The Station at Othello Park Apartments

I’ve been calling The Station for two days now and I have not gotten a call back! I even tried to send a message online both days and still didn’t get back and now as I’m trying to apply online someone has the studio I’ve been trying to get. This is an extreme disappointment. It looked like a great place. Either they must be very busy or do not have someone to answer their phone. What a bummer.

I have lived here for almost 2 years and love it. The building is nice and the staff is even nicer. I just moved into another unit (bigger). They make moving so easy. You should come take a look at this building. The jacuzzi, fire pit and bbqs on the roof are a nice bonus.

I recently moved in to this building after a pretty bad experience with my last apartment building. I have to say that Gladys in the leasing office was so kind and professional, It took awhile to get everything in order, but all of the office staff were friendly and polite.
This building is clean. They have cleaners daily (my last building charged crazy rents and cleaned once every 3 weeks). The common areas are always fresh, clean, vacuumed and shiny!
The office staff are incredibly nice!
The elevators are fast (though they have an annoying voice that tells you each floor you’re on).
I hear no noise what so ever from my apartment, it’s very well insulated.
I’m very satisfied with my move, this is a great place to live!

We just moved into the building this past weekend. The price of the apartment for the amenities you get, is unbeatable. We are part of the crowd that couldn’t afford Beacon Hill anymore after our landlord raised our rent by 20%.
Customer Service: Gladys Batum Puente was our lease specialist. From the beginning we were sincere with her about our limited budget. At the time, she did not have an apartment that met our needs with the price we could afford to pay. She kept in touch with us once a week until we were able to find out that something opened up that met our needs and our budget. We had asked other properties in the South Seattle and West Seattle area to do the same for us, but whenever we reached out, they didn’t return our calls our emails. Gladys was the only one to do so. She was very kind, friendly and flexible.
The Building: The temp has for sure taken a dip, but our apartment is very warm. We have not had to turn up the heat. The building is well insulated. The amenities appear to be well maintained and CLEAN!
Parking: The parking is priced less than other buildings in South Seattle and West Seattle area, but there is plenty of street parking.
Surrounding areas: despite being in the South Seattle area, the neighborhood seems very quiet and friendly. There’s a gorgeous park behind the building.
Overall impression: I see that a lot of people are not pleased with Greystar taking over the building management, but just like with all things, transition periods are tough and there is an adjustment curve. Gladys has been an essential tool during our moving transition. Hope the apartment prices remain reasonable as we do like the building and location.

Despite everyone’s bad experience at these apartments, I’m actually having a great time living here with my husband. We moved from Michigan and this was our first choice of apartments. Mercedes, the leasing manager, was extremely helpful, gave us all of the right information, and didn’t leave a single detail out. I did read all of these reviews before I decided to apply for a lease, but just because a couple of people are having bad experiences, didn’t mean I would to. We live on the 6^th floor and our view is fantastic. We see Othello Park every morning and Mt. Rainier as well, which is beautiful. I haven’t had any noise issues from my neighbors. I don’t think I’ve had one complaint since I’ve moved in since August. Maybe that’ll change, but the office downstairs listens to resident opinions/​complaints. It’s a great location because of the lite rail, multiple banks, Safeway, and it’s the perfect distance from downtown. I haven’t had an issue about people smoking in the apartment building, so I guess it just depends who you live next to and which side of the building. I wouldn’t give The Station such a bad review based on other’s actions. Just because someone wanted to smoke in a non-​smoking area doesn’t mean that’s the leasing office’s fault. They lay out the rules and obviously people will break them because they’re ignorant or just don’t care. The leasing office has told the apartment community many times that they aren’t allowed to smoke in the building. They’re doing their job by stating so. Me and my husband are having a wonderful time living here and the «crime rate» in this neighborhood isn’t The Station’s fault! If you moved in here without doing your research then that’s your fault. Figure out your moves before you make a year lease here or anywhere else for that matter.

