Island Square — Local services in Mercer Island

I’ve stayed at Island Square for about 2 years. I love the neighborhood here. It’s quiet and convenient. QFC and some cafes and restaurants are right around walking distance. The current maintenance staff is also extremely helpful. The apartment itself on the other hand has left me slightly traumatized. The building is obviously slightly older and occasionally has facilities breaking down. The garage gate malfunctioning, elevator getting stuck, or water needing to be shut down during waking hours every 2-3 months, to name a few. These are all tolerable. However, recently within 7 months, my kitchen sink was clogged twice! Resulting in dirty water backing up into my kitchen sink to the extent that it overflowed and flooded all over my floor. Dirty water which I can see the food waste, scum, and grease residue flooded my sink and my floor where I cook, wash produce, and eat!! TWICE within 7 months! Mind you, both occasions are not my doing! I was told it was grease buildup coming from upper floors that clogged the entire stack’s system and me living on the lowest floor ended up suffering from it. I know it is not me. I don’t ever pour oil down the drain. I also try my best to dump every solid food scrap into my garbage can. I’ve been using the sink as careful as I can. The suffer also doesn’t end after the water is cleaned up and the pipe is presumably unclogged. I had to live with extremely loud fans and dehumidifier for days because of all the water that got onto the floor. I don’t know how this could happen twice within 7 months. I wasn’t really told what happened the first time. I wasn’t able to learn what caused it to happen, and I wasn’t told if they addressed the root cause the first time or not. There was no explanation during the email exchange. I was only able to learn about things this time because I saw it with my own eyes happening, and the maintenance staff was also extremely helpful and informative. I still don’t know if the grease buildup was just not cleaned out the first time or if the grease is building up so quickly that the pipe is clogged again within 7 months. After the first incident, I was offered 15 dollars as compensation for the extra cost on my electricity bill to run the fans and dehumidifier. 15 dollars!!! This time around, as of today, a full day after the incident, the property management have yet reached out to me at all. Not a single word. Not an email. Not even a reply to my previous text. For the upcoming renewal, they even have the gall to raise my rent? With this living experience, I feel like I should be compensated, and certainly not the other way around of me paying more! But forget about nonexistent compensation, because after reading some previous reviews, I’m even worrying the apartment will come around and charge me money “to fix stuff” after I move out. I’ve been living under constant fear after coming home to blasting fans and dehumidifier the first time around. I have flashbacks every time I hear my sink gurgling or the unit above me using the garbage disposal, and voila, I’m not paranoid, because it happened again. Merely 7 months later to top it off. Ridiculous.

(Also, let me add. In 2022, I was offered an “early renewal deal” of a whopping $500+ rate hike. I didn’t sign immediately, and then the renting market crashed a bit soon after so they miraculously decided not to raise rent after all. Imagine paying $2000+ for a one bedroom and having to live through this sink issue and the...

Great experience and location until the landlords decided to put in hardwood floors in the upstairs apartments which Initially had carpet in the common areas (living room especially). Previous tenants (with carpet;before new wood floors) above us had a child that would run around all the time which barely disturbed us. I think we only spoke to them once about the noise (it got pretty bad one day) & the father was very understanding/kind about it. After they moved out, there was an extended period of construction above us & @ first we didn’t understand why… we had to just deal until it was done. Unfortunate but we understood. After they installed the hardwood floors, a new tenant arrived. First thing we heard was a ton of noise from stomping, to conversations… to very clear music (bass heavy). We figured it was OK because they’re moving in... and then it didn’t let up for weeks until we talked to them. Obviously the wood floors made this an almost impossible task on their behalf. We exchanged numbers and tried to let them know when it got loud, but understandably the frequency was too much for them, and they cut contact off with us. We had pictures falling off of walls, a few items got damaged when they fell off the shelves, constant vibrating from anything hanging (posters/memorabilia), we couldn’t hear ourselves think (work from home), some weekends we couldn’t even rest/relax, & when they’d have guests over the stomping would get extra loud (that was almost every weekend); which forced us out of the house even if we weren’t feeling well (unpredictable chronic illnesses). Even after they knew the noise was a major problem for us they made a decision to get a new labrador puppy (what timing!!!) which we could hear its nails running across the floor & dropping it’s ball, bouncing constantly… And on top of that they would be on their balcony smoking cigars here & there which sucked, because there was no AC in our buildings. Most of us had to have our windows open during the summer and smell those lovely cigar fumes. We tried to complain to the front office, we tried talking to them directly, and letting them know (which to their credit, they got a little bit better about noise sensitivity) but there was really nothing to be done. If you value, peace and quiet, this is probably not the place for you unless you live on the top floor.

One other thing, there would be super inconsiderate people in the middle of the night, jumping in the hot tub and being loud and belligerent. There is a cut off time for a reason… 10 or 11pm… a lot of the tenants are older and need their sleep but inconsiderate/selfish people are just gonna be that way until it happens to them.

Edit: to respond to the comment underneath from Island Square, I should add that we did talk many times to a few different people working at the front desk. They said there was nothing they can do… they also said the people that own the building decided to do this (add wood floors for some of the units above the first floor) and they couldn’t stop it or offer us any other unit. We honestly can’t remember how many times we talk to them; and I don’t remember any complex investigation mentioned. Just ”Sorry.”… we didn’t renew our lease for multiple reasons, but that...

We've enjoyed living at Island Square Apartments on Mercer Island. We love how conveniently located we are to QFC, Walgreens, Rite Aid, UPS, various restaurants and parks. The Park & Ride is only a 2 block walk away, making our commute into the city a breeze.

The unit we're in has a wonderful balcony overlooking the lush courtyard. We really enjoy the sound of the fountain throughout the courtyard. The downside is that you look right in your neighbors windows. Not much privacy when you live overlooking the courtyard.

The team is quick to respond to any service issues. We've struggled a bit with the package delivery system but they are working on a solution to ensure packages are securely stored for pick-up. It would be nice if instead of blaming the temporary package influx on stay at home orders, they accept that the influx of packages is here to stay. There is a need for more lockers. The only batch of lockers is in the retail garage just outside of Building C. Sometimes packages are left in front of the lockers, on top of the lockers, in the conference room or with the leasing office. They've gotten a bit lazy about alerting you when a package has arrived since they sign once for a batch of packages (again... All the packages that won't fit in the lockers since they ran out of lockers). So just be aware that you'll have to ask them to double check to see if a package has arrived. When you sign up for Parcel Pending (which you are required to do when moving in) you will owe $30 and be charged $5 a month.

I wish they had worked with us to move prior to giving birth to our first child at the end of the month prior to our lease expiring. Instead, they offered to keep our rent the same when they offered an. extension. I noticed just before we were moving out they lowered the rent from $2149 to $1859 and offered a 4 week free promo. How awesome for the next person. I won't rent from this company again. On a positive note, some of our favorite apartment features are the amazing amount of storage, the two ovens, fridge with an excellent ice maker. It's also nice to have the ability to dispose of trash conveniently by walking a few doors down the hallway. There is great deal of sound transfer between the apartments. A little bit of a let down. The place is dog friendly, so be mindful that you'll hear your furry-legged neighbors.

Just be aware that moving into the units can be challenging. Make sure to get a smaller moving truck that can fit inside the retail garage and get closer to the entry door to your apartment building. Otherwise you'll spend time carting your belongings from the alley at the opposite end of the garage. We used movers on our way out and it ended up costing more because of how far from the unit their truck had to be parked.

Definitely invest in a collapsible wagon. The recycling is located in the alley on the opposite side of the retail garage from the leasing office. It's a trek. They don't compost. That was a bummer...