Tenant Reviews for 833 W. BUENA AVE.

Management is completely incompetent. Nothing gets done until you complain to the head GroupFox office directly. Then, and only then, do things get done. The last time I received a package, they lost it for 3 days, and made no attempt to find it until I contacted the main GroupFox office. When I received the package, I was disturbed to find that the package they had lost was in a box that measured 5 feet by 4 feet--I'm not certain how one loses a package that large, but they managed it. The place isn't terrible, but it's certainly no paradise. Yes, it's been recently renovated, but the decor appears to be wholesale leftovers from a warehouse that had back inventory from the 1970's. Faux marble and plastic plants in the lobby do not impress me. Neighbors are inconsiderate and loud, oftentimes you can hear bass reverberating through the walls on weeknights as late as 3am-4am. That would have been great when I was in college, but now, with a hectic work schedule, it is not appreciated. Temperature and noise insulation are terrible.<br><br>Now on with the good. The neighborhood is great, and probably the only reason my fiance and I have stayed here this long. Rent isn't terrible, but it's not as great as people would have you believe. The renovated kitchen's are great, but that's about it. Location is good, although a bit to close to a firehouse, so if you're a light sleeper, don't even consider this building.<br><br>If I didn't have to worry about paying for a wedding this year, I would have happily moved out to a more expensive and nicer building.

I'm amazed at the people in 2001-3 complaining about management... you mean you HAD management? This is difficult to get across so let me be very clear. There is NO management at 833 W. Buena. There is indeed a "management office." But the office is unstaffed. There are no office hours. There are no managers that I have ever seen here. Period.<br><br>Instead, you have a list of phone numbers for maintenance, packages, Group Fox HQ. The response time for this phone numbers is pretty average. <br><br>The windows are very leaky from outside air. The radiant heat (from the floor) is included but it is very inconsistent (and there's no thermostat - no control over it). Sometimes in winter you have to have the windows wide open to keep from sweating through your clothes. But on the two coldest weekends during the winter, the heat was off all weekend. Like a homeless person, we had to go to the bookstore to warm up. How convenient for Group Fox's pocketbook that the heat was "out" during the coldest snaps of the year.<br><br>So if there's no management how do you pick up your packages? Answer: you don't. The packages are held hostage in the unstaffed office. It's a federal crime to interfere with the mail, but I guess Group Fox is above the law. You can look inside and see 20-40 packages piled up at any time. The way to get them is to sneak in when the staff has happened to open the office.<br><br>One small annoyance that sums it all up: You have to mail your rent check to the Group Fox HQ two miles away. You'd think MAYBE they could have a drop box in the lobby or something. But no. That would be a service, and Group Fox is proud to offer absolutely no services beyond those required by law. <br><br>The staff is the usual eastern europeans. Their competence level is average but their customer service is unchanged from the Soviet Union. The maintenance guy and I actually had a flat-out yelling argument about the conditions of my apartment. No conception of customer service whatsoever. Sullen, unsmiling staff non-existent mgmt. = unfriendly building. <br><br>The lower few floors appear to be Section 8 people, but I haven't had any problems with them. <br><br>There's a fire department up by Wilson that zooms down Broadway a few times a night with sirens at full blast. It's insanely loud. <br><br>Walls are a little thin, but I lucked out with considerate neighbors.<br><br>There's a security guard here about twice a month. Wow- what a deterrent to crime. Two random nights a month we have a dude or dudette sitting in the lobby. Truly absurd.<br><br>Good things: dishwasher, street parking very possible, mixed neighborhood of luxury homes and apt. buildings, access to lincoln park under LSD at the end of buena ave, cheap rent.<br><br>If you are a true do-it-yourselfer that can rough it without management, go for it. If you need a semblance of management, look elsewhere. I'm moving out.

When I moved here this was such a nice place to live. The neighbors were friendly and managment was friendly. The building needed some upgrades that the new company did but <br>now, managment is horrible! The office does not returns calls,they post signs in the gym that read "please refrain from spitting" , the parking lot is not lite, the hallways were remodeled but are not well kept, when you call the manager of the building for a package she is impolite. <br><br>There are better places with better customer service. Once my lease is up I am moving! <br><br>

I've lived here for 2 years and I've seen 2 different management. Current management seems a little better, but they are still ignorant. In the building, there are a lot of students doing parties couple of nights a week. I called the management and left a message about my neighbor being noisy and mean to me, but they never called me back. This winter, our heating was not working properly, so I had to heat it externally. When I told the manager, they said it is fixed, but it wasn't. I'm going to move out as soon as my lease expires.<br>

The gym is a joke, the staff is so unfriendly, <br>This building is the example of a mismanaged property. <br>I had to make repeat requests for repairs. Once "completed", said repairs were actually cosmetically and functionally inadequate. This building doesn't want to spend money on those necessary repairs to make their units habitable.<br>What a nightmare. It's noisy, over priced and the office staff don't care about your maintenance problems. I have yet to hear of a happy resident here. <br>Managenent only cares about getting your money. <br>I'm moving out as soon as my lease expires!