Axis

I have lived in California, Wisconsin and now Washington for work and this is by far the best place I have ever lived.
1. The moment you enter the complex, the staff, Pascal and Adriana, are warm and welcoming. They go above and beyond and network with the community to provide wonderful apartment events. They also host small community celebrations like Wine night or pizza for residents on pi day. Super cute and thoughtful. They post a calendar for residents to see what’s coming next The staff works so hard to create the best environment– it’s the total experience.
2. The interior and the exterior of the apartments is clean and even the trash rooms and trash tunnels get washed!
3. The residents of the apartment are like Pascal and Adriana super kind and we try to take care of each other with small acts of kindness throughout the day. It is also impressive that some residents have been here for five years.
4. The deck on the roof has an amazing view and is extremely relaxing after a long day. The gym has weights and cardio equipment and definitely gets the job done.
5. I love the proximity to all of the festivals close to the Seattle Center– the energy is vibrant and bustling.
6. The countertops and apartment finishings are very well done. Does not look cheap but is very good quality.
I really feel so lucky to live here and I take a sigh of relief every time I step into my apartment. No Seattle freeze here but instead the complete opposite.

I feel lucky to be living here. The Axis Apartments have surpassed all of my expectations. The neighborhood is safe, the neighbors are friendly, the apartments are spacious and the kitchen finishes are high end (and include gas appliances). Not to mention the rooftop view is amazing.
But what really makes Axis Apartments feel less like an apartment and more like a home… Pascal and his management team. They are all top notch! Friendly, courteous and thorough! Whether its a heads up on what is happening in the building, throwing a fun building get together, offering a food/​entertainment recommendation or just giving you a friendly «hello»; they are very welcoming and make you feel comfortable here.
Bottom line… Axis Apartments go to 11!!!

I LOVE this apartment community. Pascal and Micah are great — pleasant, extremely helpful and prompt. You don’t need to ask these guys for anything twice! The apartments are great themselves — modern amenities, beautiful views.
They’re great with responding to service requests as well. Ryan is great at responding to issues and fixing things ASAP.
Other than that, these folks are always organizing fun events — wine happy hours, holiday parties, putting out cookies and muffins each week — you won’t fall short of having something or the other to do to meet others in the community!
Highly highly highly recommend this apartment complex!

Excellent location. Awesome and friendly staff. Love the gas range stove– which is rare. Pretty quiet for such a touristy area. Beautiful roof top deck. Clubroom free to reserve for residents.

I have lived at Axis for going on 3 years and it is a choice I have never regretted for a second! The staff is amazing, friendly, and go out of the way to know each and every resident by name. If you have maintenance issues, you submit a request and it is usually fixed within 24 hours… sometimes much sooner! The location, right across from Seattle Center is perfect for if you want to grab Starbucks or the Monorail to downtown and its around the corner from a bunch of bus lines. I especially love the proximity to my work, which happens the be directly across the street :)

We love it here! We just renewed our lease for a second year and couldn’t be happier. The staff is fantastic — Pascal and Micah are so caring and know everyone’s names (and our pets!). It’s an extremely pet-​friendly community and being right next to Seattle Center is a huge plus. There are frequent happy hours and events so we’ve really gotten to know a lot of our neighbors. Plus, it’s the best roof deck in the area!

Pascal and Micah specifically have helped make living at axis the best place to live in Seattle.

