Chicago’s best West Loop / Near West apartments – Affordability

We define Chicago’s “near west” neighborhoods to include the West Loop, Fulton River District and River West. You’ll find all of your major apartment options in these neighborhoods on our at-a-glance list of downtown apartments.

Our goal is to help you find the apartment that best fits your needs. Renters simply have so many differing priorities – and budget constraints – that singling out an overall best building would be a pointless exercise.

Our first posts in this series focused on location. We spotlighted the buildings with the best views, most convenient grocery shopping, and the best access to public transit, parks, the expressway grid, the Loop, dining and nightlife and retail shopping.

We now turn our attention to aspects of the buildings themselves, starting with the topic that’s top-of-mind with many renters: affordability.

There’s a clear choice in this category: Presidential Towers (PT) typically has the lowest rents of any of the near west buildings.

That said, a number of near west buildings are currently offering “free rent” deals of a month or more, which may make them competitive on price with PT depending on how you value the features that PT lacks. PT does not have balconies. All of the apartments do not have in-unit washer / dryers. There’s a separate charge for PT’s on-site fitness club. On the other hand, PT’s units are often larger than some of the newer buildings.

You can check current rents and availabilities for near west buildings from the links on our at-a-glance list of downtown apartments.

Chime in with a comment if you disagree with our selections.

You’ll find links to our objective, visually-rich apartment reviews of near west buildings, and links to near real-time availability checks for most of the buildings, at our downtown apartments at-a-glance list, and some tips and advice at our Guide to renting in Chicago’s near west neighborhoods.

We’ve also spotlighted the best apartments in River North, Streeterville and the South Loop.

Next topic: Building amenities.

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