In this blog post I will be sharing my experience of living in the Avalon Bellevue Towers Community right in downtown Bellevue, Washington for 4 years.
Avalon Bellevue Towers’ slogan is: Time well spent. Let me explain what they mean with that!
The staff and the service
During my 4 years living there, the community and its staff lived up to their word.
The concierge staff was always professional and friendly (hello Ken and Stephen). Apart from greeting them when I enter the building, they took care of the package reception and delivery and other mundane issues.
When it comes to maintenance requests, I can say it was top notch. Mr. Attila Madaras, the maintenance supervisor, was always there in person to fix all kinds of problems in the apartments: from replacing busted light bulbs to repairing a broken appliance. I would place a maintenance request online and within the same day (or max the next day) I would get the issue taken care of.
The leasing office staff was also very friendly (hello Cathy, Michael, Rebecca and Terri). I interacted with them often, not just once a year when I was renewing my lease.
As a positive “side-effect” of the staff’s friendliness, they became like a small family to me.
Note: I don’t want to sound all sensual in my experience, I have to say that I did encounter some misunderstandings with the staff during my stay, but when I communicated my concerns politely, I was met with nothing but good and prompt service.
Inside the community
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will be including pictures of the community, especially the common areas and amenities which are composed of: the club house, the gym, the terrace, pets relief area, the guest waiting lounge in the entrance, the concierge desk and the leasing office.
The Apartment
I will not include pictures of inside the apartments because the layout varies from an apartment to another and therefore pictures won’t do them justice. My advise is that you go to the leasing office so they offer you a tour. Instead, I will be briefly citing all of the positive points I enjoyed in my apartment:
- All the cabinets are brand new and shiny. Depending on the apartment, you may find that you have a lot of spacey cabinets for storing kitchenware.
- Glass electric stove tops. I never had to worry, as an amateur cook, when cooking rice and the water boils and spills over for example. The glass stove top was always easy to clean!
- Spacey and quiet fridge ==> sleep soundly at night!
- The walls have very good noise isolation from next door apartments or the ones above. I was rarely annoyed by my neighbors playing music, watching TV or just having fun. When I entered my apartment it felt all fun, quiet and private.
- The awesome view. Being on one of the higher floors, I had a nice view of the mountains from my window. Since my apartment was facing the east, I would witness the sunrise each morning.
- The bathroom is all new (marble sink tops) and shiny. A nice bathtub to help you relax and soak in whenever you muscles feel tight or overwhelmed with stress.
- The modern washer and dryer, located in the bathroom, are stacked on top of each other saving you space.
- A nice balcony where you can put a table and couple of chair to enjoy your coffee in the morning when the weather permits.
The Entrance
When you enter the Avalon Bellevue Towers, you are greeted by the concierge (part of a staff of very professional and polite people working during different shifts). Across from the concierge desk, you can find the leasing office. In the entrance you will also find a cozy waiting area for your guests. Afterwards you have two doors leading to one of the two towers: the East tower and the West tower. When you enter any of the towers you find a hallway (which is nicely decorated by nice art and pictures of the Bellevue City from the early 1940s) leading to the mailroom and the elevators (three of them in the East tower, so you don’t have to wait long in rush hour times):
The Club House
The club house was my favorite location where I would spend a lot of my creative time. With free internet and free coffee/tea, I used to spend a lot of evenings studying or writing new books.
Often times, on Saturday mornings or evenings the community would organize a social event where all tenants get to meet each other. Other times, the club house would be rented out for a private event (a birthday party).
On Sundays, I would also come with friends to watch some sports or just socialize with guests and/or other tenants.
In the clubhouse, you also have a fridge and small kitchen where you can keep your beer cold and your meat frozen fresh (ready to be barbecued outside on the terrace):
The terrace
During the summer, the terrace is a very popular place to be. When it is sunny, you would find me, along with other people sun tanning and relaxing while enjoying the beautiful view overseeing Seattle. If you have sharp vision, you can actually spot “The Space Needle“.
Also during the summer, you can enjoy the Boeing Seafair Air Show and watch the Blue Angels flying over the I-90 bridge, all that from the convenience of your apartment complex. During the 4th of July, you can watch the fireworks as they are started in the Bellevue Downtown Park.
The terrace, not only it provides a nice view, it also has a barbecue free for all and a pet relief area.
The Gym
What is better than a cup of coffee to start your day with?
=> An hour at the gym!
Each morning, and rarely in the evening after work, I would come to exercise, get fit and release the stress. I did meet a lot of interesting people there as well. Compared to other apartment complexes I have seen before, the gym in the Avalon Bellevue Towers is really well equipped and can house 15+ people easily. I never had to wait my turn to use the elliptical or the treadmill. Did I mention that it is open 24/7?
Conclusion
The past four years were time well spent. I got to focus on my creativity and well being. It was a good learning experience. All good things come to an end (as do bad things), and due to personal reasons and in preparation to buy my own condo, I had to move out. Actually, Avalon Bellevue Towers met all the criterion I spoke about in my “15 things to look for inside an apartment you want to rent” article!
Perhaps I was lucky to have all the positive experience over there, but was I really? You be the judge, go and check it out!
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