The Good — the staff is usually courteous and helpful. The location is near the lite rail. The apartment and building are nice and generally kept up.
The bad — Noise — The walls are paper thin so you are able to hear your neighbor open and close cabinets doors and run the dishwasher. The apartment entrance doors are configured so they are prone to slam shut on regular basis which rattle the dishes in neighbor’s cabinet and will wake you at 2 am when the late nighters return home. Street noise is impossible to avoid unless you have apartment facing the court yard.
The «designated smoking area» — park side residents are subject to smokers congregating on 43^rd street at all hours of night converting the street into a party deck. The Station at Othello claims to be a non-​smoking community but that’s a farce.
The parking gates — malfunction on a regular basis.
Security or lack of it — the doors and elevators require a fob to operate though they are easily bypassed on a regular basis. The Station at Othello is located in a high crime area so this is an issue.
Holly Park Church — holds revivals on a regular basis blasting music so loud that it’s louder than a TV inside the apartment with the windows closed. These revivals go on well past 10 pm unless you call 911.
Advice — not the best but could be the worse. Look elsewhere.

My husband and I had an okay experience living here, until we moved out and got a notice in the mail stating that we owed them $ 232. We worked SO hard to make our apartment spotless, left no trash, and even had the office lady compliment us on how clean it was & tell my husband we would definitely get some of our deposit back. Well what a surprise it was when we got a notice saying that not only will we not get anything back, but that we actually OWE them $ 200 and then some. I agree with a lot of the other reviewers, they lie to their tenants & take advantage of all the small print that they can. And they are WAY overpriced for the area & size. We now rent a nice 1500 square foot home in the area for LESS than we paid for our 500 square foot studio. Not worth the price or the frustration.

This complex was truly a unique & interesting addition to South Seattle. Back in the day, this MLK corridor was the future vision of the present day light rail line and lots of [mixed] redevelopment was to coincide with this new train down the middle of the road. Similar to other dense complexes around the world near transit stations, I thought it was great.
[FF] button to June 2013, I decided to move in and experience the Othello area for a while. Almost 2 yrs later, I moved on. I came in with mild expectations given my lifestyle and the following is what I thought of my experience living here:
Amenities: I didn’t usually use the building’s but there were a few times I did. The one I used most often were the Resident Lounge computers. These were much faster than my computer so they were nice as a pitstop on the way up to my studio. About every other week, the keyboards didn’t work. This could be due to tenant abuse and/​or quality, don’t know for sure. The Resident Lounge was great and it wasn’t too uncommon to hear neighbors hanging out and talking about their various reservations they have/​had (birthdays, family groups, meetups, etc), usually around dinner time or a weekend afternoon. The Media Room seemed ok with some crumbs along the couch the one time I used it. The gym was pretty good. It had a decent variety for your legs, arms and such plus TV, water. It also overlooked the park east. Everything else I’ve mainly heard of their uses through conversation and the Resident Portal online. From the WiFi zones to the rooftop tub, there seemed to be a general approval but the somewhat regular abuse by some tenants would be cause for several private complaints to staff and shared through the Resident Portal.
Studio: My studio was quite nice! I really enjoyed staying in it. I had no issues with it during my time. 2 things I would point out are in the beginning I had the maintenance dude try to fix my crooked window screen along one side — he made it good enough; I just wanted the gap small enough so no spiders crawl in. Halfway through I also had them remove the bathroom ceiling light bulb to help conserve and it was a bit too bright for me, anyway. The dual-​flush toilets were good but the high-​flush could’ve been designed better. I didn’t use AC since I just bundle up during the cold and crack open the window during the warm/​hot (plus I don’t usually like stuffy AC air). Besides that, it was great. Spacious and suitable for this solo lifestyle, nice wood floors, bright ambience and big windows overlooking the park from the 6^th floor. One thing to note is some studio windows are behind neighbor balconies with no privacy partition.
Building: Overall, it’s a neat complex for the area. Each floor had different paint schemes and there are nice pieces of artwork and photography spread out in the common areas. The front has nice sculptures and the perimeter has decent landscape. The wall lighting design could’ve been improved. The 7^th floor rooftop is nice and a great almost-​360 degree view. The main entry is really cool. For me, I mainly did not like the front of the garage 1^st floor. The concrete finish there was much more coarse than the rest of the smoother floor. This made it prone to dirt and noise — how did this pass during construction?
Location: Very good and perhaps the main selling point for many tenants. It’s right next to an old park, groceries and several diverse dining options. Not to mention the LR train station and bus routes. Also a short drive to other small areas (Columbia City, Hillman City, Rainier Beach, Seward Park).
Staff: In the 2 – 3 mgmt changes, I’ve mainly encountered the front staff in person and 1 night security guard once. The front staff were generally friendly and nice. The security guard (and perhaps typical anywhere) was ok. Everyone else either via email or phone (mainly for garage issues).
Move-​In: Anh showed me around the place and signed me on. She was super friendly, kind and enthusiastic.
Move-​Out: Fairly well! When I received my move-​out documents, all looked good and the lady wrote a friendly note on it. I received ²⁄₃ of my deposit back which seems decent after my final cleaning effort. My refund check of $ 87 came in the mail. One thing weird was I just noticed my Final Water Bill deducted from the deposit — ehh, might look into that one.
Positive notes: The staff sometimes had nice rooftop and resident lounge gatherings that created great conversations and a sense of community; sometimes seasonally and during the Super Bowl. Tenants are very diverse. For example, there were professionals with Porsches and restricted income folks (I believe this was a mixed unit building) and practically all backgrounds of the South End.
Negative note (s): Tenant noise was sometimes an issue; fortunately for me, some was easier to overcome than others. Tenant abuse I’d say was a bigger issue for those who often use amenities. Neighborhood noise.
All things considered, not bad.

