Trinity 43rd Apartments

I have lived here for three years. I used to like this building when I first moved in, but it is steadily going downhill.
PROS: –new building with nice facility
–good location if you go to UW
CONS: –the staff here is dreadful and awful. Sterla, the manager here is the rudest person I have ever seen. Her terrible manner so annoying! Please do not expect her to be friendly and helpful.
–the soundproofing is very bad. I can even hear my neighbor’s music and tv shows.
–there are several break-​ins in the garage, gym and mail room recently, and of course under the management of Sterla.
PLEASE AVOID this place if possible!

I’ve been living here for almost a year, and overall, it’s a pretty nice place to live. Below are my ratings for different things about this apartment that are most important to me. I’ve given each of these things a rating from 1 to 5 (5 being the best).
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LOCATION (5)
These apartments are located in a super convenient location being a UW student and working in downtown Bellevue.
Pros:
— One bus away from downtown seattle and northgate mall
— A couple blocks from The Ave, where there are great restaurants
— A block away from Trader Joes and Yoga to the People
— There is market and deli in the apartment complex
— There is free street parking around the apartment
— UW Medical Shuttle stops right outside every 15 minutes, its a five minute bus ride to UW health sciences building (in which you can transfer to other seattle metro buses — such as 271 to downtown bellevue) or harborview FREE
— Relatively safe
Cons:
–Right next to Roosevelt, which is super noisy from traffic and homeless
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MANAGMENT (5)
I notice that there are quite a few negative reviews about management on here, but if you are a resident that follows the rules that management clearly lays out for you, you shouldn’t run into any problems! They are definitely flexible and reasonable to assist you in any way as long as you are reasonable in your request. They are not going to jeopardize the security of any resident. The management at Trinity is the most professional and organized I’ve experienced being an apartment rentor. But they have zero tolerence for those who try to be sneaky or cut the rules in any way.
Pros:
— Super organized, you ask them to do something and they’ll get it done
— All about security and making sure no strangers come into the building
— If you tell them ahead of time you can’t pay your rent on the days they are due because you’re not in town or something, they’ll give you a chance to turn it in on a day that’s more convient for you.
— Keep the place very clean
Cons:
— A little intimidating at first
— They check your room every several months to make sure you’re not damaging the apartment
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APARTMENT (4)
Currently live in a one bedroom apartment, and they are lovely!
Pros:
— Marble kitchen counters and nice appliances
— Big bathrooms with marble counters
— Decent living room and dining space
— Don’t really need to turn on the heat in the winter unless it’s below 30 degrees
Cons:
— Small bedroom, only fits queen bed and bed stand on either side. No dresser space
— Kitchen cupboards keep falling off their latches, but it’s an easy fix
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COST OF RENT (3)
They are definitely pricey but are better priced than other surrounding fancy apartments.
Pros:
— Cost is worth it for convenient location and security
— Comes with 24 access to downstairs gym, which is pretty decent and have never found it crowded
— Community room downstairs has wifi and can be reserved any time (big space and has full kitchen, perfect for potlucks or big parties)
Cons:
— Doesn’t cover any kind of bills (utilities/​electricity/​garbage)
— Still have to walk all the way outside to dump garbage
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PARKING GARAGE (2)
Even though there is free parking all around the apartment, it’s not that safe out there and you still have to drive around for a while just to find a spot to parallel park which gets super annoying. So you have the option of paying the parking garage fee.
Pros:
— The parking is literally right next to the elevators so you have easy access to your apartment/​garage
— You don’t have to spend 20 minutes driving around the streets to find parking
— Your car is relatively safer than on the streets
Cons:
— The parking garage is still easily accessible by strangers
— Theft happens quite often, especially if you have a really nice car
— It costs an additional $ 125 per month!!!
— parking spaces are extremely small!
— Way overpriced for the value of parking the garage provides
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BIKE ROOM (2)
There are a lot of bikers in the building.
Pros:
— There is a lockable fenced off area in the parking garage where you can lock your bike in
— No fee for access if you have a bike
Cons:
— There are so many bikes it’s hard to almost impossible to find space to properly lock your bike
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This review comes after I have lived here, moved out, and starting to look back at things there and all in all, while there were some flaws, it was one of the best apartments in the U-​District.
Security was lapse at certain times, my car was broken into once
The rooms were spacious and there was laundry machines in all the apartments. But be aware of the noise due to the thin walls.
The gym is great but the mover theatres and common room have to be reserved in advanced with a deposit which could be annoying at times.
The new manager may seen icy-​cold to some residents at first but once you get to know her and talk to her every now and then she’s quite a fun person to talk to. Maintenance is okay with work request replied in a couple of days.
All in all, while at Trinity 43^rd, I was complaining quite alot but after moving out to my new place which is double the rent and half the size, It wasn’t so bad after all.
All I wish Trinity 43^rd did was to organize community BBQ and events so residents could meet up with each other, the staff, and get some free food.

THE MOST OVERRATED APARTMENT I’VE EVER LIVED IN!!!
First of all, this place is a total rip-​off. You’re not paying the rent for what’s it’s really worth.
The building is made from a low quality material. Cheap doors, cheap carpet, etc. I can hear my neighbors upstair walking around their apartment all day long. It’s not a pleasant thing to hear when you’re trying to go to sleep or study
The new manager is not by any means people friendly or genuine. She doesn’t really value her tenant.
For the price of the rent, there should be garbage shute. But, not at this apartment. You have to walked OUTSIDE the apartment to throw away your trash! Not at all convienient
Yes the place is clean and new. But there are also other cheaper apartments around U district that offers the same value.
This place has a gym and movie theater. Gym is definitely convinient but it gets crowded most times. Theater is cool but you have to get the manager everytime you want to use it. It gets annoying if they don’t answer your call
I have lived in Udistrict for 8 years and has lived in several apartments around here. But, this apt is not the best by any means
Before you sign the lease, search other apartments.

