The Modern Seattle Apartments — Local services in Seattle

Avoid this place. They are encouraging people to write good reviews. Observe that the 5-star reviews use vague marketing-style language. They also bribed the admin and took control of the WhatsApp group for residents. This was supposed to be a group where people can share info. They treat each resident differently and exploit those who don’t know. This apartment baits-and-switches and acts disingenuous from greed.

I was one of first 10 residents who moved in. Most of the early residents from before 2024 moved out. We were either baited and switched on or flooded out.

I lived at The Modern from September 2022 to May 2024, first in unit 3109 (paying $4,600/mo, which was $1,000 above nearby penthouse units) and then moved to 2703 after the first flood. There were 2 major floods and a 3rd minor one (I heard) after I had moved out.

Initially, they tried to run the apartment like a 5-star resort—offering weekly bagel brunches and monthly $100 private chef dinners with unlimited wine. But after about a month, the weekly brunches were reduced to monthly, then stopped altogether. The private chef dinners became more expensive and eventually ceased as well. The events at first were cool and FREE such as pumpkin carving for Halloween and rose bouquets for Valentine’s Day. Over time, events became less impressive, and some started costing $20+ per person, packed, harder to RSVP for. It made the experience feel far from luxury. Imagine paying a premium for a first class ticket but then get told to line up in economy.

They’re desperate to make up losses from the floods. As a result, they nickel-and-dime residents with extra fees and fines—like $200 for leaving dog hair in common areas or $250 for staying at the bar past curfew. No warnings either. They update the Resident Handbook silently to add or increase fees. You only find out when you’ve been charged. The bar, which started out as a nice perk, eventually came with strict rules, guest limits, and more fines.

I was impacted by the first flood in 2022. I had to fight with them to cover relocation costs but they didn’t pay 100% so I had to file insurance and still paid a deductible. They promised improvement but management changed and things got even worse. In 2024, another flood hit the building. Thankfully, my second unit was spared. However, I saw neighbors being treated even more poorly than I had been treated. Management tried to evict people ILLEGALLY within a week. They intimidated them by lying, saying their lawyer said they had to GTFO by the end of week, on their own dime, too. It renewed my anger towards the building because the flood happened again and they handled it even worse.

Staff turnover is high. The front desk staff are really nice and greet you every day and hold the door for you but they all leave within a year. I heard James their 3rd bartender rage quit, too. He tried to shield the residents from the BS. He spoke up for us once after Sentral tried to sneak in a bill for “common area electricity” on everyone’s ledger. This wasn’t on my lease agreement and it was an extra $130 a month!

They also overcharged me $1,300+ for parking I didn’t use. They didn’t refund me for 3 months after I had moved out, ghosted my emails, and only took action after I had threatened to sue.

Basic amenities in the units themselves are also bad. Water pressure is terrible—it took LITERALLY 30 minutes to fill a bathtub. The hot water was never hot enough for over a year. The dryer takes 2 hrs to dry one load. The fridges in both of my units malfunctioned, either didn’t make ice or dispense water. The kitchen hood isn’t properly insulated so it let in noise and dust from the street. During high winds, the ducts rattled like crazy. It’s because the building is a retrofitted WeWork.

The gym, fitness classes, and views are indeed nice. However, they don’t make up for the subpar fixtures and being terrorized with changing rules and shady billing practices. I felt stressed out and anxious living here and also a sucker! Imagine shelling out $65k a year to live...

Update: The conservatory deck was completed Sept 14th. Wifi was corrected and stained carpet PIECES were replaced. I am changing my 2* to now 4stars. I have posted photos of the completed work of the carpet and conservatory deck.

