Medical District Apartments

Overly priced they are only nice to you until you sign the lease. They keep jacking up the price every year and you cannot control your ac/​heat. The management bill that includes water/​ac/​heat is 150 not including Internet and electricity. The gym is very small basically like a room. The pool hardly is open.
I would not recommend living here for the price they charge now, older rates were still better.
Also they are so desperate to find people to lease their place that you can go to Craigslist and multiple agents have posting for their apartment for the jacked up price. What a pity!

Do not believe all of the negative reviews of this apartment complex. I did and I almost did not schedule an appointment to view the apartments and I almost missed out on a great apartment. This review is from a parent of 3 college students who has spent the last 6 years shuttling them in and out of apartments across 3 Big 10 universities. Medical District Apartments are gorgeous. They really are. See for yourself. Apartments are move in condition with fresh paint, clean carpeting and spotless updated kitchens and baths (nicer than my own house). There is an abundance of storage space and living space. These are the best apartments I have seen from a cross-​section of 3 Big 10 schools (4 counting UIC). My son could not be happier living there. Do yourself a favor and see these apartments for yourself – you will be glad you did.

Very overpriced for what you get but it’s all about the location. For someone like me who has classes right across the street at the UIC School of Public Health and a husband in med school at UIC, you can’t beat the location.
Apartments are pretty basic but spacious. Parking is ridiculously overpriced ($ 185) and you’re not even guaranteed a covered spot. There is street parking though if you get the zone 5 pass. No promises you’ll find a spot though.
Staff is decent though the management company is changing at the end of the month so can’t say how things will change.
Overall, the building is safe and maintenance does an awesome job at keeping it clean as well as responding to your requests. If being walking distance to UIC, Rush, etc is important to you then go for it otherwise there are MANY better places you can find for this price.
P. S. Not sure why there is an ENTIRE parking garage sitting empty on the other side of the building when they can reduce parking fee and have more people purchase it.

I lived in the building in 2014. I wanted a 7-​month lease ending in Winter, so my options were limited. My short review is — Its okay — but here are a lot more details:
Safety — Its definitely safe. Its a secure building, Taylor street is filled with students and cops (I mean this in a good way, there is a police station nearby, and there is a ton of good food on Taylor Street). The neighborhood and nearby parks are lovely.
Stuff nearby — Pink line station 2 blocks away, Blue line 4 – 5 blocks away. Jewel-​Osco 2 blocks away. All of the stuff down Taylor street. A 7 – 11 next door (and a frozen yogurt place next to that). Don’t get me wrong, it not like living in the middle of downtown, but there is plenty of stuff. The nightlife can get a bit studenty, but you’re living in university village… what do you want?
Building Amenities — Gym is adequate for a bit a cardio or whatever. It can fill up during peak hours. If you’re a gym rat, you’ll need to keep your membership. Pool was closed for most of the summer I was there, I knew it would be when I signed my lease, so I am not mad (I know they predicted it would be earlier than it was, but this is chicago, permits take FOREVER, I planned on it not being something I would be able to use). I am sure it is lovely now. Some people think the buzzer being connected to your phone is a hassle… I loved it. Some people say its annoying, but really, is it??? I suppose if you worked a job where you couldn’t access your phone AND you had someone coming to check your apartment after hours it could be a hassle, but come on… really?
Staff — Door staff is lovely, wish they were there for ONE more hour because sometimes I had to wait until the following morning to get my packages. If you NEED the package that night though, as I did once, maintenance can help. I never really had issues to be fixed, and the couple of times I did, it was painless.
General notes about the building — Once September rolls around, it definitely feels a bit dorm-​ish, but again… its university village, what do you expect? Also, the building turned off the air conditioning too early when we got a couple cooler days in September, and never turned it back on. When it got back into the 60’s outside, my South facing unit got hot and humid. You cannot sleep with your windows open because there are several hospitals across the street, so ambulances run all night. The elevators were undergoing major service (maybe replacement) while I was there. Several other people have complained about this in their reviews, and yes, it sucks. Hopefully all of the work is done. Make sure to check on the status of this when you tour. Also, if you drive everyday, chances are you’ll have to park in the uncovered area of the lot often. If you don’t want to shell out $ 180 for parking, get a zoned city street parking sticker. There is always street parking nearby. It’s like $ 120 for the year, you can get guest passes, just pay attention to the street cleaning schedule signs.
Overall — I thought it was a reasonable building. There aren’t any other large buildings with controlled access and any amenities nearby, which is why they charge what they do. If you NEED a pool, or NEED controlled access (its a very safe neighborhood, mostly students, UIC staff, and adorable old italian folks who’ve lived there for decades), or whatever, its your only option. If you want to pay less and are cool with a small walk up around the corner, I suggest you hop over to craigslist and save a couple hundred dollars per month.

