Tenant Reviews for 200 N. DEARBORN ST.

Great place for renters! So convenient to everything that the city has to offer. Close to the Loop, to ALL public transportation. Only 8 units per floor!!!! Amenities are OK, not the Ritz Carlton type, but still OK: newer fitness center, indoor pool, sundeck, bike room, very large laundry, attached garage parking (costs extra), 4 elevators, free 15 min parking in the front, 24/7 door staff. Small grocery store in the building. Reviewing individual rental units is pointless, since this is a condo building, all units now have different updates, and your experience will depend on how your particular landlord resolves your concerns.

I have been in the building for several years mostly because of its convenient location. It changed since it went condo. The good: The location is absolutely amazing! Close to everything. Nice views, spacious. Public transportation is right outside your door. The bad: Board members are not resident owners and do not care about the building one bit. Management is very incompetent. Money is spent left and right. No real security in the building. Seven Eleven attracts a lot of drunks and homeless people. The building is noisy, you can hear your neighbors' steps(no thick padding under the carpet or hardwood), in the kitchen you can hear your neighbors talking (thin walls). I would still recommend this building though.

this place has water issue & not clean & recycling water system, they use cheap cleaning items which creates odor, building isn't well managed & has some crack on it.

The Management team and the engineers are clueless and could not care about the renters. I have had zero sleep for 4 nights because of a noisy water heater that has not been fixed after numerous calls. The head engineer spent 5 minutes on it and then left for the night without any knock or update.

I've put up with all of the crap over the years from this building and I'm finally writing my review. It's a long one, so hang on. I've lived here for 3 years. The first year my lease came up to resign and up until that point I've had no -major- problems so I re-signed. Big mistake. The place is being converted to condo's and there is a clause in everyones lease that says if it is sold, too bad so sad GET OUT. No exceptions. When I signed I was told it would be sold to an investor and I wouldn't have to move and even then there was a SMALL chance of it being bought. We used to have 3 guest parking spots we could reserve for $10/day, but they stopped offering that option because they were apparently "sold". This place is maybe half sold and when I had guests that used the parking, the entire area was empty. They just got sick of having to manage the guest spots. Coincidentally 3 days after renewing my lease my apartment was sold. I have a high suspicion that the place was sold before I re-signed, but that was kept quiet to increase my chances of renewing my lease. I later learned that they had been keeping the unit above me empty for two months prior to my unit being sold so they would have somewhere to move me. This proves that they failed to inform me about the sale when renewal came due. Long story short, DO NOT LIVE HERE. It is a decent building, good location, great door staff. But the management and "SENIOR BUILDING ENGINEER!" are as ------ as it gets. They called me on April 30th or May 1st of my first year for an "offer" to move to another unit, but in a letter I have from them the "offer" expired on May 1st. Thats not even a fully 24 hours notice to make a decision! ----- ------ (the employee I delt with) likes to say "how much work it is for us too" and how they "bend over backwards" to accommodate you. It's a load of bull. I'm sorry lady but it is YOUR JOB to deal with this and YOU GET PAID FOR IT. All you have to do is paperwork and a few phone calls. You don't have to move everything you own at last moments notice. There was a couple in the leasing office looking to rent when I was just down there. One of the leasing agents was giving them the speech about living there. The leasing agent was discussing the 'move out' clause and actually said there was such a slim chance of them having to move out. I interrupted and kindly informed them that this was a lie, and that I was being forced to move. I didn't see the couple there for long, thankfully. ----- pulled me into her office and YELLED at me. Yes, yelled. She "does not appreciate" me telling others about my experiences. I will detail the problem with this below. STAY AWAY. After doing some research when they were kicking me out I found the exact unit they were offering to move me to listed at a cheaper price than what they offered to me on my lease. Not only do I have to go through moving everything, but they're trying to charge me more than what the unit is listed at. Uh...shady? I confronted them on this and talked to -----(the only nice one) who said that she didnt think it was a problem but she would have to talk to her manager ----- (detailed above). ----- refused to honor the advertised rental price. This is where things get illegal. "Prohibition on retaliatory conduct by landlord Mun. Code CH 5-12-1501 A tenant has the right to complain or testify in good faith about their tenancy to governmental agencies or officials, police, media, community, groups, tenant unions or the landlord. A landlord is prohibited from retaliating by terminating or threatening to terminate a tenancy, increasing rent, decreasing services (the loss of public parking spots), bringing or threatening to bring an eviction action, or refusing to renew a lease agreement." I had to inform them that per my discussion this morning in which ----- stated she believed it wouldnt be a problem to get my lease amount changed to the publically advertised price, this can be construed as a retaliatory conduct by Ms. ------, which is against the law. Also, I was sitting here one night watching TV when a realtor and two people unlocked the door and walked right in my unit without ANY sort of notice and started showing the unit. This is illegal. Fast forward to now. My unit has again been sold and my landlord is pestering me to move out. The first time he tried to get me to move out with a weeks notice. How gracious of him. I refused. A few months later, two units next to me opened up, and knowing that I need to temporarily move so he can get this done I contacted him in good faith to help him get his upgrade done, while minimizing the major inconvenience of moving everything I own not once, but twice. I asked for a month of free rent (the time it takes to upgrade the unit) and he refused. Excuse me, but you want me to pay while you uproot my entire life for a month and keep me as a renter? Get your head straight. But the final straw, no, the final straw came just tonight. It started a few weeks ago, I thought it was a one time deal. But no. It happened again tonight. There is disgusting sewer water backing up into the bath tubs of multiple units in the building. The first time it happened, I came home after a 14 hour work day. All I wanted was a shower. I open my tub up and see this disgusting putrid mess. Great. I call the main desk, and they call the "on call" building engineer (THE SENIOR BUILDING ENGINEER!). He says there is nothing they can do. Excuse me? This isnt my dishwasher. This is my shower. This is how I bathe and clean myself. Its an essential utility for basic sanitary health. And you cant snake the drain when you're ON CALL? What is the point of having someone on call if they refuse to do anything? Lazy. The morning after the first time it happened, a nice regular maintenance guy showed up and snaked the drain. He snaked a few neighbors drains as their tubs were backing up as well. It took all of 30 minutes, could have been done the night before, and got me back to being able to clean myself. Until tonight. Tonight it happened again. Tonight I forced the "SENIOR BUILDING ENGINEER" to come up and look at it. He refused to do anything, again. Even though the first time snaking the drain at least got me temporary relief. I asked him to at least TRY and spend 20 minutes so I might shower tonight, but he refused. "HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN A PLUMBER? HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN A PLUMBER?". None, but I have basic intelligence. If a problem happens twice, you can at least try the fix that temporarily worked the first time to make a tenant happy and give him a shower for a few nights until you can get to the main problem. After screaming at me, I told him I would be reporting him to the office and he said that was fine. When I asked him his name, he REFUSED to give it to me. "IM THE GODDAMN SENIOR BUILDING ENGINEER AND HAVE BEEN FOR EIGHT YEARS, ASK AROUND, EVERYONE KNOWS ME!". Thanks dude. When I get your name I'll be posting it here.

