University Village

Great track around UIC
Family friendly and great parks in the immediate area.

great neighborhood slightly outside downtown chicago! we came here for mario’s lemonade, and ended up strolling the entire length of this neighborhood. since this is UIC territory, it is crawling with students, therefore most restaurants are very affordable. aside from mario’s, there’s a bakery, lots of bars, and many choices of international cuisines. parking is a bit cheaper here, $ 1.75 to park on the street compared to $ 3.50 in «the loop» and its surrounding neighborhoods. safety is not a concern during broad daylight (at least, not for me), but i would be more cautious once the sun sets since there are some pockets that are not heavily populated. use the buddy system when walking at night!

So, I felt an update was needed:
The homeowners recently took over management of the homeowners’ association in one of the most contentious, emotional meetings that I ever attended. Sole focus of most homeowners’ ire was Wolin-​Levin «service» coupled with concern over leaking roofs; issues EMOTIONALLY raised by many homeowners in attendance.
Unfortunately, much of the homeowners’ ire ended up being focused on the building contractors — some legitimately. To their credit, UV builder management tried to calm the concerns of the homeowners. Wolin-​Levin however, remained arrogant, even defiant to the hostility and emotion directed at them by many homeowners.
Considering their inability to deal with simple property management matters like remembering to drain (or correctly draining) the sprinkler system in the Fall of 2007, then being prodded to repair the system by homeowners the following SUMMER, and then (still) not repairing lawns that were destroyed by lack of water from the broken system or by the sprinkler system repair work; or, by correctly and carefully examining roofs annually for damage or inoperative ice-​melting equipment — Wolin-​Levin has proven (to me at least) that they are only interested in skating by as cheaply and ineffectively as they can. Worse, they don’t take responsibility for their ineptitude and apparently don’t give a damn if they cost homeowners money to repair their homes due to Wolin-​Levin ineffectiveness and incompetence.
I applaud the efforts of the building contractor (to be sure, some don’t) to be responsive and supportive. Hopefully, the new homeowner association board will look elsewhere for property management contractors and will ignore any suggestions from Wolin-​Levin for outside assistance (e.g., legal help). Irrespective of Wolin-​Levin, I’ve raised my rating from 1 star because I really love this area, as do many of the other homeowners.

I’m at the cusp of Pilsen and University Village and I love, love, LOVE this area. I know, why the 4-​stars, right?
Well, I wish the some parts of the neighborhood wasn’t so shady. Yes, Halsted Street between Roosevelt and 16^th is lovely, but SOMETIMES I still get worried walking alone even in the day time. Luckily there are cops around all the time.
I love UV because there is a good selection of restaurants!
Not just chains!

Yes, complain all you want… but this is the direction that the city of Chicago is going, AKA: Gentrification Alert! My boyfriend went to UIC back in the ‘90s and this area was somewhere for outsiders to steer away from. Not until now has UIC become a «true» university with student life/​activities/​residence halls. I am not speaking pro-​UIC, nor am I a graduate from there, but I am happy that the area is well lit, has become revived, possesses a good amount of night life/​restaurants (and not just solely chains as other reviews mention) and the best part, RESTORED the old building facades and just replaced the back portions of the buildings. Sadly enough, I wish the historical posters mentioned the location of the new Maxwell Street Market AND that the UIC East Campus maps were removed. They don’t own it just bombard it! Yet, I think it is not all bad and is definitely somewhere to explore.