444 W Saint James Pl, Chicago, IL, 60614

The building manager is amazing but holy hell I’ve been fighting bed bugs since I moved in. I’m allergic to them apparently so that was fun to find out. This has been a non stop issue. I just don’t know how to leave without spreading them to the next building. I’ve had like 6 treatments in 3/ 4 years- if you like heat treating all your clothing and rearranging your studio every couple of months then this may be for you. The bugs live deep within the building and they don’t treat every unit and the building together so when one person has an issue and gets treated, the bugs moves next door since each unit is a studio- a bed isn’t hard to find. I’ve done research and have asked exterminators. If this building didn’t have this issue I would be amazing. Bed bugs are a nightmare…. It will ruin your life. If I knew this building had this issue, I wouldn’t never moved in.

Currently has bedbugs -- management does not do enough to get rid of them. Don't live here! Submitted a work order in september for something unrelated and never heard anything. Management is rude and unprofessional.

The management is so unprofessional... I called Lela about the apartment, I called twice and she ignored the calls after the first ring, leave her a message and call her next day and she ignores the call again...So I call the building and the call is also ignored after one ring. Honestly I would rather her answer tell me that they are not showing the apartments and the leases are taken than ignore calls. Its so rude and unprofessional. Honestly if this is how they attend to people who are willing to pay for a unit I can't imagine how they are to the people living in the building.

The building is fine, location is great, but management is very lazy and nonresponsive to requests. Do not have any type of package delivered there as you will not see it for three weeks, if ever. Disappointed in the place as it could be a much better living experience if managment was just a little more attentative.

I lived here for about 9 months. I honestly enjoyed the building and didn't have any maintenance issues. Its not the greatest but for the price it was fine! I enjoyed watching the sunset from the rooftop and really miss that. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION :-). It is low on space for what you pay for, and gets a bit dreary in the winter. Parking is ---- too if you own a car (For real though - it's Lincoln Park). Take pictures when you move in of any damage, although I've now learned that with any apartment regardless. They did (or at least when I lived there) toss you an itemization page at the end of the lease, even though I paid no security deposit.

As of July 2012 the building has new managers, Lela and her husband (can't remember his name) They're great, clean the building regularly, put air freshners in, brought some plants into the lobby. They are super on top of things, no more mean Mike.

I will start with the positive: great location. But the rest is negative: Tons of building violations in this building: black mold in your carpet, walls, windowsills, and A/C unit. They conveniently plaster and paint over it. But, as soon as you vacuum, the chips come off and you see the rotten baseboard and windowsills filled with black mold. The bathroom is half tile, half plaster, half-hazardly slopped on and there is peeling paint. The carpet job is a mess around the edges. I think the wooden built-in drawers in the closet have termites. The elevators break down every other week; sometimes both elevators are out. The worst part though is that you've got to deal with a nutty on-site manager who will harass you by entering your apartment anytime he feels like it and bully you if you complain about it. Watch out for your underwear drawer, ladies!! You've got guys hanging out your window (that you were not notified about)watching you coming out of the shower naked. You've got construction going on on both sides of the building and a bar at the end of the street that is frequented by loud-belching-rolling-on the-street-vomiting-telling-you-to-f-ck-off type of people. Oh, and the other good thing is that the rent is pretty reasonable. :) Do yourself a favor and look somewhere else.

I have lived here for two years and am moving to a different state so I thought I'd write a comprehensive review for other people. I love the reviews on here about how the apartment was such an awful "surprise." This place is one of the cheapest in Lincoln Park. When paying in the $500-$600 range a normal person should expect a dirty, dingy apartment complex. There are bugs, the management is not nice, the apartments are outdated, the elevators don't work half the time, the exercise room shouldn't be called an exercise room (i feel like i am going to get b-raped every time i am down there), they advertise a sauna, but i have never seen it and i can only imagine what it is like, there aren't enough washers/dryers, mail packages are stolen (has happened to me), the walls are thin (i routinely heard my neighbors banging like rabbits until she got the boot - she sounded lovely), maintenance takes forever when requested, unless you drive a mini cooper, parking is a bastard, expect to get a parking ticket every other month, somebody vomited in the stairs two months ago and it was never cleaned up (it has been mashed into the carpet and will remain until new carpet is applied), anyone can get inside the apartment complex. YOU SHOULD EXPECT THIS FROM A CHEAP PLACE! People are still suckling from their mom's ---- if they think they should receive better treatment for this price range. If you want a nice, clean place, then be ready to fork over $1,000 a month. IT IS EXPENSIVE TO LIVE ALONE IN CHICAGO! Bottom line is that you have to have thick skin to live here. No whiny little ------- will make it. Throwing money towards rent is like pissing into the wind. I managed to save an extra $10k (on top of other savings) over two years by living in this dump. Now, it is time to move out and reap the benefits. This is a smart place financially. This is not a smart place socially. Good luck!

