Tenant Reviews for 651 S. WELLS ST.

Used to be a great building until TLC decided to run it into the ground. Before we moved out, our neighbor was arrested multiple times. I met a nice gentlemen smoking a blunt in the elevator and when I glared at him, he asked, “we good bro.” After I moved out, two people were stabbed on the third floor. In this unit, drugs were allegedly being sold. I rode by early one morning and a girl was throwing trash out her window. I still know one person who lives there and he said he has roaches, his ceiling leaks, it always smells like weed, and it’s a horrible building. This is coming from a guy who grew up in Chicago’s housing projects. Stay the hell away from this place

DO NOT MOVE IN ANY OF THESE RESIDENCES! They will act all nice and make many promises upon move in, but once you live there you and have signed a lease - you are treated terribly. The management is unprofessional and disorganized, as is evident in their constant turnover. The current manager, Sam Oshana, made vague statements regarding amenities when I signed my lease. When those have proven to be false and I inquired about further clarification and assistance, he has been extremely rude and volatile. He refused to give me the contact info of his boss and the website conveniently does not provide that info. So months later, I finally spoke to his boss, Robin - who laughed at me, told me I was a liar, and said that there was no one else I could speak to. Now I am seeking legal action to break this lease.

I've lived at the Regal for a number of years and have no major issues. The rent did go up when management changed to TLC and there were some issues with some of the management and maintenance staff for a year or so, but things have calmed down and maintenance and management are easier to get hold of and have an acceptable level of responsiveness. (The previous building care when owned by Reinhold Residential was exemplary under Gabby's management and was a new gold standard in my years of renting.) The walls are thin and I can hear my neighbors when they're having loud conversations or a playing their music. The ceilings also transfer noise, either the rain and wind on the roof or the footfalls of the floor above. It's not great, but neighbors have been pretty good about keeping it down when notified and it's still less noisy than other places I've been in. For the space and amenities, the rent is still lower than other places nearby and the location is key. It's easy access to all the major El stations and there are plenty of ZipCar lots within a half-mile radius. While there is a Target a little over half a mile away, grocery shopping may require delivery or car rentals, unless one likes to walk and carry. Yes, the number of pot smokers had increased for a while and one could almost get a contact high while waiting for an elevator. Thankfully, I've not run into that as an issue for the past few months, but from my conversation with other tenants, there may still be issues on some floors. Overall, I've been satisfied with my experience at The Regal and if I weren't moving to another state before the year's end, I'd likely renew again.

PROS: Laundry; convenient to public transportation; dog friendly. CONS: Walls are extremely thin, noisy neighbors, parking, construction, lights are always out in the alley and sidewalk, and bed bugs This building has a BED BUG issue. We lived out of black garbage bags for over eight months while the management scheduled the same unsuccessful treatments. You would think that after 3 months with no resolve, they would have looked for another solution that gets RESULTS. That shows how much they care about residents, don't you think? We also found out that they were not inspecting other units around us--allowing the issue to manifest. We paid over $2,100 a month and lived out of bags our last year. But TLC Management has refused to waive our last month's rent. We were so happy the first two years we lived here before there was an issue. Then we learned how greedy TLC Management actually is.

