SoNo East

If I could give a rating of zero, I would. The apartments are in a good location and the gym is good for an apartment building. That said, the prices are exorbitant for the size of the unit; the service level is deplorable; and the leasing office (ie., Greystar leasing) is in NOT service-​oriented in any way. Issues do not get fixed, legal demand letters are quickly issued, and the focus is on getting the most # of tenants for the most amount of money, regardless of how they are treated.
I would advise anyone to avoid Sono East unless you have money to burn and don’t care about customer service in your apartment building. There are many other choices that are less expensive, with more modern amenities, and who have a focus on the customer who is paying the bills.

I just have to add we have now been at SoNo east for almost 3 months. It truly does just keep getting better. Bradley our leasing agent checks in on us from time to time to make sure we are OK and happy. The entire maintenance staff goes above and beyond to help out with anything we need. The gentleman at the front desk are always professional and friendly. We continue to love it here and we are so thankful we found this place when we came to Lincoln Park. We plan on living here for a long time.

Despite a few challenges I would say we very much enjoyed our time living at SoNo East.
The good:
Hardwood (nice laminate) floors in the living space, comfortable and durable carpet in the bedrooms.
While they are not stainless steel, the kitchen appliances are still very modern and upgraded.
Maintenance staff is so wonderful.
Most of the front desk staff is wonderful (besides a few grouchy/​lazy people).
Location location location. Close to the CTA red line, north ave bus, halsted bus, PLUS tons of stores. Perfect for getting errands done.
The amenities are perfect. Great pool and gym. The grills are nice too.
The bad:
Parking is super expensive in the building. We parked across the street in the lot attached to the british school for half the price.
We don’t have a dog, but we love animals so we did not mind them in the building at all. The biggest problem was that a lot of owners allow their dogs to pee in the hallways and the building does not clean properly so the stench is kind of permanent. Gross.
The kitchen sink does not have a garbage disposal and often gets backed up.
The shower drain also often gets backed up.
!!! Most IMPORTANTLY — they raised our rent 23% after one year of living there!!! Unfortunately there are no laws in Chicago that protect tenants. We had to move to a smaller unit since we wanted to stay in the building. Not cool. Be aware of this before signing a lease.
Also, the management staff turned over quite a few times. Dominique in particular was really stubborn and pretty hard to deal with.
Overall we were sad when we had to move away for work and will miss living at SoNo East!

Lived here for 9 months and enjoyed it. Was relocated for work but otherwise would probably still be at sono. Great dog run, excellent location (although traffic, while not great in the area, will be getting much worse with new city next door), wonderful amenities, stylish units. Lost «selling point» city view to new city apartment tower. Walls are paper thin and worst I’ve experienced. Door staff are generally attentive, but I have also experienced better. Rent is on the high-​end for what you get, but overall was a good experience living here.

I can’t say enough about the positive experience I have had moving to SoNo East! Yes the amenities and floor plans are amazing and top of the line but what is most important (at least to me) is the AMAZING staff! So welcoming and committed to making the daunting task of moving as easy as possible. Lauren was always there answering my continuous questions and concerns about floor plans and starting the process (among many other things) always there to help and truly great to work with. Phylicia is absolutely the best!!! You can definitely count on her to think of every little thing that goes into finally signing that dotted line! I can’t say enough about how awesome and comforting and available they are! Everyone here is so welcoming and I truly feel like I found a great home and community. You will not be disappointed!!!

HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT!!! EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!! BEWARE! after reading these other reviews I now see the new management must be the explaination because we had a great expenience until we moved out! We did like the building, however this was before they built duplicates on every corner of the city. So i’d definitely chose a different management company over greystar!!! Overall everyone was very friendly. In hind sight $ 2400 a month for a one bedroom in lincoln park is not worth it. But our biggest problem now, after paying $ 2400 a month ON TIME for OVER A YEAR, we moved out. Our lease was up, and we were going to river north (for half the price) We received an email to come to the office regarding resigning our lease. We responded to the email right away and told them were moving out when our lease was up. Moving day came and went, we said bye to the doormen (we love them!) They all knew we were moving and were extra helpful! Fast forward to a few months later sitting in my new apartment, in the mail I receive a bill for $ 5099 Yes thats correct over $ 5000. NOT because of the apartment (we took fabulous care of that place!) BUT they claim we didn’t tell them 60 days before our lease was up that we weren’t going to resign it! And THAT EQUALS over $ 5000??? Had i known this I would have stayed there!!! I figure when a lease is up a lease is up. and when they ask if we want to resign (it was a month before) and we said THAT SAME DAY «NO!» The worst part about this is now they have sent this $ 5099 bill to a collection agency and it is now all over my credit report that a owe Sono East $ 5099. So it looks as if I just skipped out! I paid $ 2400 in rent on time for over a year and all that’s doing for me is stopping me from renting anywhere else! So now we went from luxury to … i don’t know. I have 10 days to figure that out. Thanks SONO!
ps. not that it matters, but we moved in on the 15^th, halfway through the month. so our rent was prorated. HOWEVER our lease still ended on a 15^th… halfway through the month. BUT that last month will still cost you the full $ 2418!!! (Im gathering records for exact amounts) and if you want to move out on your move out day, tell them BEFORE they ask you if you are moving out on your move out day, or its $ 5099. if you’re cool with that, sono is great.

Besides one minor communication issue with the management, I’ve had nothing but a wonderful experience at SoNo. The staff and tenants here have been awesome, which is refreshing since it seems like my friends that live in Chicago have nothing but horror stories when it comes to their apartments or landlords.
The building itself is kept meticulously clean (which is hard to do when there’s 100+ dogs living there, on top of several hundred people). The gym is good/​adequate — quite nice for an apartment gym. I am always admittedly a little proud when I have friends visit and they comment on how awesome my place is. The rate I secured my unit for was comparable to similar units I looked at in West Loop.
An especially enthusiastic shoutout goes to the doormen (Rico and Edmund are just generally awesome and helpful guys) and building engineers/​maintenance staff. I told one of the maintenance guys my dog’s name once, and a few weeks later when we walked by him, he remembered and addressed her by name!
The residents are a generally pleasant group. If you have a dog, residents here are REALLY good with dogs. My pup is a rescue and can be quite skittish around strangers, but people have always been super sweet and understanding when she hides behind me in the elevator or bolts out when the doors open, ha («…I promise it’s not personal!»)
In general, I think what really sets this place apart is the doormen, the maintenance staff (and/​or whoever does the cleaning, not sure if that’s maintenance as well), and (if you have a dog) how dog-​friendly the community is.

I had a maintenance issue with the washing machine in my apartment that was resolved to my complete satisfaction by the building engineer Terrell Brown. He worked diligently and intelligently with ingenuity. This was the latest example of the excellent service of the building staff, who are always responsive and courteous. SoNo East is an excellent place to live. Mary W.

I moved in here when the building opened and have been really happy here! The staff is fantastic, and a huge reason why I have chosen to renew my lease twice.
Pros: the building is dog friendly, has a dog run, good community events, is in what I feel is a great location, great view of the skyline, fantastic workout room, and overall a really good mix of people live here. Parking is fine in garage. I have an SUV and no issues, don’t know why some say the spots are small? Also, the comment about Edmund at the front desk is ridiculous in my opinion.
He is fantastic and super helpful. Rico, Jesus, Johnny and Chris are all great doormen too! Edmund has gone above and beyond for me time after time! Maintenance is on it and super friendly and helpful. love David and Terrell and team!
Cons:
The pool is a !:$& show during weekends and holidays, and I agree with some of the reviews that say the rules aren’t really enforced, so I steer clear on the weekends/​holidays. The construction is going to block some of my view, but the area is growing. I do think they should look at revisiting their pricing now that the views won’t be as great next year at this time. It is expensive, but I disagree with the reviews that it is overpriced. What isn’t overpriced in the city? If you want a good value, the city isn’t your best call in my opinion.
Overall I have been really happy here, met some great people, and enjoy my unit and living in the area!

If it were closer to the lake this would be my favorite building in Chicago. Living in the same building as such a nice pool and gym is important to me which made Sono a no brainer.

