The Lumen

Update: I’ve now moved out and 1- not received my security deposit( as everyone says) and 2- received an email that I owe money that I do not owe, which when I emailed them back to ask about it, I got no response. We tried reaching out multiple times, left voice mails, and got no response. And I am now being contacted by a collection company. ???? This is crazy I don’t have time for this Initially I didn’t like the leasing office staff/office manager, but ever since Toni came on board and they changed the leasing staff everything has been 10/10. The building is always clean and safe, the concierge is always super friendly and helpful. If anything is broken (ex coffee machine last week) they’re always on top of it. Ever since Toni started there have been regular events on the 5th floor with lots of great food and drinks, her and Donna are always hosting events for everyone in the building. One thing I was promised when I moved in by the previous leasing agent is regular yoga sessions hosted at the gym which has not happened and I have been here for almost a year. That is my only complaint because It was one of the selling points for me. Other than that everyone is great, and super friendly and helpful. The location is also great, many restaurants near by and right in front of the theatre

I lived at The Lumen for 2.5 years — including a full year in a 34th-floor penthouse — and I can say without hesitation: **this building is an absolute disaster** wrapped in a slick marketing pitch. For most of my tenancy, I leased *two units* and paid over **$6,000+/month** in rent, plus **$480/month** for two “secure” parking spaces in their underground garage. My vehicle was broken into twice, and management’s response was literally: *“Yeah, other people have said that too.”* That about sums up their attitude — complete apathy toward residents. The **EV chargers never worked**, not once in my entire time there. The **front desk concierge** that once gave the place some class has been replaced by a **third-party security company** whose guards stare at their phones more than they greet residents. Then there are the **elevators** — when they aren’t completely out of service, they’re a filthy, pot-smoke-filled box you’ll be trapped waiting for. It’s not uncommon to wait 10+ minutes just to get down from your floor, especially during peak times. Reliability is nonexistent, and it’s anyone’s guess which one (if any) will work on a given day. Inside the apartments, the **water temperature** in every bathroom sink was a constant battle — scalding one second, ice cold the next. Maintenance shrugged it off as “normal.” The **no-smoking policy** is a joke; many floors are shrouded in a literal haze of marijuana smoke, and nothing is done to enforce it. The **garbage odor** that seeps up from the lower floors is nauseating — it’s like living above a landfill in a luxury wrapper. During my time there, the building **flooded multiple times**, once so badly that hundreds of people were displaced for months. Most recently the entire building was without hot water for THREE WEEKS. The **fire alarms** went off in the middle of the night **nineteen times** — and I know that number because I still have every one of the “we apologize for the inconvenience” emails to prove it. And let’s not forget the **dog run**, which is perpetually disgusting. No one picks up after their pets, and staff don’t bother to maintain it. It’s emblematic of The Lumen’s overall decline — the management simply doesn’t care. For a building charging well above market rate, The Lumen delivers none of the service, quality, or reliability you’d expect. After years of patience and thousands wasted, my advice is simple: **stay far away**. The Lumen looks like luxury from the outside, but inside, it’s just an overpriced Cleveland apartment with broken systems, indifferent management, and a long list of problems they’ll never fix.

I’ve been living at The Lumen Apartments for about nine months now, and it’s been a great experience! The building is well taken care of, and Toni, the manager, along with the entire staff, is always friendly, responsive, and genuinely committed to making sure residents feel at home. Maintenance requests are handled quickly—usually the same day or the next—and the team regularly goes out of their way to help. They also do a great job building a sense of community by hosting fun, catered events and offering thoughtful touches, like a high-quality coffee machine stocked with a variety of options and cups for residents to enjoy!

