Crown Royal Apartments

The location and maintenance crew is the only good thing about this place.
New management started last summer and they suck! Seriously. There’s a few people in the office and one doesn’t know what the other is doing. No communication. I’m not sure how this place is still functioning sometimes.
I lived here for two years, and I couldn’t wait to get out. They let someone else take over our lease, but the process was terrible. They couldn’t remember anything and screwed up the lease a few times.
Beware!

Incredibly rude customer service. The new management does not provide adequate updates. There was a major pipe break next door and the management did not communicate or update us on any risk we might experience. They have outdated appliances that incur expensive utilities. My electric bill is $ 200 for a 900sq ft appt per month. I pay for the water and sewer for all units. Don’t be fooled – while the location is perfect – this building is as close to a slum as you can get in the NE.

PROS:
1) Cheapest place in the NE that I came across. (This is a HUGE pro obviously.)
2) Maintenance is fast and attentive.
3) Cool free pile in the laundry room. Residents are always leaving neat stuff there.
CONS:
1) Building is overall a piece of garbage.
2)Downstairs neighbors were so terrible that the police brought in drug sniffing dogs. Crown Royal didn’t evict them, just moved them into another building.
3) Smoking is allowed outside the building. There is no feet restriction. Stinky.
4) Thin walls. You will hear your neighbors sneeze, cough, laugh, watch TV, listen to music, etc.
5) Communal water bill. You have 3 people in your apartment? Then you will pay for 3 people, divided by the entire bill. There is no point in conserving water under this system. (Our bill, btw, was about $ 40-​$ 45 a month PER PERSON for water.)

My wife and I moved into the Crown Royal’s «Irvington as our first apartment on the bottom floor. Because we were so busy heading into a wedding that was out of state, we decided to sign a lease without seeing the actual apartment. That was a big mistake. The day after we moved in, the place flooded, which damaged many of my irreplaceable and priceless collectable items. Fortunately we were «upgraded» to the top floor, which was dry.
The doors fell off their hinges. The hot water would spew steaming hot burning water out of the shower without warning. The shower eventually stopped draining properly. The oven was too small for our cookware, and it went out intermittently. In the winter, it cost a great deal to heat the place.
The location is overhyped, because it isn’t that much closer to downtown than a lot of places in the NE, but the rent was close too much.
The month before we moved out, there was a stabbing on the first floor… not to mention that it happened in the apartment that we were originally rented into which flooded. The morning after the stabbing, there were residents that had accidentally placed their hands on the blood that was still everywhere in the lobby near the elevator. It was amazing to me that nobody from Riverstone actually addressed that incident to belay the concerns of the residents who were witness to the large amounts of blood all over the complex. One resident commented that it looked like someone had gutted an animal judging by the sprayed blood everywhere.
At first we were told by the managers at the Irvington that we would be getting money back when we moved out. Then, we received a bill in the mail stating that we owed them more money for cleaning fees and such. So, to verify, I again called the managers and left a message. I was called back and told that everything was good to go and no money was owed of due.
The rudeness of Luke Morales, the Riverstone Receivables Specialist, proved to me how unethical, cold, and disorganized Riverstone is, hence the Irvington’s revolving door.
I would strongly advise anyone interested in renting in that area to look elsewhere, or refuse to pay what Riverstone’s Crown Royal/​Irvington Apartments charge without a hell of a good bargaining session.

This is definitely not the worst or best place I’ve ever lived. We live in the building on the southside of Schuyler between NE 19^th and 21^st. The main reasons why we chose to live here in the first place are the location (easy to downtown and to our jobs in NE, also near lots of places to eat) and the fact that they accept cats and dogs of all sizes. The reasons we’ve discovered why we don’t like living here are the thin, thin walls, the inconsiderate neighbors, and the fact that the cheap mangy carpets absorb every pet smell. The management is friendly and fix problems quickly. Most of the neighbors are nice, but a good deal of them are just unfriendly. I mean half the people own dogs and they won’t even smile at you while your dogs are peeing 5 feet away from each other. If you move here, I would also not recommend living on the first floor unless you enjoy hearing your upstairs neighbors have sex at 2am. Besides that, you can literally hear every step they take. I am not sure if they are heavy footed or if the ceilings are just that thin. We’re talking like REALLY REALLY thin. Oh and there are two laundry rooms, which is great as long as you don’t mind that nobody EVER cleans them. There are layers of dirt inside the doors, and I saw what looked like a large toe nail on top of one of the washers. My husband scrubbed them with Clorox wipes the first time he did laundry; after that we just went elsewhere. Also because it is so close to Broadway, there are quite a few homeless people sorting through the trash all day long. Hmm… the more I write, it really does sound terrible. But I think it deserves 3 stars because I really don’t have anything great to compare it to. If you want to live close-​in in Portland with your dog and cat, you don’t have many options under $ 900.

We lived at Crown Royal’s «Irvington» building on 21^st and Weidler for almost a year, and couldn’t wait to get out. Of course if you love an overpowering aroma of marijuana in the stairwells and elevator, then maybe it’s your kind of place. The incompetent local management is working for an outfit in the Seattle area called Riverstone (whose toll-​free number is no longer in service…) When Riverstone finally calls you back, they can explain why the local manager’s numbers don’t match yours, or theirs, or anyone else’s. Then you can pay the cleaning fee, and all the other junk the big management companies like to charge. When we moved out, there were at least five vacant units — you figure it out. Just another revolving door managed complex.