We lived here two years. Everything was fine until they were bought out my greystar. upon greystar taking over they replaced the amazing staff with unkind, unprofessional, undiverse staff who were cold and not welcoming. Immediately the maintenance on the building stopped. doors broken, garage broken, emergency exit signs broken off and not replaces, elevators broken or locked for weeks. They place dumpsters against residents cars parked on the street. Took away our poop bags for the dogs… our amenities were always broken. hot tub always under maintenance, grills turned off unless you called the front desk to have them turned on. the deck is open until 9pm but the office closes at 6. sometimes earlier. The maintenace lead is a complete jackass, upon our move out we had requested a week and a half in advance that maintenace come fix some stuff for us. we then moved out (lease didnt end for a week) and they said they would come in. They never did. And upon out walk through he said «no big deal we will fix them» .well. greystar sent us the bill. took all of our deposits 1,069+ and charged us for the «damage» to the apartment. $ 600 in «damages» there was nothing wrong with out apartment upon move out other than a track on the closet popped off and simply needed to be popped back in so it slid again. and a lightbulb out. Greystar is an AWFUL company and we must warn anyone thinking of moving here to run… run far far away. Im so sad we had such a shitty experience upon greystar taking over.
Run.
Also…

They’ve been charged with housing discrimination, showing fewer amenities to minorities, quoting higher rents, and disproportionally asking Latinos and African Americans about criminal records and employment status. Stay away.

I have lived here for 8 months. Today is the straw that broke the camels back. During my time here it has changed management 3 times. The elevators are consistently broken, as well as the garage gate and grills on the roof. Also an entry gate to the property was broken for 3 weeks. Not to mention the hot water is out right now. They are amenities that have been unavailable to us but we’re expected to continue to pay for them. I was out of town last week for work and was unable to drop my rent check off, when I went by the office on easter Sunday they were closed. So I missed the grace period do to things out of my control. I was then told I had to pay a $ 125 late fee for my first offense without any opportunity to negotiate or explain. They are holding me accountable for one mistake. I understand that. But I shouldn’t have to continue to pay for amenities and services that I’m not able to use. I will not be renewing my lease. Poor management and poor facilities are unacceptable for this ridiculous price tag.