Going to start off by saying I’ve lived here for 2+ years and have never been more disappointed in a luxury style apartment complex. Constant fire alarms going off in the middle of the night, multiple floods from pipe burst, the water is terribly filtered and will turn your hair yellow and green without a high grade filter, the walls are cracked all over in different units due to the construction of the building. I will say, when I first moved in and grey star was operating the building, it was much more peaceful and enjoyable. Since the new management team has started I’ve been very disappointed and this will be my last year at this building, which I wish wasn’t the case. They are rude when you come into the offices. When transferring my lease, I had approached the office several times to prepare, come the day of my transfer, they were not prepared. The two blonde women in the office need to be removed from management due to their lack of respect to tenants - it’s really not hard to just be nice and personable. There is a camera in the dog park area, to try and get residents to pay for not picking up their dogs poop, which isn’t in the lease, but there is no camera in the mail room, where several peoples packages have went missing, including my own. Yet their concern is about charging residents for dog clean up and not protecting our property properly, it just seems very money hungry. I pay for a tangent space for example in the heated garage, and when I bought a brand new Porsche, my boyfriend parked on the side fire lane, where SEVERAL people park nightly and do not get towed. Today is Labor Day, and I get a call from management to move the car, no problem, I asked if we can move it after dinner, the call came at 7:58pm, she stated she was calling the towing company at 8:30, I explained my situation with my new vehicle - but there was no budge. She said they are towing cars. Mind you, the major parks wherever he wants, and several other luxury cars park in handicap, reserved for new residents. Etc. I’m just beyond myself at the lack of respect this management team has for residents who pay over 3,000 a month for a place that isn’t worth half. Save your money; live at 1060 Bolivar where the amenities are the same. To the owners of the lumen, get better management or you’ll see that soon, you’ll be down in occupancy and it’s not the economy, it’s your management team. The only guy worth keeping is Dennis in maintenance, and one of the security guards let a stalker up to my apartment one weekend night and I found him in my bedroom, it’s currently being charged through the judicial system, and the security guard still works for the lumen… just done.

I applied to this apartment back in June. I understand that the application fee is non-refundable, but the $200 admin fee is supposed to be refunded. On July 9, I informed them that I would not be moving in, and Laurie specifically told me the admin fee would be returned. It is now September 21, and I still have not received my refund. I’ve sent nearly ten emails and made multiple phone calls, but no one responds. When I mentioned taking this to an attorney or consumer protection, Laurie said “okay” and asked for my information again. But after that, I never heard back. At this point, I’m ready to take this to small claims court if they continue to ignore me. A simple refund check would have avoided all of this, but management clearly has no intention of doing the right thing. PS. Do not apply here and do not live here. I have a friend currently living in this complex, and they also say management is terrible and communication is nonexistent. On top of that, as you can see by other Google reviews, it’s clear that if you ever move in, you’ll have an even harder time getting your security deposit back.

I’m not sure what is wrong with the management there, but what they’re doing is beyond ridiculous. My daughter received an email from Toni stating that w owe money from 7/11-7/22 (stating that is the lease expiration date, despite the fact that she and her spoke and told her the lease expires on the 10th and that is the day she is moving out. Tony initially said my daughter didn’t give them notice to vacate but she will wave that for her and make sure it ends on the 10th). A few days after she moved out is when we received the email that we owes money for additional days. We responded to the email stating that we already paid everything and were not sure what the money is for. There was no response from Toni to that email. I tried contacting Toni at least 5 times and each time she didn’t not get back to me. We’re now receiving an email from a debt collection company saying we owe money to the lumen. Horrible horrible management, as soon as you move out they stop responding. On top of everything we have not received our security deposit. It’s crazy to claim we owe them money when they owe us money AND report it to a collection agency when we’re the ones that have been trying to get a hold of them for these past few months. Absolutely ridiculous.

I just moved into this place a few days ago and it's been absolutely incredible. I also can't say enough about Laurie in leasing. I was a pain in the butt during the application process but she stayed with me the whole time and made the community feel like home before I ever signed the lease. Cant recommend this place enough.

Taylor at the leasing office is beyond amazing! Just signed my lease this week and everything has been so smoothly done. She is super responsive and addressed every question of mine very promptly. Can’t wait to begin my lease very soon!

Today, I was scheduled for a tour at 11:00 am and due to traffic I knew that I would be 10-15 minutes late. It turned out that I arrived at precisely 11:09 am. I tried to call but nobody answered. I tried to text and it didn't go through. The woman seated at the front desk (nose rings so that she can be easily identified) was abrupt, rude, and stated sharply that they don't allow for anyone to tour who is late. WOW -- JUST WOW. I'm so relieved to have had such a bad experience right away, as I would NEVER pay $4K a month to be treated in such disregard. She showed her true colors and as I walked away, I said, "no wonder you have such poor reviews". I still cannot believe how horrible she was towards me. It's obvious that The Lumen doesn't care about their residents. STAY AWAY!

