Tenant Reviews for 660 NORTH DEARBORN AVENUE

I lived in this building for some time last yerar, and even if the area was nice, the managers of the building were the worst I have ever seen. They do not return my calls or my e-mails, they don't want to fix the things that are not working properly. As I said, the area is nice, the buildings is not too bad, but the managers are the worst!!

While I have only lived here since April, my husband has lived here since Jan. '07. The location is great--Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Jewel, Walgreens, Blockbuster, Berry Chill, Starbucks, Fedex/Kinko's, tons of banks, USPS, etc. all nearby. However, with Excalibur and the Joynt along the block south of the building on Dearborn, it definitely gets loud on the weekend nights (not to mention all street parking is taken up by valet then). We can't sleep with the windows open. There isn't much noise from neighbors (though the wood floors are rather creaky), just from outside. There is no charge for gas, since the heat is a radiator, and it's plenty warm in the winter (the only control you have is to open a window if it's too hot). There is rarely a breeze coming in the south side of the building, but often sunshine coming in--the buildings around are pretty short. There is no exhaust fan in the bathroom. Worst of all, anyone who uses electricity like most Americans will trip the breaker very often. Each apartment has one 15-amp circuit and another 20-amp circuit. The 20-amp is used for our window A/C unit in the summer, so everything else runs off of 15 amps. You can't use the microwave or blow-dryer at the same time as anything except a couple lights. The apartments are a little old, obviously painted over several times (even all of the wood trim and outlet covers, and dripped all over the bathroom), but everything works fine and we've never had problems with bugs or anything. Painting our apartment a color besides white made it look way better. The bike room is full of bikes that are never used, and you have to walk down a flight of stairs to the basement to use it, and they store huge appliances (fridges, stoves, A/C units) in there, so it's almost a joke. Plus it smells pretty often because the A/C from the workout room sucks the air out of the bike room and it doesn't have any ventilation. (The building doesn't provide any parking for cars.) The only staff around on a regular basis is the maintenance guy. TLC relocated the woman who used to work from the basement, so now you have to go all the way to their office on Fullerton to talk to anyone face-to-face. And if you get packages delivered by anyone besides USPS when you're not home, there's no one to hold the packages for you. The elevator is small for moving in furniture. Plenty of closet space! The kitchen has very little counter space, no drawers, and 1 small sink. This is pretty typical for studio apartments. We bought a microwave cart and baker's rack, which has worked out just fine. The warm water pressure is much lower in the kitchen than in the bathroom, and the cold water pressure is low in the bathroom. We haven't asked TLC to try to fix it, so it might be something that's adjustable. There is no roof top access or balconies or lobby or anything of the sort for lounging outside of your own apartment. Fortunately they replaced the obnoxious pink paint in the hallways and stairways with much nicer green paint and replaced the broken intercom system at the front door (though our number still doesn't work). The apartments with the curved block glass windows look great and have plenty of space. For the location, we find this apartment worth the price... for short-term.

Noisy, inconsiderate neighbors, taxi drivers honking their horns, emergency vehicle sirens, construction, protesters outside the Chinese conuslate, drunks from the Excalibur nightclub, motorcycles, and even gunfire--I heard it all in abundance at all hours of the day and night during the year of hell I endured at 660 North Dearborn. Saw/squashed some enormous cockroaches too. As for the "fitness" center, it had a revolting odor, and most of equipment was broken except for a single treadmill that always seemed to be in use when I wanted it. Great location in River North, but that doesn't make up for the lousy quality of life to be had here.

Hey I am just about to move out from my one year lease. Just wanted to let the people who are moving here get an honest opinion about the place. I see a lot of reviews talking about roaches, I never saw one and I am clean about half of the time, in fact i only had a couple of spiders no big deal. The management is perfect if you have a problem they fix it the same day you complain which is amazing. And I also had like only two problems. The down falls to the apartment is noise you can here everything. the walls are super then i can hear my nighbor talking on her phone word for word. I also live on the ally side so i am constantly bothered by the garge truck in the morning that takes a half hour to finish whatever it is doing. Also living next to the clubs means you can here people talking laughing puking till 3:00am, this isn't as much of a problem in the winter. However in the winter the place gets very cold, and the heating went out a few tmes. Well I guess thats it.

WTF...... OMFG........<br><br>I FOUND A ROACH BIGGER THAN MY THUMB !!!! EWWW!!!<br><br>I SLEPT WITH THE LIGHTS ON AND BOUGHT ELECTRONIC BUG BE GONE MACHINES(5 OF THEM)<br><br>ELEVATOR NEVER WORKS, HOOKERS OUTFRONT, AND DRUNKS AND BUMBS TOO.<br><br>FOUND DIRTY THONG IN THE HALLWAY (CLASSY)<br><br>OH AND CHECKOUT THE SO CALLED WORKOUT FACILITY AND LAUNDRY ROOM.......<br><br>GOODBYE MR. AND MRS. COCK ROACH !!!!!<br><br>

-Tiny (approx. 300 sq. ft.)<br>-Overpriced (I paid $750/month)<br>-Very noisy<br>-Extremely HOT (no control of the heat)<br>-Cockroaches! Cockroaches! Cockroaches!<br><br>I was mortified of the cockroaches. I saw several different kinds in the few days I lived there. (I moved out after a week) I literally slept with the lights on b/c I was so afraid of the bugs. I moved there out of desperation (cheap rent for the area) but it was a huge mistake. Oh, when I reported the bug problem, the landlord told me that I must be mistaken!!!!!

However, the rent increases are ridiculous. The apartments are not worth what they're asking. If you must live here, avoid an apartment overlooking dearborn or erie (which will only leave you with a view of the alley) and try to get an apt. on the top floor. If you don't take this advice, you will be miserable. You can hear everything your upstair neighbors are doing and you'll be very familiar with their music picks. You will also never be able to enjoy an open window at any time of the day, horns, traffic accidents, fire, ambulance, and police sirens are non stop, construction is constant, and the drunks leaving excalibur are very disrespectful, not to mention the occational yelling hooker or bum. There is a bug problem, I'd like to tell you what bugs are but I've never seen them before I moved in here. Also, if you have allergies this is not the place for you. Rain leakage lends to the mold problems and expect an enormous amount of dust in your aparment being that the windows might as well not be there. You will have health problems if you have any allergy. Further, the doors to the apartments do not offer the best privacy, you will hear everything that goes on in the hallway and they will hear everything going on in your apt. If your neighbor smokes weed you will be getting a cheap second hand high and a headache from their non-stop, very loud techno music. On the flip side, if you never need anything fixed or information of TLC management (if you can call them management, I have yet to see the manage anything) you won't have any problems. In the on-site management people are pleasant but they sometimes difficult to get a hold of. And I have to agree with one of the other comments on the elevator problem, it may or may not be in service. But the location if awesome, close to everything, and convenient to grocery shopping. Good Luck on your apartment search.

DO NOT Live THERE!!! Nightmare, management sucks, everything else sucks!!! too expensive for that --------

Management is unreliable and often unavailable. Apartments are often cold in the winter, and in the summer there is a cockroach problem...

RUN!<br><br>Noisy, smelly, insect-infested, with a regularly (3x week) broken elevator – all topped off by a nightmarishly offensive onsite management (couple) who act like they are party block-wardens appointed by the politburo.<br><br>The offsite management at b'TLC' Management (the irony kills me) are completely unresponsive and hands-off. Return a phone call? (never) Answer a letter (unh-unh). "Just payyour rent and leave us alone" attitude.<br><br>Thisn place is cheap, but you'll 'pay' in ways you'll regret.