I’ve lived here since December and really love it. The office staff is always friendly and helpful. My favorite things about the place is the location… Its easy to get everywhere especially with the light rail. I also love the rooftop deck and hot tub I use it frequently, my actual apartment is extremely modern which is another plus, very efficient appliances. (My extra bills are so cheap like water) and there’s an elevator to take you straight to the gym! My only complaints are the walls are thin! Besides that I’ve definitely enjoyed my stay here and will most likely renew my lease when the time comes.
Marissa Hansell

I lived at The Station for a year and, after some thoughtful recollection, I’ve decided to break up my review into the actual apartment living and the customer service I received.
APARTMENT LIFE:
Pros:
The apartment is well-​insulated, so I barely ever had to turn on the heat.
The building itself is kept very clean.
The amenities are fantastic, especially when you want to entertain a group or just get out to the gym.
The indoor parking and building itself are very secure.
Right next to the train! Makes for a very easy commute.
Cons:
There was a bit of a noise issue with my upstairs neighbors who let their dogs run around like mad day and night, as well as watched television late into the night.
The location of the building itself is quite sketchy, so going out to the Safeway or the Bank of America feels like a bit of an adventure.
You will probably hear at least one ambulance siren and/​or police siren each night.
I was awoken by gun shots approximately once a week.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
I will say that, before we changed management teams, the old management team was very helpful and friendly. They kept track of everything, kept me up-​to-​date with any changes, and always left a note posted on our door of any time they needed to enter the apartment at least a week in advance of entering.
However, I moved out about a month after we changed management teams, and I was not very happy with the customer service at all.
To make an exceedingly long story short, I moved out at the very beginning of September. Just yesterday, December 17, I received my original deposit and the only person to contact me back after I specifically requested them to call me back was the manager, Andrea Levy, after my calling them numerous times and asking them each time to call me back. I am not happy with the change in staff and, if not the for the excellent apartment, there would be only 1 star on this rating. Customer service is everything to me, so in that, the leasing management really fell short.
EDIT: when I tried to cash the deposit checks, there was some weird stop payment on the checks. Not only was that embarrassing, I’m furious that I am now waiting even longer to find out when my NEW deposit check is coming in. This place deserves 1 star.

This was one of the worst places I’ve ever lived. The actual apartment was nice but my dishes rattled when people above me walked around. The hallways smelled like weed all the time and often had beer bottles and cans in the mornings. The new, supposedly fancy refrigerator was shiny junk. The new, high efficiency washer and drier were amazingly stupid in design. The office staff were usually nice but could also be cold and unprofessional when they were having an off day or when you had a complaint. The security system in the building was always breaking down so there was no way to get into the building. The elevators were always breaking down, so you often had to lug all your shopping bags up seven flights of stairs.
The other residents were ghetto, openly smoking weed in the halls and elevators, hanging out in the gym to watch cable TV. Sometimes someone would forget to take her meds and pull the fire alarm and then run around in her overstressed underwear throwing things while you cower in the rain and then you have to babysit her cat for a couple of days until she is released from the hospital. (Cute cat.)
I understand that the management are not responsible for the neighborhood but it still is a consideration when choosing an apartment. There have been two murders recently within a block of the place. The neighborhood kids are always pulling the fire alarms. The only close shopping is also the worst Safeway in the city. The namesake park across the street is hopping all night long with drug dealers. Several times a week I was woken up by gun fire. The street parking is a nightmare.
Horrible. Terrible.

First of all I want to say I went back and forth between three and four stars so technically I’d give them a 3.5! I’m going to start with the pros because this apartment complex has quite a few.
I’ve been at The Station at Othello Park for almost three months now. We took over someone’s lease in May and the management team was generous and kind during our transition. Any time we have had a maintenance issue it was resolved quickly. It seems by the other reviews we have been quite lucky because I never hear my neighbors. So, if the walls are as thin as everyone says, I’m sorry!
The amenities here are fantastic. Before becoming a resident here I didn’t think much about amenities but the media center is always clean, I think its generous that they provide two computers and almost always have the paper and ink full in the printer. The roof top is awesome and has an exceptional view!
I appreciate the park across the street and that they almost always have doggy poo bags. That sounds so corny but if you’re a pet owner, you’ll understand.
To finish off the pros i’ll say I feel pretty safe in this building, especially because you need a key fob to just get in and out of the elevator. This complex is always clean and mostly all of my neighbors are extremely nice.
Off to the cons! First off, the area is a little sketchy. I can barely get myself to go to the store across the street. There is always sirens and I’ve witnessed quite a bit of police activity. Maybe I’m a baby but this neighborhood gets one star from me and thats because of the light rail!
Second, sometimes I think the management needs to monitor the amenities. The other day a little boy was riding his bicycle around the media center. Some of the people that rent things out here for personal functions (birthday/​bachelorette ext.) act like it belongs to them and them only. Its possible the managment has discussed this with them and these people just dont care!
My last point is why I knocked The Station down a whole point. This last week we lost our leasing team. I was quite bummed. We renewed our lease right before the new management came in but never received the paperwork to e-​sign online. When I went to talk to the management about it she had nothing in our file even starting we were renewing. Luckily I had a piece of paper that stated the max the old management would raise our rent, which was a total of 100 dollars. This was still more than the number I agreed on with the old management. The new manager told me I was lucky I had a form stating the max price from the old team because otherwise market price for our apartment was two hundred dollars more than our current rent! I about passed out!
All in all, that left me really disappointed in the old team. I really respected them and now I felt as though I was lied to. If we had the means and time I probably would have chose a new location due to this matter. Luckily, they’re a good amount of reason to stay and I hope the new leasing team takes good care of us.
Sorry so long! Come to The Station at Othello for many good reasons. But, if you like the peace and quiet or a secure neighborhood, look elsewhere!

