Tenant Reviews for 8 E CHESTNUT ST

I have lived in this apartment for over 2 years now. At first, it was decent. Great location, friendly doormen, office staff OK, and relatively inexpensive compared to other places in the area. HOWEVER, the past year of living here has been one of the biggest headaches and worst living experiences I've ever had. First of all, the staff has become entirely incompetent and inconsiderate. The newer girls that work in the office are unfriendly and not the least bit helpful. Anytime I've asked a legit question or raised an honest concern, I get nothing but a confused "well I don't know~*" bewildered, dazed response. I feel like this place is now run by a bunch of high schoolers! When I didn't re-sign the lease, they took it upon themselves to show my apartment at any given time, day/afternoon/evening, WITHOUT notice. There were a couple of instances where I was in the shower or completely unprepared for a visitor, and they show up with people looking for an apartment. Absolutely unacceptable. Secondly, the laundry room here is ATROCIOUS in every sense of the word. I would say out of the 10-15 washers/dryers they have, maybe 2 or 3 are working. There is constant maintenance on them, and they are just plain outdated machines. The machines are not coin operated; they are operated by a card reader which you purchase in the laundry room. Just about 100% of the machines are malfunctioned when it comes to reading the card! It's a headache and waste of money. Also, the ambiance and decorations around the apartment are so tacky and outdated. It looks like a 70's Aztec temple when you walk in the lobby, with poorly painted murals of vines and symbols along the walls in the hallways and elevators. Before renting or even considering this apartment, please be aware of the following: none of the apartments come furnished with a microwave. All of the apartments are carpet - CHEAP carpet, which they say they replace each time someone moves in. I swear they get it at some wholesale jockey lot for 2 cents a yard. It's your grandmother's Berber carpet. The cable is DirecTV ONLY - which, as anyone will tell you, is the worst. All the apartments are radiant heat with separate air conditioning window units - which are SO old. I'd say they are at least 25 years old. The walls are paper thin, and you can hear anything and everything going on above and around you. The stove is yellow and brown and looks like it came right out of the 70's as well. All the cabinets are cheap, orangey-brown plywood. And lastly, this building is directly beside a 24 hr cafe called Tempo which, on the weekends and late hours of the night, makes a very unsafe environment due to their patrons. But, with all of that said, the few positives I can say about this place is that it is affordable and has a great location to Michigan Ave/Downtown. It has a decent gym area on the mezzanine level. And the dry cleaning-package handlers on the first floor are superb. Just beware, ANYONE reading this: If you want dorm living, then this is college dorm living at its finest! This is NOT the place for professionals, families, or anyone with high standards. Please beware.

I have lived in the building for 3 months. Great location. The management and staff are terrific. However Direct TV/MDU have a monopoly on cable service in the building and the service is horrible. There are constant outages that require MDU to send out a technician. If TV is at all imporatnt to you I would not recommend moving into this building.

I can't stop saying nice things about my apartment. The view from my apartment is great - sunset views everyday! I have a convertible and it's roomy for one person and cozy for a couple (my boyfriend visits often). The building management is really great and always helpful. The doormen are friendly and there's 24 hour maintenance. I couldn't ask for anything more. There's a gym, outdoor deck and laundry facilities as well in the building. It's just a couple of blocks from the red line and there's several restaurants, pubs and take out joints within walking distance. I walk everywhere and I've found the neighborhood to be really safe. I hate to leave it, but I'm relocating to another city and I'd recommend this place to anyone.

While the management are definitly very nice, we've been here a few years and it was great- but lately - there are more and more people renting who don't respect their neighbors or the building... - consistently noisy neighbors at all times of day/night, carpets are beginning to have alot of spill stains all over the building, walls and/or elevators trashed & damaged frequently, the laundry machines and room are abused... it seems that management is having a harder time with ensuring the building is a quiet, clean and safe place as well as prior years... ... many a night and day I come home to have people camping out, not quietly, in front of my or our neighbors doors, that were just let in without calling to see if whom they were visiting are home. Seems like a valid security issue but I hate to complain because the poor doormen and office staff have to put up with enough I'm sure. ...we(and other families/couples that we have recommended move here) probably wont stay another year unless conditions improve again, which is too bad, we don't want to move, have been happy for years and we really like the team...

This building is the place to live if you want to live in downtown Chicago. The rent here is actually lower than most of the buildings nearby without compromising on any amenities. The ladies in the office are very kind and very helpful. The doormen are super courteous (actually they are THE BEST). The new gym is wonderful. Location is superb of course. Additionally parking is the cheapest here in this neighbourhood - this is downtown chicago so $160 per month is cheap actually. The 24hr maintenance team is very efficient - I have called them up at 10 in the night and they have come to the apt in less than 5 minutes. If I have to be picky I would say the only bad thing is the lobby - it is very depressing - I wish they would paint it brightly and the some of the garage spaces are a little too difficult to park in. But these really are minor points when you consider what you are getting in downtown chicago at this price. One other thing is there are a little too much spiders that enter through the window during the summer months but the building management can't really do anything abt it so I won't take away point for that. Unfortunately I have to move out of Chicago hence I am leaving but if I had a choice I would have lived here for longer.