I moved into the Wheatlands in 2004. I had just graduated from college and was working at a large nearby company. I was 24 at the time. Coming from the apartments on college campus, the Wheatlands were VERY nice. I also looked at Windbrooke (down the street) and Amli at Chevy Chase (down Milwaukee Ave) and the Wheatlands were nicer than both (not to mention also had better reviews on this site).

I lived in a 1 bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor. I will just divide this review into GOOD and BAD.

The GOOD:

- You get your own washer and dryer in unit. That is great, and they are a full size washer and dryer (not a portable top/bottom unit). Trust me. Community laundry machines suck, and having to go to a laundry mat sucks even worse. Having your own washer and dryer in your unit is absolutely wonderful.

- The kitchen wasn't terribly old. Now, I'll admit that it's rare to find an apartment that has granite counters, stainless steel appliances, etc, but the Wheatlands' kitchen was better than most, and was definitely better than the other apartments I looked at in the area. Also, the breakfast bar is not covered by cabinets hanging down from the ceiling like it is at Amli at Chevy Chase. This makes the living room/kitchen look much larger.

- The bathroom (in the 1 bedroom unit) is HUGE. You get a full counter top with a ton of room for storage, not to mention drawers and cabinets below it. There is also a linen closet IN THE BATHROOM. A lot of apartments have tiny bathroom with small little pedestal sinks and no storage space; NOT THE WHEATLANDS! Every visitor who came to visit LOVED (read: was jealous of) my bathroom.

- I always got good service. Whenever something broke (rare), I made a call and it was fixed that day. In the two years I stayed there, I only ever had 2 problems: 1) one of the kitchen drawer tracks broke and the drawer fell through the cabinet. That was fixed the same day I called. 2) my toilet overflowed once (it wasn't me, it was my friend... I swear!). That was fixed within hours. I stopped by the office on my way to the gym and told them, and when I got back from the gym it was fixed.

- The pool isn't bad. It was usually clean, and heated (altho the heat only seemed to be turned on on some days).

- I didn't have much issue with the other tenants other than on a few occasions. One night the guy who lived in the building next to mine decided to have a huge party with bass booming until 3am. Normally I wouldn't have cared except this happened on a Tuesday night and I had to be at work the next day. I tried to go to his apartment, but because he was in the next numbered unit I wasn't able to get in through the front door because it required a different key (this will only make sense if you're familiar with how the buildings at the Wheatlands are set up). Anyway, it was his last night there because he moved out the next day so I never had a problem. Other than that, for a few month period there was a baby that would always cry from 1-3am. I think it was on the floor below me. And other than that there was one annoying guy who was always at the pool yelling at his young son. This guy was super annoying. It was the kind of thing where he would go nuts yelling at his kid (who didn't even do anything) and all the other people/parents at the pool would kind of look at each other like "whoa... what's that guy's problem'" But he didn't live in my building so he only annoyed me at the pool. Other than that my neighbors were all nice (in the rare instances that I had encounters with them).

- Central A/C and heat. Individually controlled by a thermostat in your apartment. I don't know about you, but I HATE window and wall A/C units. Central A/C is a must for me. And the A/C generator is in the storage closet on your balcony/patio so you will never hear it running. AWESOME!!!

- The staff. I never had an issue with anyone. Ever. Every time I dropped my rent off, they'd ask me if everything was ok in my apartment (and it always was). When I called because I needed something fixed, I got a prompt response. When I had a weird question about something, they were always nice. I'm not sure why people have issues with management here. Then again, I'm fairly nice and polite so maybe they were just being nice and polite back.

The BAD:

- My apartment faced the parking lot, which meant it faced the dumpsters. This wouldn't have been an issue at all, except that the garbage trucks would come 3 mornings a week between 5-6am. One of those mornings was a Saturday, but the other two were weekdays. Because of how the dumpsters are situated, I would hear it unload at LEAST 3 dumpsters, each of which was a 5-10 minute ordeal. The sound insulation for the windows at the Wheatlands is terrible, and the dump trucks are VERY loud. Suffice to say that this woke me up in the morning around 5:15, and I couldn't fall back asleep until 5:45ish. That is super annoying if you don't get up until 6:30 or 7. It's just enough to wake you up and get you to think "oh great, if I fall back asleep I'll only get about an hour more of sleep." If you're a early riser, you probably won't care. If you sleep in like me, this will aggravate you to no end!!!