I have now lived at Axis for over 2 years and I just don’t know how my roommate and I lucked out the way we did. To this day we tell each other «wherever we live next just won’t be as great as this place!» We are spoiled. We have had a couple property managers and 2 different building owners (which went so smoothly) and all managers have been rock stars– Katie, Joel, Pascal, Micah. I am a property manager myself so I like to think I’m a little harsher on judging them than others may be but I’ll tell ya what– they surpass all expectations. They never fail to keep us up to date on all building happenings and throw fun little building get-​togethers (of which I admit I don’t attend as much as I should) but it really does feel like a welcoming place to call home. I love it every day and am grateful for the staff immensely.
When my lease was up, our rent didn’t raise at all so we were given the option to resign for 18 months which is awesome– my company doesn’t even offer that! Parking is super reasonable considering the location. I have never felt unsafe in the neighborhood, even with the church next door hosting homeless folk each night. They are harmless and never bother me! If you want to live on Lower QA (slash on the verge of Belltown) this area is secure and quiet. Honestly, the loudest part of the building, where our unit is located at least, are the damn seagulls that hang at Key Arena every night!
Maintenance– this is where my company always gets the most critiques and not all are good unfortunately (can’t please everyone!). But Axis is different. The former maintenance tech, John, was great. And our new maintenance tech, Ryan, is great! Both have been so thorough and courteous when having to enter the apartment. We have only had 1 emergency situation and it was dealt with immediately. Great response time. They are the oil to the building and they keep the place looking like a solid ¹⁰⁄₁₀.
If you haven’t seen the roof, you’re missing out. I host a New Years party every year solely for the roof. Great year round! IT WILL SELL YOU ON THIS BUILDING.
If Axis were Tinder, I’d swipe right… that’s really the bottom line.

Axis was my first in city apartment in 2012 and I loved every minute so much when I moved back from overseas I returned looking to live here again.
The interior spaces are laid out and maximized so that my 725 sq ft place seems much bigger. I have a den space I’ve converted into a very comfortable second bedroom. I love the gas range and large kitchen! I have a fireplace and a small balcony overlooking the alley. The bathroom is large and spacious with lots of storage. The finishes are really a step up from other comparable buildings in the city and definitely not the basic builder low end you usually find when renting.
I opted in for the secured parking and my guests rarely have trouble parking when they visit unless its a big weekend at the Seattle center or a huge show at Key.
Its mostly quiet except for sanitation trucks and the occasional drunk strolling the alley at night on weekends. Those are just part and parcel of living the city life, but thankfully without the constant street noise and drunken brawls I heard every night in Belltown until well past 3am. I rarely hear my neighbors as the building so super insulated. A side benefit of all that insulation is I haven’t yet needed to turn on my heat even in the dead of winter.
The building staff are personable, approachable and always fulfill any requests I have for service with a smile and I’ve rarely had to wait more than 1 day to get anything done. Pascal, Micah, and Ryan are a great team.
The rooftop deck has an amazing view and I love the party room you can reserve for free for parties. It’s set up really well with a lounging area, eating area, outdoor space and a full kitchen. I’ve had parties up to 50 people and it could easily accommodate more. There an option to have your dry cleaning picked up and delivered which makes life easier. I don’t use the gym, but it has all the basics and is often empty.
All in all a great place to live!

I went to view these apartments and was really impressed by the high end condo quality of the apartment finishes. It’s rare that you get a gas range in an apartment! There was a warm reception by the staff and I really appreciated the professionalism by the property manager. I actually ended up going in to view the apartments twice in one day and the management didn’t rush me or make me feel like I was being an inconvenience as some other property staff can make you feel. They also had Yappy Hour for the residents and their dogs and it was great to see the residents mingling. Unfortunately, the unit I wanted was snatched up by someone else which makes sense, since it was reasonably priced for what you get and had beautiful views of the sound. I’m hoping another unit comes available with the same views. Overall, I would definitely go check out these units!

Well, it’s been 6 weeks. Pascal, the building manager, has refused to answer emails and phone call. My partner and I filled out the paper work to sue this company in court.
They stole over $ 500 in deposits and claim they have no idea what we’re talking about (from prior conversations when we first moved out).
Let’s see how they fair in court.

I love Axis! 2+years
Beautiful, quiet, quaint, luxury.
Fireplaces, gas appliances, high end finishes, private parking.
The staff is also totally dedicated to getting to know the residents and making it a personal experience.
This is a beautiful place to live, close to everything. I’d call Axis, Seattle’s little secret.

