Review History for anonymous

Presidential Towers


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anonymous

Resident ā€¢ 2002 - 2009

4/13/2009

POLICE SECURITY, BED BUGS, HIDDEN FEES RISING, DORM LIFE

I still live in presidential towers, now under Waterton Management, and im sorry to say the complex is dying in decadence and abusive management practices. I believe some are in the edge of what could be considered illegal, specially the extreme crazy security policys and how they undermine the privacy rights of the tenants. I am arranging to move out as soon my leasing expires. What used to be a delight-to-live-in place it is becoming a daily nightmare. The new management is rude and the college dorm-style-paranoid new security policys causes extreme long lines with dozens of people waiting everyday at the front desk to get into their apartments after work -every day-. If you have guests that are not in your leasing contract, you can't get in smoothly even with him walking by your side and verbal permission from yourself to the door guard: every guest is forced to be photographed and their data input in their computer, handled like potential terrorists at any airport immigration post. This is causing tremendous delays, privacy concerns and hassles to everyone. The security guards do not care or try to speed up the long lines and some handle tenants like processing cattle and make you feel like disempowered at your own home you are paying for. Nobody knows how they really use your private data. They can track down when, who, for how long is visiting you anytime. It is a shame. I can't find any Chicagoland residential with such system unless the cook county jail or surveillanced residences for paroled convicts. Maybe a overreaction to potential liablitys because of becoming a campus dorm under the table. The main north entrance courtyard, once lively with dancing events, live music, lunch crowd surrounding the indoors terrace-bar La Margarita and restaurant L'Italo is now a ghost dead gallery of empty dull boring spaces crowned by a ridiculous overscaled bamboo fountain which cost $2 millions budget to build, killing the nice seating plaza arrangement we had before, ignoring more important repairs like the elevators neededing urgent updates and causing raising of our bills by taking out of our all-included rent contracts concepts like water and dirt disposal that always were included in rent. The last retail to die was Inteligentsia cafe place this winter. We used to have a Fedex and usps mail shop, a tanning and massage salon business, a shoe-polish stand in the lobby..all them gone. The health club is expensive and the equipment is marginal. You can pay $20 less nowadays having a 24/7 membership at Xsport Fitness with superb new equipment and better swimming pool. The new campaign promoting the PT health club with banners has failed and even current tenants search outside for better deals. Fewer people use the track and basket court deck and everything is diminishing in service and quality. Concierges dissapear every semester and a new one appears to dissapear again in time, and so on. Those old days of excellence steady concierge duty with Fred are long gone. All the long time residents and neighbors are moving out quickly, some of my best friends in the towers broke their leasing last Christmas and sued Waterton due to bed bugs infestation after finding out they were hiding the infestation condition of the units on purpose. Their skin bites worsened and created a problem within their marriage because their doctor diagnosed that their skin condition only happen due to living in dirt with bugs or having sexual practises with poor hygiene at transient places. A very nasty way to find out that the source was their apartment was infested with bed bugs to their very matress. They are suing for damages,pain and suffering. The situation It is all over the internet in the recent years, just google for Presidential Towers Bed Bugs. They could not even take their leather couch to their new place. My neighbor of many years across the hallway she moved out last month too after 10 yrs because of the constant hassle of the security police-like controls over hers and her guests privacy and the avalanche of students that are renting the aging units, trashing everything, partying hard and making noise all night through the thin walls. Her friends stopped coming to visit her in those conditions and her life suffered and became unhappy, lonely and sad here. One new tenant across my apt. smokes pot too often inside his unit and the smell comes through mine across the common vents of the kitchen. Lately starting this April, the security paranoia worsened and checkpoints are not only happening at the main entrance: Waterton and their arrogant security chief the company they have contracted is ordering security guards to monitor the people walking inside each building doorway to see if they swipe their magnetic cards or not, instead of making efforts to ease the long lines at the main desk. This level of disproportionated paranoia is only seen at federal buildings. At this pace soon we will have xray and metal scans and k9 dogs on entry. Many indian familys and chinese groups remain here the most, they seem not caring much about living cramped, obey like sheeps and wait endless lines, while they fill hallways with thick curry smell or pushing everyone to fit the few operational elevators every morning, as if they still were in tokio subway or bombay slumps. They seem not to have the concept of respecting the individual personal space. The building complex has an exclusive agreement with RCN for internet and tv cable: you are lucky if by paying 10mb you can get 3mb steady. One insider technician at RCN told me last February after dozens of repair orders that the reason behind this poor cable signal at PT is because the tiers are abused with oversold lines attached to an overcrowded old hardware equipment piece instead of having separate individual equipments per tower. I ended up cancelling my contract with RCN here. What was once a nice upscale residential complex under Habitat, now is turning into a sad mega-dorm under contract with UIC campus and some corporate hoteling brokers, with an out of proportion police-state security checkpoint forced by Waterton. Think about this when you get the tour and they show you the model unit with polished hardwood floor and stainless appliances that just a handful of tenants enjoy on tower 3. Most of us live here in the other not so shiny side of the lock. Very sad.

    Review 1536 out of 1689

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