Dunton Tower's appeal lies in its location. Beyond that, there's not much here that stands head and shoulders above competitors.

Dunton Tower sits two blocks from the Arlington Heights Metra station. Walking distance to the train is a major plus, especially if you commute to Chicago. The building is also in the middle of downtown Arlington Heights, with walking distance to dozens of shops and restaurants in an area that has undergone significant refurbishing and modernization in recent years.

The owners made a significant investment in the building in 2005-2006 by renovating and updating the interior decor. It looks much more modern and tasteful than before. Still, the building has a tired, worn-out look and feel that reflects its dated, mid-1980s construction and design.

The basic structure of the building leaves much to be desired. There are only two elevator shafts serving approximately 450 residents on 14 residential floors. Most weekends, one of these elevators is locked down for move-ins and move-outs. If you are elderly, or live on the upper floors of the building, this can result in excessively long waits for an elevator - as long as 10 minutes on weekends - because there is only one elevator available to residents during these times.

If you are a working professional, receiving a package as a Dunton Tower tenant can be a time-consuming, inconvenient, and cumbersome affair. Packages are stored in a locked room off the lobby upon delivery. This room is accessible only to postal delivery staff and office staff. This means you can only retrieve your packages on weekdays between 9am and 5pm, during office hours.

If you work during this 9 to 5 time window, as most professionals do, then you must remember to either call the office yourself and request them to deliver the package to your apartment, or wait until the weekend to retrieve it. Even on weekends, the office is open only for a four-hour window on Saturday and Sunday.

Your only notification that you have received a package will be if the delivery driver puts the appropriate sticky-note on your mailbox in the lobby. If the note falls off, or if the driver forgets to put it on your box, your package may sit unnoticed in the locked closet off the lobby for weeks, as you will receive no notification from management that you have received a package.

The residents pay a flat rate for utilities, which makes heating and cooling costs predictable. The building is well-constructed and insulated, and remains warm even during the coldest months of the year.

If the landlord, Madison, Wisconsin-based Oakbrook Corporation, is less than responsive to tenants' needs, the maintenance staff at Dunton Tower deserves a thumbs-up. While there has been some turnover among the maintenance staff in the past few years, the current staff are friendly, responsive, engaging, and capable. They also have skin in the game, as one or more of them are also full-time Dunton Tower residents, along with their families.

Older, more senior residents are generally quiet and low key. However, some newer arrivals at Dunton Tower have had a reputation for throwing late night parties on their balconies, directly adjacent to neighbors' windows. This can be very disruptive, and management's responsiveness can take months, even for persistent, repeat offenders.

It takes the landlord extended periods to repair frequently broken-down washers and dryers in the first-floor laundry room. When one of them breaks down, management offers no time frame for getting them fixed. At times, as many as 40% of the machines have been in a non-operational state at the same time, and they remain down for two weeks or more before they are repaired.

This compromises the quality of life for Dunton Tower residents because of the frequency of breakdowns, and the lengthy periods residents must endure before the machines are restored to working order. When this happens, the ratio of residents to washers and dryers can be as high as 70 to 1. If you want to do laundry without significant delays under crowded conditions, you must do it during low-traffic and unpopular times, such as late evening Friday and Saturday.

Another common disruption for Dunton Tower residents are the frequent fire alarms. They have a persistent tendency to go off at the most inconvenient times - usually between 11pm and 5am. We just ignore them now, but we've been jarred awake by the alarms enough to know how inconvenient and embarrassing it is to have to run outside in your bedclothes - in front of all of your neighbors - on a freezing cold night.

Bottom line, Dunton Tower tries hard, but could do better. The landlord allows this building to skate by on its location alone, while giving short shrift to such basic tenant services as package delivery notification and fully functional washers and dryers. If you want a more modern building that is truly convenient and responsive to tenants' needs, there are other options available in the area.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/15/2008
Dunton Tower is located just two blocks from Arlington Heights city hall. However, when it comes to giving its tenants a fair shake on parking fees, Dunton Tower might as well be on another planet. Dunton Tower's flawed parking permit policy strongarms its tenants to purchase city-issued monthly parking stickers directly from parent management company, Madison, Wisconsin-based Oakbrook Corporation. Residents are given no option to purchase directly from the city. This sweetheart arrangement allows Dunton Tower to purchase monthly parking permits from the city on the cheap, pad them with huge mark-ups, then re-sell the inflated-fee permits to unsuspecting tenants. This is all done in a manner that is opaque and underhanded, and falls short of minimal fair-business disclosure standards. These stickers give residents 24/7 access to the the adjacent Vail Avenue parking structure, to which Dunton Tower is connected via a skybridge over Vail Avenue. This is the only parking option available to Dunton Tower residents. The landlord portrays this direct-purchase policy to tenants as a convenience feature, and charges residents $60 per month per vehicle for each city-issued parking decal. I know this because I have attempted to purchase the permits directly from Arlington Heights city hall. The Finance department asked me for my address when I inquired about purchasing a monthly permit directly from the city. When I mention "55 South Vail Avenue" - the Dunton Tower address - they immediately informed me - without even hesitating -that purchasing from the city was not an option, and that residents of Dunton Tower must purchase directly from...Dunton Tower. Monthly parking permits purchased directly from the city cost $30 per month. Dunton Towers charges residents $60 for each permit. You do the math, and ask yourself whether this hidden secret fee is fair to its tenants. This opaque and dubious policy smacks of collusion, and amounts to a monthly shakedown of tenants for extra cash. The fact that Dunton Tower does this without offering or disclosing it smacks of collusion and lack of transparency. I would ask the rental office why it chooses not to disclose this policy before I ever signed a lease with them. I don't need a landlord who charges me secret fees.
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/20/2008
We husband and I (late 20's) lived at Dunton Towers for 4 years prior to us moving out of state about two weeks ago. I think the review above was RIGHT ON in every single way. Might I only add that office staff is rude (the maintenance staff however is very friendly). We began to receive monthly "Just a friendly reminder your rent is due today" phone calls, which were boarder line harassing. When questioned if we had ever been late on rent the answer was NO and there was simply no reason for the phone calls to persist. Also you pay a premium for parking and if your "sticker" happens to fall off onto the rear ledge of your window you still are responsible for paying the ticket to the local police dept if you should happen to get one (which the police dept LOVES this parking garage). The fire alarm going off in the middle of the night at least once to twice a month was a problem as well. Very unique mix of residence from elderly, mentally challenged, working professionals to young people with no clue.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates