Onni South Lake Union — Local services in Seattle

-EDITED REVIEW

If my first review didn’t already convince you to run — here’s what’s become even clearer:

• Fake Reputation Maintenance: They literally require staff to log the residents they’ve pressured for 5-star reviews. Not because the building is great — but so the board doesn’t find out how mismanaged this place really is. This is on their daily checklist. Why bribe residents for reviews if your property truly speaks for itself?

• Hidden HVAC Scandal: For over a month I’ve requested a transparent breakdown of how our HVAC charges work — since it’s obvious we’re paying for hotel guests’ usage. ZERO responses from management. They keep billing residents for costs that should fall on LEVEL HOTEL guests. If your rent is high, it’s partly because you’re subsidizing tourists who pay nothing toward these long-term expenses.

• Unannounced Amenity Sharing: The rooftop pool & other amenities were originally promised as residents-only. Now, without written notice or updated agreements, they’re suddenly “shared spaces” — overcrowded by hotel guests. Residents never agreed to fund a transient hotel experience.

• False Lease Representation: Their own lease addendum only references “common area utilities” for residents. LEVEL HOTEL guests are not part of residential common areas. This means you’re footing the bill for people who are not covered under the residential utility cost structure.

• Priorities All Backwards: Instead of fixing broken gates, elevators, or responding to legal questions about shady charges, management is more focused on gaming Google’s algorithm with coerced reviews.

🚩 Nothing has improved, and it’s clear they’ll keep running this bait-and-switch operation as long as people keep moving in. I regret ever signing a lease here. If you value honesty, transparency, and paying only for what you use, look anywhere else. DO NOT MOVE HERE — This Place Is a Scam and a PR Illusion

IF THIS COMMENT GETS BURIED THERE WILL BE MORE TO COME.

I’ve been living in this building for a little over six months and the level of dishonesty, mismanagement, and complete disregard for residents is beyond outrageous.

Let’s get into it: • Utilities Scam: We are being charged for utilities used by hotel guests. Yes, hotel guests stay here for free in terms of water, HVAC, and other shared resources — and residents foot the bill. That’s THREE different upcharges for HVAC alone that we should not be responsible for. • False Advertising of Amenities: The 13th floor was sold to me as a residents-only amenity. Now, management is suddenly calling every amenity “shared space” with hotel guests. If there is no exclusive benefit to living here full-time, what are we paying for? • Broken Promises + Broken Property: • Elevators are constantly out of order. • The garage gate hasn’t worked in months. • “We’re fixing it” is all we hear, with no results. So where exactly is our money going? • Fake Reviews & Shady Practices: Many of the 5-star reviews you’ll see? Planted. Management boosts their image online while ignoring real resident concerns. If you try to hold them accountable in person, they dodge your questions, twist your words behind your back, and gossip with other team members instead of fixing the issue. • Hostile Leasing Office Behavior: Conversations with the leasing office are not solutions-oriented. They deflect, talk in circles, and then mock residents privately for speaking up. If this is how they treat us face-to-face, imagine how little they care behind closed doors. • Staff Mistreatment: Even their own employees are unhappy here. You can tell. Management treats staff poorly — so why would they treat residents with care or respect?

So, what are we paying premium rent for?

Certainly not for service. Not for peace of mind. Not for exclusive access. This place sells the illusion of luxury living while funneling your money into a hotel operation you never signed up for.

I am definitely regretting signing up for as...

Update: Was offered a free replacement key if I remove review. 9 months and exterior doors still broke. Staff reviews pushed to the point of harassment to get negative reviews down. Trespasser fell asleep in hallway and front desk knew. Arrest onsite at pool. Onni flags review.

I’ve lived at Onni Apartments for ~three years, and I am absolutely disgusted by the way this property is managed. I am writing this review out of deep concern for mine and my wife's safety and the general quality of life here. Onni does not value safety, cleanliness, or community—and what they claim to be "luxurious living" is a complete joke.

Safety Concerns: I have never felt more unsafe living anywhere. I’ve had multiple terrifying encounters—like finding a homeless couple in the 13th-floor pool bathrooms, who walked in on my wife because their bathroom door lock was broken. Management did absolutely nothing, and I never heard anything back from them about this situation. On multiple occasions, I’ve come home late at night to find the building doors and elevators unlocked, leaving access to anyone, and no one at the front desk to monitor security. My car was broken into, and Onni refused to provide any security footage. Nearly every neighbor I know has had their car windows smashed. A couple of months ago, the building was even shot up by a drive-by, and we weren’t given any kind of notice. When my wife and I were walking our dog, we were mere moments away from where the shooting occurred.

There have been gangs staying at the attached Level hotel, with photos circulating on Instagram showing them with guns and large sums of money and drugs. Yet, management doesn’t seem to care. We have also experienced verbal assault outside the building by a random stranger and, of course, the front desk was empty. The situation is beyond negligent.

Amenities & Pool: The amenities here are shared with hotel guests, many of whom treat this place like a party zone. The pool is regularly overrun by loud parties, BBQs, and screaming kids. If you’re looking for a relaxing dip, forget it. It’s chaos every weekend, and management does nothing to address it. The amenities are far from the serene luxury advertised.

