Circa Green Lake

"We moved in here February 2023 and moved after out lease was up in 2024 for multiple reasons. The first issue was the parking. Parking was $185 per car and was supposed to be an unassigned spot in the secured gated resident side. We were given a parking garage remote to get into resident parking behind secured gates that did not work. An email was sent February 22, and we were told they were "actively" working on this issue it would be fixed shortly and to park in the customer parking lot. This parking lot is not behind any secured gates and is shared with the businesses and retail tenants. We experienced difficulty finding parking in the unsecured lot due to the retail tenants and residents with no access to the resident parking lot, and sent another email asking for an ECD. They replied 2 days later saying that Green Lake is a busy location so it makes sense that parking is hard to find with no activity update. Mind you this was their response for paying $185 per month for a guaranteed spot in their garage. No response was sent further than that. We contacted many people before getting a response that never resulted in a solution. We finally gave up contacting the office as it was difficult to get a response. This issue went on until June 7, 2023, 5 months after move in before they finally fixed the garage issue, almost $1000 we wasted that went towards no guaranteed parking spot. Despite having parking behind gates, there were often holes in the fence or break ins into people's cars in the garage that neighbors alerted us of. The office never sent out announcements about these cars broken into. The second biggest issue is contacting the office. They hardly respond to emails, pick up phone calls, or are in office. We have many emails where no one ever responded and when we would stop in they would not be there despite being open. When we did go in, we learned to ask for things in writing and the follow up email would take a week or more. It is also very hard to get a straight answer from the office. There were two different temp employees from Cushman and Wakefield "corporate", who never had answers for anything going on either and would not give us contact information for corporate so we could voice our complaints that were never responded to by the office. There have also been three different property managers within the one year we lived there. The last biggest issue that really pushed us to move was our lease renewal rate. We had a lease renewal note for $600 increase per month, almost 20% more than the old rate. We talked with a couple neighbors who told us they did the same and were able to go into the office to negotiate their rent down. We tried doing the same and were told that we need to write a letter for the office to send to Cushman & Wakefield and they would give us a response back. We did this in later November, three months before we needed to resign the lease. We did not hear anything and had to stop into the office to confirm they got the email to forward to Cushman & Wakefield. It took them over two weeks to just forward the email and we never heard back from them. I don't know if Cushman & Wakefield never got the email or they are just slow at responding too. When we sent our letter to vacate, we noticed the apartment we were in listed for $20 below our current rate, way less than the rate they offered us to resign. Other issues included the multiple fire alarms that would go off in the middle of the night that they ended up shutting off (not sure if this is even legal), elevators out of service for months, packages being stolen, and call boxes not functioning. Overall the building and location is nice and has so much potential, but is managed so poorly. I left multiple reviews on "Lively" the app the building uses to pay rent and submit work orders, and got one response that told me I need to make sure I spell the email address right because that is probably why they missed it. Only live here you can deal with awful management, support, no straight answers, and slow response times!"

"Before I start, I want to clarify: I've left some harsh reviews for this property in the past for reasons that have nothing to do with the current leasing office staff. I've deleted them because in the past two years — and particularly this past year — I've seen notable improvements to the way this property is maintained and managed. I think that's primarily because of the current leasing office staff: Swati, our property manager; and Sancia, the assistant manager, who have made a real difference to the lived experience of the residents here. They are warm and friendly and take the concerns of the residents seriously, even if they sometimes aren't able to fix the issues right away. (Note to people considering renting here: the building is managed by Cushman Wakefield, but owned by TIAA-CREF/Nuveen, who often slash the leasing office's budget to the point of ridiculousness. Many of the things people complain about are not the fault of the leasing office staff.) I've lived here going on seven years. When I first moved in here in 2017, we had a great leasing office staff and maintenance manager. It's a great location, the long-time residents are friendly, and it felt like home. It changed about a year into the pandemic and we had (no joke) sixteen temporary property managers in one eighteen-month period and no full-time maintenance manager at all. The place was, to put it mildly, a mess. But over the last year, I've seen a concerted effort by the leasing office staff to improve things here and it's genuinely appreciated. In addition to a friendly and responsive leasing office staff, we now have two great maintenance managers, Brian and Randy, both of who are friendly and respectful to the residents. Maintenance requests get handled so much faster now and long-standing issues are being taken care of. The units themselves are in great shape. I've lived in three different units here since 2017 and the one thing I've noticed about this building is how quiet it usually is. (Especially compared to the NYC duplex I lived in before I moved here.) The roof deck has all new furniture (although y'all could use more umbrellas — global warming is no joke!) and new gas grills. Is the building perfect? Of course not. It's almost fifteen years old and things break. Stuff happens. (The fire alarm system here in particular seems to have a vendetta against the residents, but it's gotten a whole lot better. No, seriously: The first year I moved here, I met most of my neighbors outside during 3:00am false fire alarms.) Is it overpriced? Probably, but so is every other rental property in Seattle. It's a great neighborhood, the community residents are a nice group of people, the building is pet friendly (you'll never lack for dogs to pet), there's an amazing cafe downstairs, a tasty Chinese restaurant, a new yoga studio, a fantastic Thai place across the street, a PCC grocery store and a Starbucks two blocks away. And Green Lake Park is just steps from your front door. What more could you ask for? It's a pretty great place to live. Come check it out and be my neighbor!"