Don’t live here if you wanna be over charged, not have stuff work, and never be able to use the elevator. My parking pass suddenly didn’t work this morning, and waiting 15 min until someone came in wasn’t the best way to start the day. Which then made me late for work… There’s just always something wrong, like how there has never been 2 working elevators, 1 or both are always down-​and yes there are 12 floors. That’s fun to use the stairs for that right? Get your shit together medical district apartments, we pay you plenty that none of this should be happening time and time again.

DO NOT LIVE HERE!!!
THEY DONT LET YOU CONTROL YOUR OWN HEAT OR A/​C.
They charge $ 180 a month to park here, thats $ 2,160 a year and you’re not even guaranteed a covered spot b/​c the spots are first come first serve.
While the EMPLOYEES park in the covered spots for free every day.
Also one of the garages is completely closed so if you live in the north building you have to walk through 5 doors every day and all the way through the other building just to get to your own car.
NO HOT WATER multiple times i’ve gotten in the shower.
And the pool didn’t open till August so that «amenity» is pointless.
I would not recommend this place to anyone. It could be somewhat decent but they are clearly too cheap to get the city permits for the pool and other parking garage for their residents.

Since beginning of 2014, this place is NOT a decent apartment anymore. 1) new manager won’t make it smoking free, she let people smoke in their own room. Hey, when winter comes, all doors and windows closed, the smoke will spread out in the whole building. No body can be away from the bad smell.
2) the more the smokers, the more trash made. You will see lots of cigarette butts everywhere, in the lawn, road, etc. what a shit place. 3) leasing office don’t care how many people living in the same room, if you are not lucky and got crowded room above your ceiling, you will suffer lots of noise in the late night. That’s annoying. 4) rental fee is too expensive, ridiculous high price, $ 185, for parking. 5) lots of other problems, I cannot list them all. As I did, Just leave it if you can.

Worst customer service ever, and they treat you like a theif even when you are trying to get into your own apartment.

Sublet my apartment after multiple attempts to have my air conditioning fixed failed. I have witnesses I asked come to my apartment after running said air conditioning for hours with only warm or room temperature air blowing out of either side. Also had no working dishwasher after multiple service requests were made on it as well. Pool was out until last weekend as if residents are paying to live in a community with no pool up until August? I had a good rent price for what was good in the building for a one bed for 1439 per month while 2 beds go for 2000 plus. Who pays that much for apartments with no working to subpar air-​conditioning units and appliances? I removed my dog every time I asked for something to be fixed yet no-​one came. There also seems to be a lot of international students who are violating occupancy laws. You can see up to 8 people in an apartment all spread out on the floor on sleeping mats. The part that really bothers me about this is that we pay the same for AUM bills while you have over-​occupied apartments paying the same utilities as me in my one bedroom apartment, hardly ever being home. Expect to pay at least 150 per month for building fees (which are not explained to you in bill) for a 1 bed, and probably closer to 200 – 300 per month for 2 beds. The elevators are always broke and to top things off, my last ride on the 901 side, I was removing my belongings to sublet last week and got zapped by the button pressing down after notifying management before that I was zapped in the elevators which yes, always seem to be down. This community is not worth moving to even if some of the office staff tries to help like Maria at the front desk or a few of the others, unfortunately they are not able to fix the building management and management’s incompetence’s.

