SB Main Lofts

Soooooooo, we moved out after our lease was up.
The place got worse and worse after new people moved in. Really it seems like management just doesn’t give a rat’s dead ass about quals as long as they keep the building fully occupied. Not Sarah the manger. She’s great. I mean DTLA Management.
Once we realized we didn’t use up a lot of our sq ftg we thought we’d try to save on rent and request a transfer to a smaller unit. Transfer policy was a question we raised before signing the lease. Let’s just say nothing they told us held up and we were given the run around for months.
We had a leak TWICE in a matter of a few weeks. The first was in the kitchen. They took so long to fix it that the concrete beam started turning green. The next was in the bedroom. The leak came from the upstairs neighbor’s bathroom and it was brown water. Fucking ew. When I asked to have maintenance come and clean our room (cuz I wasn’t gonna touch that shit), I was sent one of those «what exactly do you want, we fixed the leak?!!#!?!#!$$» type emails with all kinds of exclamation points. As if I’m inconveniencing THEM after this water stained our dry wall, ruined towles, shoes and furniture.
The elevator service was expired for months! One was defective and never stopped fully level with the floor. My husband one time was carrying our 3 year old and tripped because the elevator was lower than the floor. Thankfully he managed to keep ground. Another time we were in the parking garage and there were like 11 people stuck because the elevator went down waaay too low. Half of it was beneathe the garage floor level and all we saw were a couple of hands sticking out the floor trying to keep the doors open.
Finally, about the time we had to renew our lease, we get a notice that if we don’t renew by a certain date our rent will increase 10%. So we said we wanted to renew (at the time). Then they told us, basically, wait, never mind. No one can renew until they workout the new lease terms. And then they said they were raising our rent anyway!
So we basically said, fuck you and your leaks and busted elevators, and the loud new young kids who play music waaay too loudly even late on weekdays, and the chick upstairs who does cross fit at random times and jump ropes in her apartment while we nap in the afternoon… even though we have a gym. BTW, we pay for a gym as part of our rent but the entire year we lived there, the equipment only worked for the first 3 months. And the HUMAN shit that was constantly right at the back door such that when you open the door, it scrapes EVERYWHERE. This is on top of all the dog shit in the aklet which only gets cleaned on club nights for benefit of the club goers.

First two months our neighbors will have a loud parties in 2 to 3 AM, people will be lined up outside my door to get into your apartment making a lot of noise! Security couldn’t stop them! Called the cops few times until they finally left two to three months later… I would see the security let bunches of people at a time go up as if this was s club!
So we had to call security and they couldn’t do anything. After calling the cops a few times it helped them leave i’m sure we’re not the only ones to do so I would see our neighbors also try to make them stop. All Sara had to say is there doing the best they can. BS!
Washer and dryer’s never really work properly since I’ve been here they’ve been replaced twice.
There is a sign saying no smoking no drinking but I always find people smoking weed and drinking and never get kicked out. But if you bring your dog who just sits there and does nothing you and your dog gets kicked out! How ironic!
The GYM is outdated and most of the equipment is broken!
The pool area is okay but sometime the jacuzzi doesn’t work and sometimes does and the pool is freezing cold!
Please don’t get me started on the elevator situation!
There’s 3 elevators! But most of the time only one works!!!
C’MON!
We pay so much rent and there’s so many things they can improve on with all our money were paying here!
Yes the apartment is beautiful but we also use the other things in the building and that’s what’s why we chose it here! So when something doesn’t work we are not happy!!!
One last thing! This building only excepts AT&T Internet! We are suffering here! We pay about $ 60 for Internet that doesn’t work at all!!! We’re getting about 12 bytes per second!!! To me that’s worth $ 10!!! We are only able to connect one device at a time!!! WFT I live in a 1200ft 2bd plus loft upstairs apartment! How is that fair to only connect one device at that speed!!! We pay because we need to do work and Watch TV once in a while…
Please improve!
SB Main apartments please improve your apartment building!!! ASAP!