PROS...Lived at the Regal for 3+ years. The location is perfect, the best! The long time tenants are also THE BEST! I've made so many good friends here. A lot of great people living in here. Units themselves are spacious and aesthetically pleasant (see con on aesthetics). UGH.....CONS... New management wants to be your boss instead of work for you. They are also not good at communication and can be pretty tacky when it comes to posting notices. The building is infested with bed bugs. Trust me. Its a quiet neighborly secret in here. Everyone has had an experience (or sadly doesn't know yet) Prepare for a contact high from the pot smokers in here. You will smell it if you take a tour; the first floor (near the lobby and elevators) is the worst. Travel throughout the other floors and you might get contact lung cancer from the cig smokers. Nothing is insulated from noise and drafts. So, if you like a ridiculous electric bill (everything is electric in the units) and don't mind hearing your neighbors fight or have 'good times' (fix your squeaky beds), you'll be fine here. Did I mention the electric bills? $125 on average in the winter and $150 with the a/c on in the summer.....don't let them bamboozle you into thinking its less. Everything is electric. Washer/dryer, stove/oven, heat/air, water heater...blah blah blah. The units look really nice, however, the wood flooring is super fake and hard to clean. The appliances look good but are the cheapest of the cheap. The bathrooms were never really remodeled. The cracked 80's 2x2 tile in the bathrooms and the 6 inch deep tubs will always look dirty no matter how much you clean them. Sinks and tubs clog at an alarming rate. Be prepared to have maintenance requests in on a monthly basis. There is NO, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, security in the building. Weirdos have snuck in and stolen packages and have slept in the hallways. It is not safe. One dude, who managed to get in, was high as a kite and damaged a bunch of the bad decorating in the lobby (maybe a good thing?). You can probably check public record police reports to see how many thefts were done here by wacky non residents. Also heard there was a knife wielding homeless crack-a-lack in the building at one point. Not cool. This review is not meant to be spiteful or a deterrent for moving here. It's just the truth from a long time resident. Everyone is entitled their own opinion, decision and experience. I'm just giving mine.

Wow, what can I say about my experience living at the regal the past almost 3 years. When we first moved in, the switch was just starting between the previous management and TLC. The small amount of experience we had with that company was wonderful- our rent was low, maintenance was handled wonderfully, and the building felt safe. The real NIGHTMARE began when the current management took over. There was a rent spike supposedly because of unit remodels and updating the basement to have a fitness center. We went an entire lease, with no fitness center, and the unit updates were nothing to write home about. The manager rants and raves about how great the prices are for the area...but with no stainless steel appliances, no outdoor space, no opportunity for garage parking and a constant STENCH of weed radiating out of the lobby, I'd say it's nowhere near comparable to other apartments you find in the area. But these are tolerable annoyances and nothing that would motivate me to leave a harsh public review. So what brings me here? There have been MULTIPLE occasions of security breach in this building and the manager refuses to notify the building residents. This for me was the last straw. The following events all took place over the course of my current 1 year lease, which is thankfully my last. 1) During the basement remodel, all residents' bikes were moved to a bike room. There were new cameras installed throughout the building and in this bike room. Brand new cameras that had been up for a few months and that you would assume were in working condition as we had construction workers tracking in and out amongst our personal belongings. However, upon finding that my locked bicycle was had been detached stolen from the basement- I was told that the bike room camera "wasn't on". What a false sense of security that is to the residents. We should have been told that the camera wasn't working because I wouldn't have stored my bike there had I known! Management did have footage of the backdoor however, where I was able to watch two men open the back door without using a key or any force, and a few moment later, walk out with my bike as well as another at 2 in the morning. It was obvious that the door had been propped open somehow for these strangers to access our building or that even worse, they had a key. yet when I asked our management if there would be any type of investigation into this security breach, I was simply told to "file a police report and insurance claim". There was never notification to other residents that two burgalars had been in our building at 2 or 3 am...There was no attempt to change locks. Nothing at all. 2) I go to the office to pick up a package that my email says was delivered. I find the maintenance man at the computer and he tells me that there was a strange man in the building, he had been hiding in the stairwell for who knows how long, with a knife, and that he was opening packages and stealing items. I was shown the surveillance footage, as he thought my package could be one of the packages in question. I saw the intruder evade police (who the maintenance man did call) and hide in a hallway, then walk right out the front door with the stolen items. He was later arrested while trying to rob the nearby East Coast Pantry. Knowing that this man was walking around our building WITH A KNIFE was horrifying. BUT EQUALLY HORRIFYING is that our management did not make one mention of it to the residents. I just happened to have been in the office at the right time. Even now, the packages are left stacked in front of the front window by the mailboxes to entice any criminal who may be passing by. 3) As there is no option for garage parking, residents pay to have a spot in privately operated lot behind the building. Multiple vehicles had a part stolen from under the car that is commonly pawned. I get that it's Chicago and things like this can happen, but this was the ONLY time our manager notified the building of a potential security threat, and it ironically happened to be the one time her property (her car) was affected...So of course, there were signs posted on every door and the elevator that they were doing all they could. It really makes me wonder what other situations there have been that have been my security in danger, that I was just never made aware of. Between the rent spikes, the lack of security and blatant lack of respect for the well being of your residents- I am glad to see my lease with this company end. If I could give any advice to someone considering signing a lease for the regal, it would be: don't.

