Our location is unbeatable. If you check our address on www.walkscore.com we score 97/100 (essentially if you live here you really don't NEED a car). There's a Whole Foods grocery store kiddy corner from the building. We're 2 blocks from the lake, 2 blocks from the NU campus, 3 blocks from two different trains (Metra and CTA). Busses run in front of the building, including Northwestern University's intercampus shuttle. We're four blocks from the post office, 3 from a hardware store. On the occasion that you do, of those car rental clubs (www.zipcar.com) have their cars in the parking structure under our building.

My apartment is comfortable, well laid out, has a wonderful view, is warm in winter and has central air in summer, every appliance is top notch and works as it should. I've NEVER heard a peep from my neighbors, except through my front door (neither the ones next to me nor below me). My closets are large, my water pressure is good, and the building gets high speed cable for internet and TV. The elevators are reliable and quick. There are well lit, centrally located, washing machine rooms on each floor (large capacity) that always work, and are quickly fixed if they break. The place has a subsection of two staff members devoted just to cleaning, and then professional rug cleaners are brought in on a semi regular basis. As a result, this is easily the cleanest apartment building I've ever lived in. Cats are allowed, dogs are not.

The best thing about this building is the customer service, you get what you paid for. If you tell them something is broken in the morning, they've usually fixed it by that night, or at least ordered parts. When I moved in, I complained that the refrigerator had a very small freezer, they swapped it out for a different model. I asked if I could use my own microwave which was bigger than theirs, they pulled their's out and made room for mine. The Janitor hung curtain rods for me, helped me hang my art, rewired my sockets to how I wanted them (in terms of which switches controlled what), etc. Once I'd been here a year, they cleaned my carpets (no charge) and spot painted my walls. I complained about my patio, they brought in a professional concrete guy to fix it. They show up for jobs as small as changing a light bulb. I've seen them patiently send up staff to help an elderly man understand his TV remote control, for the 4th time!!! When I had emergency surgery, the checked on me daily after I was discharged from hospital, and picked up my meds. There is NOTHING these folks won't do for you. There are two full time janitors, 2 full time cleaners, 2 or 3 folks in the management office, and management regularly hires professionals to service the washing machines and elevators, clean carpets, etc. As a result, problems in this building do not persist, they are addressed.

Of course no place is perfect. If you live above the parking structure (only about 1/2 the building is), prepare to get used to shaking if the drivers fly over the speed bumps or crash into a concrete barrier. When I first got here I felt every jiggle, but within a month or two only ever noticed it if some idiot drove into a pillar. Heat and air is shared, so that is more expensive than it need be, and you can't set the temp to a particular number so you have to play with it a bit to get the desired amounts. If your apartment faces the lake it will be much quieter than the ones overlooking Chicago Ave which is a busy city street with lots of traffic. Also, on the chicago ave side, there's an old age home a block away so emergency vehicles pass by regularly. About 1/2 the residents are students, and a small number of those need to be taught how to behave like responsible adults. Happily, the staff is always on the side of those who want quite and order, and are quick to send out warning letters to offenders. The one complaint I hear is from those who dislike the cooking smells from some of the foreign students, but personally I love the smell of good chinese, or a nice curry.

I've lived in other buildings cheaper than this and within a 3 block radius, but none of them came close to being as nice as this one. In those buildings I had to fight to get the janitors to show up for anything, and often I was dealing with bugs, and broken machines that never got fixed. Overall, while this apartment is expensive, it is worth every penny.

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