Clara Apartments, seattle-wa

Clara is a convenient location as it's close to campus, UVille, and the Ave. The apartment complex is very new and is well maintained. The landscaping and common areas are always clean. The complex has Amazon Lockers which is great for package deliveries. The studio is actually very spacious and just the right amount of space for one person. I didn't tour my unit before moving in, but the unit looks exactly as the videos they provide. The studio is modern and everything works great. Tripalink is also responsive to maintenance requests if needed. Would recommend living here if you're looking for a studio.

Do not rent here. I cannot emphasize how terrible my experience has been renting with Tripalink at Clara Apartments. I've been renting apartments for 10+ years now and they're easily the worst leasing company I've dealt with. Let me list the reasons below: 1) The walls are super thin - you have no privacy and will hear everything from toilet flushing, music from every neighbor, phone calls. 2) Sunlight is a massive issue. Under no circumstance should you consider a room on the 1st floor (which is actually a basement floor) 3) They are extremely rigid and unreasonable about subletting. You have to pay them $500 to onboard a sublet AND move everything out, so your sublet can't even inherit your furniture. No flexibility or understanding in this department, just a silly policy. 4) You will not receive your $1000 security deposit back. They will extract ever dollar from it unlawfully by claiming unjustified dry wall damages and cleaning fees. I have never encountered a more unprofessional and incompetent leasing office. It took me 10 days to hear back about my security deposit deductions after which they finally reached out with the most blatantly forged receipts for the cleaning fees. They had NO evidence for damages. The most shocking part was they didn't even store my move-in inspection report and asked me to provide evidence of the pre existing condition of my unit when I moved in, after my deposit had already been deducted. After I shared proof, they communicated that " [they're] willing to waive one-third of the painting charge as a goodwill adjustment", but never actually reimbursed me the money. I am currently building a case with a lawyer on grounds of evidence negligence for my security deposit, non-compliance with statutory obligations and violation of Washington’s landlord-tenant law (RCW 59.18.280). They are predatory. Avoid this and any other Tripalink property at any cost.

Edit: Changed from 2 to 1 star after I emailed them regarding their reply below this review and they said they weren't actually able to do anything until August. Before I really get into the negatives, I just want to say that the leasing office has been very helpful, and any issues I have had have been resolved very quickly. However, there are some things the leasing office just can't resolve. There's a lot of minor things with the building. For example, laundry costs $4 per load ($2 wash + $2 dry) load, which seems insane for a building I am already paying rent to live in. The internet, which you will pay anywhere from $25 - $60 a month for, more often than not will not reach the advertised speeds (it usually reaches only around 13% - 20% of the advertised speed) and I often experience intermittent connection issues. All of the minor things aside, my number issue with this apartment, which has had a notably negative affect on my overall mental health, is the utter lack of natural sunlight in my unit. Combine that with the view out of my window being a concrete wall, it kind of gives my apartment a Norwegian prison vibe. I attached some pictures that were taken exactly at noon, with not a single cloud in the sky. Even on a beautiful sunny day my apartment is very dark. When I initially toured the building I was not shown the actual unit I would be living in. I was instead what was presumably one of their show units. The virtual tour and photos for my floor plan, surprising enough, also had no pictures of the actual unit. Had I have known about the lighting situation I would have lived in this complex. I feel misled to be frank. If you're looking for studios I would look elsewhere, especially further west along 15th AVE.

Just ok. Was one of the first tenants in the building once it was built and it seems nice but I know property management really squeezes its tenants for every last penny. For example, on the left side of the building their was problem with the pipes and tenants had to move out for weeks and the apartment complex did not give any compensation. I will also say utilities are super high for no reason, specifically the "sewage capacity charge" that seems to get higher and higher every month, I have friends in the area who pay way less. One good thing about this building is the Amazon lockers and timely maintenance appointments. Oh also, the leasing process was really not professional, the website said one price then the leasing agent told me a higher price and then they finally honored the promotion they had listed on their website after having to go back and fourth with them on it and showing screenshots. Also some rooms don’t have bathroom sinks even if its in the floor plans so beware! The move out process was ridiculous and my move out report was very harsh. Every ding and scratch was noted, even things that the builders messed up when I moved in. Of Course the apartment is not going to be spotless but they were really knit picky and I ended up loosing $300 from my deposit. Overall, if you are on a budget I would not stay here as the price will just keep going up and you'll end of paying $200 in utilities each month. Also! If you don't breakdown your boxes in the recycling room they will charge you $100.

Beware, unit 203 does not have a sink in the bathroom, and no drawers in the kitchen. But they were very flexible into moving me into a new unit after signing the lease!