The Mill at First Hill - Affordable Housing — Local services in Seattle

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU SELECT THIS APARTMENT.

This apartment is a complete disappointment, deserving of no stars whatsoever. Within just a month of moving in, I realized the grave error I made in choosing to reside here, now stuck in a year-long lease. Despite a seemingly pleasant tour, the reality of this place is far from acceptable. Filthy conditions permeate the supposedly secure premises, leaving me feeling profoundly unsafe.

Promised security measures, like an on-site guard at night, were nonexistent. Instead, I encountered numerous unsettling situations, from encountering homeless individuals in the supposedly secure parking garage to witnessing attempted break-ins near my car, which I monitored with video surveillance from my Tesla that is equipped with cameras around the car. One video recording even showed an individual holding a hammer while checking my windows and checking handles of the cars around mine. Seeing broken glass from car windows in the garage was a norm, as was seeing random homeless/drug addicts digging through the trash cans they never changed consistently in the garage. The sense of insecurity was pervasive, from the garage to the dumpster area, which was frequented by the homeless, drug addicts, and rodents. I would have to walk from the garage through the dumpsters to Tower 1 daily and I was on constant high alert because of all the drug addicts and homeless people that hang in this area digging through the dumpsters, Also, I must note that it was the norm to find random people doing drugs inside cars in the garage and watching you get out of your car. 🙄

The elevator malfunctions were an added inconvenience, particularly when trekking up to the 14th floor, where even the stairwells weren't spared from human waste such as feces. The presence of homeless individuals within the building, including drug users in the lobby bathrooms, further exacerbated the living conditions. I also observed on one occasion of the many fire alarms that went off frequently , is that the 14th floor fire alarms were not working at all. I only noticed there was an emergency because of the fire trucks outside and having walked to the 13th floor to hear the fire alarms going off on that floor. I would say they’re fire alarms are not up to code.

Additionally, the lack of hot water for nearly a month in September 2023 was unacceptable, with maintenance efforts proving futile. Despite their failure to provide a basic necessity, the management's response was inadequate, offering relocation to another unit for showering purposes as a solution, which I found completely unacceptable. I was never offered any type of discount or compensation for this situation and the amount of patience I exercised with this property management team.

My departure from this deplorable environment was met with relief, only to learn from another tenant of their own regrettable experience, including encountering bed bugs after she moved in. It's truly disheartening to think of others enduring similar hardships.

In sum, this apartment falls short of even the most basic standards of habitability, and I strongly advise reconsidering any plans to reside here.

The pictures attached is the area between the garage and Tower 1. So as you can you see, it was consistently filthy and normally you’ll see homeless people in this area at all times in the day. Another picture depicts the soot that was produced from the baseboard heater in my apartment. The apartment wasn’t given to me in the most cleanest condition and I pointed out all the flaws to someone from the original leasing team when I signed my lease. Based on past reviews of others moving out, I just hope they don’t try to rip me off. Don’t let the pictures online fool you cause the reality of the condition of these apartments are the opposite.

If you’re still reading this and feel this apartment is a good fit, then by all means go for it. But I STRONGLY suggest that you save yourself the headache and stress by not moving there. The best day living there was the day that I got...

New management is dogwater.

Everything I'm saying is from a resident of tower two. I have lived here for 6 years, since 2019. Do not be fooled by the current rating (3.5 at the time of this review). When management changes, the reviews still stay. And back in 2019 this place was getting several 5 star reviews because of the absolutely amazing management. They were kind, respectful, proactive, and understanding. This is an old building, and with an old building comes a host of issues (which I will get to). The reason I stayed here for so long was because of the wonderful management, the price, and location. The management has changed a few times, with each getting progressively worse. The newest one is absolutely awful.

The hot water machine goes out at least twice a year. And every time it goes out, my unit never gets hot (or even warm!) water back the same time as everyone else. Without fail, I (or someone else) always has to make a service request or call management and have the maintenance guy do whatever he does to fix it.

The hot water machine needed another emergency repair recently. After it was "fixed" I only had cold water in my unit. Whatever, I'm used to it. So I went down into the office and saw a guy at his desk (dont know his name, but guessing by another review, it's probably Andrew). I walked up to him and told him I had no hot water. His response? "yeah". That's it. "yeah". No follow up, no questions, no apologies, just a one word answer. I continued talking to him and it felt like pulling teeth. I had to fish for more information that he should have just have given me without asking. He told me I should have lukewarm water and the hot water should come back soon. I told him I had only cold water and as a resident of six years, the only way this gets resolved is by having the maintenance guy come and fix it. Management in the past would have no problem notifying the maintenance guy of my issue and getting it fixed sooner rather than later. Andrew did not care and did absolutely nothing to help my issue.

