WARNING! Embassy Properties- SoHo Lofts Kansas City (Campbell, Leawood: for sale, apartments)

[Heather1234]

I just wanted to warn anyone who might be thinking of renting/ buying from this company- DO NOT do it. They have decided to sell our lofts (we rent) and have started doing renovations. They never warned any of the tenants of the amount of noise they would be making. They are jackhammering from 9-5 Monday-Saturday with no respect to the tenants. It is impossible to live with this kind of ridiculously loud noise and the worst part- they won't let any of us out of our leases without paying $2,000!! So we are forced to live in this HELLHOLE until our leases are up. And they refuse to fix anything that is wrong with our apartments now because they say they will be remodeling them soon. Some of the leases aren't even up until the summer! They have always avoided any calls I have made about things that need to be fixed around here, but now it's even worse. And the managers are telling people that they can do whatever they want and that basically we have no rights. The tenants are all banding together to try to get something changed, but they are a large company, and I'm afraid that nothing will happen unless we hire a lawyer, which will cost a lot of money. So I'm just warning you....BUY or LEASE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!! I know several other people who have leased from this company over the past few years and NO ONE has anything positive to say about them. They are SLUM LORDS in disguise.

[Versatile]

Have you tried the Kansas City housing Authority? I am not sure if they can help or not. Or try one of the news stations that have an action reporter. Maybe channel nine.

[KC professional]

I rented from Embassy three times (when I was single) and they always took great care of me. I lived in the Askew Saddlery loft building and in the bag company building on the city market and two other lofts from them, they were great. I will say this though, around the time I moved away from them (2003?) management changed and they started hiring a very unfriendly snooty team of newly college grad chicks that just got a new Audi A6 as a grad gift from daddy out in Leawood. I will say that if this trend continued and the elitist element that started surfacing down there continued then I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't the same thing that I left. As a matter of fact, I will agree to an exyent amd I alomost forgot. I went back to them to rent one of the Library lofts in 2005 and when my wife (newly married) decided that it wasn't good for her as a pregnant woman at night by herself (parking away from building, vagrants, etc.) and we turned down a lease on the day we were to sign for a two bedroom, the managment team abused me on the phone for changing my mind. I was professional and cordial but the older snooty lady on the management team absolutely destroyed me about wasting her time and my chances of ever renting again from them. Needless to say, they are not as good as when I first rented from them.

[rabidpanda]

huh. that is discouraging to hear. what buildings were you guys at? i was looking at the metropolitan or the manhattan as possible options. anyone have any feedback on them?

[678infoj]

I have rented with Embassy Properties twice and have had a very pleasant experience both times. I rented at SoHo South, EBT Building. I also have a friend who has rented in the SoHo West for over 2 years.

All of my experiences with Embassy Properties has been positive and I would
definately recommend them to anyone moving downtown KC.

As for the Manhattan & Metropolitan, they are not rental properties. Those two have been converted to condos for sale.

[txsparx]

Well I'm currently living in Soho South - Campbell building, also managed by Embassy Properties and I'm out of here in two weeks.
Not being familiar at all with loft living I inquired about the noise level here and was assured by management that it was very quiet inside. Nice impressive place so I thought I'd give it a shot.
I've never lived in a louder environment in my entire life. I'm talking noise between the units - on all sides. I'm a single guy and I've gone a year now without bringing a woman home for the evening - not because I don't have one to bring here but because it's too embarrassing to have to listen to the ppl living above me using the toilet which just so happened to be located over my bedroom. When I'm talking hearing them, I'm talking about plop, plop, everything - you can even hear them pulling tp off the roll. Definitely not my idea of a romantic evening.
Don't even get me started on the paper thin walls here.
One would think for $1,000 a month you'd get better quality than I have living here. Live and learn I guess. No more loft living for me, not at this price and noise level. One can rent a pretty nice apartment, townhouse or even an OK house at that price.
Basically they (Embassy) misrepresented the property when they leased it to me. Being that the person said she used to live here I'd have to say she did it knowingly.

Next apparently they've decided to convert the property to condo's for sale at which time we were all notified with a note passed under our front door. There's going to be lot's of construction going on and such and basically if we didn't want to purchase our unit then we were to move or live out our lease.
Great ! So I go down to sign my move out notice and they want me to sign a form saying I'm still liable for the remainder of my least even though basically they've broken their part of the agreement. And no, as my request they wouldn't correct or amend the form to read properly according to the move out notice they'd given their tenants so I've been stuck here waiting it out.
You wouldn't believe the amount of noise including false fire alarms I've had to put up with during the day time in the last two months due to ongoing construction inside the building.
Should you want more info and other examples about how Embassy Properties does business then check out an article titled "Real Loft Living" dated May 3-9, 2007 in the local paper The Pitch. You should be able to find it online. (Pitch.com) It's quite interesting.
Personally I'd just as soon sleep in my vehicle and be homeless then do business with this company again.
My experience with Embassy Properties has not been pleasant in the least.

[LoftyTalk]

It's true, there are some people who can't deal with change. Upgrading and improving any property downtown is a great thing on so many levels... It's revitalizing, it's green, it's productive... it elevates the entire community. I wonder what it would be like to have the tunnel vision that can't see past the sawdust. And, if they were jackhammering from 9 to 5 every day, I assure you the entire project would be reduced to rubble by now! Alls I'm saying is why do people criticize progress?

[MoNative34]

For starters, these buildings were built long before they were converted into living space. That means there is going to be exterior plumbing... I've seen many with the high ceiling and exposed floor joists for the trendy loft look. There's nothing to insulate those sounds. Add that to the fact that it is in the middle of a city.... It's not conducive to quietness if that's what you prefer. Downtown is revitalizing. When buildings go down, others go up, and some get gutted and redone, it makes noise.

[kckatie]

Hi, my brother just moved to the SOHO west lofts. I'm not sure what building. It's on 8th st. My husband and I were thinking about moving downtown. We were thinking about the SOHO west lofts or the Art Space. Opinions? Advice?

[tonden]

I wanted to say that the Manhattan and Metropolitan Condos do have condos for rent. I know a lot about the both so if you have any more questions, i can help possibly.