CHROMA — Attraction in Seattle

———INITIAL REVIEW FOR SENTRAL (with five stars) ——— My partner and I just moved into Sentral. Our experience has been amazing since we started to work on the lease application including quick response on those applications and flexility to show us the facilities. Jennifer, the manager, is phenomenal and has been really amazing to us. Also, our move-in experience with them was amazing. Although there were several circunstancial hardships on our move-in date, Jennifer was so willing to help. Now that we moved in, our apartment was decent (we also love gym, working space, and roof top) and has a really nice view of SLU, but we also need to know that it had few minor defects. But, staffs, especially Mark, responded to our situations right away and took care of those. Our experience at Sentral has been amazing. Highly recommend.

———UPDATED REVIEW for Chroma (One star)——— I need to update the review - this place became totally shit after the management got switched to Chroma. The maintenance service is still great - they are responsive and careful. We really appreciate what Victoria, a maintenance staff, does. Grill machines are always well taken care of.

However, in general, their service to residents is terrible. My car got broken in their garage along with several cars. Surveillance cameras were not operational and they knew that the cameras had not been operational although several break-in had continuously happened throughout the week.

The security is the worst. The locks at the entrance and garage have kept breaking in and have not gotten fixed instantly - it took several days or even weeks sometimes. You can see clearly non-residents wander around near the building or even inside of buildings sometimes. When we call about this to their security team, they just ask us to live with it.

They really don’t care about residents. They keep changing rent payment systems and keep making mistakes on the payment systems like giving us a wrong invoice. And what’s worse, instead of they fixing their mistakes, they ask residents to get a check and pay the rent. Basically, residents need to spend so much time to cover their stupid mistakes.

This trend is reflected on buildings and their attitudes. Buildings are set up for potential tenants, not for residents. In mailbox room, you can hear stupid music so loud that it makes you feel like you come into a club every single time you enter the building. Lots of things that new potential tenants face during the tour are well-taken care, whereas those that only residents see are not, like gym equipments, water fountains and so forth. They also put happily smiley faces to you only when they have new potential tenants around you. Normally they don’t even look at you nor talk to you.

All my friends from this building already have moved out or plan to move out soon after the management got changed to Chroma. I do wish that this would change soon. Otherwise, I sincerely from bottom of my heart suggest you to stay away from...

DO NOT MOVE IN IF YOU VALUE CLEANLINESS AND SAFETY. Our overall experience with Chroma was not pleasant. We initially signed our lease while it was under the Holland Residential Management. On our move in day the person who we had been dealing with in order to lease our new apartment had been fired and had not communicated much of our questions, concerns or requests to their colleague. The apartment that we moved into was also not very clean, it had a sticky, gum like, residue on the floor that was difficult or impossible to remove and the walls/ceiling fans had layers of dust on them.

Shortly after we moved in the Coronavirus pandemic started and we relocated for a few months during which time DayDream Apts management took over. The past management company had employed security to ensure residents were safe, that changed with the new management company. After returning, we noticed someone had broken into our car which was located in the "secure" garage parking lot on the third level. One month later we checked in on our secure storage lockers, also located in the garage area with an additional security door only to find both of our lockers had been broken into. While management was helpful in providing new locks for the units, it did not help us feel secure in the building as their response was "we can't do very much if they are professionals". After suggesting they do something to increase security around the building like have someone patrol the garages or watch building entrances nothing was done. Then two weeks after that someone tried to use a crowbar to gain access to the storage lockers again. Luckily this time they were unsuccessful. Management says it is also on the building community to look out for each other to keep the building safe, which based on the tenants is obviously not a high priority. Also if you live in 1232 (the West building) any packages left outside the lockers are visible from the street sidewalk making it an easy target for someone to scope out packages, wait for a tenant to open the door, quickly walk in and walk out with no one noticing.

On top of all of this if you face the park you will most likely hear plenty of noise throughout the day which is to be expected, but there have been an increasing number of tents popping up which usually bring 1-2 loud verbal altercations a week between people who are obviously using some sort of substance.

I normally give people and companies the benefit of the doubt when one off things occur but in the 6 months (3 actually in the apartment building) of living there we did not feel safe and can't in good conscious recommend this...

Heads up this will be lengthy. I have lived at this property for several years and seen several staff changes and now a complete ownership change from Sentral to now Greystar. So, I am focusing on what I consider to be either pertinent or chronic issues at this building; not focusing on past incidents although there are many.

Let me first say I understand the complexities of property management, it can be a tough job. If these issues are solved in the next few months I am happy to update my review.

Safety: the front door was broken for a month and the garage door was open for longer. Allowing transients to walk into the lobby and several cars were broken into. The property claimed no liability in the car break ins. About 2 months ago my $500 bike (it was locked) was stolen from the garage by a transient. I was told by staff they "didn't have access" to their security cameras. I am unsure if this property has any security cameras in place. We previously have on call security and I believe there are gone now due to the ownership change.

Property maintenance: when given a tour they will tell you, the lounges are for hosting events. Yes, but half of the amenities haven't worked for years. Microwaves, the tvs, ice machines and the sound systems do not fully work. I have complained about it since December 2023. After multiple work orders nothing has changed. Yet they will charge you $25-75 an hour to rent the amenity spaces. They offer AC rentals in the summer but they charge $75 a month plus a $100 install fee and they have a limited amount.

Communication: announcements regarding major events are poorly executed. I received a notice of fire testing but the time was incorrect. As a burn victim it was quite alarming to be woken up several hours earlier and not know if it was part of the drill or not. They had a severally messy bulk internet conversion. To save another 3 paragraphs I will just say it was a pain and very hard to work during. There are still internet outages today. In regards to working with leasing, document everything. If they try to contest you on anything make sure you have receipts. I was almost charged for a second renter's insurance even after purchasing a plan.

I hope in the next few months things improve. Majority of the staff are helpful/friendly. The location, the gym, many neighbors and view from the roof are great. Its right by a park and several coffee shops and bus systems. The lounges despite the issues are a great asset for hosting. With the right resources I think Chroma could be a great property and the price would...