Lawrence Lofts

I moved in over 3 years ago and it’s been a great place to live. The staff is wonderful. They are friendly, helpful and always professional. I love the layout of the lofts and décor. They did a really nice job with this building.
Julie

Will not rent out to veterans!!! They will however let you think that you have the place and never get back to you… after you’ve already paid of course.
It is really upsetting that, after all veterans have done for us, these apartments turn down a veteran days before they are supposed to leave from across the country to move in and continue their education.
It is wrong and disgusting. Shame on you Lawrence lofts!

The focus of my review is on the management of this building. I can’t say enough good things about them. Joanna has been absolutely fantastic and welcoming, always super helpful, and the service staff in general are really attentive. This is definitely a homey type of building that doesn’t have the snottiness of some other places — they actually care about the tenants and don’t try to screw you over. Also has a really nice rooftop with great views of my rainier and the cascades on a clear day.

We lived here for a full one year lease, and would have stayed longer but stumbled into a deal on a condo that was too good to pass up. It’s a newer building so the apartments themselves are nice, and the high ceilings really do make a difference. It’s not a ton of square feet but the apartment (a one bedroom) was configured in a way that made it seem bigger. Concrete floors were awesome and the patio space we had on the ground floor was very spacious.
One warning: it gets hot in the summer. I would suggest getting an air conditioner, depending on your location in the building you’ll suffer without one.
The front office and maintenance staff are awesome, seriously. I really can’t say enough good things about Joanna/​Marshall. It isn’t even necessary to give specific examples, every single interaction I had with them regardless of the reason was a really positive experience.

I’ve lived in NYC, MSP, and SEA among other cities. I’ve had terrible property management and excellent facilities and vice versa. Lawrence Lofts was my home from the day it was built until this January. The building and staff both reached TOP MARKS in my opinion.
Staff: Always pleasant, despite some very pretentious passive aggressive tenants who were quick to post on the public wall rather than simply ask the staff directly. They kept solid hours M-​Sat and always, always, always communicated any early closures or staff changes. They consistently provided a clear understanding of any requests and addressed every issue no matter how small with a smile. From Ritchie to Joanna and everyone in between, always helpful and communicative.
Maintenance: everything was kept very clean especially considering some residents’ assumption that the world picks up after them. For an apartment that allows dogs of all size, the interior and exterior were always maintained and CLEAN. Thanks to staff like Dereck and Eduardo among others, the floors to the ceilings were always cleaned. Commonly during a move-​in someone would inevitably ding a wall or door jamb; every Christmas someone would drag their dead tree down the hallway. Touch ups were done constantly as well as routine vacuuming. It was clear they took pride in their work. Furthermore, any maintenance requests were promptly addressed within 24hrs unless it was a weekend. Emergency mx was addressed over the wknd via a hotline.
Facilities: Rooftop deck was always clean and ready for grilling. New furniture was brought in to help accommodate the increasing numbers who used the roof. No gym which I was fine with considering Anytime Fitness was literally 100m away.
Adaptability example: some break-​ins occurred in the parking garages during the first year. As a response they hired overnight security to patrol the area in the early AM hrs until they were able to complete a much stronger perimeter fence. However, most break-​ins were attributed to piggy backing others who were coming and going out of the garage areas. They addressed the issue promptly, swiftly, and effectively.
The following items were brought up and given poor reviews by others:
–Restaurants on ground level: good restaurants and their longevity falls on the shoulders of the restaurant only. Seems silly to rip on Lawrence Lofts for one restaurant not being able to hold business. Also, the Lofts were built and opened just on the very cusp of the economy improving. The commercial space below was going to take time.
–Dog areas: IT’S A CITY FOLKS! If you want more parks and dog areas, write the Seattle City Council!!! There were paaaawwwleeentty of great dog areas within 1 – 3 block radius. Not to mention the staff always kept dog bag dispensers stocked.
–Elevators being slow: I understand if you have a disability, but if not, try some stairs on for size. It might help your tush ;-). Two elevators for a 6 level building is standard. Locking out an elevator to help someone move in or out is standard. Express elevators are for 30+ story buildings and said buildings usually have a minimum of 6 elevator shafts.
–Overall, the complaints from others simply boiled down to being a NIMBY. Not sure what they expected, but for apartment living in a great part of Seattle you cannot go wrong. Generally every resident I came across was pleasant and happy. It sucks that the Unilocal reviews are so polar. Blanton Turner is above and beyond what I have experienced with other property owners and I would recommend them to anyone moving within the Seattle area.