Management is sub par, they will take your money at all costs. If you want to overpay and deal with insane management, hop on board!
Our story: My lease ends mid October. They are trying to make a 60 day move out mandatory and charge me 2−3x current rent, pro-​rated rent from there on out. I didn’t receive a call notifying me of the automatic renewal until yesterday (20 days before lease is up). Ironic. To date, we have paid over $ 35,000 in rent to Sono, and they won’t budge on this 60 day notice situation.
Now they are threatening to charge me a ridiculous amount of pro rated rent for 40 days since I didn’t give them 60 day move out notice. Even if they find a tenant for ¹⁰⁄₁₄ and have a smooth transition, they are threatening to charge me $ 8000/​month pro rated for the 40 days we are over our original lease end date. Everytime I call them and try to talk logically, they say we signed a lease and are bound by it. I just love the bureaucracy and lack of logic. I ask to speak with a higher up in the Greystar company about this, and they won’t put me in touch with anyone.
As you can imagine, I am currently getting an attorney and seeing what they say. With that said, BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU SIGN. Management is very happy to have you sign your life away and won’t give anyone a break if Sono financially benefits from your loss. Reading reviews online, they have done this to a handful of people, so its obvious they don’t care about bad reviews and unhappy customers as long as they’re taking your money.
If they can make something work with me on this, I will change my review to 5 stars.
SONO — do the right thing here. I hope to change my review soon.

I couldn’t say enough great things about this place! The staff is amazing. they couldn’t be more helpful and welcoming. The building is on point in every way. Floor to ceiling windows, amazing view… the POOL! The gym is huge, plenty of equipment. a very open feel. Not to mention what a great location it is! Living here is also a great way to meet people, everyone is friendly and upbeat. The building has an all around a great feel. If you’re looking for somewhere to live and fully enjoy Chicago, SONO’s your place!

I have lived in Sono East since the day it opened. I love the building, location, and the friendly staff. The maintenance guys are the best in the business and the amenities are top notch for Chicago. The residents are friendly and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. No way. Love this place. Oh yeah front desk doorman make it a pleasure to come home for work. Hands down best place to live in this fine city!!!

Sono is an amazing place to live! I have loved it. The location is perfect and the staff are amazing. The residents are some of the best you could ask for too… especially those on the 4^th floor that open their homes and treat everyone like family!

By far one of the nicest buildings in the city of Chicago. Extremely close to public transportation, shopping, restaurants and bars. Also, the building boasts a wonderful workout facility and an amazing outdoor area that includes grills, a pool, hot tub and tons of chairs to lay in and soak up the Chicago summer sun. For the environmentally minded the building is Leed Certified and the grounds are kept immaculate by the wonderful staff, including the best door men and security personal in the city.
One of kind building, close to everything, I’d say you are missing out if you don’t give SoNo East a look.

