SODO Residences, 620 10 Avenue SW, Calgary

Garbage Chute “Out of Service” again and again and again! Non-Stop! I’ve opened over 20+ maintenance requests specific to this one and only amenity left in “operable” state due to the pandemic. With constant elevator issues, hauling garbage down 32 flights to the over-flowing garbage room through a maze of doors and corridors is frustrating. Not to mention the lack of response and delays (days) in resolution. This has become a weekly occurrence here at SODO. Poor communications. If it’s due to resident behaviour, daily communications should occur until improvements are seen. I’m disappointed in the lack of attention and focus and would have hoped, after being assured, that this area would have seen better results. Sadly disappointed again in SODO. Current at the time of this post, the garbage chute has been non-operable 3 days now. This needs attention!

When my wife and I took the tour in 2019, the building was brand new, and we fell in love with the beautiful building, magnificent views, amazing amenities and the central location. We actually signed the agreement same day.

Today, two years later, we moved out. There are many things to love about the building, but much left to be desired in terms of maintenance and the poor behavior of the tenants living in the building.

– The elevators are constantly under repair (as we speak, one of them just completely died), there have been times when the wait time was over 15 mins before we were able to catch a lift. This is extremely frustrating if you are in a rush. Living on the 22nd floor, with a small child, I have had to walk down the stairs more than once…
– The garbage tri-sorter chute is always “out of service”. They are either blocked by large pieces of trash (despite being constantly told not to jam big trash into the chutes) or the bins are filling up too quickly given everyone is working from home. In any case, forget about throwing out garbage after 5pm, it’ll be stuck. I’ve sent out countless requests to get this fixed, but it never got resolved. Even worse, when the chute is blocked, the garbage rooms on each floor get filled with trash left there by inconsiderate tenants too lazy to go down to the main trash area.
– The 5th floor terrace is infested with pee, poop and trash. Tenants constantly take their pets to the “non-pet zone”, letting their dogs run free. Not to mention, cigarette butts and small pieces of glass all over the place. The terrace looks nice at first glance, but very filthy, and is not safe for kids, pets or adults. I’ve made many requests to have it cleaned and the zoning rules respected, but the situation never was resolved.
– The amenities have been closed ever since the pandemic, including the espresso machine in the lobby. SODO will tell you that they cannot re-open the amenities due to AHS regulations, which is understandable. But you are still paying for them. Several tenants have tried to argue for a rent discount, but in vain. So why pay more?
– There have been at least 4 cases of COVID-19 in the building. There is no enforcement of masks or sanitization. From what I can see and hear, social gatherings are happening in the units.
– Theft and vandalism in the parking and bike areas happen all the time. I lost one of my bikes. Security cameras did not identify the culprit. The security guards are also useless, you’ll see them mostly playing with their phones and watching TV in the lobby.

The saving grace for SODO is Divya the community manager, Tim the former assistant community manager and Jesse the maintenance guy who have been very helpful and tried their best to resolve any request we sent. Other staff have just rotated too quickly to remember.

So there you go. We moved out today, really wanting to love SODO, but leaving with a bit of a grudge. I’m giving SODO a passable 3/5 because the building and facilities are great, and the issues I mention are fixable. The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be a strong will to do so.

Pros:
– Clean building
– Friendly staff
– Decent gym
– Excellent patio, games room and demonstration kitchen
– Fire alarms are uncommon
– Staff would host fun and free events before Covid such as Pizza making and group workouts.
– Access to discounts for shopping and restaurants.
– Unit are decent for what you pay.

Cons:
– Elevators often not functioning. Very common that only 1-2 elevators are working at a time and having to wait 10+ minutes.
– Garbage disposal chute not functioning is very common. Literally 50% of the time I want to use it. Neighbors end up leaving their garbage outside and stink up the floor.
– There is A/C but it doesn’t seem to do its job properly. Might be undersized for each unit. The building also shuts it off between September and May. If there’s a hot day in September, your unit will be 24-25 degrees lowest.
– Loud noises from the train tracks all day.
– Nespresso machine is only on from 9-5 every day (only the unemployed tenants will have access), even though they told us there would be 24/7 access when we moved in.
– No visitor parking unlike other similar building in this area.

**WARNING** **READ BEFORE CONSIDERING TO MOVE IN**
Absolutely Terrible. We recently moved in to the SODO building and are absolutely dissatisfied with our apartment. When moving in, we noticed the train tracks right outside and asked if it were something that would lessen the livability. We were told that the train would only pass once or twice a day. After moving in, our peace and sleep have been constantly disturbed by the train. Everyday the CP Rail probably passes by 30/40 times and sometimes it may be quick but most of the times the sound it makes trembles the entire building. My wife and I are totally disappointed and feel like we were misinformed of how bothersome it’d be. DO NOT MOVE IN IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A PEACEFUL SLEEP. THANKS SODO, considering on canceling our lease agreement shortly

Horrible building with awful management – avoid this building or be prepared to take Quadreal to court if they don’t .

The building has had two major flooding incidents in 7 months and the mechanical systems have well-known issues. The first flood resulted in 5 months of barely- or non-functional elevators, often requiring residents to climb 20+ floors of stairs to their units. Elevator waits were frequently more than 20 minutes.

The most recent January 2020 flood affected 6 floors due to a ruptured water pipe. Management was rude, unsympathetic, and refused to refund rent or cover reasonable expenses incurred. Management is forcing tenants to make claims on their own insurance that should be covered by the building insurance simply to avoid having an increase to their premiums. Management further refuses to honour clauses in the rental agreements regarding rent abatement in the event of total loss of use of the property.

Do NOT do business with Quadreal, or be prepared to spend thousands extra out-of-pocket if you do.

Rooms: barely big enough for a queen bed.
Kitchen/Bath fit & finish: Good
Appliances: New and mid-to-low range. Stoves and ovens take obscenely long to heat up.
Storage: Nothing special in-suite. No storage lockers included. Storage locker rental is obscenely expensive for next-to-no space
Parking: More suites in the building than parking stalls. Most parking stalls too small for trucks or SUVs. Parking is overly expensive.
Amenities: Gym is less functional than it appears. Otherwise ok.
Value for money: extremely low considering building has massive issues, especially with the elevators.
Staff Communications: Poor, evasive. A lot of effort is required to get staff attention.
Rental Process: Lots of lies were told during the rental sales process. Most new tenants are surprised by countless issues after they move in.
Complaint/Dispute Resolution: Building staff evasive and tries not to solve problems, just to assure you that everything is fine

Great building. Amazing units, thoughtfully laid out. Feels bigger than the sq footage. The floor to ceiling windows are great. You don’t hear the train at all if you get a 2 bedroom that is south facing. A bit on the expensive side. For cons there are elevator issues and mechanical issues. Staff are very friendly but they have been on going.

I’ve recently moved in here nd the place is amazing. The rental prices are on the high side but you get a lot of quality for the money. Plus there were lots of incentives which made it more affordable. My dog loves the dog run which is great for popping out for potty breaks.

I love that I have my own laundry and the overall quality of the fixtures and fittings is great and very high end. Maintenance has also been great at getting a couple of issues sorted, just the sort you encounter in a new place.

Haven’t used the gym yet, but it looks great. Really looking forward to living here.