Harbor Steps Apartments — Local services in Seattle

Another Update: The company they hired to do the mandatory RRIO inspections is pretty clearly incentivized to not do their jobs, because the inspection of a 2-bed, 2-bath apartment took less than 1 minute. They didn't check any appliances, they didn't check any plumbing other than "does it look like the kitchen sink leaks without running it", they didn't check for GFCI, and they didn't enter one of the bedrooms or either bathroom.

UPDATED REVIEW: I'm very disappointed to have to update my review here. As you can see in the original review below, our experience at the beginning of our time here was wonderful. However, things have changed, and promises have been broken, and I can no longer say that I am happy with this building. For context, we have been living here for a bit over a year and a half.

The pool that we were promised would reopen soon when we were moving in has never re-opened. The sauna is no longer usable. The SW gym took more than a year longer to open than they said it would. Building-run resident board game nights have ceased. The company has instituted a paid subscription service whereby residents of any building owned by the same company can reserve amenities, blocking out residents of the buildings those amenities are in. There have been multiple occurrences of leaks/flooding in apartments above us (thankfully, this has not affected us directly).

Then, there's our dishwasher. It took 495 calendar days to get our dishwasher fixed after our first maintenance request, with the vast majority of that being a period back-and-forth of being told they'd replace it, not hearing from them for ages, checking in, being told they'll order a new one and let us know when it's here, rinse and repeat. Initially, it was "just" damaging certain dishes/pans, but then it gradually began making dishes dirtier than they'd gone in, and we spent over a year having to hand-wash everything because the building kept not replacing it. When they did eventually get around to replacing it after we brought up that they were in violation of Washington State tenant laws, they offered us a $500 statement credit to keep quiet about it. We argued that we deserved more due to the breach of the building's legal obligations, but they wouldn't hear it, going so far as to falsely claim that there had never been an issue with the dishwasher in the first place, despite no tests ever having been performed to determine whether the issues we described were occurring. They claimed that, after the replacement, they hooked up the old dishwasher in the shop and tested it with a full load of dirty dishes and found it to be in perfect working order, but they were unwilling to provide any evidence to back this claim up, while we had provided photo evidence of our problems in a maintenance request in May of last year.

Now, to be clear, I don't think this is primarily an issue with the maintenance team. With one exception, every member of that team that we have spoken to, met with, or otherwise interacted with has been nothing short of amazing. However, building management has shirked their obligations and lied about the history of the situation to try to avoid liability.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: My girlfriend and I just got an apartment here and the leasing experience was one of the best I’ve ever had. Erin Swanson, the leasing agent we worked with, was phenomenally nice and knowledgable and she was able to answer all our questions. She also made sure we had as much time as we needed during the tour, which was very good considering we were touring 4 different units across multiple towers. We immediately fell in love with the building and found the exact apartment we wanted during the tour. The turnaround time on the application was incredible as well; we applied after the end of business hours on the tour day, they started looking through our application on the morning of the next business day, and we were approved by mid-afternoon that day. The space is lovely, we got a frankly huge apartment at a good price, and the location is pretty much...

Living at Harbor Steps was a very unpleasant and disappointing experience. I would strongly not recommend living there.

Property Crime: At one point, my bike was stolen from my balcony. It is highly concerning that a thief was able to get up there, as it was on the second floor and through a locked gate to the courtyard. Management and security seemed unphased by the incident. I tried to post a lost and found notice on the bulletin board explaining what happened and warning the other residents to lock their balconies, but management did not approve the post and refused to inform the residents about potential safety issues. They were worried about conjecture and claimed this was an isolated incident. Well, I can assure everyone my bike did not evaporate off the balcony, how’s that for conjecture? Shame on management for withholding information and not making an effort to keep their residents safe. This response was totally unacceptable. I eventually wrote paper letters to my neighbors, in an effort to prevent something like this, OR WORSE, from happening again. When I moved in, I was warned by the staff that the bike room was not secure. Go figure. No response from Equity resident relations.

Short-Term Rentals: Harbor Steps is not transparent about its relationship with Stay Alfred. There were dozens of people checking in and out of the complex daily and several of the short-term units are right next door to long-term units. I did not feel comfortable with that many random people wandering around, especially with our packages being delivered in the hallway. Many of the tourists get lost in the complex, and at one point they started talking about how they’re being instructed not to ask anyone for directions. This is sketchy AF. Some people might like the idea of living in a hotel (or motel, rather, with the outdoor hallways and elevator), but I certainly did not. Seattle is about to set new limitations on short-term rental operators in an effort to address the long-term rental shortage and abusive real estate practices. I have since filed a complaint about Harbor Steps to the city’s short-term rental agency.

