Cascade Terrace

We love living here! The 2 bedroom apartments are huge! Our son who is 9 loves his room and it’s the biggest second room we could find. The closet space is incredible for not having a walk in in the master bedroom and we look out at lake union and trees. It truly feels like home and we have been here for 2 years now. You can’t here the neighbors at all and the balcony is big and fun to be out on in the summer. Even though we are close to aurora, I enjoy looking out and seeing everyone sitting in traffic while I relax in my beautiful room :) living 5 minutes from work is amazing and I’m so happy we found this place.

These people will nickel and dime you to death on move-​out! We had our apartment professionally cleaned after living there about a year and a half. They somehow found literally everything in «unacceptable» condition. If I had been there during the move– out walk-​through, I would’ve protested, but unfortunately I left the task to my less experienced boyfriend (who also lived in the apartment) and the staff screwed us on the walk-​through. The maintenance guy was telling him what great shape our place was in the whole time and now I get a letter in the mail declaring everything in «unacceptable» condition. I call nonsense on Cascade Terrace.
Also, the complex is really unsafe for your car and mail. My car was broken into at least two times and I have heard stories from multiple people, including Chezon the business manager of the complex, about their cars being broken into.
Someone also broke into our mailboxes so that they did not meet delivery standards (meaning USPS refused to deliver our entire complex’s mail) and neglected to tell residents for almost a week. I know of at least one package that got sent back because of this delay. After they informed us, we all had to go to the Ballard mail annex to pick up mail for about a month. I moved out February 27^th or so and the mail boxes were still out of order so for all I know, they could still be broken. My sister manages a property similar to Cascade Terrace and faced a similar mail room issue. Her property remedied the situation in 3 days.
The people in the building are very incompetent and always pass the blame onto the mysterious «management.» Seriously, the motto of the employee training program must be «Pass the buck and play dumb.» Given the price increases for rent (hundreds of dollars more per month to go month-​to-​month) Cascade Terrace quickly became a terrible deal and I’m glad we got out when we did.

The office team is wonderful to work with. But I would especially like to commend the maintenance team. Mike D. and Ni are always so nice and courteous. If I have a problem in my apartment they are always right there with the solution.
Pinnacle is very lucky to have employees like Mike D. and Ni.

Cascade Terrace is located in a great part of Seattle. Tristan at the front desk is absolutely amazing. She has always been accommodating! A lightning storm knocked out power to the apartments and when it came back on, the fire alarm was malfunctioning. I called the help line and Tristan was nothing but helpful. She even followed up the next day and showed me an easier way to turn it off. I am definitely signing a lease for another year here.

I too would give them 0 stars if it was an option. I lived here 3 years and this all I have to say: move here if you want to get F’d in the A every day. They are completely horrific all around. The location is perfect, the apartments are cute, but the people that run it do not care about you at all and will screw you ’til the sun goes down. There. Now turn around and go look somewhere else.

WORST EXPERINCE OF MINE AND MY ROOMMATES LIFE
The tour — Leasing agent wasn’t even there when we arrived for our appointment and had closed the office and left for the day. The maintenance guy, Eric, showed us the apartment. This should have been our first sign.
The Move In — Again office was closed, at 11:30am on a Sunday, moving truck there full of our things and us standing at the office extremely confused. We assume k, maybe they are on tour so we decided to snag lunch nearby and return. 1:30pm, office is still closed. This time we find Eric, again only person there, and he gives us keys to our apartment and we move in.
Leasing Signing — Finally signed a lease about 3 weeks after we had moved in asked and asked for a copy never receive one, come to find out several months later by a new staff member that the lease was drafted incorrectly so they wanted us to sign a new one stating the correct lease amount only, again never got a copy of that lease I have been asking for one since March, being that this is a direct violation of WA LAW we will see where that goes as well as what other items were changed in the lease, I now have a feeling that more than just the «rent amount» was updated. They keep promising to deliver the lease (I’ve been asking for it to be scanned and emailed to me), however just this morning emailed saying it still was NOT SIGNED by their CORPORATE offices and could not provide us with a copy, yet again.
Our Ledger– They are trying to say we owe them money however, when reviewing the ledger they actually owe us, they still have yet to update this issue, and when I brought it to their attention said we owed them EVEN MORE.
Parking — My vehicle and all of the vehicles around mine in the garage were broken into several times, my roommates car was STOLEN FROM THE GARAGE, when talking with SPD they informed me that a lady in the building next to me also had her APARTMENT BROKEN INTO AND GUTTED. You can see the crime stats for Cascade Terrace or go to the local precinct and they will also inform you of the crime/​theft/​vandalism within the community.
Office Staff — A joke. At first it was a breath of fresh air, now it’s a daily burden on my life. I had to actually contact the VP of Pinnacle in order to even get the office staff to communicate to the poor maintenance staff (who has been the only consistent positive experience) that we had several outstanding work orders that I had submitted weeks prior.
Noise — Possibly one of the worst things about this community, I can hear my neighbors every step, the screaming of their child, the yapping of their dog, and even them… getting it on… constantly. They knocked our light fixture down in our kitchen they were banging around so much, as well as my mirror (which shattered) in my bedroom.
Utilities — Expect to pay $ 100 plus for SCL and $ 100 plus for Water.Sewer.Trash. We were quoted maybe $ 80 – 100, definitely not the case.
Reviews are reviews, however I have lived in the downtown area for 5 years now in several different communities and I can say without a doubt that this has been the worst «living» experience I’ve ever had.

