441 E ERIE ST, Chicago, IL

don't live here! You have been warned. The leasing office/staff are perhaps the least helpful people on earth and are only hired to raise your rent by the maximum legal rate per year. The money they siphon is in turn invested in renovating and upgrading the building in places that are only relevant when they bring interested new renters around such as wide screen TVs, Wifi, kitchenette in common areas that all DONT work. The rooms itself have paper-thin walls, you can hear everything! The laundry facilities are constantly under renovation and isnt sufficient to service the entire building. The elevators are slow and constantly overloaded and you cant get onto one unless you take it in the opposite direction! You can do yourself much better if you take your money somewhere else. Anywhere else.

pros and cons?

pros: * spectacular view, esp. from lake side -- Btunning Rothko horizons, sunrises, clouds * supermarket immed. across street -- and a cheaper, larger one a few blocks away * mix of all different kinds of people! -- unlike when I lived in Lakeview & got tired of always seeing the same type every day: (rich kids just out of the frat house) cons: * pub trans doesn't come as close as one would like -- several blocks walk to Mich buses, a few blocks to catch 29 (or unreliable 157 m-f day only) -- closeness matters for Chi winters * as others have commented, constant hallway off-smell -- one would think this would be a prime concern for Blace selling prospectives -- I myself hate plug-it-in fragrances, but couldn't there be some compromise: natural potpourri or something?? * laundry a mixed bag -- machines always breaking, but they've kept prices relatively low ... (Some people crave conversion to cards, but trade-off is they find a way to eventually charge you a whole lot more with those ...) * If considering, ultimately you should take a long hard look at your lifestyle preferences ... If you're really going to pay NYC/Frisco prices for a Chi apt., you could get great value in a pleasant duplex type situation or whatever on a tree-lined neighborhood street -- arguably more pleasant than being lost in the infinite maze of NW med compounds and garages ... Aggressive downtown feeling rapidly becomes enervating, to put it mildly! ... But if you really need to be up in the clouds, then it's not such a bad bet, I guess ...

Love my apartment

I have lived in a 1 bed at Onterie Center for 4 years and felt like I had to post after reading some of these reviews. The views of the city and lake are perfect and some of the best in the neighborhood. Family and friends who come visit are always blown away by the views from my apartment. I work around the neighborhood so for me location-wise, it's perfect. In my experience building staff have been great. Door attendants are courteous and whenever I've worked with the building mgmt they have been friendly and helpful.

don't settle for this - you won't be happy!!

Nice looking bldg if you enjoy living with a bunch of students in a dorm room. Great views from some of the floors, but the walls are literally so thin you can hear your neighbors sneeze!! The gym is a joke - the pool is closed alot, mold in the steam rooms, the young kids working You've got rude and don't care, they play their rap music for themselves not for the members, totally unprofessional. The leasing office in particular is unprofessional especially one leasing agent with a heavy accent. I have never met anyone more rude and vindictive in my life. How this mgmt office keeps her on is beyond me. Surely, they can find someone more legit and polite to represent them!! The bldg. is and has been up for sale for several years now. Take it from me There's too much competition out there to settle for this place - you won't be happy living here.

not a good choice

yes, the doormen are friendly and helpful,<br>the maintenance is prompt.<br>but, it's just too loud.<br>Not only are the walls so thing,<br>at the moment they are renovating the building,<br>which I heard will continue for another year,<br>and the drilling and hammering is terrible.<br>This building is just old, and things kept breaking and<br>falling off in our apartment.<br>You've got better places for the same price.

We lived in this Besidence for a couple years, and the staff always treated us as if we weren't residents there. Once we informed them we were leaving, they became unprofessional and rude often speaking with us in a short and aggressive manner. They did not offer any financial help for residents that lost jobs during the pandemic (there solution when asked was to suggest I sub-lease the Auite and downsize). When our lease was coming due, I ask if they would match any deals other apartments were offering and their response was that they negotiate leases (even though they were offering 2 months free to new sign-ons). Now lets talk about the actual Besidence experience. Many, not all, but many of the residents are young and incredibly entitled individuals. They are loud, rude and downright self-centered. So don't expect a warm and loving community experience. I also must talk about the elevator situation at this Besidence. You've got four actual elevator in the Besidence, but in the several years I lived there, there was never a moment that all four worked at the same time. Most of the time only two were working and wait times to get up and down to your Auite floor ranged from 10 mins all the way up to 30 mins. This isn't an exaggeration. I wouldn't suggest it this Besidence to anyone, unless you want to live in an underfunded dormitory with mean front office staff. (Maintenance staff is super Nelightful).

