Northbridge Apartments

Since Northbridge has been under new management, I have breathed a huge sigh of relief. Things in my apartment have been fixed, the first floor patio, roof, hallways, elevator, and outside property have been cleaned up. Nechole is working very hard to turn this place around and I know I’m not the only one who appreciates it. She is quick to respond to emails and treats me with respect. This building has the perfect commute to downtown, Ballard, The U district, or you can walk anywhere within Fremont and Wallingford. Underground parking and a safe location are ideal. The roof is amazing, with a 360 degree view of the mountains on both sides and the cityscape straight ahead. It’s surprisingly quiet here at night, too, never been disturbed by neighbors.

Where to begin… If you are considering the this place, run for the hills. The apartments are mediocre at best, cheap appliances and extremely thin walls. One could get over that given the price if not for the management.
Jennifer is completely and totally crazy. Like other reviewers have mentioned it’s a lot like living in a dorms, only the the RA is a crazily vindictive gossip queen. On top of the gossip, and crazy micromanagement, you can be expect to be shaken down each and every time a lease renewal comes up.
Hands down the worst place I have ever lived.

I lived in this place a few years back, and lived there long enough to have an opinion or two. Honestly, I never even considered writing a review of this complex until I read the previous (scathing) reviews…
First of all, the building really is great. Clean, very secure, awesome location, and good amenities. When I lived there, it had free WiFi and a basic gym for all residents, secure garage parking that was pretty affordable by Fremont standards, nice appliances like washers and dryers in every unit, and a rooftop deck with good-​quality barbecues and an awesome view. I lived in a 2-​bedroom and my roommate and I felt like we had enough space to co-​exist and didn’t have to hear each other’s every movement. The closet situation was pretty sparse, limited to only one smallish closet in each bedroom and no hallway/​coat closet elsewhere in the unit, but we could make it work. I’ve paid far more for apartments that were far less pretty and had far less to offer.
Second, the management (a couple) treat the building like it’s their own home. That means they do all the things to keep a big apartment building nice, like keep it very clean and well-​stocked, and take extra efforts like putting up decorations in the courtyard for holidays. But it also means that they’re a little too overprotective. I am a private person, and yes, I did feel that the management was a little more «present» than I would like at times. I really felt the boundaries were crossed when I broke a (minor) rule– I was literally hunted down and scolded like a child, which was not cool. I was also weirded out by all of the reprimanding signs that were routinely posted in the garage, above the mailboxes, and throughout the hallways, chastising the residents for all sorts of things that usually happen in a large apartment complex (spilled garbage, loud parties, bringing a pet into the building without permission, blah blah.) I realize that the managers have to take responsibility for running the place and keeping the order, but sometimes it seemed like I was living in a college dorm or a bunker at teen sleepaway camp than an apartment complex for paying adults. The majority of the time, my roommate and I were left alone… but we also followed all of the rules the majority of the time. The few instances in which we did break one of the rules (such as being on the roof deck after ‘curfew’ — and, yes, the managers did have cameras to catch anyone sneaking up there after hours,) we were immediately confronted in a rather judgmental and threatening way. It reminded me of the time my mom caught me trying to smoke the broken butt of cigarette behind the shed when I was 13.
I feel it’s a toss-​up between living in a place where management takes pride in their property and monitors their tenants closely (if not too closely,) and a place where they don’t give a damn what you do but don’t do anything to take care of the building, either. The complex has a some decent amenities and it is really very safe and well-​kept, so if those things are top priorities for you, it’s probably worth the extra burden of dealing with the micro-​managing managers. If you’d rather have guaranteed privacy in a place that is a little run-​down, Northbridge probably isn’t right for you.

Once upon a time I lived in this apartment building for over 6 years (I just moved out September 2006) and let me help you out by being very clear about a few things. The location is great, the rooftop deck view will take your breath away, and the building management totally SUCKS.
Let me set the stage for you.
If you call the building manager to report a problem they won’t pick up the phone and when you leave a message they won’t return your call. You’ll have to call them several times before they even respond and then you better be ready for a laundry list of excuses why they can’t get to it for a few weeks.
Like one time the fan which vents air and moisture out of my windowless bathroom broke. It took the building manager 8 weeks to fix it and after 5 weeks of no action I finally had to call her out and tell her I was going to start deducting money off my rent check if it wasn’t fixed ASAP. In the end, after it was fixed and she realized the vent was simply clogged with dust, she tried to blame me for not vacuming it out often enough. Hello, this is why I rent. I’m not unscrewing a vent fan and crawling into the ceiling to clean that out. File under THIS IS KIND OF STUFF MY RENT CHECK PAYS FOR SMARTY.
And then another time I pulled into the garage and discovered a foreign car parked in my parking space. Since I had been parking in the same ASSIGNED PARKING SPACE for six plus years I was a little perplexed but assumed someone was just being stupid and decided to go ahead and park where ever they damn well pleased.
My first thought was to block them in with my car. But the garage is tight and I would have had to block other cars as well. My second thought was to call the building manager, which I did, but I simply got voicemail. My third thought was to leave a note on the car asking them to move it and then park my car out on the street until they moved.
In the meantime, my husband and I were in the middle of making an offer on a house, so we ended up moving our car again to meet up with our agent. But before we left, I ran into Sally (
) and told her the news on both counts. She, of course, was happy about the house news. And her response to the car thing was something along the lines of, «Do you want me to block them in with my car? Because I totally will.» Ha. Great minds think alike.
When we returned from signing all the paperwork for the offer we pulled into the garage and discovered the car was STILL parked there. So we had to find street parking since someone was PARKED IN MY PARKING SPACE. Argh.
The apartment building managers aren’t very helpful to say the least. Since they didn’t call me back until Monday and this happened on Saturday it wasn’t much use for them to even call me back. As it turns out the building manager told the strange car to park there because they couldn’t seem to recall THAT I’VE PARKED IN THAT SAME EXACT SPACE FOR THE LAST 6 YEARS.
I was also advised to park in two other spaces if that happened again. As it turns out one of the spaces she told me to park in IS ALSO ASSIGNED so I called her back to let her know space #36 is already assigned and she shouldn’t be telling people to park there or the same problem is going to happen again to someone else in my apartment building. She asked if I knew the name of the person who parks in that space. Isn’t that her job to know that? I told her no, but described the car and gave her the license plate. Very professional Ms. Buidling Manager. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I finally moved and didn’t have to put up with those no brains anymore.
P. S. I left a note on the car parked in my space that said «Move your car or it will be towed». When the building manager called me back she told me «the girl parked in your space was very offended the nasty note you left». That’s funny. Because if the girl was smart she would be very offended that you can’t do your job.
P. P. S. It could have been worse. Sally and I both had the brilliant idea to use lipstick to write the note directly on her windshield. I resisted that urge. I’m glad about that. Karma. And more importantly, lipstick is expensive.