I agree with the other reviews that Jake was a professional and responsive leasing manager. Jessika made a mistake in my renter system that I have not yet been able to recover. Maybe this is not a coincidence that I am also (like the other review writers), a women of color. The below is what I wrote on the Google review. This was originally caused by Jessika but was unable to solve under the Hines management. I am seeking to have this solved. I was a renter at Lumen and I have my rights to gain my security deposit back: I had a frustrating experience with the Lumen regarding my security deposit after moving out in February 2024. Despite Ohio law requiring the deposit to be returned within 30 days, it has been over seven months, and I have yet to receive it. Initially, I was thankful to Donna, the assistant manager, who appeared very helpful. After several weeks of investigation, she confirmed that the building owed me the deposit, explaining that the mistake was due to the previous manager, Jessika. I thanked Donna many times for her efforts. However, after months of unresponsiveness from management and my inability to get anyone to process the refund, I felt compelled to mention taking actions. After that, Donna referred me to "upper management," who then provided false records claiming that my deposit had been refunded in March 2024--a claim my payment history clearly disproves. They asked me to provide proof to challenge their records, which I did immediately. Yet, after submitting the proof, I received no reply for over a week. This reversal, combined with the lack of response after I provided clear evidence, is both unprofessional and deceptive. I am hoping this issue can be resolved quickly, as no tenant should have to endure such disorganization and dishonesty to recover their own money. I urge the management to review this matter promptly and issue my refund, or I will have no choice but to escalate the situation through formal channels, including filing complaints with housing authorities and consumer protection agencies.

Michelle at the Front desk is sooooo AWESOME The building is so beautiful & modern. I absolutely love this building so much.

Jessica is one of the most rude and racist!! She doesn't have time to listen to you or even be kind!! Nancy and the rest of them are good listeners and human!!

Jessika Medina is the epitome of a SLUM LORD! Here is a list of how Jessika embodies SLUM LORD behaviors: 1.SAFETY at the Lumen is a joke. I informed Jessika Medina, Daniel Garica, and Nic Dillio of a resident threatening me and no one responded to my concern. I cannot help but wonder if I were not a woman of color if they would take this incident seriously. What will it take before the Lumen acts on this incident? Will it cost my life before Jessika Medina, Daniel Garcia, or Nic Dillio acts? 2. During the winter I sent multiple emails to Jessika stating I was without hot water, yet she ignored my emails for a week! 3. I came home one night to an open window that I did not open, and Jessika could care less, nor could she provide an explanation! 4. Jessika allowed maintenance personnel to enter my bedroom without my permission. When I reached out to the regional supervisor, Daniel Garcia, he refused to provide me with an explanation of why maintenance entered my bedroom without my permission. 5. I heard a recording of Jessika discussing the items I own in my home, defaming my character and calling me out of my name! 6. My apartment flooded, and Jessika provided me with broken and used boxes minus packing supplies to facilitate my relocation. I had to continually ask Jessika for the proper packing supplies! 7. Parking is $240/month and coming home to someone else in your spot is frustrating what is even more frustrating is when you bring it to "security's" attention and they laugh at you and tell to park in another residents spot and to make it worse I brought it to Jessika's, Nic's and Daniel's (latter are upper management) attention via email for a resolution and not one of them responded! This Lumen's value has decreased since Hines Management acquired the property! It no longer holds the glitz, glamour, and warmth it once possessed when Alexis was managing the property, under Greystar management, and Ms. Corinthia was concierge. Jessika does not take repairs seriously, she does not respond to emails, and she lacks empathy, sympathy, humility, and people skills. The hallways smell like trash, it constantly floods, and hot water is a rarity at The Lumen. Jessika's main concern is smoking cigarettes, so if you are looking for a smoking buddy then The Lumen is the place for you! Not only does she smell unpleasant, but her attitude is also unpleasant as well. It is deplorable how Hines management continues to support Jessika in all her management deficiencies. Jessicka refuses to respond to emails! She told me to my face "she doesn't have to respond to my emails." Jake is the only original employee currently under the new management who embodies the professionalism the Lumen once possessed prior to Jessika Medina and Hines management.

Well kept and clean, staff is always nice and great views. Apartments are well made and sleek. Highly recommend