Great location, decent digs and amongst the best roof tops in the city. We were there for 10 months. Can’t beat the location. Good social events and a more or less friendly building. Our on site staff Joel and Katie were excellent but they’re both gone now and my experience with the replacement wasn’t great (I had stopped in to see if a package had been delivered there by mistake and the new guy was completely dismissive of me). A major heads up, there is NO air conditioning in the units. They get very, very, very hot. Our living room and bedroom would get up into the 90’s on sunny days. We did install two portable units but they could only get it down to the low 80’s. People on lower floors had it even worse (we were on the 7^th). The building is plumbed for AC with units that have forced air gas furnaces but the owner won’t put it in. You’re paying a premium price to live here and AC should really be an option. The owner had some other weird ideas about the place that were really unreasonable as well but no need to get into here. Pros: Location, rooftop, pet friendly Cons: $$$, no AC, unstable management

After an extremely long search to find a nicely appointed and quiet (emphasis on the «quiet») pet friendly apartment building in Seattle, we finally came upon and toured this wonderful property. Axis Apartments management took the time to show us around even though we were 10 minutes late for our apartment tour. We were never rushed nor did we feel as if they didn’t answer all of our questions. The views were perfect and several of the available amenities were better than we anticipated. We are now on a waiting list to see a 2 bed 2 bath, as there were none available at the time of our tour. Hopefully one becomes available soon. We are so looking forward to moving in here.

I lived at Axis in a 610 sq. ft. 1br on the 4^th floor for 15 months and had an absolutely miserable experience there, probably the worst I’ve had in my 5+ years of renting. My review of Axis boils down to three things: 1) awful management 2) awful management 3) awful management. If you look around this theme has also been echoed by other reviewers, and 6 months after I initially posted this review (after I moved out) it looks like there are even more management problems.
The building itself is pretty nice with a rooftop deck, relatively newer apartments and a pretty good location. It’s definitely a little overpriced vs. similar buildings but basically what you’d expect for Seattle. The interior of the apartments have newer appliances, and look pretty good overall. For facilities, there’s a tiny gym and mostly useless TV room as well as an okay party room on the first floor. The location has a homeless shelter near it so there are a lot of bums, and there is some noise from trucks delivering things to events at Key Arena and Seattle Center. Aside from that, good location. Now onto the building staff and building management…
Right from the start my initial lease was bungled and I had to go re-​sign it three times on their admission of fault. My initial payment was also bungled, leading to my having to re-​submit it. My parking situation was bungled so I chose to go park at another location. I was charged for extra things (keys) I wasn’t given and had to go correct this. Management often was slow to respond or didn’t respond at all to basic questions. Part of this is likely due to high turnover. four new people in my 15 months. The building portal was broken 75% of the time and the rent payment system was changed to a less user-​friendly system for no reason. There was a theft in the parking garage and my bike, along with my girlfriend’s bike were vandalized with some parts stolen. No response. I requested a pre-​move-​out inspection offered to all tenants and nobody showed up on two occasions — once the first time I asked, and second when I followed-​up explaining nobody had showed the first time. The building manager finally acknowledged this as unprofessional two weeks after I had moved out. As a last insult, I was asked to pay more than the entire security deposit after I paid for a professional cleaning. The description of why I was to be charged extra read like a statement of someone else’s apartment… maybe typical of a scummy landlord somewhere else but didn’t expect it from these guys.
I recently moved to a better building nearby that gave me 1) more square footage for a 2) cheaper monthly cost 3) nicer facilities 4) cheaper parking 5) competent management 6) better location. I’m never looking back and could never recommend Axis to anyone. Simply put, there are way better buildings that know what they’re doing in Seattle.
When I left, I talked to several people who were also leaving and the parking garage was clearly emptying. This place is struggling and I know I’m not the only one who had issues with management. There are tons of openings listed for this building while others can barely find a place to lease to you. The choice is yours, but there’s no way in hell I can recommend my old home at Axis. Steer clear!
Edit 4÷15÷2015: I got an email from the building manager saying that they still hadn’t cashed my check for move-​out fees 6 MONTHS later and wanted to cash it now! If there isn’t already enough evidence that this property is mismanaged, here’s some more. After some research it looks like this is because Axis recently changed owners from Prometheus to Alliance. Bottom line: it’s a total mess.

