Tenant Reviews for 443 W WRIGHTWOOD AVE

I have lived in a studio apartment for 2 years and loved every minute of it! I am on the 5th floor and have a phenomenal view of lake Michigan. The staff coud not be nicer, maintenance is always fast and CLEAN, management is friendly and knowledgable. The elevators could be faster and the water pressure is low, but those are my only 2 complaints. I have NEVER seen any roaches, nor did I hear anyone ever having any issues. The staff keeps the building clean, they have a cleanining crew 7 days a week. Overall, I would recommend this place for the awesome location, great apartments and wonderful staff!

this is the worst company in all of chicago, and probably the entire world. i lived at 443 w wrightwood and the minute i moved in my studio on the first floor was infested with roaches. the building was not well maintained, thus roaches made a nest in the first floor's garbage shoot. they spread everywhere. in the pipes, in the walls..... the entire first floor is infested with roaches. it is absolutely disgusting and the management is even worse. andrea, the manager of the building, was very unhelpful, extremely rude and unprofessional. managers are supposed to help their tenants with any problem. little did i know, andrea was the mother of all the roaches. andrea would not let me out of my lease. she gave me absolutely no options, and said that i had to live with it. i'm almost prety sure she is also racist. they were bringing exterminators everyday to fix the problem only to look good, however even after 20 days of me living there, the roaches still existed everywhere. they were pretty much living in my walls and still wander the hallways till this day. i put an add on craigs list about my apt because i could not tolerate the roaches any longer. i finally found someone to sublet my place. keep in mind that i had already paid for the first months rent the first day i moved in, although i only stayed there for half of the first month. also keep in mind that, i did not sleep there every night because i was too afraid... so i would stay with a friend and come back to the apartment everyday and see more roaches. so technically i never really lived there. i took pictures of every roach i saw and have over 100 photos. when i found someone to take my apartment (god be with him) the property "manager" andrea said that they are doing me a favor by letting me move out and is not refunding me one penny. they are dirty thieves, the corporate office was also behind all of it. i also heard from reliable sources that BJB is the worst company in general. They have roach problems in most of their buildings and i've read that people hear mice in their walls. sorry for such a long post...just letting my frustration out. they are terrible. everyone else who have good things to say about them....it wont last. and the only reason i gave them one star is because yelp wouldnt let me post without marking one. ps: monica works with bjb. she is their realtor.... she is actually a very nice woman and wanted to help me.... however andrea has authority over her so if she helped me in any way she would have lost her job. monica, you need to get the hell away from andrea and work for a respected company because your better then that and andrea is not worth a minute of your time.

I have had a wonderful experience in this building. I have a beautiful lake/ park view from my cozy 1 bedroom, and the rent is very reasonable. Perks include updated floors and kitchen, doorman, cable & internet included, in bldg laundry & (old) work out equipment, a wonderful sun deck. The best perk is the location, 20 minute commute to work in the loop, and close to restaurants, shopping & the lake- can't beat it. Negatives include the shower (water pressure is good, but temp is hard to control), and slow elevators, but nothing significant.

A lot of the previous reviews are pretty accurate. The location is great, the doormen at night were pretty friendly, the lady there during the day was always borderline rude though. I never had a problem with the water pressure, the toilets were insanely annoying and loud though. Also, during the weekends it was not uncommon for the garbage chute to overflow, making it impossible to throw your trash out. Only having 8 washers/dryers for a building with 100 units is pretty odd as well, I always just ended up doing my laundry late at night so I didn't have to wait. By far the worst part was the temperature in the winters. The heaters were very inefficient so it was never as warm as I would like, and also the A/C units stayed in, so on cold or windy nights, the cold air would just come right through. I had to put cardboard and blankets over it to try and stay warm. Also, they say the Internet and Cable is free, but if you have a HDTV you have to go to Comcast and get a whole new subscription, because the company they offer does not offer HD. The internet was pretty good, but the firewalls on it made some music sharing techniques unusable. Overall it wasn't too bad, and before I moved out they were improving a lot of things in the building so it may be even better now.

I wake up to a view of the lake and park every morning (fabulous!) so I highly suggest getting one of these apartments if you are looking to live here. I have never had an issue with shower water pressure or temperature. And actually, it's the best water pressure I have ever experienced in my life (like a head massage everytime you shower), so I'm not sure what people are griping about. However, I do agree about the issue with the heating vs. the air conditioner in the windows in the winter.. it can get quite blustery with the wind but everywhere I've lived has left them in so I think it's just something you deal with. Except for that and a small issue with the fact that the maintenance people don't clean up after themselves when they fix something in your apt., I have been pretty happy with my stay here. The doorman is super-nice and has always been at his post if I've come in late at night. They have stopped allowing dogs without a hefty deposit though so I will be moving next year in order to get one. Oh, and I would NOT reccomend having a car becuase the parking is minimal at best and is restricted by street cleaning, snow removal, etc.