Having been there for almost 2 years now and I definitely refuse to renew my lease for a third. Should’ve left after the first but I was too lazy and busy to move.
Pros: my ²⁄₂ loft was very spacious. And although some of the security guards can be unfriendly and even rude, others are good and will survey the perimeters to ensure your general safety
Cons:
— paid for having a washer/​dryer in my unit. Not only did it not work for over a year, it also flooded my apt multiple times. The maintenance ppl came several times with no resolve and after my insistence they finally replacement it — had been broken the whole time
— hallway smells of pot or trash but mostly both. Sometimes there’s even trash dumped outside of the chute and that only gets cleaned up once a week. Needless to say I pay way too much to live in a frat house/​dumpster
— daily/​nightly you can clearly hear the homeless outside screaming yelling fighting and cursing
— weekly you can also enjoy the loud music and bass from clubs across the alley just in case you have trouble staying awake
— rooftop pool is a joke. Kiddie sized with minimal # of chairs
— if you want the security to hold your keys for, say a cleaning lady or dog walker, good luck coz they don’t care. And Sara the manager will only respond at her leisure and when she does it’s usually nothing useful
Conclusion: live there if you don’t have a sense of smell or sound, or if you don’t mind rude and unresponsive management. Live there if you are fine paying a lot of money to feel like you’re living in low-​income housing. And live there at your own risk.

We moved in about 10 months ago and truly love our corner unit that faces 7^th and Main. Our building manager, Sara, is seriously one of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met and goes way above and beyond in accommodating residents. Sure, it can be noisy… sure, not everything single thing in the apt. or bldg works perfectly… it’s a high volume rental (200+ units) in the middle of DTLA! The amenities are super nice, the apt very comfortable, and most of all what you get w/​this management company is a good amount of square footage for your buck. I also would not expect any special treatment upon move-​out (although we have no plans of going anywhere yet!) so I anticipate they’ll take some $ out of my deposit. They are a huge, profitable business. So, adjust your expectations accordingly and you’ll be pleasantly surprised! If you want to be a pampered renter in some high end building, you’ll have to shell out the dough ’cause those places def exist. In LA LA land, you get what you pay for. I’m quite pleased with what I pay here and what I get! ;-)

First off: Yes, you’re going to get charged a cleaning/​painting fee of $ 3 – 400 dollars (out of your deposit) regardless of if the place needs it or not. This seems to be par for the course with just about anywhere I’ve rented in the last 12 years. And yes parking is extra.
Sara was the building manager I dealt with and she was responsive and accommodating. Everything in my unit was clean and worked like it should, and the actual security deposit was one of the lowest in downtown.
The building can get noisy but it’s really hit or miss depending on your neighbors. A lot of early 20-​somethings live here and don’t yet understand that just because they don’t have to work on a Thursday doesn’t mean that everybody else doesn’t. The security in the building was always responsive to concerns or noise complaints.
Overall I enjoyed my time here and it was fairly quiet for most of the duration. The loft I rented provided exactly the type of space I was looking for in the price range. It’s all fairly no-​frills though (which I wanted) so if you’re looking for gorified student or community housing look elsewhere.

LOVED my loft, really loved it!
HATED the ownership.
Live here if… you’re willing to give up all of your security deposit and then some. Maybe $ 200-​$ 300 over for «cleaning» and «painting.»
If you can live with that then go for it. Otherwise, look elsewhere because these folks have a clear history of doing this. You can try to sue but they’ll just drag their feet with their in-​house attorney. You’ll end up paying at least $ 200 in legal fees. These guys have the system figured out and it’s not to your benefit.

This is basically a glorified frat house… There is always someone blasting his/​her music at any given moment and building rules are hardly enforced. Walls between lofts are so thin you can hear your neighbors pooping.
The internet service (ATT) and cell reception are horrible, cable is provided by one third party service provider that shouldn’t be in any sort of business…

Remember its not under rent control, they increase the rent as much as they want.
You also have to pay for parking.
You will not get ur deposit back no matter what u do.
Cell phone service sucks and tv cable is through a 3^rd party crew and u have to install satellite which sucks.