i love them

I lived in the Lawrence Lofts for about 9 months and really enjoyed my time living there. The building overall is very nice, and it’s just far enough from the busy area of Capitol Hill to be enjoyable.
Things to know: the apartments got very hot last summer without central air, but you could get by with a large fan. Ideally the apartments on the 19^th Avenue or backside of the building are the ones to pick, as the units on Madison pick up a lot of street noise. Price is very much comparable to any new complex on the hill.
A new restaurant just moved in downstairs, which is a big perk for the building. The yoga studio downstairs provides good eye candy. :) The rooftop deck is magnificent and the summer bbq’s up there were great. It sits right on a bus line which is convenient, or there’s affordable building parking and lots of street parking. Plus, the building has 2 Zipcars which were very convenient.
Management has always been awesome. Joanna, Derek and Marshal run the building smoothly and are always on top of any problems that come up.

It seems like I had a vastly different experience than the other reviewers.
I lived in one of the penthouse lofts with a private a rooftop terrace with gorgeous views of the cascades and Mt. Rainier. The building itself is nice, new, and feels upscale. My particular unit was VERY nice. Sure the kitchen is from IKEA and the fixtures aren’t top-​of-​the line but I’ve definitely seen far cheaper and worse finishes.
I never really used the building’s rooftop suite since we had our own, and I don’t own any pets so I can’t comment on those thing, but I will agree that the apartments do get hot in the summer. I don’t think it’s as bad in the penthouses because we have far more ventilation since we can open the patio doors and stick a big box fan in the doorway to bring in a lot of air. Some other residents planted tall shrubs on their terraces to block out the sun and keep it cool; there are ways to mitigate the heat.
I never had a problem with hearing other people other than the metal stairs in the penthouses can be heard from the units next to it, but it wasn’t really a big deal. The building has an outstanding staff that would bend over backwards to make you happy — I will definitely miss having them around in my new place.
Yes the apartments and parking are expensive; if you don’t want to pay high prices then don’t live on Capitol Hill. The views from most units are breathtaking, I think people forget that views cost money.
I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Blanton-​Turner (lived in two of their properties, and almost a third) and they’ve always returned my deposit in full and were super accommodating and helpful.