My husband and I lived here for two years and had a positive experience the first year, so we referred several
people and renewed our lease. There
have been some changes in the last several months that have led to us moving.
Overall pros and cons:
Pros: gym, rooftop, secured building and parking garage, washer and dryer in unit, maintenance – amenities are great.
Cons: noise level, neighborhood, management, domestic disturbances, tobacco and weed smell pervasive.
What you will experience is probably related to how much you pay per month. If you are on the side of the building that faces the busier roads, you’ll be dealing with constant sirens, bus lines, blaring music from auction house, incidences on street, etc. We’ve had to call the police on several occasions for some significant situations outside the complex. Inside, the main issues are loud neighbors and domestic disputes. Parking garage mainly has issues related to some abandoned cars that never get towed, double parking, and strong smell of weed and tobacco. Typical, but for the price you pay, not ideal. The hallways and elevators smell strongly of weed the majority of the time.
The building itself is in good condition most of the time but the price, considering the neighborhood, is not the best. The crime in the neighborhood has increased but so have the unit prices. As far as the business practices, it is definitely a corporate mentality at this point. At first it had more of a community feeling, but money is the most important thing at this point and it can be felt.

I ended up not renewing at The Station at Othello because I moved to Austin Texas from Seattle. I was eagerly waiting to find out the price increase if I were to renew: $ 50. That’s an unbelievably low price increase — especially considering I was paying below market rate.
A couple things I remembered when reflecting on the apartment:
–Parking spaces are tiny for the residents. My car was scratched multiple times.
–The front desk would be gone/​closed without much notice
–The manager was switched 3 times in my 11 months there
–I was charged a full apartment cleaning fee $ 200+ when moving out. I rented a 500SQFT studio and was assured by the management I would pay at most $ 75. When I brought it up, I was rejected and told it was the full amount.

I moved in about three months ago and it has been a great choice for me. My review doesn’t differ much from those who also have higher ratings — I never have to turn on my heat (because the building is well insulated), I live on the park-​side of the building and rarely hear any noise from the major street or trains a block away from my windows.
There are way more amenities than I need or want — but it’s nice that they are there, I guess. The gym is rarely full and is always clean. The resident lounge is lovely as is the entryway. The rooftop deck with BBQ’s and hot tub is a nice touch. I’m also a huge fan of the smoke free building.
I love that there is a way to communicate with office staff online — it’s great to be able to submit service requests or request a package drop off without having to make a pesky phone call. You can tell that the staff is working hard to build a «community» I’m not sure that’s needed, but the effort is appreciated. They recently hosted a holiday party (with a full dinner and drinks) and have done movie nights in the past, too.
The walls aren’t super thick and at times I do hear my neighbors, but that is likely true in ANY apartment complex. The finishes in my unit are particularly nice — I love having granite counter-​tops and an easy to clean glass top stove. It’s also a treat to have high efficiency washer/​dryer in my apartment.
If you work downtown and are able to take the super convenient train, I can’t recommend it more highly. It’s a great way to travel. The proximity to Columbia City and other fun neighborhoods is fabulous.
Sure, the neighborhood isn’t the best — but it isn’t horrible either. I’ve felt very safe at all times and it seems to be getting better by the day.

