DCL Management - Kirkland, Washington

Lily S.

This management company has cost my business over $20,000 in lost revenue over less than a year and a half. They gaslight their tenants and do not uphold their lease with persistent obstruction to access of offices in the building. I would not recommend.

Elizabeth Q.

I was a tenant in 1 of DCL’s commercial bldgs for 4 yrs & don’t recommend them. Space in Seattle area is tight & commercial LLs have lots of power but if you can lease elsewhere so to avoid stress of being tenant of DCL. Owned by Dexter & Vivian Lai. Their broker Josh Heyum is sales guy, all smiles when putting together a deal but two faced & rude after. It took 4 mos. to negotiate lease of my 8500 SF space, mostly due to constant delays & changes by the LL. Too long & caused me to miss ½ busy season that put me in a financial tight spot. At 11th hour, Dexter pulled out $20k in promised tenant improvements that almost killed deal & my entire biz launch (I put in 2 ½ years of full time work to plan, raise $$, procure location… Couldn’t quit!). I scraped together $$ from relatives & proceed with my launch. When my broker & I went to DCL’s offices to personally drop off signed 27 page lease, Dexter wouldn’t come out of his office to meet me! I just signed 6 year/$700k deal & he couldn’t be courteous & shake my hand! A couple years into lease they came unannounced on busy day when space was full of customers to “inspect”. Again, Dexter wouldn’t say hi or even look at me! I think may be a cultural (Confucius) thing as he doesn’t want to see me as a client/human being but as a stranger (easier to screw over strangers). To him I am just anonymous entity that deposits $$$ into his fat coffers. Nothing more. Josh told me they were surprised my biz was doing well & thought I wouldn’t make it a year. Who says that to a tenant? Over year into lease, they sent huge bill for reconciled annual NNN. They had tacked on to all bldg tenants $21k in HVAC improvement costs that occurred over a year PRIOR to tenancy! Prior to signing lease I asked Josh for a list of all NNN costs. HVAC charges were NOT divulged. I asked CFO Vivian Lai what happened & she responded “Oops, we forgot”. I spent $2k on attorney to try to fight but sadly the way lease written LL has right to improve HVAC & pass cost to tenants but it doesn’t say WHEN improvements can be made. Charges should have been told prior to signing lease & transparent. Instead, they were deceitful & hid big costs until years after. Sneaky! The NNN very high to begin with, especially for Class B flex building in Lynnwood. Building & exterior are not special & wasn’t until tenants complained that DCL spruced up the landscaping & parking lot. Usually took multiple emails & calls to have property mgr take care of issues or repairs & they were so cheap when finally fixing. Decided to sell my biz as 7 days a week for nearly 4 years was too much for me & I missed my kids. Even though I found good buyers (w/ stronger financials than I & they brought in 2 more guarantors), DCL refused to release me as a personal guarantor for 2 yrs. Ridiculous. I no longer have control of the biz & if fails due to new owner’s actions, DCL could still go after me. Of course negotiations took longer than hoped. I thought lease deal with new tenants was almost done & suggested I send ½ month’s rent & new owner send rest but there were continual delays & changes due to DCL’s side so I sent full rent in but it got to DCL's offices 1 day late. They charged $560 late fee! After respectfully asking them repeatedly (as they ignored me) to waive fee as a courtesy (esp. since being good tenant, paying DCL $400k past 3+ years & working hard to find good tenant to take over space & thus benefiting DCL greatly with over $1 mil. w/in next 7 yrs) they refused to waive fee. The Lais are multi-millionaires but apparently stingy. That’s it, I’m compelled to write review, warn others & shed light on how unscrupulous, dishonest, dishonorable, selfish, greedy, impersonal & rude DCL’s management & staff have been to me. Josh even mocked me for being a single mom! DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH DCL! It took my broker nearly year to be paid commission by DCL. DCL finally paid him… without a late fee or interest! Hypocrites!

Diane S.

I have invested in several property developments with DCL. Both have been successful and my returns as high or greater than portrayed to me. Of course, I was also made well aware of the risks but personally felt comfortable based on the data presented.

sweetredsea11 G.

Very hard to reach

Marisa B.