420 W SURF ST, Chicago, IL

I lived on the second floor of 420 W. Surf from August 2011-July 2012. Overall, I was pleased with my experience there. You really can't ask for a better location in Chicago. It is very close to the lake and the lakefront trail. It is literally steps from buses, including two express lines for rush hour, and a few blocks from the brown line. It is also very close to places to eat, bars, grocery stores, etc. Very neat neighborhood, and extremely walkable. I didn't have a car and didn't need one. I went to school downtown and took the bus there. I did have visitors with cars a few times and they could generally find free street parking, though sometimes it took some circling. Some times were worse than others. About the apartment itself: it's very small, but functional. I lived in a two-bedroom place with a roommate. My bedroom window opened up to the alley, which was only a problem when people walked through there talking at full volume, particularly at 3 AM. My roommate's bedroom window faced the front of the building, so she got a lot more road noise. I heard none of it. Like I said, the place is very small. My bedroom was absolutely tiny. I had a twin bed, a vertical dresser, and a medium-sized desk with a desk chair, with absolutely no room for anything else. Here are the downsides: -The leasing office controls the radiator heat, as you'll find with a lot of places in Chicago. What this resulted in was my roommate and I absolutely freezing for chunks of winter when it was below freezing outside, and our inside temperature was, we are certain, well below city regulations. All we could do was call the office and complain. Sometimes they answered the phone, sometimes they didn't. It didn't help that three out of our four windows facing the front of the building--so, one in the living room and the ones in my roommate's bedroom--were not properly aligned with the frame, so frigid wind was gusting through to the inside all the time. By the way, maintenance "winterizing" the windows is a joke--it did nothing for us. We did the thing where you put up the plastic over the windows in winter, but it still didn't keep out the freezing wind. -The internet is not the most reliable. It worked fairly well...I think it had some problems in the beginning, but I did notice that after a while, we really didn't have any more problems with it. However, they DO have a device connectivity limit, which is a problem in this day and age where people have multiple devices they want to connect to the Internet. I can't remember if it's 3 or 4. My roommate and I both connected our laptops, I connected my iPhone, but I couldn't also add my Kindle. There is no way around this, because the office connects you via your IP address. -HUGE DOWNSIDE: the smoke alarms. Ours went off ALL. THE. TIME. We literally could not use the oven because it would set off the smoke alarm. Fortunately, I had a little convection oven, and we used that all the time. I managed to--just once--make a lasagna in the apartment oven without setting the smoke alarm off. That was a miracle. And judging by often we heard others' alarms going off, ours was not an isolated issue. When we complained to the leasing office, they told us to get a fan. Great idea, if we hadn't already done that. -STUPID DOWNSIDE: We had a dishwasher, but could not use it. The kitchen is very, very skinny. The refrigerator was positioned just so to prevent opening the dishwasher all the way. So we had a dishwasher, but couldn't open it wide enough to load or unload it. -My roommate and I compared rents of our place to others in the neighborhood, and we really got a steal. However, I understand they have since jacked up the rent, and they were going to increase ours enough to renew our lease that we decided to go our separate ways once our year lease was up. -I'm not sure if this was the apartment or the city, but they did shut off the water all day a few times for some kind of tests or something. It was an extra pain in the butt when I got out of the house all day to avoid all that, then I came back and they had decided at the last minute to move the tests to the next day instead. -The washers aren't the most effective, but I guess that's to be expected with community laundry. At least they're not too expensive. -They were doing construction work on the scaffolding for our last few to several months there, which was literally right outside our window. I don't know if this could be avoided...in any case, I was a student and preferred to work from home whenever possible, but that made it really hard to think. They may be done with it by now, I don't know. The positives: -Maintenance is quick and friendly. The staff in the leasing office are usually helpful. -I saw two roaches the whole time I lived there, period. No other bugs, besides the occasional small bug that would end up in the bathtub or something like that. -And, once more...the absolutely amazing location. I would recommend it, but with hesitation, since it is losing its greatest perk (besides the location, which you can't really lose): the amazing price. When I lived there, the price was proportionate to the amenities and the size of the place, but now? Not sure.