(please note that the other option instead of facing the parking lot is facing Lake Cook Rd., which is probably noisy with traffic in the morning anyway. I think there are a few units that face a pond or forest or something and they're probably quiter).

- No elevators. This is just annoying for moving in and out. I guess once you've had elevators, you miss them when they're not there. Oh yeah, and moving a big couch up the split stairs cases SUCKS.

- Silverfish. The only bugs I ever had a problem with while living in the Wheatlands. Occasionally I would see a millipede or spider, but honestly that's pretty normal. But silverfish seemed to be everywhere. I would catch a couple at least a few times a week, and some days I would catch like 2 or 3 on the same day. They were usually hanging out in the corners where the ceiling meets the wall. They're not poisonous or anything, but they're annoying and they eat clothes and the binding glue in books. I would spray my apartment for bugs about once a month but it didn't seem to do much. I'd spray around the entire perimeter (where the walls meet the floor) and entire ceiling perimeter, and up and down the vertical sections where the walls met. Oh, and occasionally I would see bees on my balcony. I literally have a phobia of bees so I pretty much never went out there when I saw them. But that might just be me being a wuss, honestly.

- Utilities. Cable. Heat. Electric. Gas. Phone (if you want one, I only had a cell). Water. Garbage. GARBAGE' Yes, Garbage. It was like $4 a month or something, but it was just another annoying check to write. On the plus side, I took the longest showers and never ran out of hot water.

- Garages that you have to pay for. Yeah, they're pretty expensive. But you know what' Most apartments don't even have garages available, so really you can't complain about that.

- Rent (not really but just read this). In 2004 I paid $799 for my 1 bedroom. I thought that was a great deal. It may have been a special deal because of my employer, but I don't remember. In 2005 it was raised to $830. Honestly, that wasn't bad. And if I told them I was staying before the deadline, I got $150 off my first month that year, so if you factor that in, it really only becomes $817.50 per month. Again, that's not bad at all (altho one of my friends who had been there for a year in his 2 bedroom only got a $5 increase, but whatever). At the end of 2005, they told me they would be raising my rent to $870 with no discount for letting them know early. I was annoyed at the price increase because I had been a perfect tenant (never late with rent, never any complaints against me, etc.). Plus I was starting to get annoyed with my job so I was looking for a new job which might take me to a new location, etc. Anyway, I told them I couldn't stay for another year, but wanted to stay for another few months until I got everything squared away with where I was going to be living and working. They said the only extension they could do was 3 months, and it would be at the new rate ($870 per month) PLUS a premium of $200 per month!! Annoying!!! But I wasn't in much position to argue, so I accepted. $1070 per month for 3 months. Whatever. Trust me, I tried negotiating with them on this for a long time and they never budged. In the end I can't complain about my rent, however, because I was getting a good deal prior to this point. But if you include all the utilities, I was paying over $1,000 per month every year I lived there.

- Geese (everyone complains about them but I never thought they were noisy and they never pooped on my car)

- Parking (sometimes). If I got home from work at a good time, I would usually get parking right in front of where I lived. This was nice. If I got home late (which was common place considering the company for whom I worked, even tho it was only five minutes away), I would sometimes have to park VERY far away (opposite end of the complex) and have to walk 5 minutes or so to get home. I never felt unsafe in the parking lot, tho. It was always lit well. I've heard people say they felt unsafe in other parking lots in Buffalo Grove, however.

I think that's it. If I remember anything later I'll come back and update this review.

Oh yeah, the Wheatlands is the nicest apartment complex in the area for the price. There are one or two in the area that are more "luxury," but they are much more expensive. I can't remember the names... one's on Milwaukee kind of by Hawthorne Mall... it's a gated community... I think it might be an Amli, actually. The other is at the intersection of Lake Cook and Milwaukee. Both I believe start at $1,500 for a 1 bedroom. So yeah, they're nicer than the Wheatlands, but significantly more expensive. But the Wheatlands is definitely better than Windbrooke or Amli at Chevy Chase.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/06/2008
My husband and I moved to the Chicago area and lived in the Wheatlands for a year. We have nothing but good things to say about our experience there. The apartments are clean and safe. They staff was great too.

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