So, I’ll start off with saying my boyfriend and I looked at about 10+ lofts in downtown before deciding on sb main. or should I say falling in LOVE. Our experience was beyond great. Mainly because Sara the property manager is seriously the best; so nice, always there to answer questions, and really helpful. Can’t say great enough things about her. Our loft is amazing; story book amazing. Huge, walls of exposed brink, spiral stair casing, new appliances, washer/​dryer ect. I’m not one of those snobby people in PH bragging about my 5k a month unit either. We live on the 3^rd floor and love it. Neighbors are great too! Sorry you guys have had such horrible experiences but I can’t say anything bad about this place!

Cassandra only deals with you if you’re leasing a loft, (so fake nice is real easy) but once you sign your lease… you’re the Resident Managers problem. Prior to Signing a lease, Make sure you ask Cassandra about the security deposit and being charged for damages that already exists in the unit. Ask to see the form that lists all the charges upon exiting (This Exit ‘form’ is something you won’t see until you actually put in your 30 days notice, so I’m not sure if they’ll disclose the how they will not give your deposit back before you sign a lease with them.) The Resident Manager has changed 3 times in 1 year. I started with Mei-​Yee and ended with Sara.
YOU WILL NOT GET A FULL Deposit back and here’s why: the Cleaning Fee and Painting fee combined are equal to about 500.00 dollars you will be charged this no matter what (you could have NOT put anything on the walls and leave the unit cleaner than you moved in. You will still be charged) and you might also be charged for previous damages that already exists in the loft. The Resident Manager will do a «Walk Thru» which means nothing because the ultimate decision comes from the Corporate persons Sara and Susan who issues the deposit refund checks and they couldn’t care less what the Resident Manager writes down on the Walk Thru form and they don’t care whether you left your unit in clean repainted condition or not.
At the beginning of my lease I took pictures of my entire unit of all the prior damages the unit had… Dented Dish Washer, Damaged Floors, I sent these pictures with a email to my first Resident Manager Mei– Yee and she confirmed that they were damages not caused by me and that I wouldn’t be liable. I saved all my emails and photos. I turned them into my Resident Manager at the closing walk thru she sent them to the Corporate to show that I disclosed and confirmed with the previous Resident Manager that the unit had the damages prior to my moving in.
When I received my deposit in the mail I had a list of charges that came out to 590.00 the items charged included Repainting, Cleaning, Floor Damage, and a Dented Dishwasher
When I contacted Sara the Resident Manager she said I would have to Contact Sara and Susan in Corporate ‘Billing;. They do not care that I have photos emails (which I also sent to them) from my first Resident Manager confirming that the damages where preexisting in my unit and that I will not be charged. I have called and emailed them and they say that my request for a refund was denied.
I have saved every email and photo and form that SB has given me. I will give copies of all this to anyone wants the proof that they will take your money and charge you for there poorly kept units. Every aspect of this Corporation is awful.
My «maintenance requests» went unanswered to fix the window latches that wouldn’t hold the windows completely shut (you have to fill out a form and put it in the rent box and someone might come to see what you are needing repairs of and then say «okay, I’ll have to come back’) the maintenance staff is not equipped to fix ‘industrial windows’ on demand Which is understandable (even though I wrote in detail multiple times what the problem is on various maintenance forms that I kept filling out because no one could find the previous on that I filled it out)
Look somewhere else in Downtown to live. The situation where you end up having unit problems or having to pay them money when you move out is very draining and they are used to wining by ignoring and passing you off.

