If you have tales you’d like to share from your apartment hunt, add them in a comment or email yojoe at yochicago dot com.
Here’s the third report from my veteran renter correspondent. Stay tuned for more. And note that we don’t vouch for the accuracy of any of these tales, nor do we try to verify them. We will not publish any that appear to be untrue on their face.
Hi Joe,
A couple of more random thoughts as I wrap up my apartment hunt:
Presidential Towers spends so much time and effort recruiting students from the Loop colleges that it’s very much like living in a dorm. One staff member told me they get a lot of complaints about the students and wish they could keep all of them in one or two towers, but that would be illegal.
Most unusual amenities: Aqua has an indoor basketball court, and during the summer there’s a bartender from the Radisson Blu near the outdoor pool who will bring drinks to your cabana.
Most unusual not included amenity pair: Air conditioning is included at The Patricians, but you pay for heat. Go figure.
Most unusual amenity included when I looked for an apartment in Chicago in 2003: Free local phone service from Verizon at what is now the condo block called Century Tower.
The newly renovated studios at Presidential Towers are laid out so that it’s not possible to fully open the oven door because it hits the refrigerator. Presidential Towers studios also lack dishwashers and microwaves. I was surprised about the microwave, something that’s standard nearly everywhere else.
Because of the near-24-hour McDonald’s in the building, Presidential Towers has a problem with vagrants sleeping, camping, and begging for money in the hallway leading from the Canal Street entrance to the interior residential corridor.
Because the residential portion of Presidential Towers is connected to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market by an internal hallway, the store is open for residents only to shop in 24 hours a day.