I lived at Axis for 12 months and enjoyed nearly every minute of it. The things I like the most about Axis are the rooftop view of Elliott Bay and Downtown (probably one of the best in the city) and the location. The apartments have above average appliances especially for an apartment and are very quiet.
The apartment:
My unit was a 1-​bedroom approximately 650 square feet but the layout made it feel much larger. We had an in-​unit electronic fireplace (not a real fire) that could be turned on by a remote, washer and dryer, refrigerator and freezer, dishwasher, electric stove top and oven, microwave and disposal. There are no ice makers in the unit. I was on the 5^th floor with a view of the space needle from my living room and bedroom.
Positives:
— Katie and Joel are awesome. They have limited resources available to them from the management company but they make the most of it anyway. They excel at everything from the every day routine maintenance request, setting up storage or parking, or just answering every day questions to throwing an awesome party. They do a lot to make the place feel like a home.
— Frequent community events put together by the management including wine nights!
— Amazing Christmas tree.
— The apartments are solid. Everything feels like it was built to last. I was told this place was built originally to be sold as condos and you can definitely feel the quality in the apartments. I was hardly ever able to hear my neighbors unless my upstairs neighbor was having a party or their kids were running and jumping around.
— Dog friendly. There are a lot of dogs in the building and easy access to green space at Seattle Center and Elliott Bay trail.
— The movie room is great. You can reserve the room and watch movies on a large screen television with surround sound cranked up loud and not worry about bothering your neighbors. I reserved this room several times on rainy days and found this to be a very useful amenity.
— Location is great. Easy access to the Elliott Bay trail and the Olympic Sculpture Park. This is one of my favorite places to walk /​run. Also, right across the street is the Seattle Center with the Armory, Pacific Science Center (with imax), Space Needle, and the monorail which gives easy access to downtown. There are a ton of delicious restaurants and bars in both Belltown and Lower Queen Anne. Axis is situated right in the middle of these two areas making it an ideal location to explore. Grocery stores are walking distance if you are only getting a small load of groceries (Metro Market which is expensive but has high quality produce and Safeway which can be a bit sketchy).
— One of the best apartment parking garages I have seen. The parking spaces are decent sized and easy to access. The garage is clean and warm. The price for parking is roughly half of what I have found at other apartments.
— The price for our rent was very reasonable.
Negatives:
— Limited natural lighting the unit because the windows are fairly small.
— The apartment was constantly too warm. The unit received morning sun and even in the winter it was always uncomfortable to leave the windows and doors closed. We always left at least a window open and often would leave open the patio door to let in fresh air.
— The fitness center is awkward. The room is tiny and cramped with a giant mirror inside so if you are working out at the same time as someone else you get to stare at them in the mirror the entire time. I never used the fitness center because of this and instead went to a gym nearby.
— The business center computer and printer are very old and never work. I’m not sure why they even have a business center.
— When reserving an amenity they do not put up a sign or mark it as reserved. Anyone can walk into the movie room even if you have it reserved (this happened to me quite often).
— The dog area on the roof is pretty depressing. They have a square of green astroturf for dogs to use which is ok if you are desperate.
— The only decent internet option is Comcast and they are terrible. I had the 50mbps plan and rarely was able to get better than 5mbps. In the evenings I would sometimes have trouble even watching netflix.
— No air conditioning. Normally in Seattle this is not a problem. But, the apartments get too warm and would definitely benefit from air conditioning.
— No active building! They do not use the active building system anymore :-(
— Axis recently changed owners from Prometheus to Alliance. The transition was very rough and unfriendly to the tenants. All of our electronic paperwork was lost including our lease and our electronic payments. This was a total disaster. When we moved we also discovered that our active building account was locked because Prometheus failed to free up our accounts so I had to go through a multi-​day process working with Active Building customer service to free up my account for my new apartmen

Updating my review because I’m bored at work. I’m still in Axis after 4 years and I’d like to echo everything Travis M said below. The current front desk staff (Katie and Joel) are a HUGE improvement over the short-​tenured managers we had in the past. I think Katie has already been there longer than the previous 3 mangers combined and as far as I know plans on staying indefinitely.
Also yes, the new rooftop furniture has big comfortable orange cushions and is awesome — I’ve used the roof more this summer than any other year because of it.
Finally, because this wouldn’t be a Unilocal review without a gripe, I do have to mention that the building’s only option for «high speed» internet is Comcast. We all know how awful they are, and at peak times (7 – 9 on weeknights) the speeds frequently slow down enough to make video streaming impossible. I waged a long battle to get Axis to consider Condo Internet (100mb-​1gb fiber optic broadband). They ended up giving the building a proposal that would include free wi-​fi on the roof, but the building owner rejected their proposal because of an «exclusive contract» with Comcast. Translation: Comcast is bribing the owner not to allow competition so their residents are forced to use their shitty service.

