The Kennedy Building

Worst apartment I have lived ever. I pay $ 2000 for 1b 575 sf and two parking space. My car was smashed once and my girlfriend’s staff in here car was stolen. In addition, the oil paint from ceiling of parking garage drops on my car and cannot be erased. What manager could say is always: sorry we are not responsible for that… Seriously bad security and no responsible manager.

The building is decent, though hallways, elevators, and parking area seem to be somewhat unhygienic, as another poster points out. But the worst part is probably the owning company, which seems to nickle and dime residents with random fees. A billing screwup on the part of the company resulted in a late fee they refused to waive, and another fee was charged on top of that upon actually paying the bill (a «document fee»)! Pretty amazing. Never experienced something like that from a landlord before, but I guess it’s not surprising to see something like that living in a building owned by «United Dominion Realty.» If it’s a landlord you know, usually a quick email or phone call is enough to resolve any such issues when it’s an innocent misunderstanding.
Random parking fines even though we pay for a spot (I guess someone missed the parking sticker in the windshield), guest parking requires passes, guests randomly get ticketed. Generally these can be removed, but this stuff wastes a lot of time. As others have pointed out, the building staff are quite polite (though one of them recently left), but they are obviously powerless to help with the random fees and other corporate nonsense, and the building manager seems to have an aversion to responding to written correspondence.
The apartments are reasonable for the price, though we did lose usage of one room in a 2br apartment for a week and a half due to a roof leak a few months ago (which means sleeping on the couch during that time period…), which they took way too long to fix.
Overall, there is much better housing available in the area at this price point, and if it wasn’t for the cost and hassle of moving, we would probably move out.

The parking lot elevator room really stinks! I don’t think anyone could stay there longer than 1 minute. It could be really bad for your health, so those five stars people, I bet you don’t drive.
However, the hall way smells too. No luxury feeling at all. just bad smell and cheap air refresher, which makes the smell worse.
I do like the rooftop, it has a nice view. but it get locked sometimes and even you have the key you can’t get in. Anyway, doesn’t worth the price.

I strongly disagree with the 1 star review below. I have had a completely different experience with UDR, and I thoroughly enjoyed living at the Kennedy Building.
I lived there for a year, and I am a huge fan of the building’s management team. Mario and Sarah are really great. They work super hard, and they genuinely care about their tenants. Honestly. I wish they would take more time off! The people taking care of the building are great, and the residents are fortunate.
UDR is an enormous company, and it’s ignorant for someone to point out one bad experience as how the entire company works. I have personally had a great experience here. See for yourselves.

The Kennedy is a great place. The office staff are awesome (yay Mario!). We love the proximity to the U-​District action and Trader Joe’s and the freeway. The price is pretty nice too.

There’s a few things for me to cover: Definitely a lot of pros, and a few cons. So I’ll try to make it simple and just leave it at that:
Pros:
–The nicest and most helpful staff. The women in the leasing office are super sweet, and I really feel like I got to know them on a little of a personal level, even if it was still mostly just business. They really made me feel welcome, and there were times I just sat in the leasing office talking to the manager about our days. They’re super personable. The maintenance staff are also very friendly and have great attitudes. It always seemed like they were smiling when I saw them walking through the hallways.
— The security. It’s maybe not out of the ordinary for someone used to city living, but for me, the electronic key access to the building and cameras throughout were really nice, especially since the neighborhood has a few grimey parts, although the neighborhood overall is pretty nice.
— The apartment was great at keeping heat in, so it’s perfect in the winter.
— The view. The rooftop is a nice place to relax, and the view from the apartment was pretty great too, but that also depends on which apartment you get.
— The TV. Our apartment came with a 1080 pixel LG TV.^. ^
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Cons:
— I’d start with the name of the company that owns the Kennedy: UDR. It stands for UNITED DOMINION REALTY. Draw your own conclusions.
— What seemed like a month of people always wanted access to the apartment, whether it was for smoke detectors (I’ll get to that in a second) or maintenance staff required to look into our apartments, I imagine probably to make sure we’re not raging hoarders that tore the place to shreds.
— The appliances are old and crappy. It’s «energy-​efficient», by making you have to use them more often because of how tiny and ineffective they are.
–The smoke detectors… Ours had times it just kept beeping, and tampering definitely did not help. Also, the day they check smoke detectors to see if they work is a nightmare… But it’s only one day, so maybe just don’t be there for that day. Basically, it’s every single smoke detector in the building going off every time they check an individual alarm, the entire day, loud as can be.
— The ads. I guess the UNITED DOMINION pimps out to advertisers, because we’d always get ads for Dominos and other stuff just stuck to our front door, or sometimes shoved through the crack of the door inside.
— The neighbors. At least ours… They fought a LOT. Thankfully the corner apartment meant less common walls, but it was still a lot of foot mashing and screaming and people throwing glasses and just being dramatic hot messes. Maybe it’s just me, but I think more people need to meditate. This isn’t really the apartment’s fault that our neighbors were insane, though. We had to call the cops twice on two separate places because those couples were animals.
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Overall, I think this building is perfect for someone who wants to live in a medium-​density, secured access building, who likes a more urban setting (It’s on a busy street), who cares about having great staff on-​site, and doesn’t mind the nuisances of living in an apartment owned by a dominion that may or may not want to make you all their slaves.