As a resident of this apartment, I would say it is a great place to live in. I esp like it during the winter months coz I can walk for about 4 blocks on either sides(east or west) without actually getting out in the cold. The building staff is very friendly and helpful. The apartment is so spacious as compared to the other places I have lived in where the rent was much more. Close access to EL, Daley Plaza and Millenium park in summers... what more would you ask for...

The apartment is ok, but the building is completely outdated and in need of major renovation. The biggest problem however is that they are also renting while trying to sell apartments. This means that you get a notice slid under your door informing (not asking) you that a member of the sales team will be in your apartment on a specific date between the hours of ? and ? You completely give up any rights to your home in this building. Sales reps can come in at any time as long as they slip that note under your door 48 hours prior. So either you let them bring strangers into your home while you are not there, or you completely rearrange your schedule to accommodate them. And yes, they come on weekends as well. I have to say that beyond all of this, I find most of the people in the building to be extremely unfriendly. Most of them are very young. It feels more like a dorm than an apartment building. There are tons rentals out there that are a lot better than this. We're out of here as soon as our lease is up (or someone is fool enough to buy our apartment).

A lot of people have a lot of negative things to say about the building and the management, but I will definitely say that it is one of the better places I have lived,especially in Chicago. The building staff is, in general, extremely friendly and kind (there are a few exceptions, but with a large staff, there is always one dud), and the building itself is really not bad for the price. You're paying for location (you're in the Loop for crying out loud!). After deciding to move out because the Loop rent seemed like a lot and we got sold that living in another neighborhood would be more "fun," I saw how much better 200 N Dearborn is than many other places in the city. It is much better maintained and comfortable than the place I recently moved into in Lakeview (and this was better than everything else we looked at). Our unit was quiet (that is something I cannot stress the importance of!), clean, well-maintained, and it had an incredible view. When it said it had a modern kitchen, that meant appliances that worked WELL, and that included a dishwasher. Yes, there are problems. The biggest one was that they will not turn the air conditioning on until June 1st, but they have a city ordinance to follow and there is at least one resident that WILL complain if they turn it on before then. So, their hands are rather tied in the situation. Blame the busybody residents more than management.. or the city of Chicago. Also, they have been in the process of renovations, and it is taking a really long time. Some floors are half finished. They are trying, though. Even when they were working on our hallway, I was never disturbed in my unit, and I give them great credit for it. I never had a problem that they didn't resolve quickly and accurately. I would not have left if not for the cost of rent. Now that I am somewhere else in the city, listening to my neighbor's TV through my wall, I miss living at 200 N. Dearborn a lot. They were excellent about notifying residents about issues and if they needed to enter the apartment. You'd never come home and find a random staff member in your apartment. They were professional to the maximum. And, if all of that still isn't worthwhile (and you don't want a great view in a clean, modern, comfortable apartment), Danny the doorman will make your day brighter with his great attitude and genuine kindness!

I know 2 people who live here and they love it. Huge apartment for downtown and awesome balcony with incredible views of the city! We love having dinner parties here since the night views are so dramatic! I go over to visit often and have enjoyed grilling out on the sundeck with friends, been to a baby shower in the great big party room, and have even worked out there and swam in the pool when I stayed over on occasion. We've bumped into the leasing agents showing apartments and they have all remembered my friends names and were really friendly. No complaints. Also, I take the EL, and do not even have to go outside to access it since the building is connected to the Pedway tunnel system. Great building, you'd love it if you had to get to Ohare fast since you hop on the blue line right next door.

I moved here with my husband just about a year ago and we really enjoy living here. Yes, there are homeless people outside the entrance but they are everywhere in the city and never bother us. The apartment is spacious and completely renovated with granite counter tops and new appliances. The rent is very reasonable for the size of the apartment. The veiw is great and the amenities are nice too. The door staff is always friendly and takes the time to learn our names and always asks how we are doing. The management is ok. No major complaints. We don't hear any of our neighbors in this building, the walls are thick and well insulated. We pay extra for parking, but that is common with anywhere in the city. I would definitly recommend this building to others.