I have lived at Axis for over 3 years now and there has been a monumental turnaround in staff throughout.
Fortunately, the current staff (²⁰¹³⁄₂₀₁₄) are AMAZING! One of the office managers also lives in the building which is a good indication of how you will be treated, as well as how Prometheus (apartment holding company) treats its staff. The current maintenance staff also does an amazingly quick job of filling service requests and keeping the building in great condition.
The roof top grill was finally main-​lined into the building’s gas which means no more perpetually empty tanks when you want to go up and grill. The roof top area also got new furniture this year and is a HUGE improvement over the old lawn chair style stuff, it feels like a lounge now and has the best views of the water in Queen Anne & Belltown.
The main negatives of the building can also be positives depending on your transportation, interests, and schedule. 2^nd ave will be EXTREMELY busy if there’s a big concert/​event at Key, if you’re trying to come home or leave during those times expect a 15 minute wait per block of distance you need to travel in any direction. That being said if you frequent the park, Key Arena, and any of the theaters there isn’t a better place to live when it’s a 3 minute walk out your front door.
There is also a considerable amount of noise generated by the semi’s who use 2^nd to access the loading bay of Key and the Pacific Science Center if you live on that side of the building. Really not a big deal if you’re used to the city, but if you’re coming from a quiet neighborhood expect a month to break in new sleeping habits. Parades/​runs also periodically will wake you up on the weekends if you tend to sleep in, and make it impossible to leave by car.
As for the apartment and general construction you get hardwood in the kitchen, granite in both kitchen and bath, and the overall build quality is above par for apartments in the city. The gas range is the shit, period. I can’t put into words how nice it is to not be on an electric top that takes 20min to cook a 5min meal. The building was originally condos that were converted, and it shows. The walls are great for sound deadening and I can count the times I’ve been annoyed by loud neighbors on one hand, at other places I’ve lived I would need three people with both their hands and feet. The only other annoyance is the amount of neighbors who feel the need to constantly take bong rips and let the scent flow into my open windows, which are ALWAYS open. I tend to like a cold apartment (65F) and this is nearly impossible, even in the winter, my apartment holds in an insane amount of heat, so if you like things warm you’re in luck.
The gym is decent, it has all the essentials and it’s clean. Weight rack, machines with TV’s, mats, and some cable systems. It is also pretty infrequently used, I’ve ran into only a handful of neighbors since I’ve been here.
I’ve never had a problem with mail delivery aside from Amazon’s unfortunate choice to use OnTrac as a carrier for Prime deliveries, they’ve just thrown my package in the mail annex or on a table in the lobby with no notification.
Axis has also moved to a website forum/​e-​mail delivery for in building notifications which is miles better than the piece of paper shoved under the door (they still do this for critical impact stuff like parking garage cleaning, which is a good thing).
Having been there for 3 years I’ve had to negotiate a new lease 3 times during the biggest rate hike for all of Seattle. Every time I’ve negotiated a new lease I’ve done it EARLY, think months in advance, and each time they have been more than reasonable and saved me a ton of money. All of the office managers suggested to wait for a probable lowering in price, or just negotiated on my behalf with Prometheus to get a reasonable rate; WELL below averages for my apartment size/​type. Don’t expect this if you try to renew your lease the day before it’s up, like any business dependent on 30 day notices and year long rates it’s impossible to work with you because of your poor planning. –_​–
All in all I firmly believe that this is the best building to live in if you need to be close to city center. I’ve looked at other properties all over downtown, Belltown, and lower Queen Anne. You’re either going to be stuck in a dingy 1970’s building for relatively cheap with no services, or a brand new cookie cutter paper thin walls astronomically priced unit. Axis fits perfectly in the middle between the two opposites.

