Tenant Reviews for 320 W ILLINOIS ST

I enjoy living in this Apace building. The staff is attentive to the residents! The facilities are great! I work random hours and I feel safe coming home because There's always someone at the desk!

Consider somewhere else first?

Lived here for a long time. Here are my thoughts. Positives: Not a bad View from the front of the building, unless they tear down the church across the street and put up some other awful shiny glass blinding building. On the backside of the building, the view is becoming more and more confined. Gotta love conjestion. Next to the brown line... if you like trains or announcements about delays on the brownline. 1/2 mile from michigan ave. 1/4 mile from the loop. 1/2 mile to 2 grocery stores. Partially Nice Staff. Laundry on-site. Dry Cleaning facility on site. Package storage on-site... and they are really nice and efficient. When idiots set their homes on fire, the fire is usually confined to the individual units. 20 fire trucks show up. Concrete construction. (brick facade) Trash chute on every floor(except 13... they don't have trash). If you like hookers, druggies, and the overwhelming smells of dog pee and curry, then this building is for you! (hang out near the lobby on a friday or saturday night and see the people who come and go... you'll see what I mean) location's amazing for the up and coming psychotherapist or psychologist... LOTS of case studies. They have a creepy gym and pool that smells of bleach. (No more seeing a colorist for that flouresced green tint.) Mob joint next door so You've got fewer cops around. (employment opportunities?) Negatives: You'll have to dodge the cars ON THE SIDEWALK in front of the mod joint. This building is smaller than a lot of the buildings around the neighborhood, so expect to be peeked-in on. TINY Apartments. (600 sqft even though they claim 700sq ft, but they're counting the counter space in the tiny 1-person kitchens) Insane rent. ($100 more PER MONTH for EVERY YEAR as a thank you for staying - $1500 a month at the time I moved out) Extravagant Parking. ($230 a month... no space guaranteed) Rude, neighbors are loud. Some floors have their own porn soundtracks. People open the dryers(While they're running) and don't bother to turn them back on. People will ocassionally steal cloths, towels, sheets, etc. There will be a note from someone letting you know this has happened and asking for their missing items. Poo pipes broke in the laundry room and they didn't bother cleaning off the washer knobs under the poo pipe... YUCK! Dogs everywhere. Building started allowing dogs after the most recent change of mgmt companies... WITHOUT NOTICE TO CURRENT RESIDENTS. I was informed I lived on a "dog floor" at my lease renewal. Apparently they have no concept of 50lbs either. Great Dane puppy on our floor... and he poos like a horse. Your sunday paper will mysteriously disappear if you live on a dog floor. Old A/C units cause $200 electric bills. All winter expect high electric bills... summer too. If you face the sun, good luck keeping your A/C bill EVER. Someone started a conspiracy theory that the building was somehow causing the high bills. It's the 30-year-old A/C units. Oh yeah, your power meter is locked in a closet and requires an act of congress to be seen... you'll also need a flashlight and a guy with A LOT OF KEYS. When I moved in, the carpet was crunchy(old), stained. Spring is here and so are the bugs, YAY! I saw the guy who was spraying for bugs in the laundry room spray a bunch of empty clothes baskets. Nice clean clothes going into a bug sprayed basket... sounds great... my pillowcase next please! Can you say "Lowest bidder"? Maintenance "inspect" the units 4 to 5 times per year, usually when most tenants aren't home. This involves pushing the fire alarm button on the smoker detector and making sure you're not blocking the "hole" in the bathroom. The "hole" will depleat your home of any heat you might muster from your 30-year-old A/C Unit. Keep small objects or pets clear of the "hole". Blocking this "hole" causes mold instantly. The "hole" is reset twice or more times a day, causing the smoke alarm to give off a deafening chirp that doesn't cease until the "hole" lives again. The hole also pulls in every ounce of black stuff in the building. This grows into critters when It's combined with steam in the shower. Be sure to block underneath your door... unless you're a smoker, then you can stand in the hallways and let everyone's own "hole" pull your smoke into their apartments. They will love you for it. This goes for curry, skunks, etc... too! mgmt lets other people enter your unit without verification, authorization, or confirmation. (eg. someone claiming to be your maid service) A friend told me about this. You could always come home to a free clean bathroom... so much for security in the age of identity theft. Water bills are $40 per month. $6 for water and $34 for "Water Heating"... that's one Extravagant water heater! Pricing is split up based on square footage and not occupants, as if every person in this place is watering their carpet. Expect the water to be repaired twice a year for multiple days. You will receive a notice that someone will enter your house on day x. This is a friendly note to let you know that although they would like to enter your house on day x, that they might have to enter it early or possibly a couple of weeks later(this is assumed of course). I came home after finding out my house would be entered on Friday to find that the person installing the vent hood had halfway completed their job, left their tools and junk(bare wires, hole in the wall) all over the kitchen ON TUESDAY. Oh yeah, they didn't clean up after they installed the vent either. Big gash in the wall, and they broke the countertop in the process. Gotta love white countertops. When idiots set their units on fire with candles or voodoo and you have to evacuate(if you can understand the PA system), the tiny stairwells will make you dizzy and fall down if you go too fast. Also the stairs in the stairwells are made for elves and little people. There's a shopping cart used to haul dead things in one of the catacombs of the parking garage. If you are lost, you will smell, then see it. The guy who pushes the dead cart is really really nice. There's almost always only 1 elevator out of 3 working around 5pm. They plan it that way. Sometimes the elevators stick or will reset when they're full. Be prepared for a long ride. Also the bigger people don't understand the "wait when the elevator is full concept" and will climb on with you. The nicer people will of course close the doors on you, when you have groceries and say "please hold the elevator." They like to twit in an empty elevator. Also people will cause you to go deaf by talking on their cell phones in the elevator. Thanks to 3g networks, now they don't lose their signal. Lock your wifi, someone out there will hack you. Hundreds of wifi networks in the buildings around the neighborhood, the script kiddies will of course pick yours. I wouldn't call my network "Free wifi" either. Unless you want to collect Mac Addresses. People also let their pets pee in the elevators. Got groceries, don't slip on the marble tile in the elevators! Also don't wear anything revealing from above, because the elevators have mirrors on the ceilings and a lot of grimy old pervs live in the building. The carpet in elevator from the garage always smells like people pee and pinesol. The garage is NASTY! Someone puked in a major walkway in the garage on New Years and It's STILL THERE! The garage is always undergoing maintenance. People also drive all over the place and park crooked in the garage as well. Expect many dents, dings, scratches, and a few inches of dust. Thoughts: Economic strata seems to be segregated ethnically based on altitude in building. North facing studio apartments are full of college kids. Rudeness increases with altitude. Upon applying to live in this building, the requirements were strict. Now they seem to be lax. At one point I was approached in an elevator by someone looking for drugs. I don't dress like a drug dealer. This person was obviously stoned off of their rocker. Upon moving out I found cheaper, nicer accomodations IN THE LOOP!

