AMLI Waterfront — Local services in Seattle

Lived here for two years.

Apartment: Repeated issues with the hot water and AC units. Lots of noise from the 99 viaduct - and no sound proofing or insulation between apartments. Noisy place to live. Ventless dryers in unit - so after every use, your entire bathroom is covered in a fine layer of lint (as well as having your unit heated with hot and humid air).

Building Gym is ok - pretty much a your stock standard treadmill\weight machines. Don't use the towels provided as they smell like they were just pulled from the hamper and refolded back to the shelf. Disgusting.

Mailroom is a plus. Packages are securely received and you can pick them up 24\7.

The roof area is nice. Pool cues disappeared some time ago - as well as the telescope - so the pool table is pretty much worthless. Having the BBQ is nice - but tenants don't tend to clean up after themselves and its a mess in the mornings (especially after a weekend).

Parking garage is a joke. The expensive spots are so narrow that you must be anorexic to get in\out of your vehicle. Don't bring a nice car here as it will quickly get dented, scratched and generally scuffed up. My car looked as if it had aged 10 years in the first few months alone.

Maintenance team members are good (the issues were not their fault) and the concierge team were always friendly. Office team - not so much. Don't try to go talk to them about an issue or ask a question - as they will only respond that you have to send them an email. I can appreciate that they might want to have some sort of record of the interaction, but when they do respond - don't expect the answers\responses to necessarily reflect any correlation with the question or inquiry.

Utilities - relatively reasonable, but I found that my two highest bills were during two months that I was overseas. Yes, I had my electrical items turned off, but water, steam and sewage bills were still confusingly high. No explanations could be provided by the office staff (yet again).

Dog friendly - and some very cool dogs in the building.

Area Nice 20 minute walk to the stadiums. Building is across from the waterfront. Decent for runs\walks. Crowded with tourists on weekends - so driving can be problematic.

Area abounds in dirty needles - so be careful during your walks\runs and with your dogs. Another review complained about a homeless person blocking an exit. Yes - this is true, especially the door coming from the garage level 2. It also reeks of urine. So definitely be careful exiting.

Expensive - with low return for your leasing dollars. Unimpressed.

Response to your 'response'.: Next time - actually read the response. No, your staff could not explain the utilities discrepancy - despite actually meeting with them. The building is NOT quieter with the viaduct removed. You continue to fail on so...

The concierges and maintenance people are all fantastically competent, accommodating, and polite; the facilities and apartment quality itself is very good (though perhaps average for the price range). Unfortunately you will find this excellence does not extend to management, and you will find (only after you sign on) that there are several other critical flaws they hide (which you won't know from just touring the place):

Management and accommodation: If you assume you’ll be able to exercise rights granted to you by federal law (e.g. ADA), steer VERY far away from Cyrene (or any other property managed by Mack Urban Communities)! They will fight you 'tooth and nail' to make you jump through every hoop they possibly can before conceding to even the bare legal minimum rights you are owed (let alone any level of exceptional customer accommodation one would expect of an apartment of this price and quality, especially when comparing to competitors). I won't get into more detail here than necessary, except to say their management's behavior was unbelievably rude and unaccommodating of trivial matters; while federal rights overrule lease terms, it never feels good to exercise them or live in a place where you know the management will try at every turn to defy the spirit of those rights. Not very welcoming at best, and hostile at worst (unfortunately). Edit: Observe closely how their responses to criticism attempts disingenuous politeness, while containing a clear unwelcoming and accusatory subtext.

Position and noise: The apartments are positioned by the viaduct, which is a source of constant road noise 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During the year I lived here, I must have lost half a year of sleep. You may think you'll be safe from road noise at 3 AM, but you are not. Motorcycles and large trucks are the worst (both high pitch and low pitch noise). This would ordinarily not be a dealbreaker, but for the prices they demand, you should get better. "Premiere on Pine" for example has none of these issues, and costs less for an apartment with nearly no noise and perhaps even better quality in every dimension.

Security and external cleanliness: Others have elaborated on this point, so I won't go into more detail here than is already provided by...

I have lived in multiple apartments in many cities, and Cyrene is the best by far. Things I love about Cyrene:

Friendly and professional staff Strong community feel - does not feel as corporate as other buildings, feels like a home. Air conditioning. You, your friends, and significant others will thank you for this in the summer months. Concrete walls and floors underneath the finish. I have actually NEVER heard my neighbors above, below, or adjacent to me. This is such a huge and overlooked selling point. A gorgeous rooftop lounge that overlooks Elliot Bay. The breathtaking view on the roof is bound to impress any guest you take up there. Extremely quick maintenance request fulfillments. Clean garbage chutes and rooms. Not many apartments can brag about this, and it’s a highly overlooked area Automatic package pickup Speedy elevators. There are two elevators in the building and they move quite fast. Kind neighbors

This building is worth its weight in gold. This apartment is the only one in its price range that can fully justify its cost. It is worth every penny. If the location is right for you, then you will find no better apartment...