I have a number of complaints with BJB. The building itself is not THAT terrible, but there are plenty of problems. First of all and most importantly, I live on the 8th floor and we have a SERIOUS centipede infestation. My roommate and I see at least onea day, and they are so huge that half the time we don't even know how to kill them (granted, we're both girls, but they are for real terrifying). Second, almost all of our appliances have broken during the span of time we have lived here. Granted, BJB does fix things (given enough time), but during the 8 months that I've lived here, these are some of the things that have happened: 1. Dishwasher broken 2. Kitchen sink doesn't get hot water 3. Refrigerator door fell off (literally just fell off), took a week for them to get us a new fridge 4. "Construction" outside the building for over three months - they are NOT working on it but the scaffolding has been up for months, meaning the rooftop deck is closed 5. Oven does not properly cook food (it's too old and burns/undercooks everything) 6. Cable guys told us that apparently the cable TV only works in my roommates bedroom... like ok? Why does it say cable included in the rent? They refused to fix it so it would work in the living room. 7. Drains so clogged in the bathrooms that the shower and sink do not drain. They did eventually send someone to take care of this problem. Anothing thing, if you are a working professional (like me), building is full of college students who blast ke$ha at all hours like 5 nights a week. Not fun. Side note, no fault of BJB, but the parking situation is not very good and my boyfriend's car was stolen where it was parked two blocks away from this building.

I would also give this place 0 stars if I could. I love there for about a year and it was horrible. Like everyone else has said the place has cockroaches. Luckily for me I have a cat that will kill any bug in sight. However, that didn't make sleeping knowing that they were there any less comfortable. This place also completely over charged me. I moved there from out of state and was paying the same amount as a classmate who had a place much larger than mine. The next problem I had with the place I can't fully prove to be their fault, but my electric bill was outrageous. I am paying half as much for electric in a two bedroom that I share with a roommate (and I don't mean half as much because of splitting it with a roommate). And as with the other people who have posted, they would never fix anything. I gave up on ever asking for anything and started to try and fix stuff myself. The final insult that I suffered while living here that lead to my disgust of this place and its management company came when they were showing the place. My brother unexpectedly passed away and they couldn't show the common decency of refraining from showing the place while I was gone for 3 days (I do not think this is too out of line to ask for because I had valuables, confidential paperwork for work, and my cat there). And even after this showing of disrespect the management company continued to be disrespectful. One of the employees who showed up without advanced notice was very rule to me because I told him to come back in a few hours because I was sleeping (I had stayed up burning the midnight oil for a work assignment that was due). He had the audacity to tell me when it was acceptable to sleep. I guess he did not get the memo that I was still paying rent to occupy the apartment. Nor did he read the Illinois statute about what kind of notice he was suppose to give to show the place and how I was only required to give him reasonable access to the apartment to show it.

DO NOT RENT FROM BJB LINCOLN PARK. - 420 W. SURF - DINO IS THE WORST. THE MANAGEMENT IS TERRIBLE & THE BUILDINGS ARE DISGUSTING. I have lived in my place for two years and it has taken me over 6-months to get a kitchen sink that smells like rotten garbage. DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE INCLUSIVE INTERNET & CABLE PACKAGE - In two years I haven't been able to connect to the freakin wireless. When they gave me the internet company number I got somebody's home answering machine. The cable is some ------ company and the tv regularly goes black for extended periods of time. HBO? UHHM NO. ALL LIES. I'm in the master bedroom on a roof level and the cable box is OUTSIDE my window. The second bedroom has cable, but I (YES, ME) had to pay to get it installed in my room. BS. Their advertisements are LIES. So, my dishwasher broke - TOOK 2 MONTHS and many angry phone calls and emails to get a new one. Mgmt claimed I wasn't rinsing my dishes well before putting them in their. THERE WAS A PUDDLE OF DIRTY WATER THAT NEVER DRAINED. How about a pantry with no shelves - yep, more money out of my pocket. Laundry room - There's a dryer in there that doesn't dry for 2 years. The machines eat up your money. I was just so frusterated because I was a good tenant - always paid on time, kept the unit clean. The only reason I didn't move after year one is because I didn't want to have the hassle of moving. They are cheap and unbearable. I can't wait to get out of this DUMP. OH BY THE WAY - COCKROACHES - ON THE 7th FLOOR. YEP. It Happened. I don't normally post on these websites but I'm so furious that I HAD to so nobody makes the same MISTAKE I did.

