12 Central Square

The apartment is spacious and in very good condition, services and amenities are quite good, location is extremely convenient and cost is ok.
Very good place to live, the only caveat is that we can hear noises from the apartment above ours and sometimes it gets loud.

We’ve been living here for the last 5 years and we can give them high marks based on several criteria (not in this particular order:
1) Size
2) Cleanliness
3) Easy access
4) Facilities (ground, pool area)
5) Lotteries where you can score tickets to events or similar. For example we scored 2 VIP tickets for Mariners game and were in All Star lodge and the experience was excellent!
Overall for the last 20+ years of living in rental apartments across North America this is the best managed facility my family encountered.
I strongly recommend them!

We’ve been living at 12 Central Square for 5 months now. We love the community areas which have bbq’s available for residents. The location is great for getting anywhere in downtown Bellevue by foot. We won tickets to watch the Mariner’s in all star club seats! Thank you 12 Central Square!

I feel lucky to live at 12 Central Square. I love my apartment and am proud to have people come visit me here in such a wonderful part of downtown Bellevue. The grounds are kept immaculate and the office staff is friendly and helpful. The apartments are spacious and renovated. Maintenance is available and prompt when needed. Overall wonderful location, community and residence. My only improvement point would be to soundproof better the walls as I am privy to all that happens around me :).

When we moved we got the apartment cleaned by a cleaner for 150 $. I moved to a different city and rental office people are asking for a copy of the invoice to be provided by the cleaner to return the cleaning fees from the deposit. We hardly got any amount from the deposit back after we left the apartment. Also their lease breakage fee is 1.5 times the rent.
Couple of months ago there was a murder in one of the apartments and it made me feel very unsafe living here after the incident.

I love this place, just a walk from bellevue square and all the cool bars in dt bellevue, we love this location. It’s so far the biggest in dt bellevue. The maintenance is a+++ we also love the leasing team, they are very responsive to all our inquiries. We always use the communal barbecue during the summer and the pool, I like the fact that they keep the place clean and well maintained. Overall It’s a nice place, the location is good and it’s in the heart of dt bellevue.

I’ve actually lived in TWO different units here at Twelve Central Square, and here’s my review of them both!
The husband and I moved in here 2+ years ago, and it’s been a great place to live. We were in our first unit for over a year; at the time it was one of the less-​updated apartments, so when we moved down the hall to sublet another unit, it got renovated.
All the apartments are two-​bed, two-​bath units, and on the top floor they have fantastic high ceilings, making the 1250 sq ft FEEL even larger. We utilized the wood-​burning fireplace during the winter (hot tub too), and the communal BBQs and pool during the summer.
The units have a large utility-​room that provides greatly-​needed storage space, and also was a convenient place for our cat-​litter box, which one usually cannot find a place for in an apartment. the layout allows for creative and varied uses of the space available, depending on your furniture.
This, our second unit, has the updated granite counter-​tops and stainless steel appliances you see on the website, and it has been just the right space for us these past few years. We didn’t have any problems with appliances or plumbing during our stay here, and maintenance was responsive and respectful in helping us with issues if they came up.
You will have underground parking, with most spots in a gated section of the garage. Parking can sometimes be limited for guest parking, and they regulate fairly strictly on dinging people for having not gotten the «parking pass» from the office, (the results are initially, a paper on the windshield, later, more stringent threats to be towed, then I assume, towed), so be aware of that and remind your guests.
Worth it; two-​blocks from Bellevue Square and the rest of downtown Bellevue, so walking to dinner/​shopping/​groceries has become a regular activity.
We did find that the top-​floor units can get very hot in the summer-​time, so we bought a window-​AC unit. If your unit is directly across from the Post-​Office, expect to hear early-​morning noise as they unload their trucks, and for light sleepers, the 7−8am start of the landscaping crew can get obnoxious.
We’re moving soon as our family is expanding, and as avid home-​cooks we are looking for a larger kitchen setup, but would recommend this as a convenient, and comfortable home to make your own.
Cheers…

Do not stay here! keep looking!
The only reason I gave it 1 star is the location.
Problems with the place
1. Walls are paper thin. Noise noise noise
I could hear peoples entire phone conversations late at night or their TV shows.
2. Management sucks!
Rude dismissive head manager.
She needs to take an etiquette course .
She is about the rudest self absorbed idiot I have ever come across in my life.
3. The landscaping noise is all day long
Again noise:(
4. Floor plans are weird
5. They kept my deposit and sent a bill .
Don’t bother cleaning your apt. move out or expect to get your deposit.
I have to add that I am Meticulous when it comes to cleaning. I left that place spotless.
Total rip off!
6. Place is old and has problems
We experienced leaks and moldy smell in hallways.
7. Pool is small and gross
8. You smell everyone’s cooking in the hallway.
9. The general feel of the place is cheap.

Minus one star for the noises from neighbors and one star from grass cutting four times per week!!! Don’t forget the douce bag screaming from ten to two am in the morning. We called patrol and was told they can’t do anything about it and that we should call the COPs??! Also minus one star for increasing rent to 150 in one year. I do like being next to the grocer store and the mall though.

