735 St Clair

Just must say that this place is fantastic in terms of location and amenities. The staff is friendly and courteous and very efficient and responsive. Would definitely recommend this beautiful building to anyone. We are considering renting ourselves.

Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. The leasing office over the course of one week made repeated promises and assurances that they either forgot about or reneged on. The leasing agent was unprofessional and insulting. After speaking with the manager, Kayla, did not stand by the promises made by her staff. Other apartments have also informed me of St. Clair’s high turnover in all positions indicating property mismanagement. The apartments may appear to be nice but I am confident that management will not assist their tenants with concerns, as mentioned in previous posts. Also note their false advertising of central heat and air. They actually have a system where management controls your access to heat OR air. So in September when temperatures fluctuate management will control if you get heat or air. As someone who is in the leasing business, please note that any company who treats their prospective residents in such a horrible manner will treat their residents the same. STEER CLEAR! This review is purely based on the lack of customer service since I turned down their offer to lease me an apartment.

Location of the 735 St. Clair is fantastic ! I walk almost everywhere I want to go. The building is old and owners are renovating units as tenants move out. The rent is increasing substantially for the renovated units. Whenever there is a maintenance problem, the maintenance staff is there right away. The office staff and maintenance people are helpful and friendly. Nick keeps the building very clean which I very much appreciate. The building is air-​conditioned which is a nice feature for an older building. The owners have put in new double pane windows throughout the building and have upgraded the plumbing. The roof deck is 25 stories above street level and is awesome. I like the fact that there are two Zip cars at the building and the bus stops right here since I don’t have a car. I have lived in the building for 2 years and am happy here. Rents in Portland are skyrocketing fast so I may be priced out before too long. I certainly hope not because I really enjoy living here.

We were looking for a place that was in the close-​in NW neighborhood, near NW 23^rd and NW 21^st streets. It’s a great walkable neighborhood, with parks, close to transportation and downtown. We were a bit more desperate than others in the hunt because we moved from out of state and with PDX’s low supply and high demand, we knew we had to choose quickly when we found something. We came across 735 St. Clair on Craigslist, went to see it, and signed up the same day.
It appeared like a great building because the residents seemed friendly, the management was nice, the amenities like Zipcars, gym, & rooftop with amazing view were great. We weren’t sure, though, because the apartments are very outdated for the rental price but the positives won us over and seemed worth the rent.
In total, our rent is over $ 1050 with actual rent, storage, electricity, and heat. Our apartment is only 650 sq ft. This seemed reasonable at first but after months of weekly maintenance calls due to extremely old pipes, water issues, appliances falling apart, etc. we’re a bit fed up. The building and all of its parts are original, from 1964. Nothing has been updated with the exception of a stove or refrigerator here and there (and they’re still OLD). The bathrooms are old (ours is pastel pink!), the kitchen cabinets, countertops, and flooring is old, the walls are old, cracked and the ceilings are popcorned, the windows don’t keep cold out at all, and are a pain in the a$$ to open, and much much more.
I’ve spoken with management and maintenance many times about the building and have asked why it hasn’t been updated or renovated as necessary, and I’m always met with «that’s really expensive.» Well, pardon my french, but no sh! t. That’s why you have tons of tenants in the building paying thousands in rent each month… so you can update and renovate and put money back into the building.
To just continue to operate as it is now is not sustainable business practice. The residents, like myself, will continue to complain, and continue to leave in masses despite the positives, as will the staff who won’t be able to handle the ever decreasing quality of the building.
Bottom line is this… if the owners want to maintain its appeal to quality residents, renovate and update the plumbing, kitchens, bathrooms, and have the asbestos taken care of as well! Otherwise, you’re going to continue to lose quality residents like us, and start having residents who don’t care and the overall building environment is going to fade as well.
To renters: if you need something quick and short term, then sign a lease for 6 months. But trust me, you’ll be annoyed within a few weeks with the outdated and nonworking things in your apartment. And no amount of charm from the staff will help. There are plenty of other buildings in the NW (or other PDX ‘hoods) that offer cheaper rents, updated units, quality staff and owners.