Pros: it’s new, so the building is physically clean and comfortable in the sense that it’s not ragged out. The maintenance and housekeeping are great. The floorplans are really pretty good. A few remaining residents are friendly and not drunk college students. It’s really not a terrible place to spend a FEW months if you’re in transition. It also doesn’t have bugs. The roof deck is nice on a sunny day when not occupied by drunk college students. These are the sole reasons this is a two star and not a one star review like my former neighbors’.
Cons: far outweigh the Pros. The commenters who mentioned how hot it gets are spot on, and it’s true even if you have a north facing window (i.e. a window with a view of the parking lot for the Polish Community Center where loud polka dances are held on Sunday nights.) It is not just a top floor problem. When the sun shines, you will feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. No A/​C is inexcusable in a new building with big windows, no cross-​ventilation, and where studios rent for $ 2000 a month.
Compounding the ventilation problem is that, while the building is SMOKE FREE — you have to sign a separate statement acknowledging you understand you cannot smoke in the building or on the premises — they do nothing to enforce the policy (which I think is also a law here in Seattle.) There’s at least one resident who smokes an unbelievable amount of pot and cigarettes all day and all night and the management won’t evict him. There’s nowhere for his and others’ smoke to go except right into your apartment and right into the hall. If you don’t enjoy walking through a cloud of recreational smoke on your way to and from your apartment, don’t live on the fifth floor. You get enough of it walking through the phalanx of smokers who are usually lurking right by the front door.
You also pretty much have to buy parking ($ 175 more per month). This will be even more true if/​when the businesses on the first floor ever actually open. Don’t think that the gated parking garage is actually secure. Crime is an ongoing and serious problem. Don’t leave your bike in the garage. If you’re in the upper garage, you will also be blocked in or out regularly by moving trucks, who also prop open the outside door for hours, allowing anyone to come off Madison Street and walk into the building itself. This is a serious design flaw of the building. The building feels secure, which is an attraction, but all the card key controlled entrances and call boxes are meaningless when the doors are propped open. Don’t live on the north end along Madison unless you enjoy hearing dumpsters full of glass emptied from a great height into garbage trucks parked in an echoing garage at the crack of dawn. Because the main garbage room is on the second floor, the second floor hallways smell like hot trash most of the time.
Dog owners also have a problem. There aren’t enough dog spaces around the place to take a dog, there isn’t anything onsite, and you do not want to be walking your dog by yourself at night in that area. A few people got mugged trying to do that last year. It appears many residents solve this problem by simply having their dogs go to the bathroom in what little landscaping there is and leaving it for someone else to clean up.
The other thing that you may not notice when you first see the place but will become evident as you live there is what one of my neighbors pointed out: everything in the building was done on the cheap. This means IKEA everything and appliances that will not allow you operate them and conduct a conversation at the same time. There is also something fishy about the electric bills you will receive. They are much larger than they should be for a new building. I didn’t have to turn on the heat on in the winter and yet my electric bills were consistently larger than they have been since I moved to a house with a lot more appliances and lights.
Should you ignore the good advice here on Unilocal and move here anyway, get the shortest lease you can and keep a close eye on your deposits once you move out. The management will try various tactics to keep your money. About a month after I moved, I received an unpaid utility bill in the exact amount as was withheld by management from my deposit for unpaid utilities. Surprise!
The first set of managers here were quite good. Many problems that exist now did not exist when the building first opened. There were also lots of events and community activities. Either the current managers are inept or the owners decided that they’d spent enough money making residents happy. It’s unfortunate. You can rent a decent house in a better area for the same amount (or less than) you’d pay for an apartment here, and you should.

My fiancé and I have lived here for 15 months. We are moving. This is why. We have paid over $ 37K in rent and parking over the last 15 months and it frankly isn’t worth it.
The restaurant and café we were promised have yet to appear. The elevators are ridiculously slow and when they are «reserved» for moving (what seems like every day), the reserved elevator is the only one that actually goes to the roof (keep in mind… no one has an apartment on the roof!). The trees on the roof are dead or dying, as are several of the shrubs. The «sky-​lounge» will seat 8 people on a good day. You can «reserve» it, but considering the elevator (if you can get one) takes you through that room to get to the «public» deck, a reservation guarantees you absolutely no privacy at all. Nearly every time I have attempted to use the 1 BBQ designed to serve 120 apartments, it’s out of fuel or wont light. Evidently the management will reimburse you if you run out and refill the propane tank. If I wanted to fill my own propane tanks I would still be a homeowner. Just what I want to do when throwing a dinner party… stop what I am doing to find propane in the city.
It’s a pet friendly building, but there is no place to take a dog to go to the bathroom on the property. Even the pet waste bag dispensers (which initially impressed me) are rarely stocked. Dog owners are nearly forced to allow their pets to destroy all the shrubs on the ground level of the property. There is vast square footage that could have been used on the roof to make many lovely hangouts. I hear the Lyric has 16 BBQ grills! Hey, at least the hallways have A/​C so we can get some reprieve from our 100 degree «lofts».
The thing is that other buildings in the area have amenities that actually make a difference in a person’s life… and they are cheaper. We have no gym. We have no theater room. We could get all of this, for less money within blocks of our current location. We love our apartment. The layout is incredible. The location is awesome. But we are not the first to leave. In fact I don’t know of a single person that has renewed their initial lease. The price just doesn’t deliver any value.
This is not a complaint. This is just the facts. It may sound like first world problems, but I am also spending first world money here, and lots of it. My intent is to simply ensure others know of our experience so they can choose for themselves. We choose to leave. Oh yeah, our rent goes up $ 200 next month. I realize I agreed to my existing overpriced rent, but the increase and the facts above are what make this ridiculous. Longevity in a tenant is clearly not what the building management is looking for.
The building and living experience just isn’t worth the money.