Power & Light Apartments — Local services in Kansas City

I am a current resident here in the Tower. I’ve enjoyed most of my two years here and have met some wonderful people that have lived here in the building, but as of late, the building seems to be going downhill, and fast. I know several residents that already have or are planning on moving out and not renewing their lease.

As stated in previous reviews, there have been consistent and intermittent elevator outages and issues, but ever since the deep freeze in KC a couple weeks ago, a sprinkler pipe froze and burst in one of the elevator shafts and it initially rendered all 4 elevators in the tower, a 31-story building, inoperable. After 24 hours, they were able to get one of the elevators working which services the upper part of the Tower, floors 14-29. Twelve days later, they were finally able to get another elevator working for the lower floors, Lobby-14. We currently have 2 of the 4 elevators working in the Tower.

The same day all elevators went out in the Tower, multiple pipes burst in the parking garage which shut down the elevator in the parking garage, which is still out of service with no timeline for return to service. With only half of the elevators in the Tower currently working, wait times are high. I have waited as long as seven minutes for an elevator. As of January 25th, they are telling us “Additional repairs will take place once all needed parts arrive, which will be in approximately 6 weeks,” so to summarize, we are currently down to 1 working elevator for the Lobby-14, and 1 working elevator for floors 14-29, and an estimated wait time of 6 weeks for the remaining 2 elevators in the Tower to be put back into service, and there has yet to be any timeline for repair of the parking garage elevator communicated to residents.

I moved in here in January 2022, and over the past couple years, I have witnessed a continuous decline in the amenities offered by the building. There is no longer an outdoor hot tub. That has since been cemented in and turned into a concrete slab, but every advertisement and page on their website still proudly shows the non-existent hot tub. It has also become a rarity to be able to actually get coffee from the coffee station in the basement, either due to the coffee machines being out of service, or coffee stocking and supply issues.

However, the biggest issue of all seems to be the property management company, NorthPoint, that owns and runs the building, and the building managers in the leasing office here. After you have lived here and your lease is up for renewal, you can expect an egregiously unreasonable renewal rate quote. The managers in the leasing office have explained to me that NorthPoint uses an “algorithm” that produces the renewal quotes that are then sent to the current residents up for renewal, but they “are always willing to work with residents.” They force you to play this stupid game of negotiating a lower rate, which can usually be done to a point, because the “algorithm” produces such unreasonable rates. I was also told by a leasing office rep that a 3% increase is the minimum they can offer, which is absolutely ridiculous considering the declination of the building and product they are now offering. In the past buildings I have lived in before here, I have never seen such large increases in renewal rates. In fact, several times I did not have an increase when renewing, and those buildings didn’t have near as many issues that residents have to put up with in this building. NorthPoint and the leasing office managers have become extremely tone deaf, unresponsive, and unreasonable when it comes to the rates they are trying to charge for renewals. If anything, they should be offering flat or even decreases in rent renewals for current residents, considering the degradation of the product they are now offering. They are pushing current residents away from the building. They are seeming to give new move in’s better rates than current residents looking to renew, which is causing increased vacancy. The unit across the hall from me sat vacant for...

Firstly, the persistent elevator malfunctions in the building have been a recurring issue since my move-in date. Specifically, the 13th floor and below have consistently had limited access to elevators, with only one operational at many times. Instances of elevator breakdowns have been documented on the following dates: 8/31/23, 9/13/23, 9/29/23, 10/26/23, 11/1/23, 11/9/23, 11/10/23, 11/11/23, 12/2/23, and 1/3/24. As of 1/17/24, there are currently no functioning elevators to my apartment, and the parking garage elevator is also out of service. Furthermore, the constant buzzing noise from all elevators during the first four months of my tenancy has been extremely disruptive. These incidents highlight management's inability to maintain the elevators.

Moreover, the garage door has been broken and left wide open on 9/29 and has been broken again since 1/9/24. During this time, the key fob reader to access the tower sky bridge from the parking garage has not been functioning, posing a significant security risk. Anyone can walk into the garage from the street, and have access to everyone's vehicles, the entire North Building and the entire Tower.

The parking garage has water leaking consistently throughout the entire year onto peoples cars. Each winter the same pipe seems to break.

The coffee machine, a very frequently used amenity by many residents, broke on 12/29 and took over two weeks to repair, causing inconvenience to residents.

The condition of the indoor dog park has been subpar since 11/29. There has not been sufficient effort to minimize the effects of the ongoing work in that area.

The air conditioning has failed on 9/3/23 and 10/6/23, both days with temperatures exceeding 90 and 70 degrees, respectively.

