Echelon Chicago

Only reason I gave a 1 start is because it's a pretty good location; not great, but pretty good - close to Jewel, walking distance to good restaurants/ bars in Fulton Market and West Loop. The amenities are pretty poor. Very small gym, difficult to get packages (usually a sign up for hours telling you to come back later)/front desk people usually aren't around, no dog run - bit of a walk to the park next to the building, but it's muddy over half the year. Only bright spot is the pool that you can use for around two months of the year.

Literally the day we were moving in, we were met with issues. Started with management not having a freight elevator reserved for us. We’ve dealt with our heat not working for all of January and most of February. Maintenance came and “fixed” it 2-3 times before having to replace the whole unit in March. It’s June 2021 and the AC Unit is leaking again. I think the folks at Echelon has largely misunderstood what “luxury” means. Having basic heat and AC is not a luxury. The best part about the apartment is the location. My advice to anyone considering moving here - don’t. It’s not worth the waiver admin fees or first month off rent.

This is my first time living in a "professionally" managed building. From my experience here, I would never pay for something like this again. My fiance and I have had issues since day 1. To name a few: -The Resident lounge is actually an employee lounge throughout the day as that is the only space the employees have to go to. -The grills have been broken since day 1. You have to bring down your own lighter, pick up the metal grates with your hands, and then light it to actually get it to work. -Once snow started in Chicago, the management team would not have the snow removed from common spaces making the grills, etc. inaccessible. -The key FOBs don't actually give you access to anything. I don't even know why they give them to all the residents when they don't work to get you into any of the common spaces. -They will randomly do renovations on a floor without providing any of the surrounding apartments a notice. This is very frustrating especially during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC when everyone is working from home. When you speak to the management team about these issues, they make you feel like you are the only one with problems and that everything is great about the building. That is not true as I have spoken to several residents who are frustrated with all the same issues. This experience has made me think twice about paying to live in a managed high rise building.

Living here has been a mixed experience. On the pros: The apartment is beautiful and the layout is well thought out. The location couldn't be better and the service staff is quick and kind. Cons: There are CONSTANTLY issues with the management team: 1. Our building fabs don't work for anything. The business center, resident lounge, backyard etc. You have to track down the front desk who is absolutely swamped with amazon packages and visitors to try to get you in anywhere. 2. The resident lounge is also the employee lounge. This is literally what the management team told me AFTER we moved in. The employees eat and watch TV in the lounge without headphones in every day during their working breaks. It's not a resident lounge, be warned. 3. They do construction on apartments and don't notify us in advance. The power drills, hammering and music is super annoying when everyone is trying to work from home. 4. The management team is only available during working hours. So if you have an issue, you need to keep running down until you find someone. And when you do have an issue, they make you feel like you're the only person who has ever said a single negative thing about the building or your experience living here. 5. Snow removal. The grills and common space areas are not shoveled or maintained. In fact, the grills are all broken. You need to bring your own lighters and equipment to get them started. 6. When you have packages that arrive, it can be several hours before you're able to pick them up from the front desk. They have a sign that says come pick them up later and sometimes that sign is up all morning and afternoon.

Lived in this building in a 2/2 for a year. It was a corner unit with awesome southeast view of the city, has an open floor plan and the living room had floor to ceiling windows on the entire south- east wall. The master bedroom had an in suite bathroom and was significantly bigger than the 2nd bedroom, so not ideal for roommates who want to pay the same rent. The gym was very standard, had decent amount of cardio equipment but lacked good machines/free weights. Rent includes basic cable and internet but it is with DirectTV and Access Media respectively, both of which were terrible. We often lost service in bad weather and the on-demand rarely worked, but that was mostly due to internet issues with Access Media which was awful. Had many service calls with both throughout our time here. We paid for an upgraded internet package and still had issues/outages multiple times a week. It is in a good location for public transportation, close to both the green line and blue line and also very close to the highway. Parking is $200 a month but they gave us 6 months free when we moved in. Pool is billed as rooftop, but it is really on top of the parking garage, which is the 4th floor, which is the main entrance level (1-3 is the parking garage). Walkable to downtown/the loop and also river north and great restaurants off Randolph street.

Best complex in the city!!!! Staff is great!!! Jewel across the street