These bastards are the biggest criminals in Los Angeles. DO NOT LIVE HERE!
I read the bad reviews about them screwing you over on the security deposits, but we had to find a place to live in one day.
We did not put anything on the walls, lived there for 1 year, and kept the place perfect so we would have a chance of getting our deposit back.
So when we did the pre move out inspection, basically the maintenance guy who did the inspection admitted that they have to put something down to charge, the company requires it or they can’t turn in a report.
He said it needed touch up paint, which was $ 150. We didn’t even touch a wall and there’s no way in hell it needed touch up paint, but we had no option since that was one of the lowest price penalties. So we accepted it and got the hell out of that building.
So 3 months later, I finally got my deposit refund. They added a $ 180 full cleaning fee. I was furious, my wife spent a day scrubbing and left the place spotless. How the hell do they have the nerve to charge a full cleaning fee. They said it was on the report, which was not on there when we signed.
These people are just outright cheaters and liars, adding items just to keep more of my deposit.
I called and they said I could file a dispute but I would need photos as proof, which I didn’t take because I thought this was over at $ 150 for the touch up paint charge.
Add to the fact that this building is one of the noisiest in DTLA, pretty much a frat house with parties til 4am 3 to 4 nights a week and inconsiderate a holes partying and screaming at all hours of the night. Plus it’s on the edge of Skid Row so there’s homeless people and drug dealers right outside the front door of the building all the time.
In addition, they’ll raise the rent on you after a year if you don’t move out, so either way you’re just screwed once you sign that contract to move in.
Just don’t do it and save a lot of headache, I wish I would have listened to the other reviews.
Just to let you know you bastards at SB, I am getting my $ 180 back one way or another.
Any other SB residents that want to form a class action lawsuit, message me.

Stay away unless sleep isn’t something you need.
If you are a young professional, try a Downtown Management Property instead — better interior builds and as I found out cheaper. Plus the tenants aren’t LOUD.
Seriously it’s 1AM and it’s crazy loud, weekend hasn’t even started.

Moved in just over a year ago, and I love it. Huge improvement over my lousy place in Hollywood, and living downtown is great. They keep the place clean, fix problems in a pretty timely fashion, and have been really easy to deal with. Parking is kind of a tight squeeze, but that seems to be par for the course.
I looked at a LOT of places before picking this one. And I have to say that the management was a large part of why i took it. Saw some other nice places, but always got a weird/​rude/​creepy vibe from the people who showed me the spaces. Cassandra at SB Main was great. Really nice and professional and helpful. I’ve got a bunch of friends living in other buildings downtown, and have heard a bunch of horror stories about the management and leasing agents in those places. Cassandra and Meiyee have been nothing but friendly and thoughtful. I wholeheartedly recommend them and the building.

My experience at SB Main was so bad it finally made me sign up for Unilocal and tell everyone what trashy biz these people do… and as I can see from comments prior i am not alone in my thinking.
This review is more about CASSANDRA from SB Main.
So, Ill start by saying that like people in this city where time and precious money is lost sitting in traffic I was pleasantly anticipating an open house on a beautiful saturday morning to see an 1150 sf loft with patio on ground floor, apt 105… so sure I would take this place I arrived 40 min early to be the first and had credit report, bank statements, last years W2, my last pay stub, letters of recommendation and anything else you think I would require and then some. Imagine how thrilled i was when the door for the unit was open and security said to go right in… i fell for unit… and hard… Couldnt wait to get a hold of Cassandra before anyone else did as this unit seem TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE… so. this «Cassandra» who apparently lives or works in the building an needed only schlep down the elevator decides to honor us which her presents at her own in-​house 17 min late… prancing along with her coffee like were lucky she even arrived at all… no salutation… no apology… at this point I didn’t care and just wanted to know if parking was available close by before i handed her my paperwork and check before the young asian couples waiting saw the unit.
I introduce myself as she begins to had out flyers with a list of apartment avail and I ask her if she can just answer a question when she responds… swatting her hands at me saving «walk and talk, walk and talk»…and not pausing for a moment to listen to me not only out of professionalism but out of common cur testy as she has kept people waiting… no…instead she has the audacity to treat me like a factory line worker. Prompting me now to line up with other fools who believed her ad to see the list of units available that where either much more expensive for same sf or to dismiss me quickly by saying…“sorry that was taken last week”…WHAT!!! The ad came out yesterday!!!
CLEARLY, THE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE unit was just that… a farce… Luring, as well as not putting last names an their ads which is frowned upon by both the DRE and the REALTORS association… and I can see why… I also see why they don’t use their last names. Normally agents post full names and even photos for exposure… seeing as Cassandra and her associates BS you from the get-​go i understand why they don’t want to print their last name… this review would have included it i assure you.
Since I had no choice at this point but to follow the rude, unprofessional little princess I found myself in the elevator explaining that I was not interested in the others being they were $ 500 a month more for same sf and no patio… she then hit the ‘door open’ button and said «ok, thank you, You’ll want to get off here»…rudely brushing me off… how DARE this sad excuse for an agent treat me or anyone else this way. Its clear Cassandra is only in business because these lofts rent themselves and not of her own devices… she would be one of the homeless on that same corner begging would it be for her professionalism.
Luring and wasting ones time is not legal in sales but very frowned upon by both the DRE and the REALTORS association, clearly this is why the don’t print their last name… since this incident last week i have called for other new postings on Craigslist for this and two of their other buildings… all BS… luring you for a crappier one you would never go to downtown for or one much more expensive. I have my Real Estate license in Florida, NY and recently obtained in California… and behavior like this of this Cassandra person lowers the views of agents like me who treat every person as if they were buying a home.
I pitty her. She must be very sad in her life to be that inept. Then again… seeing what everyone is saying about the owner Barry Shy what did we expect… trash follows trash.

