Millennium Park Plaza

After living at MPP for two years, I moved out recently but only to move cities. Given the price, I loved MPP but recognize that it really was a mediocre apartment at best.
Pros — incredible location and very affordable rent
Cons — inept management and low quality construction
If you want a «nice» apartment, MPP is not for you.

It’s not AMAZING but for sure doesn’t deserve 2 stars. I like the amenities especially the roof deck!

I generally agree with everyone’s assessments below. The staff are friendly, I have never had a problem with management and maintenance response time has been quick. Another major positive is the location of the building. It is very easy to get to any L stations and to my office.
But the major downside is… the location of the building. It doesn’t seem that anyone has mentioned this in the reviews yet, but as summer approaches, I am reminded how noisy it is in this building. Not any noise created by the residents, but everything else outside. Any time a car goes by with loud music or the engine makes a noise, I hear it. When those stupid drummers or xylophonist or trumpet player set up shop on Michigan and Randolph, they may as well be in my bedroom. Its seriously that hard to escape the din. Add that to the concerts and movies in Millennium Park that last until 10 p.m., construction of a new building across the street, and improvements to the side of this building that start at 7 a.m., and there is literally never a moment when it is quiet. There is nothing management can do about any of this, though they did send out an email asking residents to call the cops on any drummer or other noise maker on the corner.
My apartment faces the Beaubien side of the building, so maybe its different for the Michigan Ave. side residents.
Also, the design of the building was poorly planned. They just finished remodeling and its like the designers purposely tried to make it as difficult as possible to get in and out of the building. If you have a bike or a stroller, be prepared to struggle with the doors and up and down stairs. My bike handlebars need to be massaged just so to get through the entrance to the elevator bay. Plus they got rid of the stairs that took you to the loading dock and parking garage. You are now forced to wait for the elevators, which as people have hashed out in more detail below, can take forever.
Finally, I can’t count the number of times that the «automatic» rent payment system has broke down on me and my roommates. Sometimes it just doesn’t take my rent money. For no reason at all. Then I have to go through the hassle of calling the building’s accountant and finding extra funds in my account just in case it withdraws double rent money a few days after I make a payment (this has happened twice). The website is truly terrible.
I’ll be moving out at the end of my lease term.

I’m going to second Irene’s feedback below and give MPP positive marks. I am also a Chicago Booth student, and I’ve been content with MPP during my two years here.
Pros:
— The rent is the cheapest you’ll find in the loop (although they may have increased rent over the past two years — we got locked in for the 2013 rates).
— The amenities are decent; if you want, you can go and pay a premium at Tides, Shoreham, and Columbus Plaza, and you’ll get a better gym, a larger swimming pool, and private laundry. You get what you pay for.
— Ultra convenient: LA Fitness is about a stone’s throw away, the Metra station is right across the street, and there is some decent food within 200 meters on Michigan Avenue.
— The construction is done and everything looks really nice.
— The staff has generally been really friendly. Shoutout to Erin at the front desk, and Art, the maintenance guy who used to deliver my packages. Thanks for being so pleasant!
— Just like Irene said, each time we’ve had a maintenance issue, it took less than 24 hours for someone to show up and take care of it.
Cons:
— Yes, the elevator waits sometimes get long when us students have class. Avoid 8am, 11:30am, and 5pm if you can.
— The internet sucks sometimes if you’re a gamer. If you hardwire it (don’t use a router), it’s a lot better, and generally serviceable for HD movies on Netflix and gaming.
No, MPP probably doesn’t deserve 5 stars. If I were being honest, I’d give it a B– or B for my time here. However, I thought MPP deserved more than 2 star rating, so I’m giving it a bit of a bump.
My stay has been pleasant.

The internet is beyond terrible. It drops constantly. Not that I need a constant connection anyway, considering «online video games» are explicitly banned in the apartments.
This place has been under construction for like a year now.
I wish I had anything positive to say.

I suppose I’ll be a contrarian on this one.
MPP used to be saddled with awful construction, but by now, it seems that it is pretty much (perhaps completely) over. This place is really not as awful as reviews would make it seem. I’m a Chicago Booth student and over 150 of us live here, and the network effects are totally worth it – taking the elevator to my friend’s place when it’s negative 30 degrees outside is amazing. The apartments are cheaper than others in the area, and whenever I need a light bulb changed, it happens within 24 hours, usually under 12 hours. The guys at the front desk are friendly and nice.
There have certainly been a comedy of errors here, most of which you can read about below, but for the last few months, I’d say there’s nothing wrong with this place at all.
Except the construction noise going on across the street at Lake & Michigan. Though there’s really nothing MPP Management can do about that.

