833 W. Buena Ave.
  (formerly Buena Apartments)

Mgmt. does not exist, repeat, does not exist From: -Anonymous- Date posted: 5/23/2005 Years at this apartment: 2004 - 2005   I'm amazed at the people in 2001-3 complaining about management... you mean you HAD management' This is difficult to get across so let me be very clear. There is NO management at 833 W. Buena. There is indeed a "management office." But the office is unstaffed. There are no office hours. There are no managers that I have ever seen here. Period. Instead, you have a list of phone numbers for maintenance, packages, Group Fox HQ. The response time for this phone numbers is pretty average. The windows are very leaky from outside air. The radiant heat (from the floor) is included but it is very inconsistent (and there's no thermostat - no control over it). Sometimes in winter you have to have the windows wide open to keep from sweating through your clothes. But on the two coldest weekends during the winter, the heat was off all weekend. Like a homeless person, we had to go to the bookstore to warm up. How convenient for Group Fox's pocketbook that the heat was "out" during the coldest snaps of the year. So if there's no management how do you pick up your packages' Answer: you don't. The packages are held hostage in the unstaffed office. It's a federal crime to interfere with the mail, but I guess Group Fox is above the law. You can look inside and see 20-40 packages piled up at any time. The way to get them is to sneak in when the staff has happened to open the office. One small annoyance that sums it all up: You have to mail your rent check to the Group Fox HQ two miles away. You'd think MAYBE they could have a drop box in the lobby or something. But no. That would be a service, and Group Fox is proud to offer absolutely no services beyond those required by law. The staff is the usual eastern europeans. Their competence level is average but their customer service is unchanged from the Soviet Union. The maintenance guy and I actually had a flat-out yelling argument about the conditions of my apartment. No conception of customer service whatsoever. Sullen, unsmiling staff non-existent mgmt. = unfriendly building. The lower few floors appear to be Section 8 people, but I haven't had any problems with them. There's a fire department up by Wilson that zooms down Broadway a few times a night with sirens at full blast. It's insanely loud. Walls are a little thin, but I lucked out with considerate neighbors. There's a security guard here about twice a month. Wow- what a deterrent to crime. Two random nights a month we have a dude or dudette sitting in the lobby. Truly absurd. Good things: dishwasher, street parking very possible, mixed neighborhood of luxury homes and apt. buildings, access to lincoln park under LSD at the end of buena ave, cheap rent. If you are a true do-it-yourselfer that can rough it without management, go for it. If you need a semblance of management, look elsewhere. I'm moving out.

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