My review is pre and post TLC management. Pre TLC the location, rents, property, and staff were pretty awesome. During this time, residents were friendly and spoke to each other, dog owners respected residents that did not want their pets jumping on, and the building was cleaner. Now, with TLC managing the property, I could not leave fast enough. The upgrades were not high-end, they replaced a brand new better quality microwave with an inferior one. Rents skyrocketed by $200. They did not have the fitness center completed as outlined with our higher rents. The building's cleanliness deteriorated almost immediately, immature residents moved in, and disrespectful dog owners.

My wife and I recently moved out of the Regal after 2 years. The **previous** management company was great. Rents were very affordable, especially for the South Loop, and all of the staff were very responsive, courteous, and friendly. Then TLC took over. TLC Management has a notorious reputation within the Chicago area. I used to live in one of their roach-infested properties up in Edgewater, and I was deeply disappointed to see them take over the Regal. Naturally, their first act was to raise rents by over $200/month. They justified this by "upgrading" the units with very cheep, poorly made cabinets and equally shoddy laminate flooring. My wife and I tried to avoid the big rent hike by asking to stay in our apartment when our first lease was up. TLC wouldn't allow it; they forced us to change units within the building and, because they moved us into a turned-over unit, raised our rent. But worse than the rent increase was the overall incompetence of TLC's staff. Here are some examples of their failures at the Regal: 1. Because of poorly-timed work on the roof, all of the A/Cs in the building were disconnected through mid-June this year. 2. It took me 4 (4!!) attempts to get a signed copy of our lease, when I needed it for a government screening. Each time, I was told I'd have a copy in my email inbox by the end of the day; it never showed up. On the 4th attempt, they finally admitted to losing our lease (!!!!!) and instead drew up a new, backdated version. 3. The common areas, especially the hallways, have developed a foul smell. The old company would clean these weekly. I've never seen anyone clean the hallways since TLC took over. When residents started to complain about the smell of the hallways, the brilliant solution was to slap in a bunch of Glad plug-ins throughout the building. 4. The basement is basically inaccessible. TLC promised a new fitness and business center by Fall 2013. I'm not sure that ever materialized, despite non-stop construction in the basement. Meanwhile, the bike room and storage in the basement were inaccessible thanks to the endless work downstairs. 5. We used to have an old, but functional call box in the entryway. As with most call boxes, it would call a cellphone and allow you to buzz visitors in the front door, and it also allowed residents to enter an entry code to gain access. TLC replaced the call box with what amounts to a glorified pay phone. The new box does not allow residents to use an entry code (we need a physical key to get in the front door). To allow visitors to enter, the new box is supposed to work just like the old, but it works very inconsistently. 6. Maintenance requests, which used to take 24 hours to complete, now take 3-5 days.

Too many changes after the building switched owners last year. Probably the only upside was getting rid of that ---- of a property manager that used to run the place. At the rates they have now, there are far better options in the area.

he Regal was a wonderful place run by Gabi, his brother and a handy man that did all the tech fixes. Gabi was an extraordinary manager that will ALWAYS tried to help and accommodate tenants needs. She was totally devoted of the place and although was moody at a times, she did an impeccable job. The Regal was sold to TLC and is when things start going wrong. TLC is a cheap company with bad reputation (please feel free to yelp it) The Regal is now run by Pam a ruthless regional manager that only cares about the dollar. They are trying to revamped the place by adding MADE IN CHINA cherry cabinets and a Gym and Bizz center that still under construction. The Regal has now lost all his charm, shop around 1675$ for one bedroom in a semi deserted area is not worth the price. The loyalty towards the tenants at this place is a thing of the past. THANKS PAM