Spectra Apartments — Attraction in Redmond

I wrote a lot more but text limit so I'm gonna sound awkwardly brief here.

I've been at Spectra about 14 months. I was initially drawn to the studio pricing, the new construction, the amenity spaces, fiber internet, and walkable Whole Foods plaza with coffee and restaurants.

Outside Parking: Kinda good Street parking can be tough to find and a good walk back to the building with heavy groceries in the rain. The Eastlake Sammammish Trail parking has signs that say no parking after dusk. But I don't see them towing a hundred cars every night. The Marymoor Village light rail station has opened recently with a huge garage. Signs say it's okay to park there for up to 24 hours.

Garage Parking: Kinda bad Studios don't have permanent garage parking. While I could pay a monthly fee to have access to a retail parking spot at night, I would still need to move my car before 7am every day. Heck no. I heard the door for one garage entrance hasn't been working for a while and maybe the other door broke down briefly too.

Internet: Mostly good Sometimes windy weather will knock out the internet for Astound or Xfinity, but it's great for about 98% of the time. Ziply might be best.

Amenities: Amazing I love the swimming pool and hot tub. Both are heated year-round. Sometimes gets closed after a busy day, but still cleaner than other pools I see. Closing hours changed from 10pm to 8pm though, which makes it a lot harder for me to go. Gym is fine. Variety of machines. Only one benching rack. Usually chilly, which is good when sweaty. West rooftop is gorgeous. Clear days can see Rainier. About once a week, there's a decent food truck parked in between our buildings.

Noise: Depends on your upstairs neighbor Noise from the same floor is actually very quiet. I don't hear the elevator outside my door. I sometimes hear kids running down the hallway or muffled conversations outside my shut window. However, from the upstairs neighbor, I do hear the sliding chair, the thump of heavier steps, and the scraping of a vacuum cleaner. Not perfect but good. Lobby elevators are often beeping loudly. I remember 3 fire alarms, one of which was a real fire.

Safety: Great My car has been safe outside. No break-ins or anything to report. I occasionally notice a group of police entering the buildings at night, but they look like quiet calls. I read some complaints on the community page. Relative to Seattle or Bellevue, these sound pretty mild, though I'd still be upset if it happened to me.

Cleanliness: Good, but could be better The hallways, lobbies, and amenities are well kept. I see the cleaners at work and I love them for what they do. However, the trash room on each floor sometimes has trash/furniture lying around, to the point that it can block the door.

Staff: Great before, not sure now I knew many of the staff by name for a while, but there has been a management shift and now I don't know anybody in the leasing office. I appreciate that my renewal offer didn't raise my rent though. The maintenance guys are extremely cool. I think they do their best with what they've got, and if they don't have the parts to fix the elevator or garage, then that's the best they've got. Rony, who is now going through chemotherapy with the help of the community's donations, drove 45 minutes from his home in the rain near midnight to unlock a room that my dumb friends managed to lock as they walked out. We wouldn't have even known about the chemotherapy if not for the Apartment Life Coordinators Alan & Emily. They put in a ton of time and effort for these fun events to bring us together for ice cream, tacos, arts & crafts, barbecues, coffee, and games. I adore their welcoming warmth, and it's clear to me that they care about the community. I wouldn't be taking this much time to write a review if it wasn't for them.

I wish I could give this place a perfect rating. Although I'm still deciding whether or not I will choose to stay, I have thoroughly enjoyed...

Update as of August 5th

I originally gave this apartment complex a 2-star review because I was disappointed with the way I was treated. I had scheduled a tour of the West building, but I received a text message 2.5 hours before my tour saying that no new units were available. I have a full-time job so I had to take time off from work and sent my kids to daycare in order to tour apartments. I was very disappointed that I had wasted my time and effort.

However, I have since received an email from the manager offering me the Look and Lease credit to people who toured the community manager before the West building was available. I appreciate the changes they have made to ensure that the offer is fair to everyone. However, I have declined the offer. I believe that employees are the most important asset of a company, and they are the face of the company. Customers will always remember how they are made to feel.

Overall, I would recommend this apartment complex to others. It is beautiful, with great amenities, including a heated pool, Jacuzzi, modern gym, spacious work area, rooftop, veggie gardens, Sammamish trail and Marymoor Park within walking distance, and even bright horizon on the site.

Review: ★★☆☆☆

I recently had a tour experience at this community and wanted to share my thoughts to help others make an informed decision. While I understand opinions can vary, I think it's crucial to address the concerns I faced.

One issue that bothered me is the Look and Lease credit policy. If you've previously toured the community, you won't be eligible for it again, ever. This credit provides an additional discount if you apply within a certain timeframe after touring, in this case, 2 days.

During my visit in early June, I had difficulty deciding on specific units. Almost two months later, I scheduled a second tour for different units, but I was informed just three hours before the scheduled time that none of those units would be available until next week, contradicting the website's information.

The most frustrating part is that the Look and Lease credit is a one-time-only offer, which I wasn't aware of. It seems unfair if someone applies for one unit, changes their mind, and later applies for another unit, as they'd be disqualified from the credit.

Furthermore, not all units were available for viewing, and some won't be available until late September. This lack of transparency about unit availability raises concerns.

While I understand there are rules and policies in place, I felt disappointed in how my request was handled. Unfortunately, this experience has left me with little interest in considering this community in the future. I want to clarify that no one was rude during my visit, and the community itself is clean, modern, and the units are beautiful. However, I can't shake the feeling that they may not be interested in having me as a tenant, perhaps not being the ideal candidate they...

Originally had them at 4 stars but now decreasing to 3.5 stars due to the decline in quality and lack of transparency from the office. Unfortunately Yelp only allows for full star reviews.

As an update they still have not completed the dog wash and are running 3 months late from what they told me. When I went into the office just yesterday to inquire, there was another resident who was also there to address this issue. The typical response you will receive is a "there's nothing we can do" (but with a smile). they have a friendly demeanor but there's nothing actionable to address issues. Why not just provide an outline of what the issue is and then a timeline to fix?

Lately, issues have started to risen. There are just random doors that do not open even if you have the correct key FOB. Good luck with the elevators too. Sometimes you will go into one and it will stop moving halfway in between floors. Want to call for help? Nope, the emergency phone in the elevator is disconnected so you're out of luck until someone else calls the elevator. I know the office is working to address this however as the current time of this review, these issues are not resolved.

On a positive note the pool is finally open but they only allow residents to have 1 guest even if you have multiple people living in the unit itself. I understand this is to not overcrowd the pool and to prevent parties from happening, but the rules seem to be too stringent. If you have a roommate and both are on the lease, shouldn't both get a guest pass?

The building is still nice and a fun place to stay. Ex. they bring is food truck every week and organize social events here for you to get to know your neighbors. Alan and Emily have done a great job at bringing these events to life and it's a great place to meet some awesome friends. However, it's becoming more and more apparent there are more issues than it look especially for a very new building like this. I hope to see these issues resolved and more proactive communication and resolution as soon as they occur.

You can live here, but just know your money is not going as far as you might think it is. You're paying for amenities that you won't be able to use for 50% of your lease so why not go elsewhere? I would certainly caution friends if they inquired about Spectra.

Also, they are running a $100 promotion to residents that give them a positive review at the moment, so I would also caution you read those with a grain of salt since they're obviously trying to artificially inflate their ratings.

I will give a shoutout to Jamie however, as the request to add a rope pulldown to the gym was promptly done and it's nice to see some of the staff being proactive! Neesha is still...