HUGE Mistake!
Don’t fall for it. They try to get you in fast, saying that there are other people who want to move in. There might be, but there is also someone moving out every day! There is always someone cleaning, yet the place is always dirty and smelly. Neighbor smoked and I could smell it through cracks in the walls. Take a walk down Dog Shit Alley, where you will be walking to your car everyday, if you drive.
We had an outward facing unit. TOO LOUD!!! You have to sleep with the AC on, so you don’t die from heat every night. The electricity bill which we were told never goes over $ 30 was about $ 80 every month (except the first).
When we moved. They told us we had to paint!!! Or it will be $ 100 for every wall they paint. Paint eighteen foot walls! I’ll try. Still a $ 150 «touch up» fee. I would love to know what the Fuck that was for. The microwave door had a crack in it. $ 100!

I’ve lived in several buildings downtown and am happy with my space at SB Main. I chose a space that faces 7^th street and fairly high up, so yes it’s loud, but it’s street traffic as opposed to inconsiderate tenants. I also have a lot of light and am lucky to have fairly considerate neighbors. But location wise — it’s perfect. I’ve got my coffee shop, restaurants, and bars all within a 2 block walking distance.
As for management here — I’ve dealt with three different managers in the 2 years I’ve been living here, so yes there’s a lot of turnaround and it can be frustrating. But I haven’t had any major problems in this apartment and any time I’ve ever had to have something fixed (my door handle needed to changed, the shower rod had to be raised, and once there was a leak coming from the washer/​dryer from the apt. upstairs), maintenance had it all fixed within one day of my complaint. Maybe I’ve just been lucky. And any time I’ve ever had issue with noise — either me having people over or to ask people to quiet down after hours, I’ve found that so long as you deal with people respectfully then there’s not a problem.
Prior to this I lived in SB Lofts (which I left because they DEFINITELY had a management AND cockroach issue), and PE Lofts (which was great, but the rooftop parties got a bit out of hand — that seems to have subsided as of late, with the new management). But given the location, price and the amenities (pool, gym, washer/​dryer in each apt, 24 hr. security), I’ve been happy with my SB Main apartment. (I also didn’t have any problem getting my security back from SB Lofts when I moved from there, but I also moved out on my designated moving date and had a professional cleaning done to the apt. when I left.)
I’ve been downtown for over 5 years and have seen the neighborhood go through its changes, so the noise, the dirt and the people are all part of living downtown. If you choose to live downtown, you should understand that it’s part of city living. Yes, it’s going to be loud. Yes, it’s going to be dirty. Yes, parking is an expensive bitch. But… I think you have to expect it. It’s a gritty, up-​and-​coming neighborhood. So any of these complaints can probably be applied to any apartment building downtown.
Downtown living isn’t for everyone. City living isn’t for everyone. I still think it’s an acquired taste. So when you choose your apt. take note of what you’re facing, noise you hear as soon as you get off the elevator (barking dogs bother you much?), street noise when you open the windows (if you’re on a main street just note that buses can be LOUD), and find out how close the building is to the closest fire house and police station. And I think some of the other reviews make a good point — if you have a bad experience with management prior to moving in then you probably shouldn’t expect much better once you’re in. I had a good experience and that’s continued for me. But again — maybe I got lucky and was able to choose a really good apartment.