Disturbing incidents, such as vomit in the lobby, hallways, and common areas, along with consistent pet waste in hallways, elevators, and walkways, have contributed to an unsanitary living environment.

The trash system has been problematic, with dog poop bags consistently overflowing the bin outside the front doors. There are inconsistent valet trash pickups. I have received multiple trash tickets for alleged violations that are baseless, such as "pet waste not double bagged" (I do not have any pet waste in my garbage) and "leaving my trash outside during non-pickup hours." My trash was left outside during non-pickup hours because Valet Trash did not pick it up. They recently opened a podcast room (spending money on this, rather than fixing issues we were already experiencing) and the trashes in here are consistently overflowing as well. The Wi-Fi and AppleTV in the newly opened podcast room do not work either.

Additionally, amenities such as the poolside TVs do not function as advertised. There are speakers and a sound system provided at the pool; however, we are unable to use it as residents living poolside come out quite literally yelling about its use. Residents moving poolside should be made aware that they may need to accept these matters before signing a lease.

Last, I would like to highlight the lack of urgency in communicating situations occurring in the building. On 1/17/24, the elevators were down for well over 3 hours before residents were notified about the issue. Despite my personal call to the leasing office, residents did not receive communication until an hour later. The leasing office consistently promises to "provide updates" on situations, but we rarely receive follow-through on this commitment.

We have older residents who are not physically capable of walking up and down the stairs living in the apartment and I am concerned about their wellbeing.

The cumulative impact of these ongoing issues and disruptions to the amenities promised as part of my lease agreement is reflected in the diminished quality of living. I am hoping the building takes swift resolution that will contribute to a more comfortable and enjoyable living environment for all residents. Sadly, I am not hopeful that this will happen based on the lack of urgency I have seen from property...

Just renewed our least for a 2nd year! We owned a big house in the suburbs for years and selling that thing and moving to Power and Light Apartments was the best thing we ever did for our stress levels, time, and money. We love how attentive the leasing office and maintenance team is. Any concern, no matter how large or small, is addressed in minutes. As working professionals, we love being within walking distance to our jobs and I often work from home. The apartments are so quiet and there are lots of great nooks and spaces to have meetings, entertain guests, and work in peace. The building has so much historic character and we loved the gray and white finish-outs in the apartments. You can also hang drapes/photo frames/etc. and decorate however you like inside with no worries about putting holes in the wall. There were a few different floor plans to choose from and the leasing office helped us pick the one that fit us best within our budget - We ultimately decided on an 1100sqft corner unit. The private garage is great and you can get a reserved parking spot, and there are guest parking spots for when friends visit, too! There are complementary fitness classes 2 times a week from the amazing Flexy Body Babes and good-sized gym and fitness amenities (Just look up their spa/gym amenities on the website to hear all of them, too many to list). We love having the indoor hot tub as well as an outdoor hot tub - the rooftop pool and hottub are open EARLY in May and stay open late through October - Gotta love getting in the hot tub on those cool fall evenings! There are plenty of other amenities that you can read about on their website, including black car service to the surrounding areas, valet trash collection, and more. Each member of the staff will know you by name and treat you like family. Attentive and friendly leasing office staff were super important to us! We like that there are so many secure points in the historic entrances that require a FOB, as we've heard horror stories of vandals gaining access to other buildings and pulling fire alarms, etc.. The onsite security will also learn your name and treat you like family. The building is just far enough away from the congested power and light district hot spots that you don't really have to worry about insane traffic jams around the garage entrance, like the other District apartments. This is definitely a more quiet, professional atmosphere compared to other buildings we toured. The washer and dryer are included in every apartment and it's not an additional fee like other apartments. The tall ceilings are great and even though we downsized by 2000sqft, we NEVER miss the square footage in our 1100sqft apartment. If I had to nitpick and dig to find something I didn't LOVE, I guess I would say that the walk to the pool is a bit long from the historic tower? But honestly, who cares. If that's a concern, just get an apartment that's close to the pool. The last thing, if you have asthma or fragrances/VOC's bother you, they do have little machines that pump a "signature fragrance" into the air in the common areas. I think eventually most apartment buildings will move away from that though, including this one. ALSO, just be aware that you can't open your windows in the historic tower, so you'll have to go outside or to the beacon lounge if you want to get some outdoorsy air. There are apartments with terraces that open up to the great outdoors though, if that's a concern. For us, our priorities were: A quiet apartment, professional atmosphere, top notch customer service/maintenance team, apartments that felt more like a house than a "tiny city apartment", tall ceilings, and amenities that allowed for entertaining our group of friends. We got all...