GREAT location, you can't ask for better. Right by major bus lines and express bus that head straight downtown (takes about 15-30 minutes), you have the option of about 6 buses to get you everywhere, and a 15 minute walk to the El. Also, just outside of Lincoln Park, and 5 minute walk to the lakefront, couldn't ask for a more beautiful neighborhood. Very safe, young crowd. Management is OK - not the nicest - but they'll get stuff done. The walls are not fully noise-proof, so I can often hear people walking up the stairs or if people are loud next door i can hear them. Small space but location makes up for it.

i have lived in this building for over two years and overall, it has been a great experience. it is really nice to have the leasing company right across the street to handle maintenance requests, package pick-up, rent questions, and to give you a spare key when you lock yourself out in your pjs! yes, parking is difficult, yes, the leasing company can be hard to work with, but the apartment is beautiful, the views are great, the rooftop is THE BEST PLACE EVER and the rent is reasonable. i will stay here as long as long as i live in the city! it's an adorable building, and a super-fun neighborhood!

This place has been the worst living experience of my life. There is constant remodeling and banging happening all around my apt. The guy who manages it is a class A jerk who could't care what happends with his clients. It's terrible, truly.

I lived there for 10 months right after they "rehabbed" the apartments. I got a good deal because it was November and they had a lot of open apartments they had just "rehabbed" and wanted to get people in them. So, I was moving to Chicago and got a pretty good deal on a One bedroom $750 per month. It is in a good area, and you wont find anything much less, but I think my apartment was supposed to be about $850 a month. If I paid $850 a month I would have been scammed. The walls are so thin - I could hear my neighbors phone conversations every night and her alarm in the morning - as well as her music and her shoes clanking on the floor. The kitchen isnt big enough to turn around in. Not very much storage. Okay sized closet in bedroom but thats about it. I had a loveseat and a chair in a one bedroom - I dont even know if it would fit a couch comfortably. I do have to admit it was VERY nice of the rental company to let me change apartments once I had moved in because my first apartment was right next to the elevator and I would wake up EVERY SINGLE TIME someone uses the elevator. I dont know what I would have done if they didnt let me change apartments. I don't think I would have EVER slept through the whole night. The elevator klanks against the wall and you can even hear the people in the elevator. Believe me - at 3 a.m. on a Saturday night it was not fun. It also takes forever to use. Maintenance was not very good either. It took at least a week for something to get fixed. Don't even think about having a car in the area - there is NEVER parking - EVER - and there seems to be a lot of robberies to cars that park in the ares (specifically on Stockton - where there is no buildings directly around the cars. Gates and doors are left open or broken quite a bit and building has a strange smell. Live in Lakeview (around Southport) and you'll have just as nice surroundings and a better apartment!

I've had a great experience with this building. I love it. The rooms are nice and the appliances in each of the kitchens are new. You get a good amount of space for your money. I find the price I pay for my one bedroom to be a great deal. The building is also located perfectly in Lincoln Park so there is always plenty going on and you aren't far from anything you could need. I have found the management staff to be very helpful and personable. I have never had a problem with maintenace either. My service requests are done in a timely fashion and correctly. I guess I really don't have that much to say because I really have nothing to complain about. It's a great building for a great place and I will, without a doubt, renew my lease when I am up for renewal.

The building is just old and was "rehabbed", but don't be fooled. It's still old, the walls are still thin, the parking is still crappy and the materials they used are junk.<br><br>Keep looking and don't let your apartment finder push you here.