DO NOT LIVE HERE. And good luck getting most of your deposit back. These people are crooks. They took $ 500 for painting and cleaning which NEVER even happened. I know, because I asked the current tenants. Then they are charging us $ 200 of rent for 4 days even though our move out date was the 30^th. I have never been charged more than $ 100 when I moved out of a place… EVER. The last place I lived charged me $ 100 and I lived there for 5 years.
The management here is AWFUL. Literally, they are NEVER there. Management has changed 3 or 4 times. They never call back when they say they will.
People let their dogs urinate and crap all over the hallways and in the elevators and never bother to clean it up.
People are super super loud, especially in the inner court. Blaring music with the windows fully open until 4am.
Seriously, don’t rent from these people. Save yourself the time and energy you’re going to have to put into finding another place when you realize you’ve been taken.

I don’t live here. At least, I was going to live here, but my mind quickly changed once the application process began.
After checking out a unit, my partner and I took the time to fill out the rental application, get our paperwork in order, and write a check for the application fee. When we came by to deliver the application package, the sullen leasing agent informed us that the fee is cash only. Thanks for letting us know that when you handed us the application in the first place! So with the parking meter ticking, we rushed downstairs to an atm in a bodega, pulled out the money, and came back upstairs to see the leasing office door closed with a «back in thirty minutes» sign affixed to it. I suppose that the entire leasing office just HAD to close down immediately to show someone a unit instead of waiting an extra minute for us to come back.
So after that, my partner and I decided that if the company can’t even do the application process right, then they must be struggling with maintaining the rest of the building. We took our business elsewhere.

I’m not sure why my review is not showing up here… ;-(
It’s been about 10 days since i posted a comment and I still feel that SB Main is not the right place for me.

I have been very hesitant to review my new building for a variety of reasons:
1) Maybe everyone on Unilocal does not need to know where I live…
2) The hatred for a Barry Shy building is very intense.
3) I just moved a couple of months ago, and I’m still trying to get a lay of the land.
Overall, I LOVE my new loft. I moved into a 3 Bedroom Loft with two bathrooms and roughly a little over 2500 sq ft. The layout of the loft is by far one of the coolest spaces that I have ever seen. My bedroom is HUGE. My bathroom is FANTASTIC. Our kitchen is pretty nice, but I really wish that we did not have an electric stove. We even have a small balcony on the side of the building, which means that smokers are not exiled downstairs or to the roof! There is a rooftop pool with a gym and a rocking view of the Historic Core.
However, parking is a nightmare. I have a space in the building, but occasionally a come home to find someone random is in my spot. The security and building management are less than helpful in these situations. The original manager from when I moved has since quit for unknown reasons, but I’m sure that it has a lot to with Mr. Shy’s lovely business reputation.
My general feeling is this, I have seen a bunch of different lofts over the years, but my layout is by far the best. Sometimes the building is loud and I can hear my upstairs neighbors, but I try my best to ignore it so that I will be left alone when I am having a loud night. If you are looking for a quiet building to relax in, then SB Main is not the building for you. Personally, I enjoy that the building is filled with people at all hours.
I LOVE MY LOFT! I LOVE MY BUILDING! I LOVE DOWNTOWN LA!!! I might just got yell it from the rooftop pool a la Superbad. I’m not ashamed to say it!