We just wrapped up a one year lease and if you a thinking about leasing a unit here, please read this: A HUGE WASTE OF MONEY.
1) Ripoff: We paid $ 2,800 for a 1-​bedroom with parking for 740 sq/​ft. The view of the city was nice as we faced east, but now the New City development is coming up across the street so that means construction for the next 12 – 18 months.
2) The management treat you like you are 16 years old. Weekly emails about what you are not allowed to do. You have to wear wristbands in the pool area; no this, no that. I get those emails from HR at work, I don’t need them from where I leave. Plus they don’t enforce them. The 4^th of July pool rules were: NO SMOKING ON POOL DECK, NO GLASS, NO HOLDING CHAIRS WITH TOWELS. When we got to the pool at 11am all of the chairs had towels on them but no one there (sun hits pool deck at 12pm). People smoking and glass bottles were spotted in various areas. How can I take the management seriously when they do not enforce their own rules.
3) The doorman are lazy, especially one named Edmund. I cannot tell you how many times I got home from work, had a package waiting for me (that the front desk hold for you) and he is there eating/​talking on his cell phone or having a personal conversation with another tenant. One time I waited for 5 minutes and a lined formed while he chatted someone up and didn’t even look over and acknowledge us.
4) I agree with Vince C.‘s review from 3÷23÷2014, the first floor stinks! It smells like sewage/​bathroom order all the time.
5) The parking spaces are small. Unless you drive a SmartCar, you have to squeeze your car into the spaces.
6) The garage door opens painfully slow. I know this sounds somewhat ridiculous, but I have lived in other buildings where the door opens very fast.
7) The neighborhood is a cluster, hence the «Clybourn Cluster». It is extremely over developed, too many stores, too much traffic. At peak times it takes you forever to get out of that area. Especially with the British School there, if you leave too late in the morning or come home too early, you become a victim of the traffic. Add the new hotel that’s being built around the corner on Fremont, its going to get even busier. Its hard to tell who the alderman is in this area since it borders so many different wards, but CDOT and the alderman need to do a traffic study over here, it is really the worst.
9) Now for the unit: Our apartment was not cleaned when we moved in, carpet was not changed (even though they claimed they would put new carpet in) and it smelled like dog urine as the previous tenants had a big dog. The place was extremely small and until you move furniture in, its hard to really notice how small it is. No screen in window or door which was too bad because you want to keep them open on the few decent nights Chicago has good weather, but bugs will come in.
10) The one that drove me nuts: the garage door opener. The building give each resident a fab. My wife and I lived there so we got two, one for each. Except one of the key fabs is also the garage door opener. My wife and I each used the car each day so we had to switch key chains which was a pain. It might sound silly, but trust me, it gets old really quick. We asked management for an extra fab (even offered to pay for one) and they would not do it. Their claim was security reasons. I paid $ 250 a month for garage parking an I can’t have an independent garage door opener to keep in the car? Really?
11) There are 3 elevators and it seems like one is always broken. They are always slow and packed with people, you wait forever to get an elevator.
12) The most inconvenient move in/​move out times. Austin, the broker that sold us on the building, said he would let us move in early so we could take our time moving over from our old place. What he didn’t tell us is that he was going to charge us for those 5 days and even better, we have to move out by July 12^th. However we found a place with a lease that started July 1, so we were moved out by July 2, but we had to pay for those 12 extra days at SoNo. $ 1,100 gone that was a complete waste.
For a building that claims to be a «luxury» rental, everything about is stressful, unprofessional, dirty (small/​urine carpet) and they treat you like you are a child, for close to $ 3k a month. You can get much more for your money elsewhere in Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Wicker Park, etc. We moved to a new development in Ravenswood (brand new) and got 1,300 sq/​ft, a 2^nd bed/​bath and parking for $ 2,300 a month, and its on the Metra stop so its easy to get to work downtown.
In conclusion, SoNo East is NOT WORTH THE MONEY AT ALL!!!

Hands down, one of the best experiences that I have ever had with a building management company. The amenities are top notch. I would highly recommend this building to anyone who is in search of a dog friendly building.
I recently received a dog adoption inquiry from a tenant at Sono East. I needed to speak to their property manager to verify what their dog polices were.
Their property manager responded immediately to emails and phone calls. They provided a copy of their dog policy and were incredibly warm and friendly.
This building will allow 2 dogs… no weight limit as long as they are not on the insurance breed restricted list. They do charge a non refundable pet deposit, but that is the norm.
I was welcomed by their ²⁴⁄₇ doorman; in fact both the dog and I were greet by name. He also had treats ready, which was a welcome surprise. The building has a clean, secured by coded key outdoor dog run. They also have doggy clean up poles with bags throughout the property.
The entire building is clean, spacious, and altogether amazing.
If you are looking for a dog friendly building with roof top pool, entertainment areas and gym, move in here!

