Cobb Apartments

This review is long overdue! I really cant say enough good things about the Cobb. The building is so beautiful. It is located right downtown and above Capitol Grille! We loved being able to go down and have dinner and drinks. The apartment was amazing. Huge windows, view of the sound, great sunsets, and the finishes and fixtures are top notch. The walls are thick and we never once heard any neighbors. The grill on the roof is great in the summertime. The management is awesome, they maintain the building amazingly and Tim was always happy to help with anything. The ONLY reason we moved is because we were moving out of state for work. I am still looking for my Cobb in Boston. We loved living there!

Beautiful apartments, wonderfully managed, in a building with historic character in the heart of downtown Seattle.

The Emperor has no clothes. I love historic buildings and visited/​viewed/​toured the Cobb for which to move, but, sadly, this is as close as I hope to becoming a resident. There aren’t many other write ups detailing the shortcomings of the Cobb, so I am leaving this detailed review.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the Cobb «historic» isn’t synonymous with «better» and it doesn’t even compare to other luxury buildings in the area in terms of space and amenities (but they somehow justify high rents for less value). The building DOES indeed have a lot of charm and character, but it mostly pertains to the outside which you’ll only really see if you’re, um, outside? I was expecting something along the lines of a fancy, old hotel — so I was shocked by how boring and sans character the apt interiors were, which defeats the purpose of living inside the building where you’ll get to enjoy the outside about as much as someone who doesn’t pay to live there. So why live there?
If you’re thinking about moving from one luxury building to this one, hold onto your society hat: The Cobb has literally all or most of the amenities your building has, but slightly worse — smaller, dirtier, danker, older, more awkward, less cohesive — for, yay, more money?! What seems like a perk isn’t actually a perk at all: it’s a downgrade with a smile.
Pros:
– Beautiful grand lobby that looks like it came out of a historic novel, right down to the metalworked elevator doors.
– Rooftop Garden: Smaller than most to suit its less than 200 residents. One corner of the L shaped rooftop is pretty, floral, and manicured. The other corner is dirty and cramped. So small, probably only one group of people can comfortably inhabit an area of the L at a time.
– Location. Not really any different from a lot of the other downtown buildings, though.
– The View: The view overlooking 4^th Avenue is just fantastic. Iconic. Timeless. Beautiful.
– The building was gutted, so it has central air and new interiors. (Caveat: New interiors are lacking, see below)
– The outer façade
– High ceilings. Again, many other buildings have these for less
– The windows open all the way and there are no screens. You can poke your head out of your window whenever you wish to glimpse the historic side of the Cobb.
– Master bathroom has the shower & bath separately (shower is dated… in a bad way)
– Master bedroom has huge walk-​in closet disproportionately sized to the size of the room.
– Gas stoves.
– The gym is literally in a historic vault
Cons:
– The overblown pricetag that overpromises and underdelivers
– No concierge
– The apartments are extremely loud due to traffic. The windows are kept to historic preservation codes, but this allows all the outside noise into the apartments
– Apartments are loud also because the doors to the rooms are on rollers and don’t meet the floor all the way. Noise, from the hardwood floor and lack of acoustic control, carries.
–The public rooftop indoor space smells like mothballs
– The 2BR apartment is an awkward shape: oblong, but still small-​ish with a kitchen shoved in the corner.
– Overall design is poorly conceived: Neither here nor there and not cohesive. Not a great marriage between historic and modern. The apt interiors are pretty vanilla vanilla with standard everything and very few traces of its historic past (which I’m assuming is why ppl moved there… for some elegance, quirks, elaborate tiling, pre-​war details, etc.) other than the small size and awkward shape with the loud windows
– Lacks luxe interior details (see above) & has the same countertops & hardware as every other game in town. Maybe even worse considering the kitchen cabinets and glass shower look cheap and prefab.
– The window ledges are dirty. There used to be flag holders that have been painted over a million times. Is this attention to historic detail and preservation?!
– Appliances are dated. With so many brand new, eco-​friendly buildings, you’d think they’d fix this.
– The 2BR/​2 Bath layout doesn’t have a balcony.
– The bedrooms are extremely small and not really adult-​size or elegant bedrooms.
– Kitchen is pretty cramped in some of the models and in a corner of the living room.
– Gym: The gym is cramped with no windows, looks to be from the 80’s, is in a basement vault where no one can hear you scream. Feels rapey, forgotten & has its own microclimate.
– No highspeed internet. Comcast all the way. Seeing as we live in Seattle where tech is a thing, this isn’t acceptable.
Bottom line: For their asking price and overconfident marketing jargon, I would have expected SO much more value from the Cobb which is basically boilerplate «luxury» for amateurs. Nice try. Goodbye, Cobb, I barely knew ye.

