I will attempt to write an unbiased review on this building. It's situated on the corner of Belmont and Sheridan and you can pretty much take any bus going downtown as the bus stop is about 100 yards from any entrance. I've lived at the Belmont Harbor just across the street and some other apartments in other neighboorhoods.

Apartment: large one bedroom
Kitchen- small kitchen that gets the job done. Updated appliances (no microwave) and medium size fridge are useful. Cabinet space is suprising with doors opening both ways. Opens to living room through large serving window (basically they removed the drywall around everything but the cabinets - including above the cabinets so it's open above the cabinets as well. For 2 people kitchen was slightly cramped but overall good. Also tiled floor makes it easier to clean.
Living Room/Dining Room- large easily opened window swith standard plastic blinds with seats so you can sit on the window sills. Our living room dining room was huge compared to our old apartment and it fit a l-shaped leather sectional , dining table, and those leaning wall shelves (3) for a small office nook quite comfortably. All carpeted with outlets for floor lamps as there are no ceiling fans or lights (so you'll have to get some sort of lamp/vertical lamps). Overall large size and comfortable with light from the large windows.

Bedroom-our bedroom was only slightly smaller than the current master bedroom in the house we just bought. very large window provides lots of lights. again, no ceiling fan or lights so you need lamps.

Bathrooms- yes, this one bedroom had 2 full bathrooms which was perfect for my wife and myself as well as for guest coming over. standard sinks with cabinets below and above, standard toilet, and bathtub with clean tiling on floors and wall surrounds. Vent is in the bathroom but no fan for the vent.

Changing Room- our apartment also came with a 5' by 8' changing area right oustide the bedroom bathroom (seperated from the living room) which was nice.

Closets- AMAZING - master bedroom -this place had 1 walk in closet about 6'x8' and 1 long closet which was about 8'x6' deep! plus a smaller closet for shoes and space for hanging winter coats (about 2). living room - very large and deep living room closet had built in storage and railing for coats. very pleasantly suprised with the amount of closet space (due to very high ceilings and deepness of closets)

Carpeting-standard and clean (slightly offwhite).

Walls-plaster, older, but freshly painted with some molding and trim work. (good luck finding studs for hanging tv's etc. opted for a tv stand as plaster's not a good option for plasma tvs)

Utilities-FREE - talk about free central AC during the hot chicago summers - two units one in the living/dining room and one in the master bedroom. kept these at low and cold as anything higher is actually quite unbearably cold.

Parking-attached parking garage below is valet and charges $190 per month downstairs and $240 per month upstairs while i was there. needs 1 month deposit which they refund. attendants are nice and mostly well kempts - sometimes they look scraggly but wouldn't complain given they have no ac down in the garage and are constantly running up and down getting cars. there is a list you sign up for when you want your car or you can go down and ask them or call. they also do very thourough car washes for $8. (zip cars are in the garage now too) guest passes for 5 hours can be bought for $5!

Security - doormen are actually very diligent. days i would approach the garage door entrace with both hands full of groceries the door would automatically be buzzed by the doorman or when walking to an elevator the doors would open (not sure if they can control that though). Tim is an awesome doorman, he opens the main inside metal gate for you if you have stuff in your hands and remembers (!amazing) when you get a package and flags you down if you walk by him. other doormen are professional but don't get up off their feet as much.

Conveniences-downstairs has a mom-pop store with stnd items, nail salon (never tried), now a dentist (never tried) , and a reasonable dry cleaner (which you can prepay and they will have the clothes with the doorman for you when you get home)
They do allow pets and reading some reviews about the dog floor (2) and adjacent floors (3) I would probably not recommend getting floors 2 or 3 (although I never had an issue with pee, poo, dog smells, - except in the dog elevator which always has a slight dog smell) Good thing is they have 2 other people elevators and 1 freight elevator. garbage chutes are fine - you can even leave larger items by the garbage elevator (boxes,etc) and maintenance crew throws it out. washing area downstairs also has a bathroom and bike storage area. laundry room is very bright and has super large washers and dryers for big blankets. prices are ok - went up 10cents since I moved in to $1.35 - it's by electronic card. Doorman also takes packages from UPS/FEDEX etc. which was very useful for wine club shipments.

Price-I would say on the higher end but considering the size, free utilites, (parking in building), and 100 yard distance to about 10 bus routes it was worth it.
ALso to note, a large number of foreigners (mainly from england I believe) also live in the buidling if that gives any color to quality of the building.

View- had a small lake view but the 3100 n building (green and yellowish) blocks most views unless you get a unit in the north east corner)

Management- never had an issue - always greeted kindly and warmly - would walk to dolly's office in pj's and request items and she was always very accomodating. made 2 maintenance calls while there about the kitchen faucet backing up as well as the plumber's putty cracking and they fixed it w/o question the day i made the call.


Overall: I give this place a 4.15 out of 5.
4.25-4.5 if the price were lower
4.25-4.65 if the fridge were full size and kitchen bigger with updated electrical and lights/fans in the living/sleeping areas
only my new construction 3bed 2bath is a 5 :)

User Responses
From: chitownrenter22	Date: 08/14/2008
You lived at Belmont Harbor Apartments? How was that, I am trying to decide between the two, Belmont Harbor seems to be in a better price range for the size of the actual apartment, but then again it seems like they charge for everything extra ($50 a month cat fee, a/c by the month, etc.)Which place was a better living experience for you?
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/21/2008
I live at Belmont Harbor Apartments and stumbled upon this response from chitownrenter22. Do NOT choose Belmont Harbor or you will regret it. The better price range is overshadowed by the exorbitant fees and unprofessional management. They are going to start charging people $75/month for a larger breed dog -- $75 per month!!!!!! That is crazy. The owner is some multimillionaire but still nickles and dimes his tenants to death. Also, there have been some break-ins lately - but no signs of forced entry or damage to apartment doors so everyone suspects it is an inside job by management who has the master keys. Just do yourself a favor and pick Belmont House - at least it is the lesser of two evils
From: TheObjectiveReviewer	Date: 08/22/2008
the belmont house was a much better living experience. the belmont house does charge a fee for pets (one time) but it is cheaper than the $50 per month fee the harbor charges. also, even though the harbor had hard wood floors, the propensity of messing it up and getting charged to fix it/refinish is much higher (clean newer carpeting is fine with me and easier to clean i feel) also free central ac the conveniences I noted were worth the extra money in my opinion (24/7 doorman if you are concerned with safety which shouldn't be a big issue in lakeview east). For me, I dont mind spending slightly more for a better living environment (just walk into the harbor vs walking into the house.......big big difference). I would seriously weigh what you feel is reasonable and worth your money against settling (remember you'll be living at least one year) so I wouldn't "settle" on matters which affect where you live :) I've just heard too many of my friends complain that they "settled" and lived miserably and couldn't wait to get out of their lease. Note: I also never had an issue with harbor or house management. I may be the lucky one but seems like many people have had issues with both harbor and house management. Also, I've only lived in the medium one bed at harbor (which is too small for 2 people but just right for 1) and the large one bedroom at house. Not sure about your roomate situation.

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