Avalon Meydenbauer

I’ve been living here almost 3 years now and shortly if you just want a place to live it’s good but if you want a community it’s terrible. Here are my experience:
Pros:
1) Nice location
2) Friendly stuff and maintenance
3) Nice insulation
Cons:
1) Terrible security!!! You can get murdered and your apartment can be set on fire without getting seen by any security cameras:
2) There are two big constructions going right in front of the building which creates incredible noise.
3) Sewer smell in the parking lot all the time
4) Chemical liquids will ruin your car’s paint and they won’t come off without acid treatment (Which still messes up your paint)
5) Anytime you go to leasing office with a complaint about community, nothing will get done!
6) If you tell them weights in the gym is melted it will take 6 months to replace them.
7) Each year they’ll increase your rent almost 10% if you stay in the same unit. I’ve moved to the next unit of mine last year just because it was much cheaper.
8) Elevators are the slowest in the world and every other week they will stop working and a technician will spend a day or two fixing it while you walk to the other side of the building to be able to get out.

These people just want your money, they don’t care about anything else.
Here is what happened with me: unfortunately I signed a lease with them before seeing the apartment. When we went up to the apartment it wasn’t clean and we actually didn’t like it at all. After discussing the matter with my wife we tried to tell them that we want to cancel the lease that we have just signed and we are welling to leave the deposit that we have paid which is 750 $, but they refused. they wanted the complete one month rent without us even taking hold of the apartment. They are forcing us to live in an apartment that we don’t like or to give them 1750 $ without even using the apartment for one day. I really feel bad about them, Try to find a better place!

This didn’t feel like «Time Well Spent».
First the Pros:
1. Safeway conveniently located in the building.
2. Decent square footage in some apartments.
3. Good closet space.
4. Very large, comprehensive gym.
5. Across from Downtown Park
6. «Pet-​friendly» but there are friendlier options out there.
Cons:
1. Noisy apartments due to outdoor noise and very noisy, low-​grade appliance package. You cannot hear the TV if any of the following is running: dishwasher, laundry, heaters. Apartments facing Safeway parking lot experience problems from car alarms and general public noise, especially during summer months when school is not in session.
2. In wall, electric heaters are inefficient in heating a room quickly and at low cost. For reference my electric bill ranged from $ 50-​$ 100/​month for a 950 sq ft. apartment.
3. Lack of guest parking.
4. On going problems accepting out-​going mail.
5. No AC which is fine in the winter but these units heat up like ovens in the summer even when it’s only a mere 80 degrees outside.
6. They have a lot of hidden fees that they are not upfront about when they quote you the rent.
7. Slow elevators: You have to wait more then 5 minutes during rush hours like going to work and coming home from work.
8. Lack of general maintenance and response to maintenance requests. The common areas are not well taken care of and show signs of abuse. They don’t wash the outside of the windows as often as necessary. They never replaced our door number after it was stolen a few months after move-​in.
9. Numerous fire drills throughout the year and during harsh weather conditions.
10. Large building footprint will make this a very expensive move in/​out or just painful if you decide to move yourself. There is only one truck loading dock and only one freight elevator on the far end of the building which does not serve a majority of apartments well because you have to move up to 2 blocks through the internal hallways.
11. They will nickel and dime you for every cent of your security deposit and will charge for every single normal wear and tear item they find. Don’t count on getting your security deposit back and you should factor that into your monthly rent. They also refused to note down problem items in the move-​in inspection.
We moved to Elements Too and found those apartments to be much more comfortable.
Good Luck.

I really want to give them –5 if I could. Please do not even think about applying. They really nickel’n’dime you even before you move in. I decided to cancel my application three days after the approval because of horrible review of the property, they are now asking over 300 dollar in rent because the apartment was off the market since I the day I applied for a property. The clause is hidden somewhere you never notice and they bring that up if you complain.