"I have been living here for the past few months and have really enjoyed my stay. Its very close to the lake and has a lot of great places nearby to eat. The management has been very helpful. You do see a few homeless people here and there near the apartment building but that's almost everywhere in Seattle and the apartment building has a good security system. Great place for a starter home."

"Dog lovers paradise across the street from Greenlake Park Modern, immaculately maintained, secure apartments that are pet-friendly to boot! The full size washer and dryer in each unit is such an wonderful amenity. The management team is very responsive and great to work with. The secure parking available at an additional cost is very nice to have as well. Steps away from many great eateries and businesses and still walkable to Roosevelt light rail station. I am very happy with my decision to move here!."

"Update December 2023: *It’s NOT safe here. Faulty fire alarms continue to go off, usually overnight when you are sleeping and have to stand out in the rain/evacuate. How is this even legal? *Homeless people with their dogs are sneaking in and sleeping in the hallways and elevators! The homeless person left their needles and trash in the elevator. Circa does nothing to keep this place secure: *NO cameras, NO security. *The trash and recycling room is still an issue. *The entry gates and call boxes are still broken. *Packages are still getting stolen from the lobby. *Break ins happening through holes in garage fence. Homeless have full access to Apt units, lobby, our packages, etc. Update August 2022: it’s been MONTHS with no maintenance here! No one is answering residents when we need help. Maintenance is supposed to be included as per our lease. Trash is so backed up it’s gross and a fire hazard. The office won’t answer emails from July, or answer voicemail messages, and when you go to the front office the sign on the door says to come back later or “they are eating lunch”. The front office management as completely turned over AGAIN. See new pics of the P1 garage area where the Amazon Hub lockers are completely taken over by trash. Terrible, constant revolving management. The folks in the front office don’t even last a week here. They turn off all the office lights, and send messages saying “office is closed” since they don’t have any staff. It’s insane. As of October: *The gates have been unlocked and not secure and we have non residents coming in, vandalizing the elevators making them in unusable, and stealing boxes. *There is no groundskeeper. My dog has stepped on glass twice now, and I’ve run over multiple nails with my tires. *Faulty fire alarms go off in the middle of the night and you have to evacuate. Our local firefighters think this place is a joke. * Elevators are usually out of order. Must take the stairs. *Trash and recycling rooms are always backed up. No place to put your trash. The property management won’t pay to get this fixed. *No one is in the front office, no one answers the phones, etc if you have an issue. Good luck getting a response or having your toilet overflow or washer break (it happens). *The apts are older and have not been upgraded, so all the appliances are original. *NO onsite maintenance! *NO onsite property manager. Which means they don’t care, because they don’t live on the property and experience things like the tenants. Zero empathy or urgency to fix things. *Parking onsite is expensive $175/month, and you will get break ins to your car! Property won’t take any action. Won’t fix holes in fence. *The Apts are not insulated well to account for the noise in retail, loud neighbors, dogs. *Landscaping is non existent. The trees are all dead. *Irrigation is broken has not been fixed in years. *Rent has gone up every year by $200-$400/month. They continue to charge more while doing nothing to fix the issues in the community. So why am I here? Because of the location and some of my neighbors who are like a community and watch out for each other."