Bowman — Local services in Seattle

Wonderful Building, Great Maintenance Staff, Horrid Front Office Staff.

I lived in the Bowman for two+ years and while I will compliment the quality of amenities and location, much needs to be done about the staff. I want to be crystal clear that the maintenance and cleaning staff at the Bowman is fantastic. They were always polite, fantastic at their jobs and speedy to respond. If I could have taken them with me when I recently moved, I would have!

So why 2 stars? Because the front office staff is an absolute embarrassment for a building of this quality. When I applied for my unit two weeks before my perspective move in date, I was told that I would be notified of my approval within a few hours. Several days went by with no contact and I had to reach out several times until less than a week before the move I was told that I was approved but my application was essentially sitting on someone’s desk waiting to be forwarded back to me. This short of a timeline made moving a nightmare for me and made me stay in the building longer than I would have. In addition, about 8 months later I had a friend inquire about a listing via email and they flat out ignored him without any response.

Within a month, they lost a Roomba that I had ordered off Amazon. Repeated requests to have them check the package room thoroughly for it either landed on deaf ears or resulted in out now lies as after a month and many hours on the phone getting a replacement ordered, they miraculously found it in the corner while retrieving another package Assorted other complaints range from: deleting all negative comments or feedback on the community Facebook page essentially turning it into Pravda. Upon move out, they “accidentally” charged me an extra day+ of rent and even after having them correct that, they still overcharged me 20 bucks but at that point I wanted to be done with them. They advertised all season grills when I moved in, then shut them down last fall well before CoVid was even on the radar. Anytime I requested assistance from the office staff, it was delayed and made to feel as if it was a burden.

I will echo the reports of crime being an issue at this building but with a few additional comments. Today, in the aforementioned Facebook group to the community, a staff posted an incredibly vague picture of what appears to be a women, wearing both a mask and hat, informing us to call the police if we see them. Other than the color of the clothes, which obviously can be changed, there was nothing to identify the woman by. Considering the situation across the country and especially in Seattle right now, I found this to be both incredibly reckless and tone deaf. I said as much and was promptly removed from the group. I was not the only person to recognize what a foolish move this was and have spoken to other members of this community regarding this. They have informed me that they feel unsafe as a minority living in this building as these actions foster a feeling of suspension instead of taking the initiative into their own hands. Their comments on the Facebook page were also removed. This is not how people should feel in their own homes and I call on Legacy to impress upon their staff in the strongest possible language that this was not acceptable behavior.

I have friends living across the street in The Prescott and at the Ray complex (you can thank whoever ignored my friend’s email for that). Neither of them report issues anywhere close to what I encountered in this building. In my new building, I have a delightful staff as I am not hard to please especially in these trying times but if you look through the reviews both here and on yelp, you will see that I am not the only one to feel this way.

Until Legacy is no longer the property manager of Bowman, I sadly must strongly recommend that prospective renters stay away and find a home...

I have been living here for almost 2 years now, and am moving out in a couple days. For my husband and I, this was a negative-leaning experience. Having a brand new home with great amenities was fantastic. We never had problems with anything in our apartment. The roof has an absolutely stunning view, the recreational area downstairs is such a great thing to have. Easily one of my favorite things in this complex is the split gym, one being a cardio room, other a fitness room, both of which having a pretty great variety of equipment for an apartment. This all unfortunately doesn’t outweigh the cons of our experience here. Water has been shut off building wide without warning. If you have a courtyard facing apartment, you will hear everything and anything going on in the area, including the bar by the entrance. Related to the bar, on the 4th of July, the building cut off alcohol on the roof at 2 pm, and past then, you were required to buy alcohol from said bar that had their own station up there. Most neighbors enjoy partying, so be aware you will hear them quite often. Not at the fault of the staff, my neighbors weren’t the best dog owners, and could hear their dogs going crazy for 8-12 hours on weekdays. Be prepared to struggle with street parking or pay three digits for the garage (which does get broken into). Fire alarms will go off randomly, and they’re the loudest alarms I’ve ever heard. When they do testing, they ask everyone and their pets leave for 8 hours for 2-3 days straight, and trust me you’ll want to with that noise. The elevators are hilariously slow for a 2 year old building. The one thing I did not appreciate the most was hearing racially insensitive comments from staff, whether it be phone calls to maintenance workers or joking about names. There will always be something wrong with any home you have, but if you are looking for a quiet home, I would look elsewhere. If you enjoy going out and having parties, this 100% is the right home for you if you can handle the other comments...

This would be zero stars if possible. This is a dangerous, mis-managed, and very expensive building to live in.

Starting from most recent, the bowman illegally withheld our security deposit for over 80 days after we moved out, continually lying to us that the check was "in the mail" or "should be delivered today". They incorrectly recorded the date we gave notice of moving out, never performed a move out inspection, and despite us submitting our forwarding address several times, once when we gave notice, once when we moved out, and when someone from the staff emailed us asking for it, we still eventually find out that important documents and letters sent to our old address are returned to sender or just forever lost.

Besides that, every negative review here is completely accurate. The building is a security nightmare. They have never solved the break-in situation in the garage, and only hired a security guard for a few weeks and said "they would install more cameras", which are either very hidden or not actually installed. The bike room keys open nearly every external gate and door, and the doors have broken several time - broken so they can be opened without a fob. There was graffiti on the walls in several staircases, and several emails stating that there were people prowling the halls trying doors and to make sure to lock them always - sure, always a good idea, but also when you are paying 2.5K+ per month like some people in the Bowman, you probably expect that there's a modicum of security present.

On top of the security issues, the building has a good number of residents who just don't care. They fill the trash rooms with boxes, plants, compost (not bagged!!!), and furniture, let their dogs pee on the hallway carpets (the stairs especially always smelled like dog piss...), and smoked in the hallways and units.

Don't give the Bowman and Legacy Inc. your money - live somewhere where at least you get what...