I had scheduled a meeting to view the available 1br and 2br apartments. To my surprise, I had a hard time reaching Ben, the agent I was scheduled to meet. After calling 3 times and no one answering, I was forced to leave my vehicle unattended in a tow zone to enter the building.
I enter the building and proceeded to ask the doorman if there was reserved parking for guests scheduled for viewings. (Please note that the doorman and the entire first floor had a very foul smell. It smelled very similar to a wet dog. The smell was very unpleasant! For a building asking over $ 3,600 for a 2br condo, I found this to be a bit shocking!) The doorman informed me that there was no parking on site, but if I drove 2 blocks I could find free parking on the street.
After finding street parking a few blocks away I made my way back to the building. I entered and asked the doorman where I could meet Ben. Ben is the agent that I was scheduled to meet to view the available units. The doorman then informed me that the leasing office was on the 6^th floor.
I proceeded to the sixth floor and walked around the entire floor looking for the leasing office. After a few minutes and no luck finding the leasing office, I decided to call the front desk and confirm that the leasing office was on the 6^th floor. At this point Ben answers my call. He informs me that the leasing office is actually on the second floor. t
Once I reach the second floor Ben apologizes for the doorman. He informs me that they hire their doorman from a third-​party company and that the doorman constantly change. He mentioned that the doorman was a new hire and he was not aware which floor the leasing office was on… But wait! This gets better!
Ben then proceeds to tap his watch three times and comments to me that he really does not have much time at this point to show me the units. He tells me that someone was scheduled for 12:30PM. However if we hurry, we can see a few units. (My appointment was at 12:00. Why would they schedule us 30 minutes apart??).
I can continue to describe my horrible experience which I can assure gets worse. But how horrible my experience was to this point, I believe is enough to portray the building.
I do want to mention the occurrence that wraps this all up well. As I was wrapping up my meeting with Ben he said that he would walk me down to the lobby. He mentions that perhaps the person who was scheduled for the 12:30PM appointment was waiting in the lobby. He shrugs his shoulder and says «Whatever, they are probably gone by now.» (At this point it was just a bit past 1:00PM) The poor gentleman or lady who was scheduled for the 12:30PM meeting was completely disrespected and disregarded.
Good luck if you plan a visit to view this building …

I moved in opening day (6÷1÷2012) and have been relatively happy with the building, location and staff. Initial move-​in was a bit hectic but could have been because I was coming from NC sight unseen. Most of the neighbors are nice and considerate; of course there is the occasional outlier; however, that happens everywhere.
Vince, Dave and Terrell that run the maintenance staff are awesome, always on point and willing to help out. The door staff are overworked (there should be two at peak hours) but stay generally friendly; however they don’t seem to stick around very long which is unfortunate. From what I hear their terminations seem to be unreasonable but I’m obviously only hearing one side of the story. The building itself has great common areas and the east facing apartments have amazing downtown/​lake views (I honestly don’t know if the view could get better). The dog run is large in comparison to others in the city and my dog thoroughly enjoys it. Thankfully the building is exceptionally dog friendly and seems to cater to pet owners (a facet I completely appreciate as I have a 100+lb dog).
The apartments don’t have tile backsplash in the kitchen nor a garbage disposal or stainless steel appliances; items you don’t really miss until you don’t have them. The floors seem cheap and scratch, buckle or separate easily. The worst of the construction seems to be the noise separation (or complete lack thereof) between apartments; unfortunately I hear every single phone call or conversation of my neighbors. At first, I thought the noise issue was just me (maybe I have super human hearing abilities?), but friends on other floors have similar issues.
The neighborhood is great, good shopping and some awesome restaurants just a short walk up Halstead (for the days you don’t do the usual Burger Bar or Wood Fired Pizza– both of which are killer). Transportation isn’t bad, Red Line or the 132÷8÷72 buses get you just about anywhere you need to go.
All in all, the location is great if you want to be slightly removed from the touristy hub-​bub but stay within easy access to just about everything. The construction could certainly be better.

Been a resident since the day it opened (6÷1÷12) and have been happy. Had some frustrations moving in, but those are in the rear view mirror now.
It’s a great area to live in — walking distance to Whole Foods, the North & Clybourn Red Line stop being key for me. I don’t have a car, so the easy access to lots of shopping in the vicinity is great, plus there are two Zipcars parked in the garage that are usually available.
The resident community is young — I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting a number of them thus far and they’ve all been great. Our pool has been very busy, and for good reason. Its spacious pool deck is a great place to hang out and the building pipes in music — really feels like you’re at a Day Club in Las Vegas. The gym is great and provides me everything I need to stay fit and happy.
I’d recommend an East facing apartment — the views of downtown are truly stunning and you avoid the afternoon sun that, I imagine, can really elevate your apartment’s temperature (maybe I’ll be singing a different tune in the winter???).