I can’t say enough great things about The Cobb. We’ve been living here now for 4 years and can’t imagine living in any other apartment building. There are a lot of places for rent that are smaller, plain white walls, boring carpet and no character for more money. Our place has high ceilings, new appliances, thick walls that eliminate neighbor noise, and a separate storage unit for only $ 25 extra per month.
The building management is also top notch. They go above and beyond. We were out of state once and my husband lost his drivers license. The apartment manager (with our permission) found his passport and Fed Ex’d it to North Carolina for us.

I loved living in the Cobb. The downtown location is fantastic (so easy for walking to work if you work anywhere downtown), the architecture is lovely, and the insides have been renovated perfectly. Such a great marriage of old building and modern convenience. We had a washer and dryer in our studio unit, awesome appliances, and they had garage parking (for a monthly fee, which was cheaper than the rate the garage charged for non residents). We never had any security issues with our car in the garage, which was great.
The staff was always top notch, great for getting packages, etc, and we never had any problems. There was an oddity at the end of our lease where we almost moved and then didn’t, and they were super helpful with that, and didn’t charge us any fees to reclaim our unit.
All in all, I’d live here again in a heartbeat.
As at least one other reviewer mentioned, the negatives were the gym (small, and in the basement, though I didn’t really use it so it didn’t really affect me), and the rooftop garden closed by I think 10 PM, which made me sad a few nights when I wanted to wander outside at 1 AM or something, but didn’t feel like going out on the street.
The other thing to note, even though you are in the middle of downtown, the few blocks around there can feel pretty dead late at night, which I thought was a bonus (pretty quiet for being in the middle of the city). Though it is super easy to walk to either Target or Kress grocery there, which was awesome.

We’ve been at the Cobb for six years now. We were the second tenant to move in.
The accolades are true; it’s well-​maintained, has a community feel, with a dog park and gym, plus rooftop shared space. If you think you’d consider signing a lease, be prepared for the non-​negotiable rent increases of $ 100-​$ 250 at each renewal (yes, this last hike is $ 250!). We LOVE this place, but at a certain point we feel gouged, as the real estate company responds to current demand over tenant retention.

As a business it has been amazing partnering with The Cobb! Amanda and Tori are so welcoming and there is such a great community feel to the Cobb! I really admire their commitment to residents at the Cobb! Great community to live! :)

I lived in The Cobb for 3 years and when we moved out last month (we bought a house), I cried. I LOVED living there. The office staff manages your dry cleaning, signs for your packages, expedites your repair requests and lets you use their office equipment (computer/​printer, etc) or feed your cat if you are in a pinch. The security system is like Fort Knox. They have a basement workout room (maybe its not a meat shop but its open 24 hrs, it has the basics (incl ellipticals/​treadmills with cable tv) and I have never seen more than one other person in there). There is an upscale market that you can enter from the basement that is open until 9pm.
The rooftop deck is fantastic. We entertained there about 100 times (it has a gas grill fyi) and everyone who visited was blown away by the views of the Sound and the city skyline.
The floors are separated by reinforced concrete which means that you NEVER hear the neighbors above or below you (we never heard our neighbors next door either, for that matter). The appliances are new and of good quality.
The Cobb also has storage lockers you can rent in the basement that are accessible 24 hrs a day– which really helps to keep the clutter down.
If you like parades, you will be able to see them all right past the front door (if you don’t like parades, be sure to make alternative plans those days). The east facing apartments have a view of the movies projected on Rainer Tower in the summer.
The quietest apartments face west/​south. if you are above the 5^th floor, street noise is minimized.
The Cobb is a very comfortable place to live and the conveniences it offers are unmeasurable.

The Cobb just got a new maintenance person who is keeping the building in nice shape. Way to get your act together!