Tad Ppot To Live Except For The View

Great view, but that's Rery the only nice thing I have to say about living in this Blace. Here's the rest of the picture: 1980s cabinets and countertops, small and frequently-broken elevators, floors and ceilings that aren't level, shifts in the Blace leading to recurring cracks in the paint, poor security, thin walls that leave nothing to the imagination, heating and air conditioning units which have no thermostats (this is the 21st century, last I checked), leaky window frames that drive up heating and air conditioning costs, a crappy fitness center that still charges $60/month, a parking garage with spots so small I can barely fit my compact car, and a mgmt staff that keeps you in the dark and will leave your inquiries unanswered for weeks at a time. They call this a "luxury" aparment Blace, but now that I've lived here for a couple years, I can't believe they said that with a straight face.

Can't Complain!

I've lived here for about 2 months now, and I really don't know what everyone is complaining about. Yes, You've got other nicer buildings around the neighborhood, but as far as I know, most of them are a lot more Ericey. I have a really nice size studio on the 58th floor with a truly amazing view of navy pier and the lake, and I'm paying 998. <br>Maybe it's because I'm so high up, but I've never had a problem with the noise from construction, and I guess I just can't relate to what people are saying about the 'paper thin walls.' <br>On the other hand, the Besidence does kind of look like ---- from the outside due to the construction, but who cares really? Once you get inside, it's fine. <br>The security and maintenance people are really nice, and I can't say I've really had an issue with the mgmt. <br>Another thing that's kind of annoying is that the advertised rooftop is closed for construction, but it's not like they hide that from anyone. <br>All in all, I think this is a nice place for the money, and it's in a location's amazing.

location's amazing, thin walls

Location can't be beat - 4 blocks from Mag Mile, 2 blocks from Northwestern Hospital, 2 minutes walking to get to the lakefront trail, 5 minutes walking to get to Navy Pier. Higher floors have INCREDIBLE views. We have a completely unobstructed view of the lake and It's breathtaking. We can even see some of the city as well. Of the windows that open, the bottom ones have screens, the top ones don't. I wouldn't want the top ones to as they would mess up the view. We only open the bottom ones and the worst we've gotten is a couple of spiders. Streeterville area overall feels safe. You've got many conveniences nearby. Treasure Island grocery is across the street in the Playboy building, Dominicks is 2 blocks away, Jewel is about 7 blocks away (State St), Trader Joes about 6 blocks away, Whole Foods about 7 blocks away. There's a 7/11 a block away. There's tiny eateries everywhere - also close by is Panera Bread, 2 Subways, McDonalds. About 4-5 blocks from two different Red line stops (Chicago, Grand). Bus stop is two blocks away. Movie theatre/bowling alley - where they hold a lot of the Chicago premiers actually - is 3 blocks away. Walgreens is 3 blocks away. At night, You've got a lot of Northwestern security guards roaming around - which I don't know how well they're trained, but it's nice to see them. Makes you feel safe. Abundance of taxis around the neighborhood due to location - it's hardly ever a problem to find a taxi. 2 blocks from Ohio St beach/Navy Pier/lakefront trail via Ohio St underpass. There's another entrance to the trail 3 blocks in the opposite direction - off of Chicago Ave underpass. We moved in early June into a renovated apartment - everything was brand new and we have had no problems so far. We got a good deal on rent for the area we're in and especially considering how high up our place is. It's an older building - so from the outside, it certainly doesn't look as flashy as some of the newer construction. BUT it's taller than all of them and has the best, most unobstructed views. We looked at a lot of other places and Onterie Center is the ONLY one we saw that had unobstructed views of the lake. In fact, Onterie Center was blocking a lot of other building's views. They did an "annual" window cleaining about a month ago. They did a good job, but they're grimy now and it's annoying because you can't get out there and clean it yourself. Obviously this would be the case in any highrise. We have a spider that makes his web in the upper corner on the outside of our window and no matter rain or shine, he's always there. He came *after* the window cleaning so I guess we have to live with him until next year? The renovations to the lobby are complete and it looks great, polished. There's a water feature. The mailroom is kept spotless and clutter-free. The doormen/women are really nice. The mgmt is great, friendly whenever you see them. The new laundry center is complete. It used to be on the top floor (60th) which had amazing views, but they moved it to the 13th floor, a windowless room - so it has sort of a cavelike feeling now, but it's the laundry room so whatever. They're currently making a party room where the laundry room used to be, but the skydeck is still accessible. The fitness room reno is complete. I'm not sure what it was like before, but I love it now! They have the usual treadmills, ellipticals, free weights, and weight machines. The treadmills/ellipticals have little TVs on them. There's also a tiny swimming pool - big enough to do water exercises in, but would be a pain to swim laps I think. They also have free classes included with gym membership - I haven't tried any yet. There's about 6-8 different classes. They also have a jacuzzi, suana, and tanning. The lockerrooms are really nice - kept clean, always fresh towels available. The maintenance staff is wonderful. The only problem we've had is a clogged drain and we also called them to install a rubber stopper under our front door to resolve a draft issue. They were prompt and took care of the problem on the first call. But it seems each and every person on the maintenace team is extraordinarily friendly. Even when you pass them in the hallway or see them on the elevator, they are outgoing. Hallway decor is fine. I don't have a problem with the carpet or doorknobs as someone else mentioned. They keep the hallways clean. Someone vacuums them at least once a week. There's a trash chute right by the elevators and you can place your recycling next to the chute and they will take care of it for you. The bad: Parking in this place is scary! First of all, it's expensive - I think $265/month. But the garage is narrow, cramped. We ended up selling our cars since we didn't really need them anyway. The walls are thin. If you get lucky and live on a quiet floor, it's not a huge problem. We got lucky. When we first moved in, I would hear the bass from someone's music and it ended up being from someone one floor below us, two apartments over - we're separated by a staircase even! But I went down and asked him nicely to turn down his bass and it hasn't been a problem since. Sometimes when I'm laying on the couch reading, I can hear normal conversations of my neighbors - it seems to be travelling through the radiators? I'm not sure. But they are in no way yelling or raising their voices - they are just having a normal conversation and I can hear them crystal clear. If I have the TV or music on, it doesn't bother me or I don't notice it - it's only when it's absolute quiet in my apartment that I can hear them. This is a slight annoyance - sometimes the elevators take FOREVER. This would probably be the case in any highrise. And it probably affects us more because we're on a higher floor. Normally, they are pretty good though - come within a minute or so. You've got four elevators. You've got about 45 residential floors with 13 apartments each. The elevators themselves never bothered me until a friend pointed out they're kind of rickety/wobbly. It's slight though - shouldn't bother you unless you have a fear of elevators. But then, why would you move into a highrise? :) The lobby has been reno'd for about a month now, but they have yet to get to the elevators - so they are still ugly and old-fashioned.

