The Preserve at Cedar River

I moved in to the Preserve at Cedar River after I sold my house and while I waited for my new home to be built.
I had nothing but great experiences here with the staff. The complex is always pristine and clean. The management is friendly and very communicative. All maintenance requests were handled in 24 hours.
As far as the complainers on here…
Parking can be tough later in the evening. You can avoid this by paying a whole $ 35 a month for a covered parking spot. I have 2 cars and I pay for one spot. I never have problems finding parking for my other car.
Utilties– I didn’t find anything unusual about the cost of my utilities.
Location– Roughly 4 minutes to I-​405. Yes, if you commute in rush hour traffic there will be traffic on SR169 and it will take more than 4 minutes– as there is traffic on every major roadway during rush hour. I found the location to be super convenient to the freeway and The Landing.
Noise– If you think you can rent an apartment next to a major highway and it’s going to be quiet, then I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. Some of the buildings abut the highway, some do not. There are plenty of quieter buildings. Also know that I could easily hear the highway from my master bedroom window and, frankly, it wasn’t a big deal. The noise is really only prevalent during… wait for it… R-​U-​S-​H H-​O-​U-​R. Shocking, I know.
Pool– Great pool. Well maintained. I experience NO issues with mosquitos and I get eaten alive from them when they are around.
Packages– I recevied every package from the office that I was expecting. Nothing was ever lost or missing.
Cost– This complex is a little more expensive than the DUMPS up on the hill on 140^th and Petrovisky. With the way the real estate market is these days I am not sure how folks can expect less when demand is so high.
If I didn’t have a new house to move in to, we would be staying here.

First, logistics and maintenance problems…
For a (small) 2bd/​2ba, utilities often averaged $ 300. For an apartment without cooling, this is extremely inefficient. Our heater had to be serviced twice. The water heater in one of the closets had a slow leak which eventually caused a mildew smell that tipped me off something was wrong. They did not replace the carpet; only the baseboards (which had swelled due to water retention). In reference to water in the apartment, these units were constructed without a vapor barrier under the slab (with the addition of the river nearby), which causes moisture to linger for extended periods of time. Towels stay wet for extended periods of time because of the humidity, and the bathrooms mold very easily. At the end of the lease, (just one year), there were oxidation marks on the carpet that had been newly installed when we moved in, from where the bed frame sat on the carpet. While maintenance for us was always relatively speedy, in one year we made way too many maintenance requests than what can be expected as average for an apartment.
My neighbors were loud upstairs, two larger adults and a small child, constantly running and bouncing balls. In the summer with windows open, there is a LOT of child noise and arguing couples in the evenings. As a busy business professional, I like a reasonable degree of calm, and this won’t be found here.
Side note – Traffic is horrendous on Maple Valley road in the morning to get to 405, always backed up. Takes 20 minutes to go just over 2 miles.
Once it came time to renew, rates had gone up tremendously. I moved a bit south to a 5 bedroom house that was going for the same amount as the 2bd/​2ba at the Preserve, and my roommate moved to Capitol Hill as a reasonable alternate for a similar rate. Do your homework on this property, make sure you check everything out before you move in. Document damage well, as the walkthrough doesn’t serve its purpose well, with a separate walkthrough being done without the tenant present to find additional discrepancies (this practice is unlawful).
Management changed midway through our lease. At move out, we were informed that we didn’t have a security deposit on file, though our move-​in forms listed a security deposit amount and a dated signature from staff. Upon asking for updated ledgers, we were presented with an accounting mess of debits and credits, reversals and waivers that we were not made aware of. After everything was said and done, they charge a «standard» carpet cleaning fee, and we ended up OWING them several hundred dollars due to this accounting mishap. While management makes an attempt to be friendly, the office is very poorly run, with packages often being listed as delivered via USPS, but mysteriously disappear or «don’t make it» into their office. Decent customer service is no substitute for good bookkeeping practices and practicing due diligence. Perhaps hiring a handful of experienced management staff can replace some of the younger, less-​experienced office staff.
Overall, there are far better properties to spend your hard-​earned salaries than this one.

The place is right next to the road, so expect a ton of noise. It being WA, there’s no AC during the summer, so if you keep your windows open to try to cool it down, there’s no way to sleep because it’s so loud.
There’s not enough parking, so you’ll either have to sit there and wait (in your own complex) for someone to move, or get a large (talking 200 – 450 dollars) ticket for giving up and parking in a lined area. Or sometimes there’s parking in the grass or dirt. Not always.
The positives: there’s a pool, even though it’s a few yards from a stagnant pond by the road, so it’s a mosquito breeding ground, so if you’re planning on staying out there, wear bug spray.

This place is terrible. I have lived here for multiple years. When it was Archstone, it was good. It had some issues, but overall it was good. They were willing to work with you when things came up, the maintenance people were fast at responding, they were extremely polite, but now the place is GARBAGE.
When the new company (holland) took over, they didn’t even seem welcoming. Archstone used to have resident events, Holland has done NOTHING like that. They have had new people in the office at least 3 different times. The corporate Manager who runs this area is completely rude and inconsiderate. I have other personal reasons that I will not get into online for why they are terrible, but this has been a terrible experience with the new management.
Overall, it is a decent property with management that does not care about any of its residents.

When this apartment was Archstone, I thought it was pretty good, but I think the new owners are somewhat better. They redid the garden beds and were just recently doing work on the roof. I put a work order in and they took care of it right away. They seem more professional than the Archstone folks. Living here is getting expensive, but I renewed my lease because I feel that they have a pretty good system down. I wouldn’t call these apartments luxury, but they are definitely not ghetto.

The employees when it was formerly Archstone were horrible. So when it was bought out and became The Preserve, I was hoping things would be better. Wrong. Common areas were trashy. Dumpsters stayed full. Had a new manager then another one a month later. It was always hard trying to get a hold of someone in the office. Work orders were done slowly. There is a new employee there though named Danae who has been a pleasure to work with. I am all moved out now. Maybe things will turn around. What a waste of what would be a nice property.

Service has changed since the company changed. Can’t say they’re as on top of things.
The previous employees were also very homy and accommodating. Quite easy going, and really made you feel at home when around the property.