PROS: Lived there for 2 years, in 2 different studios ($585 for a smaller, $785 for a bigger apartment). I think it's reasonable for the price offered. Has a beautiful 1st floor lobby, and a sunroof with a good N, E, & W views. Many apartments have the good views from the window. Kitchens are in a good shape, stoves usually operate properly. There is a laundry, exercise room, and a sauna in the basement (no whirlpool as the ads say). Location is AMAZING, close to Lincoln Park, North Av Beach, grocery store, <1 mi to about 5 bus routes, and a 10 min walk to Fullerton CTA station. LOTS of bars & restaurants around. CONS: Heating/AC is via the in-window unit, which gets pretty noisy sometimes (occasionally had to shut that off when talking on the phone). Walls are VERY thin, often heard my neighbors in one of the apartments I lived (sometimes even heard the topic of the conversation through the walls:-)) Exercise room (free to use) is very basic & poorly lit, but the machinery there is in working condition. Laundry room has some old equipment, which sometimes malfunctions (had 2 small holes in a shirts after washing =(). Had heard of the water pressure/temperature problems in the bathroom, but never experienced that myself. Elevators are slow, but not as bad as others describe, appears that they had fixed them a little at one point. Mike, the building manager, is pretty rude, and hesitant to do any kind of maintenance. May access your apartment without your permission when showing the room to prospective tenants. Parking in the vicinity is scarce (almost non-existent on holidays). Recommend to rent a public parking if driving to work (costs $150 - $200 in the area, closest one is $200 p/mo on Deming).

The good: The rent is reasonable for the location. You're close to the social scene on Clark Street. With that come other amenities like grocery stores, book stores, coffee shops, post office, etc. You can do everything on foot. You're also close to the lake, which in the summer time is beautiful and great for exercise. The bad: REALTY & MORTGAGE HORRIBLY MISMANAGES THE PROPERTY. They concentrate all their effort into the first 10 seconds of the experience, and it shows once you get past the sparkling, polished lobby. To start with, the paint job in my apartment is the worst I have ever seen. They applied a coat of pure white paint over every surface in about 5 minutes. Beneath it are countless other coats of pure white paint, also applied during turnover, so that the result is a disgusting quarter inch of paint on everything. Every corner that used to be sharp is now round. The molding along the ceiling is a vague blob. The layers are falling off in one corner, so periodically 2-inch paint chips land on my carpet and expose previous layers. The earlier layers probably contain lead, which the staff hastily "abated" by painting over. There are two elevators and, as a rule, only one works at a time. That means one elevator services a 12-story building with ~150 apartments. Expect to wait a while to get to and from your room. Oh, and one of the elevators jammed between floors a few months ago and the fire department had to pry open the doors. It took hours. The medicine cabinet in my apartment fell out of the wall while I was on vacation one weekend, hit the sink, and shattered all over the bathroom floor. See pictures. This is indicative of the construction throughout: cheap and fast. I called the on-site manager when I discovered it and (this is true) he told me that he already knew about it because he SHOWED MY APARTMENT THAT WEEKEND. He said the water was running and that the cabinet must have hit a handle on its way down, and if he hadn't discovered it my apartment might have flooded... Well thank f--king god, Mike. I'm so glad you turned off the water and left the shrapnel for me. They replaced the cabinet quickly, but I STILL discover shards of glass embedded in the carpet when I step on them. Last thing: once you decide not to renew your lease, you become dirt to them. Mike FREQUENTLY showed up at my door completely unannounced with potential renters and demanded access. One knock, then the master key opens your door. You become an annoying non-entity that is still around for some reason, but that can easily be inconvenienced for new renters. I refused access once because I was skyping with my girlfriend, and he got pissed off and asked what he was supposed to do with this bright-eyed couple that he brought all the way up to my apartment. Not my f--king problem, @$$ hole. AVOID.