Essex House Apartments

I lived in Essex house for almost 2 years in a 2br/​2ba apartment. It was initially a scary gamble, since we were from out of town and signed the lease sight unseen. However, the Essex House team were extremely patient and helpful. They even offered to send us more pictures of the place! They answered our questions and requests very quickly. When we arrived for our move-​in day, we ran a little late and their office was about to close. However, they did not rush us and still gave us a tour of the place. They also had a helpful FAQ and quick contact sheet for us so we felt like we could reach out anytime.
We found the apartment to be clean, neat, and well maintained. There were no surprises and we were very happy with the place and facility. Walls were pretty thick so I never had to worry about noise coming from other apartments. Regular street noise, however, is pretty much unavoidable anywhere you live in downtown. Any maintenance requests we had during our stay were handled quickly and efficiently. I never felt like I was just a number or tenant.
What really made the place shine was the staff. I’ve lived in apartments where the staff turnover rate was constant. That means we didn’t know the management team and they didn’t know us. At Essex House, their office door is almost always open and a friendly face is always there to say hi. Over time, it became obvious that living there was almost like a grown-​up version of dorms. There would be game nights to get to know our neighbors, and I’ve made great friends there that I still keep in touch with even after moving.
I cannot emphasize their camaraderie and friendliness enough. What Jesse, Charles, Ray and team do goes beyond customer service. They truly care about the people who stay at Essex House. They don’t put on a smile out of obligation or ask how your day was without actual interest. Instead, they work on building an engaging neighborhood experience through actual relationships that makes you feel like you’re home.

I lived in a 1BR in Essex house for 2.5 years, and had intended to call it home for longer until I found a living situation that was cheaper and even more stellar. Overall a great place to live! The management team here are what really stands out.
But first lets talk about location, location, location. Being a few blocks from city hall and the main office and commercial core of downtown Portland, you pretty much cannot live closer to the center of the city. Great for those who work downtown, and walk or bike to places. Being 2 blocks from the bus mall, you can quite literally get anywhere on a bus or train in the Metro area and even most populated places in state. The downside is that the immediate surroundings function for the weekday office crowd, and so there are limited choices of establishments open at night and on the weekends, and sometimes it can seem like a ghost town. This being said it is only a short walk to West End and other areas that have almost ²⁴⁄₇ activity.
Prometheus is a large property management corporation, but you would not know that from the personal attention you are able to get from the management team. They really do care and always make an effort to address any issues in a timely manner. Everything is clean and well-​maintained.
That being said, as with everything in Portland, the rent is too damn high… but this place is significantly cheaper then apartments in the Pearl that are nearly the same size, quality and have the same amenities as Essex House. But even for someone with a professional job the annual rent increases were larger then annual salary increases and it was not sustainable.
As far as noise goes this is a concrete building, so short of intentionally causing a disruption you will almost never hear your neighbors and they will never hear you. But there is much noise from outside. All surrounding streets are busy streets during the day and the sound echos off concrete canyons. I’ve lived in various buildings and various cities and never thought I would be bothered by city noise but it got to me eventually. The worst was the summer nights trying to sleep with the windows open and inconsiderate people (not building residents) were out in the street yelling or being loud with their cars at 3am. Plus there were the delivery trucks and garbage trucks in the middle of the night that would wake you up with loud sudden noises. None of this of course is the responsibility of Essex House, and it seemed to be a peculiarity with the adjacent concrete buildings that seemed to magnify the sound.
The only other issue that bugged me that didn’t have a solution was the bike parking in the underground garage was not really adequate for the volume of bikes that people were trying to store there. It was overflowing. What the building really needed was a secure bike parking cage as is found in many newly built high density buildings in Portland, and I would have been willing to pay to use it (and I let the management know of this idea). Being that less and less people are owning cars, especially the people moving to Portland it would not be unreasonable to allocate one or two unused car storage spaces to securely store dozens of bikes.
All in all, there is much I miss about living there and was probably the nicest apartment I have lived in.

I was in Japan when I setup my new place and luckily found the Essex House. I spoke to Ray and Charles obtaining all the information I needed including where to view more images for the apartment as well as local necessities. They were very patient with me and even helped to contact the right people so when I arrived I had it furnished and my home office as well as Internet and phone were already for me. The staff are all incredibly friendly, thorough, and surprisingly helpful for someone starting fresh with important information that helped both my company and personal needs. The room was fantastic and the facilities like gym and rec room the same. When I left they made sure to help and will be visiting often to say hi to the friends I made. I strongly recommend Essex House Apartments especially if your a pet lover!