Noise: The complex's layout is odd, and exposes some units to high levels of foot traffic. In the SW tower, the 6th floor is connected by a public skybridge to the SE tower and 1st Avenue, which basically gives that whole floor the foot traffic of a ground floor. From the skybridge, the public outdoor elevator goes down to the parking garage. My unit was right next to the outdoor elevator, which beeped incredibly loudly all day. It was INTOLERABLE. One of the two indoor elevators in the SW tower was out of order for months at a time, and many people used the stairs instead. It was very inconvenient, and I had to take an extra day to move out because the remaining elevator was so slow and full of people. The staircase which everyone used instead was grungy and at times, a biohazard. I have seen used condoms, spilled cans of Coors Lite, bags of garbage, and balls of dryer lint in there. These staircases are metal and share a common wall with some units, the echo-ey stomping noise in my living room was very disruptive. One of the lounges in the building was converted into three more apartments. There was jackhammering throughout the day for several months and it was impossible to get any work done during this time. The addendum about "renovations to the building" was sneakily slipped in with my lease after I had applied and was about to sign. A 17 storey building is about to go up in the lot across from the SW tower. Other regular noise which penetrated 30 dB ear plugs included leaf blowing at 8:30AM every Monday in the courtyard and outdoor rock concerts every Wednesday at noon during the summer.

Rent Increase: I had no intention of renewing my lease, but the offer was an 8% increase in rent. The market is not up that much in 2019, not even close. I guess there is a low incentive to retain residents in this economy.

I have many more gripes, but am bound by the character limit. Good riddance,...

I’ve been living at Harbor Steps for a bit under a year, and this is my honest (and long) review of my experience and observations reported by other residents.

Cons: This is specific to me, but the drgged-out person living (or using AirBnb) in the apartment unit above me proceeded to enter my deadlocked apartment and break down my bedroom door at 2am one day. They briefly attacked me, then trashed my apartment a bit while I had escaped and was calling the police. Harbor Steps did nothing to really resolve or make up for the situation - I actually was the one to call and request my locks to be changed or else nothing would’ve happened. It was eventually observed that the intruder’s key worked for my front door, so HS had provided the intruder with either a master key that worked for my apartment or had failed to set my lock upon moving in. HS lists their empty units on AirBnb so there’s a lot of traffic from tourists. This leads to some issues with unwanted guests entering, and packages being stolen from the mailroom or drg residue being left around staircases and entrances. Some of the amenities such as the spa, sauna, and pool were supposed to be temporarily closed due to Covid but will (almost certainly) not be reopening. Also, the elevators in some towers frequently break down, and sometimes for weeks at a time. The “secure” parking is nearly $300 a month with a resident discount and there are break-ins and robberies reported on a monthly basis. There’s no A/C which is typical in Seattle, though HS pitches and prices itself as a luxury complex. There’s only one available internet provider, Wave, which frequently has issues in some towers. There’s periodically construction in or around HS, which isn’t the fault of the complex, but it can be very loud in lower units (especially construction within the complex). Another con that isn’t the fault of HS itself, but the area is definitely sketchy at best. Downtown Seattle can provide numerous benefits and fun opportunities, but be prepared for a lot of experiences with the homeless. They are kicked out by security from the complex on nearly a weekly basis. Usually they aren’t an issue, but occasionally they will harass restaurant-goers or cause a lot of commotion late at night / early in the morning. Overall security does a pretty good job, but they can be slow to respond from time to time as usually there’s only one security guard patrolling the entire complex of restaurants and the 4 residential towers.

Pros: The apartment units themselves are very spacious and are quite competitive in terms of $/sqft in the city. A lot of the units also have fantastic views of the complex or the bay, and receive a very good amount of natural light. The maintenance and concierge teams have been very helpful and quick to respond. My renewal offer (though I will not be renewing) was increased only $100 which is reasonable given some hikes in the current market. The complex offers several convenient and enjoyable dining options.

TLDR: Harbor Steps apartment units themselves are quite spacious and attractive. However, I’d suggest avoiding the area and the luxury price tag is not backed up by the amenities or experiences offered at...