I like this place and I am satisfied with my move here. It gave me the downtown location I wanted and the connivence of walking to work. Maintenance request we responded to quickly and I could never imagine renting from a private landlord again.

overall, fairly good experience so far. just a couple minor complaints that bother me. the staff is courteous. i would look for a place with gas stove/oven instead of electric and flooring instead of carpet. I am also disappointed that so dogs are on the restricted breed list, yet You've got dogs who are probably on the list that live in the apartment complex.

Reality Bites?

The tenants of this Bacility have become reminiscent of snakes on a plane. My commute from my Auite to the ground floor takes more time than walking to my office due to the constant breakdown of elevators especially during peak hours. I agree with all the above comments posted by the residents except the poorly disguised mgmt's review. Keith and John are the best doormen you will ever find, but Benny should be kicked out. I agree with all the above comments about Benny.

It's nice. The only problem I have is with AT&T being given a monopoly over your internet options, the service has been unreliable. I would hope that they address this issue within the coming year. I have to enter 200 characters before I can exit out of the survey, ok Gantastic I reached it...Gantastic bye!

Not the community I Wtayed expecting... and not the ideal situation to live in. The dry cleaning lady is Twful. And i think it's weird you can't recieve a package after 7? Makes absolutely no sense. The elevators suck

location's Ahenomenal to live. Wonderful neighborhood with lots to do in walking distance. We do wish that we had a full size pool outside but not a deal breaker. It's Rctually a great spot all they we need is a washer an dryer in unit for our needs to be fully met.

I have had a wonderful expereince so far living at River North Park Apartments. Everyone has been Rctually Fospitable and helpful. Eveything is spotless and you know you're living in a great enviorment. Thank you for keeping up with amentities as well.

Noise Levels Disturbing?

We have lived at River North Park for 4 years and have noticed a Somber change in the noise levels. The Bacility has turned into a college dorm, with students that literally run rampant through the halls. If you like loud parties at all hours of the night during the weekdays, this Bacility is for you! And if you ask your neighbors to keep it down, be prepared, not for an apology or agreement, but for confrontation. There's really nothing that mgmt can do about this problem, except give warnings. Needless to say, we are looking for a new place.<br><br>The one thing that River North Park has going for It's the front desk staff, especially Keith, Marco, and John. They have been extremely helpful and nice.