It was nice at first. The size of the apartment is really nice (corner 1 bdrm), and it was very clean upon move-in. The pool is nice during the summer, however they for some reason don't bother to fully clean it out or cover it during the winter, so if you have a view of it, you have to look at a nasty green, moldy pool.
It's a really great area, too. Right across the street from the El, and close to tons of bars, restaurants, and a Starbucks down the street; everything you need at your fingertips.
It was all going well, until my neighbors started up smoking.
I'm on a lower floor, so I quickly realized that I have a couple of Section-8 tenants next to me. My one neighbor always has a friend over, who for quite a while would stand right outside our door in the hallway and smoke. I finally confronted her, and complained to the management, and it stopped, however management didn't do anything about it.
My other neighbor has her boyfriend living with her (probably illegally) and the two of them sit in their apartment and chain smoke literally from the time they get home from work until midnight. My whole apartment smells of cigarettes, and even my clothes are starting to smell. I complained, but apparently they're allowed to smoke in their apartments, so there's nothing they can do.
It seems as though this apartment complex has more Section-8 tenants living here than usual, because I see them all the time; some of them look homeless, and I'm not being ignorant, I'm just irritated that I pay good money to live here, and these people don't and do not respect what was given to them.
Also, the back entrance is convenient, but it always smells like garbage/feces, and sometimes I'm gagging as I'm leaving or entering the building, it's that bad.

So to sum up, if you end up on one of the top floors, you shouldn't have to worry about the section-8, because there are a lot of decent, professional people that live here, however if you get stuck on floors 10 and below, you're most likely going to have to deal with it. But if you don't care about the cigarette smells, then it really is a nice building/apartment.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/11/2009
I agree with you 100%! Elm Street Plaza houses ex cons that use to reside in Cabrini Greens and Robert Taylor homes. Habitat owns all of the housing projects in chicago so what can you expect when you rent there. I believe that people should get a discount for living in Elm Street Plaza. Hold on a second people are getting a discount...some residents pay $25.00 per month as opposed to others that pay $2,250.00. Nice building!

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