I lived in a one bedroom for a year. At first I thought the unit was nice. It was small, but I knew that going in. I moved from another state not knowing the area at all. I didn’t realize that this price is way too high for the area. Sure, it is on the light rail, but honestly the train is loud and taking a bus is just as easy. The area has nothing to offer. Columbia City would be a better bnet
The office manager changed in the middle of the stay. This was not a good thing. This manager was rude and not helpful.
The last time we had someone in the guest suite, it was fiflthy. How gross!
The amentites are nice, but you can never use them because the same people are using them constanlty. The roof top deck is nice in the summer, but that’s really the only time I used it.
The rooms are cheaply painted and the carpet is a joke. If you use a wet cloth on the wall to wipe a smudge away the paint comes off with it!
So, when cleaning the place and getting ready for move out the walls had to be painted because just a small pencil smudge could not come off without wiping the paint off. So, the charge for that was 3 hours of painting at like 40 dollars an hour. A 650 sq ft. place does not take an hour to paint the whole room. The whole move out process is a complete rip-​off… be prepared to lose your deposit and then some.
I would say that they gym is nice. Updated equipment, usually not too many people in it.
Also, they put in dog bags for the dogs, which is nice, but the can get filled up and no one throws it out, so now there is just bags of overflowing dog crap … very classy.
I was scared to go outside at night. There are always police cars at the building. One night someone pulled the fire alarm and the policar arrested a random guy that was hanging out outside with the rest of residents… what the hell?
They let like 5 people and a large dog live ina 2 bedroom apartment. How do they all fit in there? At first the place as quiet, but toward the end of the lease it was loud and some of the people seemed very sketchy.
I would recommend looking somewhere else before living here.

Avoid at all costs. We will not be renewing. Moved in August 2011 and renewed once. That was a huge mistake. The building has been in constant flux since it opened. Don’t let the narrative of living on the light rail or available amenities swoon you. The original manager disappeared shortly after a year of being open. No announcement from the building about what or why. The new manager hides in the office and hasn’t followed up on any issues. Let me outline a few:
1. Loudest neighbors ever coupled with seriously thin walls. Hearing my upstairs neighbor’s phone vibrate or next door neighbor’s tv or stereo constantly. I always heard that living in apartments were noisy. I figured being a brand new building would be different. I was wrong. The building must be desperate to fill apartments because the people that live here are pigs. Non-​smoking building? Who cares! People smoke off their patios. Quiet hours? Forget that. It is a constant party going on.
2. I had family PAY to visit the guest suite amenity and it was filthy. 3 hours before their arrival I asked to inspect the room. It was dirty and I was told the maintenance guys were going to clean it. Upon their arrival I checked the room again. Still not cleaned. I went down and told them we were going to dinner and I expected it to be clean before we arrived and for them to call when it was complete. No call and when we got back still not cleaned. How embarrassing!!! Dirty towels, fingernails in the sink, hair in the shower and even a dead ladybug in the bedding. My grandmother who cleans for a living cleaned the room on her vacation.
3. Cheap appliances. The washer has needed to be replaced 2 times. For no reason at all it just stops working mid-​cycle with your clothes trapped in filled with water. Lovely on Sunday before the work week. The handle on the stove broke 2 weeks in. The fascia on the stove has been slowly peeling off. Both kitchen and bathroom sinks have had clog/​leaking issues.
4. Building security, maintenance and parking. Most recently 2 crazed women entered the building at 1 o’clock in the morning and starting banging on my door. They were «looking for a friend». Action from the building –NONE! The secured entry doors are always broken. Garage and gates are always broken. Where does my rent money end up? Street parking is nonexistent so you are forced to pay for parking. How come there are always strangers who make it into the secured parking areas?
If these issues aren’t enough the management is the most juvenile and romper-​room you’ve ever experienced. Nobody takes their job seriously or with any sense of professionalism. I really wanted to continue living here and might be able to overlook any 1 of these issues but the total package. No thanks.