I couldnt get out of there fast enough.
We terminated our lease a month early because we couldnt stand it any longer.
Major cons–
*Management is poor. They don’t have a clue about customer service
*Visitor parking doesnt exsist– there are about 3 spots but while construction was taking place this summer, those spots were blocked off by garbage bins and trucks.
*Say goodbye to your deposit and then some– on our walkthrough sheet when we left they tried to charge us for drippy pain on the walls (We never painted) and even said the peephole in the door was faulty! Seriously?!
This place was great two years ago but has majorly dropped since then. I know several people who have left incredibly unhappy.

Do not move here. The office management is horrible. They do not know who is assigned to what parking spot. They double assigned parking spots and towed away my neighbors car, who was assigned to the spot. He told me they have not reimbursed him for the tow over $ 500. There is a mass exodus of people moving due to the crappy management. There almost 150 apartments here with one maintenance guy. If you call regional office they never address anything. If you considering… look how many empty apartments there are. Will be outta here minute my lease is up!!! Would give a zero rating if I could…

I lived there for 2 years… worst apartment experience.
The apartment itself was fine… nothing really wrong with it except that it was facing the sun in the afternoon and got very, very hot during the summer. Rooms were spacious but I didn’t like the balcony because the railings didn’t feel safe.
The worst part of living here was having to experience dealing with the office management. They were unpleasant to be around. The only thing they were useful for is to send maintenance to fix something in a somewhat timely manner. This place was not cheap and I paid for a view although it wasn’t much of a view. My apartment faced Lake Union, but my view was trees. Paying for parking is not cheap and management was only half aware when other people parked in your spot. Also, there was only few visitor parking spots. It was also close enough to Aurora that there were a lot of transients coming up the hill and liked to roam around the complex.
I moved out because I didn’t want to deal with that management for another year. They also wanted to hike up the price $ 200, however they did not raising it at all after the first year.
I would never recommend living at Cascade Terrace. Good luck if you do!

Update: The management changed about a month or two before my lease ended, so what I’ve written about that might not be accurate anymore. Definitely check out the later reviews.
I’ve lived here for a year and am pretty happy. I haven’t decided yet if I will renew my lease. While I think I could find a better deal for the rent I like the location and the apartments, so I’ll probably stay.
Pros:
— Good access to bus routes 3, 4, 5, 16, 358, 26, and 28 (cross over Aurora pedestrian bridge for all but the ¾).
— Good access to 99 and I-​5 via Mercer St.
— Easy walk to SLU if you work there.
— The apartments themselves are pretty nice and well maintained.
— There has been turnover in staff lately but everyone seems competent and pleasant to deal with. I don’t know what previous reviewers are referring to.
— Large balconies.
— Large communal decks. (I don’t use them myself but others might enjoy this).
— A nice fitness room as far as apartment buildings go. Four cardio machines and a decent supply of dumbbells.
— Very responsive and kind maintenance.
— Some apartments have great views of Lake Union (but also Aurora)
— There’s a wooded area around the complex.
— They allow pets.
Cons:
— The visitor parking situation is abysmal; there’s no other way to put it. There are four visitor spaces for the entire complex. Unless your guests are extremely lucky they will need to accept that they’ll be parking on Taylor or one of the side streets then walking over. If you use Zipcar there is nowhere for you to park for a few minutes to drop something off at your apartment. There’s nowhere convenient for moving trucks to park so it’s always interesting when they appear.
— The floors are extremely creaky and don’t provide much sound insulation. It’s tolerable unless you have a nocturnal upstairs neighbor who has all-​night laundry marathons and paces heavily around their bedroom all night, like I do. Then it’s torture. Go for the top floor.
— Rent is increasing this year by about $ 200. I’m not thrilled about that.
— There is no way to control the volume in the fitness room. You have to ask the office staff to do it and if it’s past office hours you’re stuck with whatever volume it was left at. Frequently it seems to be set to «deafen.»

Ok scenery, every unit has laundry machines and a fireplace. However, the elevators are old and slower than a grandparent walking down the stairs. The parking for visitors is 3 spots, from what i have seen, and are always taken. The future resident spot is ONLY for people that plan on going into the office for a tour, otherwise they will see you not come in and run out to give a parking ticket ($ 40 non-​negotiable), and do not try parking in a numbered spot because a tow truck will be there within a half hour, which is good if your spot was parked in, but a little harsh costing around $ 220, and from what I have heard even cars in garages have gotten broken into (Yikes). Even when a visitor does park on the street still will have to walk 5 minutes. I do like the greenbelt tho, very nice for being in seattle. But for what you get in the price and service I would not recommend being a future resident.

Just concluded my lease in this fine establishment. I really like how its sorta set in its own lil complex, and some have a really nice view. Its quiet (suburb within the city), but there is a staircase that takes you to aurora where you can catch a bus. The maintenance was pretty quick about fixing stuff. Also the rent was real cheap but they jacked up the prices when we tried to extend the lease, which was a reason we didnt extend it.
The bad things. The visitor parking is slim and if someone is visiting they may have to park on the side streets which are hilly and hard to park. Also, I wanted a place that I could walk to queen anne ave and such, but ti was farther than i thought really hilly and a pain to walk.