12 Central Square is close to everything and they just ended remodeling all their apartments with pretty nice finishings. This is where the good news end, and the only reason they deserve the two stars I give them. Here is what you should be aware of when thinking about moving to 12 Central Square:
1. The recent «Renovation» they claim is just a remodeling, so that on the surface it looks good. Everything below the surface stays the same, old, noisy and inefficient. The apartment we lived in had the worst thermal insulation I’ve seen so far, you could literally feel the walls being terribly cold in the winter. When the outside temperature drops in the thirties, the wall heaters just can’t get the temperature inside above 70. As a result it was kind of cold inside, and the thermostat kept the heaters almost always on during the winter, which brought our monthly electricity bill to over $ 200 from November to March. Add that to your rent, together with an additional $ 70-​$ 80 a month for Water and Garbage when you think about how much you will pay.
2. You will hear everything that happens in your neighbors’ apartments. Having carpet wall to wall helps a bit, but if you happen to have a neighbor who snores, you will hear that all night. We did. And if he neighbors upstairs happen to walk through their apartment, you will hear their every step, too. It’s part of living in a community, indeed, but we lived in other apartments before, and this had the worst noise and heat insolation, by far.
3. Building hallways have no ventilation. Surprisingly, the windows at the end of each hallway are not designed to open, and the air refresher puffers installed near the elevator on each floor are a far cry when dealing with your neighbor’s culinary abilities. You will know exactly when and what your neighbors are cooking. The immediate consequence is that sometimes the hallways get a persistent smell that stays there for days.
4. You will be charged move-​out fees, somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 200, pretty much to the value of your deposit. They claim it is for cleaning, and the manager, Chris, will tell you that this is how he runs his business, without even looking at your apartment. So they just want your money and make up a reason for not returning your deposit; whether your apartment is clean or not is irrelevant. To be fair, other than Chris, the rest of the people administering the building are nice and try to be helpful, but they can’t do much, honestly, because it’s not their decision. We spent quite a bit of time cleaning the apartment and we still got the bill. So take that into account when you do your finances, and don’t even bother wasting your time cleaning; you will be charged for cleaning anyway.
The city of Bellevue grew quite a bit in the last few years, and now there are plenty of other apartment buildings around. Take a look around and evaluate your options when thinking about where your next home is going to be, and try to see what lays below the surface. In the case of 12 Central Square you may be as disappointed as we were. We definitely do not recommend anybody to move in there.

I am a resident so I am biased but I love the location and will personally say the staff especially Chris do a great job. They take pride in this place and make it a joy to live here. I do not know what the current prices are but I do know that they maintain a competitive or below the average price point for downtown Bellevue.
It’s within walking distance to the mall and downtown Bell square. A block from a 24 hour QFC. All the apartments are 1250 sq ft which for this area is very large.
Also it did win Renovation of the year for a multi million dollar renovation that occurred through 2009.

They just won renovation of the year, and it’s well deserved! These are really nice apartments a mere three blocks from the heart of downtown Bellevue.
The best feature about 12 Central Square however is the fact they don’t hike their rent prices just because they are located in downtown Bellevue.

My husband & I moved here in March of this year. We got in on a great special due to the construction work going on around the building. It is an absolutely fantastic location for the price! Walking distance to restaurants, movie theatre, library, transit center, gym, park, highway (not that you’d want to walk to the highway ;)).the list is endless!
I’m glad my rent didn’t go up at the time of my lease renewal — I love living here. The pride of ownership really shows in this building, and the staff is extremely sweet! Both the leasing office and maintenance staff are very prompt in following up and solving any issues you have. The place is clean, safe and secure! Ample of parking of for visitors too. And the underground garage parking is a blessing in Seattle weather!
One thing I would hold against them is that they will not give you any lee-​way when you move out. We were late in responding to their extra move out charges and they wasted no time in handing us over to a fair collection agency without so much as a phone call or email first. Maybe that’s our fault but I would expect a little more from the leasing staff after you’ve known them for over a year!

I’ve lived in TCS, a complex of 2-​br apartments, for a little over 3 years and have been generally happy with the place — my second floor park view apartment is spacious, quiet and provides me a cave away from pesky social contact when I need one.
It’s a great location if you work in Redmond or Bellevue, as there is 520/​405-​less access to work, plus easy access to Seattle and extremely easy bus access to the 550 which goes directly to downtown Seattle and the 271 which goes to the U District, and one can easily walk to pretty much anywhere in downtown Bellevue and have easy mall /​library /​bank branch /​etc. access.
The few maintenance calls I’ve made have been addressed quickly and correctly, and I’ve never had any issues with the management.
Price-​wise, from my conversations with the management, the new remodeled apartments, the only thing they were renting the last time I asked, are substantially more than the grandfathered-​in residents with the older apartments, so your satisfaction may vary on that front.
One note on the included parking space (extra spaces extra) is that parts of the garage do leak and there’s something (lime?) in the ceiling that does stain paint in those spaces; after I noticed this, I asked and they were happy to move me to another parking space in which I haven’t had any problems.
I don’t love the place to the point where if my job moved to Seattle I think I’d stay here and deal with the commute, but given that I am currently tethered to the Eastside, it’s a place I’m satisfied to call home.