Venn at Main Apartments — Local services in Bellevue

HOMELESS DRUGGIES IN THE BIKE STORAGE, LEFT DIRTY SYRINGE AND STOLE MY 2 BIKES.

On June 23rd, I discovered that 2 of my bikes were stolen from the bike storage. There is also a sleeping bag with a dirty syringe right next to it. Called the property's security (Antonio's Security), but they didn't even bother to come. All they said was there have been a lot of homeless people hanging out in the property and they have been trying to send them away. Called Bellevue Police, report was taken and the officer disposed of the syringe. He opened up the sleeping bag and found a bra. Next day, my wife and I informed the leasing office about this awful incident and one of the staff members showed us the video footage. Apparently, my bikes were stolen on June 5th at midnight by 2 males and 1 female suspect. I have been sick and having been assured by the property staff that the storage is secure, I haven't checked my bike for weeks. Obviously, NO ONE has bothered to make security or maintenance rounds for 3 weeks, because they would have seen this mess. When I asked the leasing staff to email everyone or at least the residents who are keeping their bikes in the storage to get them out of there before they are victimized, she just said that she has to wait for the manager, who will be coming back to work in Tuesday (this happened on a Sunday), and they need to have their legal department approve of the email. It's such a shame that the staff members don't even show that they care about what happened. They want to hush up all the safety issues because they know they will lose business. I was very insistent about having that email sent out, so they sent it out the next day. On Tuesday, I spoke with the manager and he said that they have been having problems with people breaking in, and in fact, their maintenance shed was broken into about 2 months ago. So he said that they took out the signs from all storage areas. I asked him why he did not inform anyone about it, and he said, "What difference does it make?" And I told him, I would have taken my bikes out of the storage and they wouldn't have been stolen. This just shows how they don't really care about the residents' safety. We've complained before about their practically "non-existent" security, but nothing has changed. They are not doing anything different to stop these things from happening. I started putting a lock on my gate because I received another email on the 28th about an apartment that got broken into. I strongly believe that if I wasn't insistent about emailing everyone about theft or safety incidents, they wouldn't have sent this email out. I guess they figured that I will find out from my next door neighbor who was the victim this time. So with all this happening, we are feeling very unsafe, unhappy and dissatisfied. There should be better security in the premises, and instead of the staff being too passive about the situation, they should be more encouraging to residents to keep their property and loved ones safe. It shouldn't take a big incident for them to realize this. it is common sense and basic...

Pros: New hallway carpets and interior paint this year. Finally. When I moved in last year, the hallways smelled so bad. Walking distance to the park, mall, groceries, stores, and cafes 20min drive to Seattle Cleaning ladies that are there early AM are very friendly. They smile when they make eye contact. Unlike when you’re passing by the leasing team to get your package, they’re either on their phones or just straight up don’t even smile or say good morning

Cons: Didn’t renew, they upped my rent an extra $400 a month for a 1x1ba 571?sqft. Bedroom doesn’t have a window. Also in the renewal as of 06/2024 tenants will now be liable for shared electric bill for public shared areas smh Shared Sewage, Trash, etc. Utility bill for 1 person averaged about 150-160 a month (they use Conservice.) Which I think isn’t fair, they don’t split it based on how many occupants are in each unit. So if you’re a party of 1 like me, gotta pay 💰 double Don’t opt for a unit that doesn’t have a bedroom window, it’s so effing depressing. I took an L there though since I just signed my lease prior to doing a walk through (I lived out of state). They’re closed Sundays and Mondays Their portal allows you to add frequent guest information, but there’s no point because they will not let them up the elevators. You’ll have to meet your guests downstairs in the lobby. This goes for food delivery and packages Speaking of packages, they have Parcel Package but if there’s overflow it just stays out in the open for anyone to steal. I’ve gotten 6 packages that were stolen or “lost”. The year I was living here Maintenance was awesome when Lazar worked at Venn. Now he’s not working there any more and service requests have been taking a week or sometimes two to fix My unit specifically had the smoke alarm right above my stove area. So whenever I cooked, it was awkward. It always turned on and I have to press the button on the smoke alarm all the time Through the year I was there, we had 4/5? Fire testing/inspections They have a “mandatory” “sterilization” fee of $145 for a 1bd They had a few mice incidents in the p2 and p3 parking lot throughout the year I was there. So some cars had their wires chewed on Only clean places are the lobby lol, take a tour of the parking garage elevator areas. I don’t blame the cleaning ladies though, I feel like Venn tells them where in the apartments they should clean. Their security they hired is a joke, “patrolling” the parking lot but also lurking inside cars. For what? They charge for paint during move out, even if your apartment has no wall damage or scratches. It’s stupid. Their trash chutes reeeeeeek. Whenever I go in, I’d legit have to hold my breath til im out of there.

I wouldn’t recommend this place and would...

We moved here from a Capitol Hill (in Seattle) apartment three years ago and have enjoyed living here so far.

Pros: Location, location. Three minute walk to the bus stop and a supermarket, and two minute walk to the park. The surrounding neighborhood is mostly quiet and feels quite safe. Most of the floor layouts are space efficient. We like our galley style kitchen which makes good use of the space. The apartments feel modern and airy and are energy efficient. We don't use the heater at all during the winter, and our electricity bills are low compared to other places we've lived. The roof deck is really lovely in the springs and summers. Gym is a decent size with four treadmills (and various other cardio equipment) and a decent selection of weights. There's also a yoga studio that is usually empty. Management and maintenance folks are really professional, responsive, and communicative which I appreciate. I appreciate that messages are sent via email instead of only just placed on people's doors or in the elevators. Haven't gotten packages stolen like at other apartments. There's a package hub to receive your packages as well as a locked closet for overflow. Management does make a huge effort to manage the packages, unlike other places I've lived at.

Cons: The parking vendor (not associated with Equity) is a bit disorganized. Every few months or so, we have to remind them what parking space we have. The usual noise issues in apartment living - Occasionally, we hear the neighbors above or to the side of us, but it's to be expected in apartment living.

Items to note: The window-less bedroom with the white noise of the fan makes for deep, relaxing sleep. I didn't believe this until I tried it. We have a courtyard and east-facing apartment which is ideal. This means we get some pleasant morning light and the afternoon heat doesn't affect us as much. We chose not to buy an AC, and this is only bad for maybe a week of the year. Facing the courtyard means no street noise. I can't believe how peaceful and...