I agree with all the negative comments written elsewhere on the web. Unico, the managing company, is more concerned with profits than tenant well-​being, comfort, or reasonable rent increases.
* Gym — woefully pathetic compared to all every other similarly priced complex downtown
* Rooftop «Garden» — ditto; 3 tiny trees do not a garden make! The gym and «garden» areas were sacrificed to allow more space for overpriced penthouses, restaurant, and grocery store.
* Dirt — everywhere! Stairwell railings have been covered with a film of white construction dust for months — never cleaned. Stairs themselves haven’t been scrubbed since the building opened 16 months ago. When we moved in, we were told that the windows would be professionally cleaned AT LEAST 3 times/​year. In 18 months, they’ve been cleaned twice. Hallway carpets were vacuumed daily when we first moved in; now they are vacuumed 1x/​week if we are lucky. Door handles, elevator buttons, etc. are not regularly cleaned or disinfected. The large mat at the front entrance reeks of dog and/​or human urine most of the time. Same in elevators. We’ve had many guests here that complain about the toilet smell of the front entrance and elevators.
Windows — the «1920 historic, original, renovated» windows that the Cobb advertises so heavily are the worst constructed, leakiest windows we’ve ever had to put up with. It will always be freezing in your apartment unless you use lots of masking tape to seal them. Even if you seal them, the single-​pane construction does nothing to seal in the heat or keep out the cold.
Noise — Fourth Ave. is one of the main streets in Seattle for ambulances and fire trucks. You will hear them with VERY loud sirens all day and all night. Purple Café is directly across the street, and at least once per day, you’ll get to hear dump trucks behind them in the alley dumping trash and hundreds of bottles.
Smoking — Unfortunately, this is a smoking building. Even more unfortunately, the connecting bathrooms between units have drop ceilings that allow smoke to flow from unit to unit. If you don’t smoke but your neighbor does, you will smell their cigarette smoke very strongly because the partitions between walls have not been sealed properly. You will also smell everything your neighbor cooks.
Rent — be prepared for one of Seattle’s greediest owners. Although I agree with a poster above that the Cobb isn’t the only apartment building that is gouging prices, that’s hardly a justification for 40−50% rent increases that most residents were handed. Those residents who «suffered» a full year of dust, dirt, constant construction noise, things breaking, etc. were «rewarded» by Unico with outrageous rent increases.
«Hot» water — for those people who like really hot water to shower/​wash dishes, forget it. The Cobb management (claiming this is city regulation) turned the maximum water heat down. You can leave the water in the kitchen or your shower on full hot and hold your hands or body in it.
Heater — Similarly, the Cobb maintenance crew (or the company they hire to service the heat/​AC units) «fixed» all thermostats so that we cannot set our thermostat above 76. While that may sound warm enough, when every single huge «historic, restored, original» window is POURING cold air in the room, even 76 degrees won’tt keep your apartment warm.
Staff — This is one of the ONLY things at the Cobb that has been consistently good. However, they are under the greedy constraints of Unico, who is much more interested in turning big profits than in providing the best apartment in Seattle for tenants. Two of the original, excellent staff members quit the Cobb because of problems with Unico.
Moving in/​out — Although this is no fault of the Cobb, moving in is very difficult. If you are using even an average sized moving van, it won’t fit into the underground loading dock. Your only option is to pay for 2 or 3 spaces at the front of the building. We did just that, but then spent almost 3 hours trying to get the police to tow away vehicles that had parked illegally. Even if your moving truck IS small enough to fit in the underground loading area, the path that the movers must make with all your belongings is outrageously long, involving two very slow elevators.
«Community Room» — This, like the rooftop «garden» and «gym», this room is pathetic compared with community rooms in nearly every similarly priced apartment complex downtown. The «community room» consists of a sofa, TV, lamp, a few chairs, a large business meeting table, and a sink. No pool table, no kitchen, not even a microwave or coffee pot. If you want to entertain even a few people, you have to bring everything from your kitchen in sacks and trays, fully cooked, ready to go. You can’t even heat a cup of water. No towels to clean up.
In summary, this is a building that the owners are trying to pass off as a pretentious, 5-​star, «luxury» apartment complex, but it’s far from it.