I lived in a one bedroom apartment for one year after moving from Minnesota. The people were super friendly, staff and neighbors, and made the transition as easy as possible. The one bedroom has tons of space and a small balcony which is nice. I’d recommend this place to anyone moving to the area who wants to get to know Portland before deciding where to move. It’s not the best location for bars/​food after business hours, but lots of things still within walking distance which is nice.

I lived at Essex House it a 2BR corner apartment for over a year. 9÷12−9÷13 The staff is very friendly and helpful. The apartment had large, open rooms, a beautiful view and high-​quality fixtures and appliances. Parking seems difficult and expensive, but I didn’t have a car when I lived in the building. The neighborhood is a bit loud between the downtown location and the dump trucks that always seem to come at 6am. Overall, I enjoyed living there, but it’s not for everyone and it started to get expensive. It was still a bargain when I moved out though compared to equivalent apartments.

I really enjoyed my stay at the Essex House and highly recommend it to others that are looking for a clean, quiet, and well-​run apartment in downtown Portland. I’ve lived here for 1.5 years and have always found the staff to be very professional and friendly. Jesse and Charles in the front office are really great. They really take care of their residents. Maintenance requests are also handled right away. Moving in and out is very easy with a loading dock, extra tall elevators, and a reserved elevator policy. The on-​site fitness room and community room are always very clean and well maintained. There is also a nice outdoor patio with chairs and a grill on the 2^nd floor. The parking garage is located underground and there are always spaces available. The location of the apartment is ideal. The MAX train is a few blocks away as well as the trolley. The PSU campus is a short walk away as well. The waterfront is 2 blocks away and Pioneer Square is about a 10 minute walk away.

Great place to come home to – located in the quiet southwest side of town known as the Business District. There are plenty of activities just out the front door and amenities to take care of your dry-​cleaning, dinning, hair styling needs and most everything else. The waterfront is two blocks away! Your backyard includes the Blues Fest, St. Patrick’s Day Fun Run, Beer Fest, Wine Fest, Food Fest, …Fest-​Fest. After the day is done it’s back to peace and quiet. The Pearl District is fun for a while, but glam and glitz wears thin and old and the peace and quiet of the Essex House make it home-​sweet-​home. After two years I can say I feel comfortable giving this place a five star rating. Part of the package is the management — Charles, Jesse, Al, and team are great with a friendly face to welcome you. The management may change, and the atmosphere also, so take this as a great rating at the time it is written.

My experience at Essex House has been mixed. Charles and Jesse are both super nice and awesome guys, but the maintenance department would benefit from significant improvements. The location is great if you’re looking for downtown living, and the price per square foot is hard to beat. And, the building, for it’s age, offers some nice amenities and features.
I want to like the Essex House and recommend them, but I had to many miscues during my tenancy. Mainly, I experienced a number of maintenance issues that were slow to be resolved and the situation was more than I was willing to deal with. I hope this place does well and that they are able to successfully address the reasons that ultimately lead to me vacating my lease after only seven months. To their credit, the Essex House did take responsibility for their actions and they were gracious enough to allow me to break the lease with zero inconvenience. And, even after choosing to do so, both Charles and Jesse remained incredibly friendly and at all times professional.

I just moved in a month ago. I love it here. I love the location, but the best thing is the staff. I’ve used the big grill outside twice. That’s been great. And I’ve used the community room once. Very nice place to take my guests. The place is kept really nice and always smells freshly cleaned. I’m a happy camper.

We’ve lived here almost a month and are quite happy with our new place. We’re in a 1-​bedroom and while smaller than our last apartment we don’t feel too cramped. It would certainly be too small if our organization style was more dump-​everything-​in-​piles-​on-​the-​floor, but with some thoughtful furniture purchases we’ve found a place for almost everything.
I love being so close to all the fun happenings downtown. I can easily walk to the post office, central library, Pioneer Place/​Square, several of Portland’s farmers’ markets, the waterfront, and even Powell’s if I’m feeling energetic. Our dog certainly enjoys exploring the neighborhood. There are lots of other dogs who live in the building, and the management sets out a bowl of milkbones each day. I think the people who work in the office learned my dog’s name faster than they learned mine.
Some details that might not be apparent from their website/​a visit:
–the windowsills are really wide, which is nice for putting things on, but the blinds will get in the way.
–the microwave beeps a lot and is very impatient. If you don’t attend to it after it finishes microwaving, it will beep again about a minute later, just to remind you that it’s there. The dryer does this, too.
–the showerhead is just barely taller than I am (I’m 5’6″), my boyfriend has to crouch to wash his hair
–but the bathroom fan is independent of the light, which is great if the sound of fans really grates on your nerves!
–the parking garage is 1) great because I know my car is more protected than it would be on the street and I can go right up to my apartment from my car 2) has rather low ceilings and supporting columns all over the place, which make some spaces really hard to get into.
All in all, I am happy to have moved here and plan to stay a while.