be worth asking if the issue has been resolved if you’re signing a lease this month. It sucks hauling yourself out of bed on a weeknight to go stand in the rain.

Update: 4th fire alarm in three weeks. Many people have stopped evacuating, from what I can tell. There were only 3 other families outside besides...

I've lived here since 2021, so let's get into it.

The Good: Next to the new light rail. Super convenient. Next to I-5. Again, super convenient. The staff (office and maintenance) is friendly. The building is clean, modern and updated.

The Not-So Good: Cleanliness - When we first moved in, someone vacuumed our floor weekly. It was spotless. Now? Not so much. Maybe every other week? Maybe once a month? It's not as frequent. And that's unfortunate because there are a LOT...a LOT of dogs here. Will you see animal hair and other things? Probably. I have never seen feces. Never. But have I seen clumps of fur around? YES! But if you like dogs, come on over because there's plenty!

Noise - I've lived in apts from the ages of 19 to 46. There is going to be noise. I've lived in NYC, DC, and now here. Yes, there's noise here. That's not the fault of the apt, but the people. Since I've lived here, we've had two different neighbors below us that have been loud (loud music past quiet hours). People do not realize how loud they are until someone tells them. If you encounter noise, tell the office. If it still happens, tell the office again. That's all you can do. You can't blame the mgmt because honestly, people create the noise and MANY people are inconsiderate. You will have inconsiderate people everywhere you live.

Parking: Simply put, my spouse and I pay for parking. Is it pricey? YES. Is it convenient and gives us peace of mind? YES. We don't have to look for a spot ever. We have our guaranteed spot (P2) and it's great. No one has ever parked in our space. Now, all of the reviews about parking are interesting. I had no clue residents were getting kicked out of their paid spots on P1. (P1 is the level that is shared with the retail customers.) If residents are getting removed from paid spots, that's horrible. But I feel like those reviews are not giving all the details. It doesn't make sense that a resident's paid spot is being taken away for retail customers WITHOUT being given another paid space. That doesn't make sense and I don't know if I trust those reviews.

And yes, there's outside parking (our building is next to a bank). I think people are exaggerating in reviews. A SkyZone just opened and yes, the lot is more full. But it's never completely full. I think some residents are complaining that they cannot park close to the building. I always see space available further away from the building in the evenings. But maybe on the weekends, it's worse? Probably.

Theft: Someone attempted to steal my husband's bike twice. Luckily, my husband is crazy about locking his bike and the thief could not get through all the locks. They probably would've had to cut through the bike and then it would be worthless. So that's that. He had to remove his bike and put it in our storage. Sad. Next, I had a package stolen. I am thankful that it was just some clothes ($70!) and not something that I REALLY needed. The office tried to help, but honestly, there's not much they can do about it. Like I said, people are people. Usually, my packages are placed in a locker/locker room and I have no issues. On the off chance that a delivery person just drops it off without putting it in a locker (as was the case with my stolen package), I go immediately to get it (I work from home). I'm just more diligent about keeping an eye on deliveries. Again, this is no fault of the building (they have signs everywhere for deliveries to be placed in lockers or locked room for security). The effort is there by the mgmt, but terrible people make things difficult. And unfortunately, terrible people are...