Lakeview Associates

My apartment is the envy of all of my friends, both in the Lakeview East/​Lincoln Park area and elsewhere. I was able to get a phenomenal amount of space for what I would say is a decent price. Especially if you’re a female looking to live alone, this is one of the safest buildings you can find without a doorman in the area.
I don’t want to discount other people’s experiences in the reviews section here, but I can tell you that I have been living in the building for four months and everything has been wonderful.
The building isn’t new, but it certainly is not falling apart. I chose this location for the oak parquet floors, black and white tile floor in the bathroom and crown molding. I love those charming touches. Nothing in my apartment has broken or fallen apart, and my water is not yellow as another user stated.
While the laundry does end up costing close to $ 5 per load, it’s done in 70 minutes. Based on my other rental experiences, this is record time.
I also really enjoy working with and speaking to Ilana, the building manager. She’s very friendly and was beyond helpful with the entire process as I was making the move from 1,200 miles away.
Not only do I love my building, but I’ve referred close friends. One piece of advice for those looking– try to live on the 6^th floor or above for the best views.

I love my landlords at Lakeview Associates and can’t believe all the negative reviews! My husband and I have renting from them for four years and have had nothing but positive – and prompt – interactions with the staff. Especially Ilana! Love her! Tom is great too, as are the maintenance men! Rent here! You won’t regret it!

As others have said, there are definitely some things that you should know before moving into this building!
1. House centipedes and spiders like CRAZY! I took all of the steps to get rid of them myself, which worked, but just be prepared to deal with that. Sort of to be expected in an older building though.
2. Hot water heat is included, but you’re going to need an electric heater in order to not freeze during the winter. It’s funny because the lobby and laundry room are warm, I would even say very hot, but my apartment is freezing! The heat comes on in cycles, and it’s warm when it is on, but that is not often.
3. Laundry is very expensive, about $ 5 a load.
4. The building staff are not the most pleasant people to deal with:((almost deferred me from renting my apartment in the first place)
5. The elevators are a little bit horrifying. It’s never happened to me, but I’ve heard stories of other tenants getting stuck in them for a while. They are often out of order (meaning 11 stories of stairs for me) and are very slow even when they are working.
6. Be prepared for move in/​move out. On my move in day we were given 1 hour to move into my apartment. It was ridiculous! I’ve heard moving out is the same way.
7. The walls are very thin… I can hear whole conversations and the man upstairs constantly yelling at his cat. I feel like Mr. Heckles.
If you are prepared for these things it’s a pretty good place to live.
It is still pretty expensive to live in the building, but for the amazing area it’s in it is definitely worth it to me! Within walking distance to TJ’s, Walmart, all of the Clark street shopping, The Market Place is on the same block, and the park is a block away. There are also a ton of bus stops within a block or so.
The roof is amazing! A huge selling point for me. It’s so nice during the summer to have people over and have a breathtaking view of the city and the lake.

Beware. The only decent thing about this building is its location. The walls are paper thin. As many have said you can literally hear your neighbors conversations clearly. Good luck getting any couches in here. The elevator is tiny and the door frames and hallways make moving a nightmare.
The management is rude and hostile. Looking at you Ilana!
The apartments are falling apart, the wood flooring is half broken, step on one and they brake apart. There is a serious problem with the walls near the windows. They are eroding and the paint cracks off in HUGE chunks.
The kitchens are so small you can barely boil water without knocking into things.
Yon can get much better for just a little bit more a month.
Also false advertising, they don’t h ave a gym. And their laundry is extremely expensive. Over four dollars for ONE load!
Do not be fooled by the no security deposit and advertising, this place is a hell hole.

This is a bad place to live.
This building is falling apart. What they describe as «vintage charm» is really old crap! Everything breaks down. Management could care less. They did not even clean my unit before I moved in! It has years of dirt and grub and even food from the previous tenant. Roaches and all. Shame on them.
Walls are paper thin! I can hear every single thing going on in units surrounding me. I can hear conversations. I should not be able to hear conversations. Not to mention lots of students live here who have parties on the regular. It’s like a frat house. Constantly being woken up to noisey recent college grads yelling at their boyfriends or girlfriends DRUNK. Once my neighbor’s guy that was over broke her front door in. Yep that gives you an idea of the residents that live here and how paper thin even the front doors are.
Laundry is ridiculously expensive $ 2.50 per load of wash and $ 2.50 per load to dry. Unacceptable.
They do not have a gym. They have a little room that leads to the roof deck that has mirrors in it and two machines from the 70s– yep that’s their «gym.» I don’t need a gym but it’s worth pointing out because they advertise that they have a gym. I guess they can get away with calling it that.
THE WATER IS TINTED YELLOW/​BROWN.
Please take this as a serious warning. Do not live here.

I’ve lived in this building for that past year. There’s some warnings that should be made first, then I’ll talk about the good stuff.
First, if you live on the 1^st or 2^nd floor, be prepared to wake up every morning around 7am to the sound of either a very very loud vacuum going in the lobby area (the walls and doors are very thin apparently) or by the maintenance guys dumping garbage into the dumpsters right outside your apartment. Apparently, the idea of doing the quiet jobs early in the morning never crossed their minds.
Second, if you live on one of the top floors, be prepared to wait for long periods of time for the elevators… they take forever.
Third, the laundry is very expensive. It costs $ 5 to just buy a laundry card, then it is $ 4.50 per load of laundry. Outrageous! It’s double the cost of my last apartment building, which was a much nicer building.
Ok ok, here’s the good stuff:
The building manager is very responsive and has an office on site with is helpful. Any issues that needed to be addressed were always taken care of within 48 hours.
It’s very inexpensive to live here and the apartments are pretty nice. I have more counter space and cabinets in my studio than my friends with 1 bedrooms have combined.
The building has a key fob system for entry which made me feel safe b/​c they cannot be duplicated and passed around like ordinary keys.
If I could have afforded a 1 bedroom here, i would have stayed and just moved up a couple floors to avoid the noise and been very happy.

Personally I have rented from 4 property management offices in Chicago. Professionally I have worked with hundreds. I am an Interior Designer and a Move Management Specialist. LAKEVIEW ASSOCIATES IS THE WORST. PERIOD. Very difficult office to deal with. The remaining two months of my lease I experienced daily showings, personal belongings were moved, and on occassion broken. I was even under a medical quarentine and the managment office pushed their way into my studio apartment. They were informed of my condition and still showed the room as I lay in bed with a contagious fever. But the worst was on moving day. My elevator was scheduled weeks in advance and we were underway with the move. 30 minutes into the move I was told by Ilana, the property manager for 2738 N Pine Grove, that I had only one hour to move out. Not only is that an unreasonable time allowance for a move, it was not told to me until the day of the move — 30 minutes into the move.
The building is nice, but I strongly advise DO NOT RENT FROM LAKEVIEW ASSOCIATES!