Allow me to share the pros and con of living in the Modern. I'm speaking from a resident who moved into the building 9 months ago. During my tour and while considering this facility as my residence, the items that sold me to secure leasing were the following things: Pros- Maintenance staff is quick to repair any issue inside the home New building built 2022 Occupancy was 20% when I moved in its closer to 60-65% now Beautiful views of the Bay Walking distance to nearby markets and restaurants Delivery service is great To date parking has been issue free Routine cleaning is done daily but carpet on the floor I live needs to be cleaned(dog urine stains are very visible). Security does a pretty good job of keeping the homeless from being directly in front of the building. Staff tries to make a community out of the building (free brunches occasionally, trivia night and a plethora of ideas to make it a luxury residence) As the occupancy continues to grow the fitness center is becoming more of an issue(overcrowded)

Cons- Wifi is absolutely horrible (you have to refresh every 5min) if you are depending on uninterrupted service, you may have to walk to Starbucks. I've talked to other tenants with the same issue. My opinion is allow tenants to choose their own provider. Not only am I forced to use your product. Your product demonstrates poor performance consistently. I have no options, just like a hostage. Starting to see new tenants have dogs on the 35th and 36th floor conservatory deck(rooftop) without a leash. Starting to see a turnover in the original staff leaving. When moving into the building, you are sold on the idea that the 35th/36th floor is an extension of your living room. The last weekend of 2022 water damage happen on the 35th floor. Repairs were started in January and quickly stopped. No team working on the issue at all for 6 months. Fast fwd to July (residence memo states repairs are to begin 6am-2:30 Mon-Fri. Absolutely nothing but more prep work with plastic to give the illusion that work is being done, which is an insult to me. As I type this review I am on the 36th floor during those same hours and no work has been or is being done. This is equivalent to having repairs in your home and there is no rush to complete the task. It's a shame I can't invite family or friends over to see the actual selling point of this property because its literally under construction for 8 months. Its becoming an unwanted site for some of us that have been here a while. Im very curious to know what they are telling the future residence during the tour about the construction. My opinion is that you're giving a few extra perks to the residence that wasn't offered prior to the damage to not complain about horrible construction that is present.This looks like a home owner's DIY project that's gone way wrong or just abandoned! One would never think that a facility of the stature would allow this to occur. These are some of the things I am able to identify and share at this time.

Bottom line FIX THE REPAIRS!!

When the repairs are complete, I will edit my post until then know that the issue...

We recently moved.

Let’s start with the good, most of the staff is friendly and will make sure your needs as residents are met. The apartment is beautiful and well maintained.

Now let’s get into the bad. The building is designed so that some units overlook the dog area.

Someone in one of those apartments is throwing marijuana joints out the window and they are landing in the dog area.

My dog ended up eating one and became unresponsive and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

We notified management, they looked over surveillance video but couldn’t find the culprit. They said they would have staff walk the area more frequently to check for drug residue.

We figured it was an isolated incident but it wasn’t, numerous other joints were found and numerous complaints were made. A second incident occurred with our dog a few weeks later when he attempted to eat another joint that was laying in the dog area but this time we were able to stop him.

At this point, the ongoing risk to our dogs safety wasn’t something we were comfortable with so we politely asked to be released from our lease without penalty.

They said no, they won’t be breaking a lease for my dogs safety and instead said they will send another email reminding residents of the no smoking policy.

I asked for a 20% discount on my rent in exchange for us not using the dog area and finding an alternative area for our dog and they said no, they won’t be accommodating my request for a discount.

Instead, they said they would waive our pet rent but this did not happen, they continued to charge us this fee.

At this point we starting looking into the lease break clause in the contract and found it to be egregious. Their lease is not in line with Washington state law and I’m not sure if it can even be legally enforced.

They wanted 6 months rent which totaled 36,000 dollars in order to release us from our lease, from a property they cannot keep safe for pet residents.

As I mentioned above, their lease is not in line with Washington State Laws and after doing our due diligence, we were able to move without incurring the 36,000 fee.

Outside of how they handled our concerns and requests around the safety of our dog, our experience was good. Don’t expect them to work with you around any safety issues you may have, they don’t care.

They are priced MUCH higher than other buildings in the area and at 6,000 dollars a month for rent, I expected them to be more understanding and proactive in terms...