I've lived here for about 4 months now, and I'm not overly impressed (definitely have some complaints), but I've experienced worse (by the same management company, no less). First off, the location is FABULOUS. 2 minutes and you're in the park, another 5 and you're on the lake. Despite this, though, the views aren't that great, even on the rooftop deck, b/c the building is relatively small and the surrounding ones are not. The lobby is pretty cool & there are 24-hour doormen (although the weekend guy likes to disappear). I have, however, received some random knocks on my door, and I'm not sure why solicitors are allowed entry. The water pressure SUCKS! Someone else said it, but it goes from scalding hot to ice cold in seconds. I've developed some pretty complicated choreography to avoid the quick temperature changes. I'm almost embarrased to have visitors b/c I don't want to have to explain the shower situation to them. The walls are SUPER thin. I can hear word-for-word conversations that my neighbors have, and when they have guests or come home after a late night, it's like I'm sitting in their apartment with them. The building itself is old, and it has not been rehabbed. So there are probably 20 layers of paint covering everything, giving it that thick, old, uncared for look, but it's also got some character :) Walls are plaster, so good luck hanging anything! The staff haven't been very friendly (except before you've signed the lease of course!). One example: we're required to have permits to store our bikes in the bike room, and when I asked the office manager about them she told me they were full and basically I was SOL. And there aren't bike racks anywhere near the building, so that pretty much sucks. It's pretty expensive, but then again, it's Chicago, and the bldg is right on the park. My advice: keep looking for that great deal that pops up every now and then, but if you can't find one, this place isn't a bad alternative.

Oh my goodness, if you are thinking about living here: DON'T!<br>Yes, it seems like a great deal - it's in a fabulous neighborhood and almost all of the utlities are included. The lobby is gorgeous and they have package signing. This much is true and much appreciated.<br>BUT!<br><br>1) In the winters, you have to wait over an hour for hot water in the shower. OVER AN HOUR.<br><br>2) They never remove the air conditioners from the windows, so in the winter, cold air blows straight into your house.<br><br>3) The heating is awful. You will always be cold. Go to CostCo, buy some space heaters, pay tons in electricity.<br><br>4) Unless you pay for parking at a lot or garage, you will be circling for a long, long time. I used to be a teacher and I once circled after school for 2 hours. You can imagine my frustration.<br><br>5) Get used to the stairs - the elevators are unreliable.<br><br>6) Eight washers in a building with more than 100 units? Insane.<br><br>7) The night watchman only stays until 11pm. I'm sorry, if a crime at night was to be committed, wouldn't it happen AFTER 11 PM?!<br><br>8) WHILE WRITING THIS, a chunk of my ceiling just fell down. My ceiling. FELL. I called maagement, they said to stay home all day so they come come by when they decided to. Lovely.<br><br>Bottom Line: JUST SAY NO.

This place is terrible! I have lived in the building for 2 years and can't wait to get out! These are some of the reasons:<br><br>1: No water pressure and it goes from scolding hot to ice cold in a second. When I complained they changed my shower head 3 times...Like that's going to do anything.<br><br>2: Rust in the water... I have gross rusty water that comes out of my kitchen sink...and bugs that run across the floor.<br><br>3: The management waits until it's freezing outside and then turns the heat on. I have measured temps. at 63 degrees in my apartment in the dead of winter... Plan on getting a space heater and spending more on electricity...<br><br>4: Management is terrible. I have been called a lair. When something goes wrong they act like it s my fault. One of my guests that came to visit me was harassed in the lobby and called a criminal.<br><br>5: I have lived in construction the entire 2 years I have lived there and I wish they would have told me that before I signed the lease <br><br>6: The walls are so thin you can hear your neighbor's conversations without trying... Forget it if you get a neighbor with a noisy bird...<br><br>All in all don t sign a lease with this place. They are nice when you are looking but once you are a renter, forget it!<br>

I lived in the building for 2 years and just moved due to a job relocation out of state.<br>I have been very happy with the management and staff, always responded quickly to my issues. The building is beautiful and is in a Great location. The only problem was that my apartment was a little bit small.<br>I would move back in a heart beat if I was still living in Chicago.

and you better love dogs because you going to get sniffed in the elevator, your going to get barked at walking down the hallways, and you'll smell them on occassion. The management staff is okey, the place has character and the location is great but the dogs and the fact there is constant door slamming in the hallways could drive you nuts!