I lived here from 2010 — 2012 in a one bedroom on the third floor, facing the courtyard.
The only reason I gave them 4 instead of 5 stars is because of the price. Yes, it is expensive but if it is within your budget, this is THE BEST you are going to get in the area.
Staff and Maintenance:
Sarah and the staff are amazing. They are warm, welcoming, and extremely helpful. They are prompt when it comes to repairs and maintenance although I rarely experienced problems with my apartment. You will probably never find staff as incredible as the Kennedy’s.
Noise Level:
I won’t lie, it will not always be quiet but then again you are looking at an apartment on a main street in the UDistrict. Because of the price, most of the residents are young to older professionals/​families that work weekdays and have quiet weekends. However, there is always the exception. Also, there is a nightclub and bar across 45^th. The club itself isn’t a problem but for residents on that side of the building will be faced with noisy and drunk people. If your looking at rooms facing the courtyard, you will not hear the club/​bar.
Other Residents/​Wall Thickness:
Personally I couldn’t hear my next door neighbors but I sometimes heard my upstairs neighbors. Maybe they were circus performer or elephants but they could get loud. Some friends in the building mentioned the same thing about their upstairs neighbors. I don’t think it has to do with the building but rather the people you have upstairs.
Parking:
Pricey but secure. There are two gates: one on the street and one separating visitor and resident parking. The staff will also provide your guests with a parking pass given that they are in the office and there are spaces available. There are two floors of parking. The spaces are tight but the staff is willing to help you accommodate if you speak with them.
Roof/​Amenities:
Beautiful view. BBQ. Fire pit. Fitness Room. Each unit comes with a flat screen TV mounted to the wall. Washer/​Dryer, dishwasher in unit. Lovely lobby.
One thing I have to mention is that there is no microwave. This means you have to get your own and that can cramp up your counter space depending on its size.
Since I’ve left, they’ve added several new amenities to their building that are worth checking out and justify their increase in price.
Pets:
Dogs and cats are allowed in the building. Many dog owners let their pets run around in the courtyard. If you don’t like dogs, there are ways to enter the building without going through the courtyard. Residents are generally mindful of each other and I never dealt with residents not picking up after their pets.
Location:
Amazing. If you work/​attend UW it will take you 15 minutes to get on campus on foot. There is great food all around. Teriyaki Plus is delicious. There is a 24 hour Subway across the street. The 76 station next door has anything you need in a hurry and the attendants are friendly.
Security:
There are cameras THAT WORK in most public areas. That means the lobby, roof, fitness room, courtyard, etc. When I lived there the garage didn’t have security cameras. Hopefully that has changed.
Overall the level of security is what would be expected in a city. The transient and criminal population in the UDistrict is getting larger and some problems are unavoidable. The Kennedy has measures in place and does what it can.
No building will be perfect but the Kennedy tries and the staff are responsive to your opinions and needs. Sarah is always looking to make helpful changes/​improvements to the building. I believe great management is what sets the Kennedy a part from all other buildings in the area.
I hope this was helpful.

The front desk staff is as good as it gets. They create a very personable atmosphere for the residents of the apartment building. They attend immediately to issues, if any, that may arise.
The apartments themselves are very nice for the area. The location is surrounded by restaurants and makes for very convenient city life.

So I’ve been living here for 2+ years now, and I still think it deserves 4 stars.
It is still a safe place– security cameras everywhere, and I know they work because I’ve seen all the little screens in the management office. The building has been recently painted (exterior and interior), which is okay, I think i preferred the previous colors but whatever. Like always, all areas of the building are supremely clean (except probably in your own unit). They have also recently added on a «Internet lounge» exclusively for residents that apparently you can hold study groups/​conferences in. It opens in a couple of weeks, not sure how I feel about that new feature since I am graduating (hooray!).
The Kennedy team is better than ever, the manager is very friendly and has become more of a friend/​acquaintance that I don’t mind popping in on every now and then to see how she’s doing. The maintenance/​grounds workers are great too– I see them probably every single day doing something different.
So 4 stars, because it is deadly expensive. I feel like I am paying downtown Seattle prices to live in U-​District. Okay, like I said before, it is one of the nicer buildings in U-​District and does offer a lot of features, so only rent here if you don’t have a problem paying for it. My rent has increased significantly in the 2 times I had to renew. Almost a $ 250 jump each time.
Oh and we’ve finally got two parking spots! Woohoo!