I’ve lived at Avalon Meydenbauer for about four years now and I’ve been very satisfied. I’d like to continue living here; however, I may have to move because of a new job. Otherwise, I’d happily continue to live here.
Some of the negative reviews on here are in reference to the move-​out experience and noise. I have not gone through the move-​out process yet, so I can’t speak to that. I’ll just speak on what I have experienced, which is great customer service, excellent location, and a quiet building.
My experience with noise level differs from other reviewers because I live on the second floor, which is right above the parking garage, I believe that I have a concrete floor underneath me, which is sound proof so I don’t hear much noise. Also, the building is shaped like a square doughnut and my unit faces inward, away from the street so I don’t hear any noise from pedestrians or traffic. I do sometimes hear police sirens or fire truck sirens, but that’s not uncommon for a downtown area.
I’ve found that the staff is very friendly. This includes everyone from the front office to the maintenance folks. I haven’t had any issues.
Pros:
— Close to shopping, some nightlife
— Close to bus lines and Bellevue Transit Center
— Above Safeway
— Across from Bellevue Downtown Park
— Office staff who accepts packages from carriers and emails you when your items are delivered
— Professional staff
Con:
— The heater in my place isn’t very efficient. There are basically two settings: off and hot. I ended up buying a space heater from Lowes to augment my unit’s heater.
I really don’t have any other cons at this point. To be fair to prospective renters, I haven’t moved out yet, so I don’t know how that process will go. If it’s anything like a typical Seattle-​area apartment building, I doubt I’ll get my deposit back despite keeping my place very clean.

Pros:
Location is great — Safeway/​Park/​Bellevue square are steps away.
Spacious apartments.
Cons:
Elevators are extremely slow. You could feel it every weekday at 5−6pm.
Loud because of the noise outside.
Too hot in summer.
Packages pick up is only between 9−5(6) and sometimes there is no one there — «Showing apartments to residents» and you have to wait extra 15 minutes.
Water/​Sewer charges are outrageous. 100 per water and sewer each — bad choice for water company.

I really enjoyed this place to live in.
The first two month i’ve been to USA — i’ve spent here. Fenomenal location.
The heart of downtown, close to stores, restaurants and transit center.
Liked room service, apts itself.
Would recommend deffinitely.
P. S. The only thing i’m not aware of — is price.

I stayed here for a long time, and the experience was great.
But moving out is a bit trouble, I kept getting the water bill after moving out, after calling meydenbaur, then the energy company, then the avalon customer center for 30+ minutes, they are still not able to resolve it for me. I was given another number to call!

Hello, I have lived in the same unit in Avalon Meydenbaur for a number of years. I would have left two years ago except my work’s stressful periods corresponded with the moving out dates so I didn’t have any time to hunt for a new apartment. With that said, there are still a few nice things about living here. And here is a short list of pros and cons I will be going over.
Pros.
1. Location
2. Good Maintenance staff
Cons.
1. Noise
2. Price
3. Misc
Pros:
1. The apartment building is relatively new and its location is great. As far as «being happening» on the Eastside goes, this is pretty much it. Next to a kick ass park, a movie theatre, and the best shopping mall in the state. Sure, it’s on top of a Safeway too. But I always see more grocery bags from Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and various ethnic grocers. The good news is it’s not a far drive to those stores!
2. The maintenance and front office staff are all pretty chill. They are polite, courteous, and most of them are friendly too. I really like how responsive they are for service requests. I submitted two requests on Monday and both were fixed by the time I got home on Tuesday. They also fix emergency issues immediately.
Cons:
1. I recommended this apartment to one of my friends from work, because I was a greedy lil’ money grubber and wanted the referral bonus. Unfortunately, he moved out in the first 30 days because IT WAS TOO DAMN LOUD.
If you live on the West side or North side then without fail, some drunkard will wake you up every weekend right after last call. Best of all, during the summer, all of the high school kids hang out at in the parking lot by the frozen yogurt place. And my god do I hate listening to children trying to out do each other in being loud and obnoxious.
The good news is when the weather gets wet and cold, all of the drunks and kids stay in doors. Yeah! :D
And for the people on the South side and East side, I’ve heard a few complaints about the Safeway trucks. Maybe the inner courtyard is the only place for peace and quiet.
Also, I’ve both annoyed and been annoyed by neighbors with music and running the washing machine and dryer. So once again, noise is a problem.
2. I’ve noticed people are constantly moving out of this apartment, and it is always because of rent increases. One family of five told me their rent went from 2,100 to 2,500 and then 2,900 over the course of two years – that’s almost 20% increases per year. Most of the single bedroom occupants only see jumps around 10 to 12% a year, which isn’t ridiculously but still pretty steep. I wonder if the company prices the rate hikes higher for families because they have a harder time moving than people without kids. Anywho, I keeping on losing my neighbors because no wants to pay 200 dollars extra in rent every month. But I guess squeezing more money out of the tenants is more important than fostering a community.
Also, the apartment claims a standard parking spot is 75 dollars a month, but after surveying other people, I found people pay either 0, 25, or 50. In other words, if you think you are getting a good deal and saving 25 dollars a month by paying only 50 then you are a sucker!
As for the move out process, I have heard only neutral things so hopefully my experience will be better than the horror stories described on Unilocal.Or maybe I will get fined a million bucks for writing a less than favorable review. :P
3. There are various things wrong with the people living in this building – I saw a dog poop in the elevator last weekend, people smoke in the hallways and the garage, etc. Oh yes, that’s right, it is supposed to be a non-​smoking building but people do it anyway.
I understand these issues are caused by the residents and are minor annoyances at best – actually smoking might become a bigger concern because we are considering having children in the near future.
But when I first moved here the front office was responsible enough to remind people to follow specific rules whenever they were broken. Now days, I don’t even bother complaining about the pet piss on the walls or cigarette butts on the hallway carpets because every time I am given some polite excuse about why this and that can’t be helped.
Seriously though, if Avalon wants to charge «luxury» apartment prices then it would be nice if it managed the property accordingly. I’ve had fewer issues living in way cheaper places; so I really don’t know what I am paying for. It becomes even harder to justify the price when friends who are living a block away pay way less for a bigger unit.
I did make a joke about referring my friend to live here for money, but in reality, I am actually pretty embarrassed for having recommended a place he couldn’t stand. And the guy grew up in a third world country so I don’t think his standards could have been too high.