Cleanliness & Maintenance: The cleaning staff does their best, but it’s clear the building is seriously understaffed, and it shows. The hallways and trash chute area always smell awful, and I’ve had guests comment on how embarrassing it is to bring them here. The dog area is a disaster, with no one cleaning up after their pets, and it's always an unpleasant experience. The rugs on my floor are hardly ever vacuumed—maybe once a month if I’m lucky.

Security & Packages: It’s practically a rite of passage here to have your car broken into and packages lost. The package room situation is a nightmare. I’ve had to go on a scavenger hunt to find my packages, and most of the time, they’re missing entirely.

Staff & Customer Service: Some of the staff are either unhelpful or downright negligent. On multiple occasions, I’ve received no assistance from them when reporting security concerns or maintenance issues. It’s like they’ve given up entirely. At one point, I even saw staff members using cocaine on the property—and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

A Lot of Fake Reviews: It’s also worth mentioning that many of the positive reviews here are likely incentivized by Onni to boost their ratings. The hourly staff is pressured to get good reviews to keep their jobs, which is essentially blackmail. So, take the positive feedback with a grain of salt.

“We encourage you to reach out to our management team directly so that we can address your concerns in greater detail and work toward meaningful improvements.” Will get repeated in 100 different ways without anything real.

Overall, I highly recommend looking elsewhere if you value safety, cleanliness, and an actual sense of community. After 3 years of broken promises and deteriorating conditions, I will be moving out as soon as I can. Onni is not worth the money or the stress. Steer clear of...

Rating: 4.5/5 stars I have lived at Onni SLU for the past year and a half and all in all I can't complain about my experience. Any complaints below are honestly just nitpicking especially when paying for a luxury building like this.

TLDR: Onni SLU is a LUXURY building and with luxury comes a price tag. If you can afford it, I would 100% recommend living here without a doubt. The amenities are top notch, the staff is friendly, and the location is phenomenal. The amenities are very nice to have and are a great selling point, but you will probably only use 15-30% of the amenities while you live here. For me personally, it was the gym and the pool(s).

Long version: Onni is a gem and if you can afford it, I would highly recommend it. This is by far the nicest building I have lived in and the only reason I am moving out is to save some money.

Biggest issue: Hotel guests sharing the building/amenities with residents. Onni SLU has 3 buildings, Fairview and Boren Tower which are both residential, and Level which is the hotel. Level shares some floors with the residents. Hotel individuals are not as respectful of the property as residents and in turn things get damaged.

Amenities: Onni has the BEST amenities available in Seattle. 3 swimming pools (one indoor on the first floor, two outdoor L2 and L13), 3 hot tubs, 1 cold plunge, 3 dry sauna's, 2 steam rooms. The gym is high level but misses some machines that you would expect to find. The game room is good, but the equipment is damaged by guests sometimes. I have never used the Movie theater as it was always out of service (and still might be) for 12 months of my stay (last time I checked), same as the Karaoke room. The basketball court and the music studio are amazing. Continuing with amenities, Onni has a curfew. Apart from the P1 basketball court/music studio, the gym(s), and the L1 pool, everything is only open from 8am to 10pm. Yes, this includes weekends and summers. L2 which is the outdoor common space also closes at 10pm. The curfew is understandable as rowdy gatherings can disturb nearby units, but it is extremely unfortunate to feel like you can’t use the amenities that you pay for.

Community: Residents in Onni are nice but mostly standoff-ish. I have made some amazing friends here (probably life-long ones) but the majority of people here are in their own world which is understandable. At Onni, from what I presume, there are so many amenities/things to do that it dilutes the sense of community.

Events: Onni hosts some INSANELY awesome events. Usually hosted monthly/bi-monthly, these events are the talk of the building for the next week. Notably, the Halloween event and the summer pool parties are amazing as Onni has an open bar, live DJ’s and more. 10/10 events, no complaints here.

Elevators: Elevators, especially in the Fairview tower are often slow. There are 4 elevators, but it always seems that only 2 are working at any given time resulting in sometimes long waits (I have waited over 8 minutes for the elevator once).

Unit: The units are gorgeous all in all and the views from the higher floors are insatiable. There is no sound that goes through the walls, so you do not hear neighbors in your unit unless you are next to the front door.

Staff: Overall staff at Onni are extremely kind and helpful. In the leasing office the folks are amazing, specifically Maddie, Ken, and Marlee. They are there to help and you will almost always get a smile when they assist!

Garage: Paying $350-450 per month for parking per car, you would expect to have a well-secure garage and a decent sized spot. For resident parking you are placed between P4 and P7 which is 4 to 7 floors below street level. If you get lucky you can get a nice spot, but the majority of spots have less than a foot of space between cars.

As stated in the beginning, I overall highly recommend living in Onni SLU if it does not put a strain on your budget, but these are small things that irked me while living here. These “complaints” are not deal-breakers for me at least but they...