I ended up submitting a service request and the wonderful maintenance guy fixed it the next day. The maintenance guy is literally the only good thing left about this place. But beware, they have recently gotten rid of the online maintenance site where you could submit your requests. No reason was given. So now, if you have a maintenance issue, you have to go through the office. My lease ends in May and I pray I won't have a need to go into the office and ask for assistance, because I'm sure I'll be met with complete apathy.

Now on to the issues of this building. There are three elevators but one elevator seems to be permanently down (was not the case when I first got here). And of the two elevator, one of the elevator doesn't even have lights on. There have been times where just one elevator was working.

The 9th floor washing is now working, but there have been times where it has been out for months. This usually wasn't a big issue because I would just go to the 8th or 10th, but something to be aware of.

During the 6 years I lived here, there was a bed bug incident once at my unit. The management at the time (different than the current one) called an exterminator and that was resolved.

I live on the 9th floor, and several times the trash chute has been piled all the way up and I would have to dispose of the trash by taking it outside.

You used to be able to take your recyclables to the empty room on every floor (between elevator and stair). They got rid of that option a few years ago, you now have to take it outside.

One of the most annoying things is the darn fire alarms. They regularly go off. And for some reason, when it goes off, it only goes off on certain floors. If you are on one of those unfortunate floors, you will have to evacuate. There was a point in time when it was happening multiple times a week, including in the dead of night. It doesn't happen as much anymore, but it still happens.

The walls here are thin. I'm at word limit, don't live here....

There have been numerous unsanitary and unsafe incidents that go directly against lease agreements and the selling points that lead to my signing of the lease in the first place. These include: Mold covering the ceiling of my bathroom. After removing the ventilation plate, I have discovered that the mold is not only on the ceiling of my bathroom but covering the vent as well. It is unclear if the vent is actually in use as it appears to be just a 2ft cutout in the wall, the inside of which is also covered in mold and dust. Tower 2 floor 2 laundry room has been disgustingly unsanitary, unsafe, and not fully functional for months. The main selling point for not having a washer/dryer in-unit was that there were 4 of each just down the hall. Only 2 washers (sometimes only ONE) have been available for use for 90% of the time I have lived here. I have emailed about this issue on several occasions, starting email threads on these dates: July 4, August 6, September 5, October 11. There was a 2+ week period when there was a giant puddle on the floor that caused me to slip and was not cleaned up until multiple emails had been sent. The laundry room is supposedly cleaned weekly, however I have never once seen it clean. The floor is covered in dirt, soap, and water at all times. The washers have other residents' gunk stuck in liners, never cleaned out. The drawers of the washers are often full of water and incorrect soap types from previous users. Lint is rarely cleaned out of dryers by previous users. Furniture and random items have been left there for weeks at a time. Package locker room being over-run and unlocked for 4 months. The package locker-room was so overrun with packages that I had to sift through mountains and piles of packages and could not find multiple orders, concluding that they were either misplaced due to negligence of package collection and upkeep of the room or stolen due to the fob key entrance not working and the room being left unlocked for months. The locker room was another selling point that did not prove true. I was insured that it would be upkept and packages would be safely locked away. I have spoken to management about the status of the locker room and my frustrations multiple times. I was told that "we are in the process of getting it fixed," months ago, however many of the same issues persist to this day. Maintenance requests take an ample amount of time to be both acknowledged and completed. Just recently, it took about a week to get the disposal of my kitchen sink fixed. The first work order was submitted on 12/2 and I received an email that it would be reviewed and I would hear back. I never received that email, so I submitted another request to have the disposal fixed on 12/6 and finally someone came and completed the work order on 12/7. Construction on elevators in Tower 2 took 6 months+ to complete. I was told that the elevator construction would be completed either before I moved in or a couple of weeks after. It took over 6 months to be completed. potential drug deals taking place in my building a naked woman in the hot tub a bucket of water that was left out in the floor of the lobby for so long that it molded general layer of filth everywhere including vomit, urine, and feces numerous people smoking both within the buildings and within 25 feet of them terrible parking garage situation leading to destruction of rear view mirror on a rental car when I first toured the location street construction disrupting my wifi and not allowing me to complete my job on numerous occasions my unit was not cleaned prior to my move-in, but covered in dirt and dust as if it had been left alone for months the bathtub was also supposed to be resurfaced prior to my move-in, but instead took weeks to be completed and required me to vacate...