Please, the owner of the apartment — we really hope you can see this — do something with the management.
Some cars got broke in last month in the parking lot. So the $ 100 parking fee is only for the spot without any security? Fine. Didn’t expect any kind of compensation, but at least apology/​concern/​follow-​up? — NONE.
Intruding privacy — not much to add more on this, the previous few reviews have explained and expressed well of those «safety inspection».
It is certainly a big lost that our previous manager passed away. In fact, the living environment is still good; assistants and maintenance are still great. I forget the name of the maintenance but I have to say that I really appreciate his work. We always see him around and working till late — cleaning/swiping/etc…but lately we heard that he got yelled at a lot despite all the hard work he’s been doing. The whole atmosphere has gone gloomy now… it’s very sad to see the good reputation Trinity has built up gets blown up in just a few months.
What more can we say? We all know what the main problem is, or, WHO the main problem is.

Here’s an update– I’m moving the heck out of here. Terrible management, unwilling to flex rules to help tenants out. They declined to allow a service dog in-​training in the building for a mere couple of days. The manager didn’t have the decency to forward my letter to the owner, took matters into her own hands, and gave me a curt response– NO. Rent is going up nearly $ 200 next month. I moved here from the Allegro in ¹¹⁄₂₀₀₉ and let me tell you, I would move back there in a heartbeat. Looking forward to graduating in June and getting away from the crappy management, i.e. Starla Kujath.
Most recent notice to come up in our elevator– you must move your car out of the stalls on Thu, ³⁄₁₀ by 7:00AM or it will be towed. Are you kidding me?! I pay $ 100/​month and they’re telling me I can’t park in my own spot for the day? Unbelievable.

These apartment buildings are every UW student’s dream.
Beautiful, newly built (finished in March 2009), only 5 blocks from campus, and on a relatively safe/​quiet neighborhood. It’s not on the same side as Greek Row and it’s far away enough from the Ave to go without the noise, yet close enough to walk to the Ave in 5 minutes if you want to get food or go shopping. (They’re also opening an Expresso and Deli downstairs soon, can’t wait!)
The buildings that are neighbors to Trinity consist of Novell Condos, Watertown Hotel, La Terrazza Condos, the Kennedy Building… all these being rather luxurious/​upscale residences, so there is very little shady behavior going on. In fact, I’ve walked home at night many times and I never saw anyone shady (there was this ONE hobo who sat in a parking lot close to Trinity, but he kept to himself and didn’t bother anyone). The UW Medical Center is also literally like 10 seconds away, so that’s super convenient.
The rooms are very lovely. Stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, and each apartment has it’s own balcony/​patio space and washer/​dryer. Every appliance is energy saving (the building is certified Built-​Smart), so my energy bills every month never get over $ 30, and that’s for two of us! I love the floorplan of my apartment as well. It’s spacious, open, unique, and allows me to customize it my way. They also have cement floor options for the second floors, and those floors are NICE. Very nicely polished and finished cement floors… perfect for the hot summer days, haha. The building has like 27 – 28 different floorplans (each room is a little different), so there’s lots of options to choose from.
And don’t even get me started on the wonderful amenities… a MOVIE theater, GYM (I think this is the best gym I’ve seen in any apartment, no kidding… the gym has male and female bathrooms, lockers and SHOWERS in each bathroom!), clubhouse (complete with a new granite/​stainless steel kitchen, dining area, and living area, and fireplace), and lots and lots of parking.
The thing I love most about Trinity is the awesome managers. Cindy and Mark, they are both extremely nice and very helpful and reasonable. Mark’s also really funny. I’ve made a habit out of chatting with the managers at least once a week just for fun, haha. Oh, and the janitor is super nice too! His name is Teddy and he is so sweet. Once I left some stuff in the clubhouse and the next day he was nice enough to keep it and return it to me. If you move in, be sure to say hi to him when you see him because he works very hard and is a sincerely nice guy. =)
The only complaint I have is the building’s maintenance guy has been VERY slow recently in getting tasks done recently (in the beginning, he was very good). But that isn’t the managers’ fault. I’m sure the maintenance guy has a good reason for being late as well, so there really is no one to blame. I’m just getting a little impatient, that’s all, hehe.
Oh, and one interesting characteristic of this building… it seems to be an Asian international student magnet. I can say that ⁹⁄₁₀ residents here are international students from either Korea or China. But everyone here is clean and well behaved most of the time, so you don’t have to worry about crazy parties and disgusting students puking from their windows. Oh, the building is also non-​smoking. That’s a plus for the health conscious. =)
Oh yeah, did I mention that Trinity allows cats for a pet DEPOSIT? Yes, there is no fee or monthly pet rent, which means if your kitties are well-​behaved and you clean up the place well, you can actually get your money back (yay for kitty lovers!)! All the other luxury apartments charge at least a $ 25 monthly pet rent and $ 250 non-​refundable pet fee, which I find kind of unnecessary.
So yeah, I really recommend living here if you can afford it. The rent is on the high side, but it’s worth every penny. And if you compare Trinity’s rent to that of other luxury apartments in UW (Like the Kennedy Building, Helix-​Ellipse, etc.) Trinity is actually cheaper and has better amenities, and newer as well. =) But I would say hurry because there’s currently a special where you get one month’s rent free with a 12 month lease, and I’m not sure how long that will last, hehe.
Sorry for the super lengthy review. As a resident of 4 months (I moved in only a few weeks after the building finished construction, so surprisingly I’m one of the «older» residents, lol), I can say I have been very satisfied. And finally I have a place I am proud to show my friends, a place I look forward to going home to every day. =)