Doral Michigan Avenue

Jaded elegance needing more than a coat of paint From: chitownrob Date posted: 4/10/2004 Years at this apartment: 2004 - 2004   Doral houses several first floor retail shops, offices on the lower floors and apartments on the higher floors. The location is great--a block from the north east corner of the Loop, a block from the new Millennium Park and next to Illinois Center. It is unfortunate that location is about the only feature Doral can hype. On a recent visit, I looked at several apartments: a studio, 1-bedroom and 1-bedroom deluxe. The leasing agent was friendly and professional. While touring each unit, I noticed a strange similarity: some of the floors felt slightly uneven, even worse, two of the units I toured had living room floors which were visibly slanting. The condition of each unit visited was much like the rest of the building--sparsely remodeled and in need of a little tender loving care. The switch plates in the units had more coats of paint applied over them than I have ever seen in any rental building. The HVAC window units are electric (get ready for astronomical electric bills if you use them often). Several areas in the building, especially the lobby, had patchwork remodeling jobs--barely anything other than a few paint jobs and Windex seem to have been spent on remodeling. The lobby had all the warmth of 1960s hotel begging for a proper remodeling. What is even more amazing is that Doral was built in 1982. For a building with a prominent location, Doral is a sad reflection of the jaded elegance it had decades ago when downtown living was somewhat a novelty and modern architecture was at its most fake. Even the model apartments shown need contemporary remodeling--the models have mirrored walls in the bedroom and living areas (oh, so early 1980s!), tacky furnishings and strange custom-built wood boxes which were not standard in any of the rental units. The few bright spots are the top-floor pool (one wonders why there needs to be a large wheelchair ramp from the pool lobby to the elevated pool deck), good views from most units I visited, and a top-floor service area with a laundry room boasting the best views of north Michigan Avenue. Doral is not pricey, but the entire building gave me the sense that the owner of the building has not spent too much on upgrading the appearance, either exterior or interior.

Recommended: YES Overall Rating

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