Jasper Apartments

We just spent the past 8 months as tenants at the Jasper Apts here in Wedgwood.
Having to move quickly when our home on Camano Island sold this past September,
we signed a lease while we waited for our home in Seattle to become available when our tenants lease ended.
Those 8 months sped by. Most of our concerns with being tenants in an apt house
vanished. Our overall experience has been very positive. Our unit was comfortable
with few surprises. Things worked well and the general quality of the building was visibly
apparent. Noise was not an issue. Maintenance was excellent as the onsite staff
is very responsive and most congenial.
This is a dog friendly building and we greatly appreciated the welcoming attitude
by the majority of the tenants and especially by the staff. Our golden retriever loved the
attention and the abundance of treats and pats on the head.
What we want to draw particular attention to is the effectiveness of the onsite
manager, Vanessa. She reached out to us on our arrival and her positive, engaging
attitude was a constant throughout our tenancy. Whether with a «good morning»
or with a concern about a malfunctioning faucet, she set a valued tone and a
welcoming attitude that went a long ways to make our stay as positive as it was!

Lived here for ~18 months and it was a good place to live. Relatively new building (so you’ll pay a pretty penny), quiet neighbors, rooftop deck. Nice common area too, great for get togethers.
Some negatives I’d list — parking is extra, and the building has some of those dumb/​useless «tandem» spots where it’s one long parking spot for two cars. The building had some issues with pets pooping in the common areas and the roof.
Our apartment did get a little toasty in the summer, and we weren’t even on the sunny side of the building. Overall though– nice clean place to live, no huge complaints.

Pros:
The apartment is only a few years old so the amenities are up to date. The community is pretty nice, though a slightly older crowd. Not the best for young professionals. Located in a nice neighborhood with grocery stores nearby.
Cons:
My major complaint is with the lack of management. The managers are nice, however the management was slow to follow through with commitments and in some cases did not follow through at all. To list a few examples:
— Services requests took between 2 – 8 weeks. This left us without functional appliances for a few weeks at a time.
— Upon moving out, the apartment manager promised to cancel our utility bill for us. They did not, and we ended up receiving a bill for 1-​month of the next tenants usage. We had to spend our personal time resolving the issue with the utility company.
— Due to either poor ventilation or delayed disposal of their trash bins, the trash smells carried throughout the entire apartment building and garage.
— The hallway carpets didn’t look like they had ever been cleaned.
Overall the experience was «good». I think with some extra time and effort from management, this place could be a 5-​star.

I lived at Jasper for a 6 month lease from Feb to Aug 2013. I rented one of the more expensive units that had a massive balcony. I paid $ 2250 for my unit.
Overall, Jasper was a nice place, with clean, new apartments. The area is safe and near QFC, Wells Fargo, Rite-​Aid, a couple of really cool pubs, and those places were not at all intrusive.
The reason I give the place three stars is because of management issues. They underwent three management changes in the 6 months I was there. The first one, led by a guy named Brian, was by far the best, but they changed management without notice. Our apartments were inspected four different times during the six months, again for reasons unknown. The last management team was led by a young woman who modified the office hours to the point where it was blind luck if you were going to see anyone in there when you needed them. This made getting important packages a challenge.
After my 6 month lease was up, the new management wanted to raise my rent $ 150 to $ 2400. I figured my flat was worth about $ 1800 tops, so I moved to Thornton Place.
A issue I experienced with that final management team is that when I moved out, I was stilled charged another month’s rent for Seattle City Light. I called the young lady in the management office and explained that the first management team set up the account and assured me they would also also close out the account. She said they would take care of it… but they never did. I decided to eat the bill rather than deal with her team further.
Overall, along with a hefty price tag for the space you get, Jasper was a very unexciting, sanitary experience as the environment is not very conducive to knowing neighbors, etc. But for many that may be exactly what they’re looking for.

Lived here for a year and have no major complaints. The building is brand new so the units have new kitchens, appliances, bathrooms, etc. Location was pretty central for me getting to work. The resident lounge has been nice to use a couple times when I’ve worked from home. The parking garage is a little tight for my car (ford explorer), but you can make it work.
Roof deck is massive and really fun to BBQ… for the 3 months of sun we get… :)
The price was also right for the apartment. All in all, I’ve had a good experience here and would recommend it. I received a small increase to renew but moved out because of a job transfer.

Lived here for a year. Would have considered living here longer, but the place was bought by another management company and the rent for our unit was going to be raised by several hundred a month. Was happy to leave after one year and love my new building MUCH more.
Negatives:
–The units facing 35^th get crazy hot in the summer.
–Bad sound insulation. Lots of street noise and you can hear people in nearby units gettin’ it on!
–Only one elevator and no stairs near the elevator. Long waits!
–Garage gate is super slow.
–Parking spaces are $ 70 a month each and are TIGHT. When you have a Tundra parked in a compact sized spot opposite from you, it makes it tough to get out. One side of my car is also scratched up from being next to a path of travel.
–Staff often weren’t in office, so I would often miss packages.
–They never set up the intercom for us.
–Several cars in the garage were broken into in 2012.
Positives:
–Nice kitchens and bathrooms.
–Spacious closets.

Revised on 12/​27/​2012
I’m knocking one star off of the rating because of the parking situation. This is probably one of my only complaints about Jasper. The underground parking garage ($ 70/​month for a regular stall and $ 100 for a tandem stall) is very small and not structured very well. Parking spaces are way too close and way too small. For people with bigger cars (anything bigger than a compact/​standard sized vehicle), it’s not uncommon to see scratches on their sides as a result of trying to park in these tiny little spots. I drive a SUV and am a good driver, but sometimes it takes me up to 6 tries to back out of my spot. Had the stalls been slanted to begin with, it would have been so much easier to get in and out of them.
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Granted, I’ve only lived here for about a month, but this is hands down the best apartment that I’ve ever lived in.
The apartments themselves are brand new and incredibly gorgeous. If you’re a sucker for wood floors and granite counter tops like me, then you’ll be very happy here. The garage has controlled access so I always feel safe leaving things in my car, and one cool thing that makes moving in a lot easier is that they have a bell hop cart (like in hotels) to help you with your heavy lifting. One thing that I do not like about the garages though, is that the spaces are limited and are VERY SMALL. So for someone who drives an SUV, I must admit that it takes me at least 2 to 3 tries to park my car right.
Oh, and the bathrooms here are BEAUTIFUL and the bathtub is so deep and comfortable that you can take a bath in there for days.
For someone who receives a lot of packages (like me), one cool feature of the Jasper Apartments is that there’s a big screen in front of the mail boxes that gets updated daily and tells you, by apartment number, if you have a package in the office.
The area is very pleasant as well, especially compared to where we used to live (
– in Northgate. BTW, the Luxe at Meridian is the most horrid place on earth, NEVER rent there.) Wedgwood is such a quaint and special town. From the apartment, you are within walking distance to Rite Aid, QFC, the post office, fruit stands, and many great little local restaurants. One thing that I absolutely love about this neighborhood is how quiet it is. Everyone is respectful of each other’s down time and for someone who really values my peace and calm, I am never disturbed (other than the occasional car noises from 35^th.)
In terms of staff, I’ve had only positive experience with the office and maintenance staff. I especially like that issues/​concerns are mostly communicated by email, my preferred form of communication.
I’m sure that I may find faults within this paradise later, but for right now, I am very content and happy with this place.