I stayed in a studio apartment at Avalon Meydenbauer for a year, and the experience was great. The main reason I left was because I wanted to move to a different area.
When I first met the leasing agents, they were very friendly and helpful, and outlined all the details before I even moved in. The apartment was thoroughly cleaned and spotless when I moved in, and everything was in great shape. (Even the inside of the dryer had been cleaned, so there was no blue residue from washing/​drying jeans!)
There was only one or two cases where I had to make a maintenance request, and the requests were dealt with promptly. If there was ever a time where management had to enter the apartment, they always gave lots of notice, and explained the reason for entering in further detail when I called to ask them about it.
Being immediately above the Safeway parking lot did mean that I heard a few noises once in a while. However, the noises were never distracting or bothersome; I never woke up because of them. (For comparison, it was less noisy than living near a busy road in Seattle.)
The common areas of the apartment were kept quite clean. However, on my floor, the smell from the garbage chute room would diffuse to the waiting area for the elevators. Fortunately, I did not have the apartment unit closest to the garbage chute (there was one directly opposite the garbage chute room). If you’re considering an apartment unit close to the garbage chute, ask the management what they will do about the smell. This is a good question to ask any apartment community though.
The elevators in the buildings are slower than most elevators. I’m not sure why that is. However, this was no more than a minor inconvenience for me.
Upon moving out, the management and staff were just as friendly and transparent as any other time I’ve interacted with them. They sent me details about the move out dates and answered the questions I had.
In my experience, they did not eat all my deposit upon move out. In fact, since I hadn’t really damaged anything, they were quite fair in what they withheld from my deposit. I did notice, however, that they were much more thorough in their move out inspection than in their move-​in inspection. I suspect that was because at move-​in, the apartment unit was in almost perfect condition. To be fair though, it’s also the tenant’s responsibility to be thorough during the move-​in inspection.
It’s also worth noting that they clean and prepare the apartments really well before handing them to new tenants, compared to other apartment communities I’ve stayed in. So it’s clear that they actually do use the cleaning deposit and other deposit funds to actually repair, clean, and prep the apartment. This is more than I can say about other apartment communities.
Regarding rent increase, after a year of living there, renewing my lease would have required an 11% increase in rent payments. Given that inflation in Seattle was 2.7−3.7% in 2011*, this amounts to real increase of about 7.8%. That was still quite steep, in my opinion. If they spring this on you, I suggest negotiating it down.
Overall, I was very pleased with this apartment community. I know there are a few other reviewing on Unilocal about Avalon Meydenabauer that have quite a different take on things. I’m not sure why that is; maybe the particular staff working there has changed.
* Acquired inflation data from
. I tried to find inflation data for Bellevue specifically, but I could not find the numbers.

I have lived here since November; the location is unbeatable. The Safeway downstairs is open until 1 AM, and there is an elevator to reach it indoors so it’s not necessary to go outside in the rain.
The staff is friendly and always willing to help and answer questions.