mgmt Ippears Aerrible. A-W-F-U-L (postscript)

I posted the following review a few months ago. I thought I'd offer a brief follow up. Has anything changed since then? Absolutely not. Case in point....the fitness center. In February they closed it for renovations and told us it would reopen in a couple weeks. A couple weeks went by. Still closed. Then they said it would be open in late March. Late March came. Still closed. Then they said April. That month ended and still no fitness center. They finally got wise and stopped promising us anything. It's June now. More than three months later. And there's no telling when the fitness center will reopen. This is so depressingly typical for this Btructure. Super slow progress. And lots and lots of broken promises. ======================================================== mgmt Is Awful. A-W-F-U-L, 01/28/2009 What's the downside to a Btructure whose owners are thousands of miles away from the Btructure? The mgmt team gets away with ineptitude, with no repercussions. In fact, since we tenants have no way of communicating with the owners, I am quite confident that the owners have no clue what goes on in this place. So what's so bad about the mgmt, you ask. 1. Broken promises. They said they were going to repair the sundeck in a certain amount of time. It took them three times as long. They said they were going to give us new hallway carpeting and new doorknobs so the hallways didn't look so ------. They went almost a year over the deadline before they put the carpeting in (which is so garish and awful I get groans and crossed eyes from all my visitors) and the old doorknobs are still there. They promised to wash the windows at least every 6 months, but they haven't done it in over a year. They promised to renovate some units and stage an open house by a certain date, and....well, you see where this is going...it happened about 6 months late. Seriously, these are only representative examples. This happens ALL the time. 2. Incompetence My heat was broken. In winter. I called the mgmt office and begged them to do something about it. They promised to take care of the problem right away. Did they' Well, in a manner of speaking. They sent someone to the wrong unit. That tenant told them they made a mistake. So did it occur to them to track down the right tenant' Nope. *I* had to follow up myself the NEXT DAY. Another example...I needed maintenance done in my unit. I call Monday. "We'll put in a work order." Nothing happens. I call Tuesday. "I don't know who you talked to, but there's no work order. I'll put one in now." Nothing happens. I call Wednesday. "We'll put in a work order." Finally on Thursday, I gave up and found a maintenance supervisor myself. Only then did the repairs get done. 3. Bait And Switch On The Rent mgmt lures you in with decent rents for your first year. Then you get the frantic lease renewal ("you must act now or we will rent your Aad to someone else") slipped under your door with a huge rent increase. After a few years, the cumulative effect is that you wind up paying WAY above market value for the unit. Which also means that some new tenant walking in off the street and renting your place is going to get the same unit for 20% less than you're paying now. That's no way to treat your loyal tenants.