(I copied and pasted this review from my review on
, which has a bit more in depth rating system, which explains the talk of stars for parking)
I moved to Axis from Belltown — only a 4 block difference, but its amazing how much those 4 blocks matter. Its still very close to everything — Axis is pretty much directly in between Belltown and Lower Queen Anne, and borders the Seattle Center — but its much quieter and calmer than Belltown was. The location is great.
The apartments themselves are very nice. The building is new, and was originally built to be condos, so the appliances/​fixtures are very high quality, and the building is built very solid. Gas stoves, stainless steel appliances, granite counters in the kitchen, all very nice. Also, in my year here, I’ve only heard my neighbors once or twice. The walls are thick/​insulated well.
My unit was a 1^st floor loft. It was large — over 1000 square feet — with a huge downstairs w/​hardwood floors, and a big, carpeted upstairs. The bathrooms are also nice — big, glass shower in the upstairs. I had my own entrance to the outside, which was very convenient with my dog. While the porches are technically shared for the 1^st floor residents, being on the end of the row, I pretty much had my own space. My rent was not cheap — but when you consider the location and how much nicer it is than surrounding apartment complexes, its actually a good deal.
Reserved parking spots are available downstairs for an additional fee. The garage is clean, well lit, and surprisingly spacious for a Seattle garage. I only rated parking 3 stars because A) the parking spots are not cheap and B) there have been some reports of break-​ins throughout the year. I personally never had a problem though, and management was always quick to respond whenever there was an incident.
Management is friendly and quick to respond in person or via email to any issues I had. I only ever needed maintenance once, and it was fixed within hours. No complaints there. They’ll also deliver packages to your apartment for you while you’re at work — very convenient.
The building itself has a lot of nice amenities. My personal favorite is the rooftop deck. Its perfect in the summer. Awesome views of the Sound, downtown, and the space needle… perfect place to relax after work/​on weekends. There’s also an enclosed pet patio up there. The building also has a really nice screening room for watching movies, a decent fitness center, business center, and club room.
I only really had two complaints living here. The first one will become a non-​issue very soon — construction next door. The Denny Way side of the building (on which I had an outside, first floor wall) borders construction that’s been going on since the building opened. The construction workers are somewhat rude at times, use the building’s loading zone all the time, and are occasionally noisy (although mostly during business hours). The few times I had real complaints with construction, I raised them with the building management, who promptly got in touch with the construction company to try to fix them. However, that construction should be completing within a next month or two — don’t let it sway you from moving here. The other is just the flip side of the convenience to the Seattle center — when there are big events, expect big crowds. Most of the time its very quiet, but if there’s something at Key Arena, or a big movie in the Imax theater, expect a lot of touristy people around.
All in all, Axis has been a great place to live. I’m only moving out because I took a job on the other side of the lake, making my commute pretty inconvenient. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a nice place downtown.

We lived at Axis for 1 year. I wish there was an option for 4 ½ stars, because 4 stars doesn’t feel right. The building was originally designed to house condominiums, though when the recession hit, Axis became apartments. This means that they are built to last.
At Axis, you pay (primarily) for the views and the location. We did it for 1 year and enjoyed every minute. This type of complex anywhere else in the city would have units going for 25−30% less per month.
PROS:
— Views: Elliott Bay to the west, Space Needle to the east.
— Location: Bars, restaurants, supermarket, coffee, Key Arena, and the waterfront all within 5 – 10 minutes, walking.
— Amenities: Gym, entertainment room, party room, and rooftop terrace (which has THE most amazing views of the city).
— Staff/​Neighbors: Everyone watches out for everyone. It’s going to be difficult to leave this aspect behind. Staff will address noisy neighbors immediately. Neighbors will dog sit, pick up your mail and/​or large packages if you’re out of town.
CONS:
— Unexpected costs: Utilities are divided evenly amongst all residents. So that means that each month, the single, frugal individual in the 1 bedroom will pay the same amount as the energy hog pair of roomies with the 2 bedroom penthouse. This was our biggest gripe, as our utility bill sometimes matched that of a typical 2 bedroom Seattle house, and yet we we were extremely frugal with our 1 bedroom unit.
— Parking: Paid garage parking is a necessity. Street parking is essentially a non-​option, what with all the daily traffic for the Pacific Science Center and Key Arena.
— Storage: Extra space on the 1^st floor costs between $ 50 – 200, and it will be needed if you expect to keep anything more than clothes in your room.
— Noise: Nothing unexpected when living in such a trafficked location, though the sirens, post-​Key Arena-​event-​goers, and the sounds of bums arguing over cheap beer at 2 AM can grow a little old.