Unfortunately a lot of what Simon P said is accurate. I have lived here for a yr & went in having high hopes. I am a student at Rush & found this building especially convenient & safe when I got here. With having only a little experience on where to live in the area, I thought this place was going to be great & be the place I wanted to stay for the next 4 years but after only a year I have been left disappointed & ready to find a better place to live.
Here are the pros & cons:
PROS:
1. Close to hospitals & nearby schools: if you are attending Rush/​UIC or need to be nearby the hospitals, this place is closer than any other large building (excluding Rush’s CCG complex). It takes no more than 5 – 10 minutes to walk & makes for a speedy commute
2. Transit: The building is a a few blocks off of 290 & several other highways, right near the pink line, a few blocks from the Blue. Great if you need to take one of these lines. If you need to go to the hospitals or the schools here — you could also take these to this area too, without living here.
3. Gated: I have a dog so its nice to have a gated building to take my dog out at night. BUt like the other reviews have said, the doors are often propped open or left wide open, defeating the entire point of having locked gates/​doors.
4. Dogs are allowed: but whether dogs are allowed to run around in the yard is constantly up in the air.
CONS:
1) Smoking: tenants are allowed to smoke in their apartments but are asked to not disturb their neighbors… uh but that is tricky to do when we all share ventilation system & AUM bills based on buildings average. You would hope they would use their balconies but they can smoke in the apartments & the smell does permeate into others apartments especially if you don’t try to dissipate it yourself with fans, filters or having your windows open.
That being said — many old buildings in Chicago allow smoking but many have begun to transition over to non-​smoking or never allowed it from the start (Newer buildings). Its up to Habitat to step up & make the change.
2) AUM (utilities bill): Everything about what Simon P said about utilities is true. You are not billed based on your usage but rather an average of the building based on the size of your unit. So even if you want to conserve energy or at least not jack up your AUM — it does not matter because if you neighbors leave their windows open or pump the heat, everyone will share in the cost. Oh and if the smokers want to be «considerate» & open a window or door — then the smoke and heat/​AC go out the window. And yes it can get very expensive, even if your own usage is minimal.
9) Parking: parking is currently $ 180 which in the grand scheme of things is not bad (and yes it does keep creeping up every so often) but only half of the spots are covered and the other half are on roof above. So if you arrive anytime after 6 pm you will not have covered parking which can become especially problematic in the winter when the snow piles get so high on the top roof, limiting parking spaces further & living paying renters with no where to park. What makes this more frustrating is there is another parking garage on the other side of the building that is «closed» due to structural damage/​problems… begging the question why for at least 2 – 3 years has nothing been done with that space?
4) Elevator: Yes the elevators are constantly down or being repaired or getting stuck and yes its incredibly annoying. This building is on the older side so it comes with the territory of living in an older building. We will see if their «updates» make any true improvements.
Outside of the elevators, the maintenance staff is awesome & hardworking
5) Heating/​AC: The switchover dates are not based on temperature outside but rather dates & yes it was not pleasant when we still had heat when it was 90s outside in May.
6) Pool and Gym: gym is small with basic equipment definitely not something to replace a gym membership if you already have one. And like other reviews have mentioned — the pool’s opening has been delayed which sucks since its almost July.
PRO/​CON (depending on where you want to live):
Price: probably the most influential factor for many when finding an apartment, for the amount of space certain apartments have here (square footage-​wise), the rent is on par with other buildings. For certain neighborhoods you might want to move to like lincoln park or south loop you can probably find a marginally better deal else where. if you are flexible to live in sketcher area, you could find way far better deals than here (especially since this place borders on some questionably areas). But if you want to live downtown or live in the near west loop and have basic amenities in your building you will have to pay more (but not too much more 200 – 300 per month).
It ultimately comes down to if the convenience & price of this place outweighs the multiple problems that exist in this building.

Safety– I feel very safe here. I recently moved to Chicago and that was a non negotiable. Taylor street has a lot of cops around (who are typically eating the good food around) and young students.
Cleanliness– Ive been here a year and this is the first time I have seen them clean the windows. Since its move in season, they are putting up their best face. They have even turned on the Medical district backlights which are never on.
Pest Control– They do an excellent job with pest control. I’ve never seen a bug in my apt.
Staff– The maintenance and front desk are super nice. If you have a problem though with amenities like A/​C not working well, they will ignore your complaints.
Parking– Chances of finding a covered parking spot are slim to none. They only have 1 garage open and most people who have their cars on the lower level don’t move too much.

I found this apartment online after I matched at Rush for residency. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND STAYING THE HELL AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! A rip off that takes no mercy at charging its tenants up the wazoo simply because they can. The property manager Erin is sharp tongued and horrible at customer service, even going as far to say it’s a privilege for tenants to be granted an apartment here despite having to pay a separate $ 80/​month for the utilities that THEY spend by blasting the AC and heat in their own offices in addition to paying for the utilities in our own apartments separately. The leasing office puts on a good show when you visit the place but as soon as they have your signature on the lease, they spare nothing to rip you off in every possible way and let you know that they take pleasure in doing so. Would NEVER EVER RECOMMEND anyone live here, despite the location — there are plenty of cuter, more tenant friendly places right nearby that clearly take better care of their renters than this façade.

Mostly my experience here has been good, except when I need things from the staff…
The office staff is unhelpful for things that they feel is not their job (things as simple as handing a resident their delivered package in a closet a mere 10 feet away or helping a resident reserve a parking spot). They tell the resident to wait for the concierge since they’ll «be back in a moment (read: wait for half an hour).» I understand that the concierge has jobs that require him/​her to leave the desk, but it bothers me that no one takes responsibility when he/​she has to leave.
Requested maintenance can take several weeks to complete, even after multiple requests have been put in (ex: my front door was unable to shut properly and some how the front office was not communicating this to the maintenance crew).
The pool has quite restricted hours (10am — 8pm) unfortunately, so no early morning swims.
On the plus side, the gym is nice and always open and clean. It has a variety of equipment and a couple of tvs. The building is nice and kept up (hallways vacuumed, new coats of paint when needed, outside windows get washed).
Personally, I’m not sure it’s worth the money I pay to live here, except for it’s location (close to employer and train stop).

The review from Carmen goes back a year and a half when Village Tree managed the place. Since then, Habitat has handled the property and their changes were great. In addition to a whole new staff of people, they have improved the units and the work out room (which was moved to a better place). They also updated the look and improved the communication with residents. Yes, a lot has happened in 18 months. By the way, the web address is
which is not what Unilocal has above.