This is the worst place you could live in the Loop. Rent is artificially inflated by Chicago Booth students so you have no business being here if you aren’t one. Shared laundry. No garbage disposal. Constant construction noise.

Great location, but terrible building. I’ve been staying here for five years and the construction has never ended. Endless waits to get on the elevator — God help you if get outside the building and realize you left something in your apartment. That’ll cost you ten minutes.
Also, there are countless maintanence issues.

I lived here for two years and especially regretted living here during my last year. The first year was marked by the apathy of the managers and the second year by massive amounts of inconvenience and poor treatment. I remember waking up to jackhammers in the early morning, having several entrances blocked preventing me from exiting the building, blocked off elevators with extremely long lines, and horrifyingly bad internet service that would consistently drop.
I am extremely glad I moved out of the place and would suggest other people to find other living situations that are better.

This building is run by a bunch of idiot savants. Management basically doesn’t care about their tenants. While the location is great and the units are tolerable, management constantly lies to us. For example, the building is currently undergoing an upgrade but management consistently keeps residents in the dark regarding date of completion. Due to the work, sometimes I would wait over 10 minutes for an elevator. Management has the audacity to think that a bag of cheap popcorn and disgusting free pizza will make up for what they put us through.
I should note though that most of the staff (outside of management) are great — the doormen are typically very kind and the repairmen, if called upon, tend to be pretty quick and responsive. But that doesn’t make up for the abyss that is MPP.

Also, whether or not the renovation gets completed, internet is still a huge issue. It drops unpredictably (and more often in the daytime than at night), which is a huge nuisance as you lose your connection when you least expect it.
Glad I moved out. Location is great, management is terrible.

I’ve been living in this building for a year now, and the experience has been far from pleasant.
Pros: Central location. Good facilities (pool, gym, etc.). Cheaper rents compared to some other buildings in the neighborhood. Front desk staff is courteous and helpful.
Cons: The management here is awful! They have absolutely no concern for their residents’ well-​being. The building is currently undergoing renovations. Understandably, residents will face some inconveniences. However, the incompetent management of the renovations and complete failure to keep residents adequately informed has made the experience unpleasant.
1. Why won’t the management simply give residents a schedule for how long the renovations are going to take? We have been hearing «another few weeks» for a long time now.
2. The way the renovations have been managed is also ridiculous. This morning, only 2 out of 6 elevators serving 30+ floors were in service. 2 functioning elevators for 30+ floors?!? Also, the only way a resident discovers that only one elevator is functioning in each of the 2 elevator banks is by waiting for close to 15 minutes to get one. Absolutely no word from the management!

If existing tenants are giving you rave reviews, remember that they get a $ 750 referral fee from MPP, so you might want to double check their story. This fee has gone up from $ 500 last year bc obviously they need any help they can get.
I’ve been here 2 years now. Here’s my personal experience:
Pros: location is fairly central if you don’t mind the hoards of tourists, affordable compared to other buildings in the neighborhood.
Cons: pretty much everything else.
Most inexcusable is the poor management of the building. I’ve lived in lots of poorly managed properties in big cities as well as developing countries, but none compare to just how awful management is at MPP. Do not expect a prompt or professional response from the management office when you seek them out for anything (except if it’s about paying them). An entire year has passed since our previous roommate moved out, yet management has still not removed his name and his subletter’s name off our lease agreement, despite multiple emails requesting the change. Also, pretty sure that they are violating a slew of building and fire codes with all the construction that’s been happening (pretty much throughout the 2 years I’ve been here and with very little warning). There have been several instances where water has been shut off without any warning and has been off for up to a few days.
If you’re a student or a light sleeper, don’t expect to get much peace as construction noises (jackhammers, drills, etc) are going off from 6am until 6pm on some days. There’s currently only one exit for the entire building, and it requires that you go up a few flights of stairs and then find your respective elevator amid the construction. In addition, the stairs going down end at the 2^nd floor and it’s impossible to find the next set of stairs out the building. Let’s hope we don’t have a fire.
The more seasoned front desk staff are great (Sam, Rich, Dormell), but management decided to hire a bunch of new staff that literally do nothing except gossip in a circle with each other and ogle (and make inappropriate comments) at the women that live in the building. A lot of students live here, so if you’re not a student, consider the higher noise levels.
I could go on… But I’m moving out in 2 months so maybe things will change after that? Haha. Right.

I hardly ever take the time to write reviews, but it’s absolutely necessary to warn people of the horrible management in this building.
The ongoing construction over the last YEAR have revealed a lot of the faults with management. They gave no indication as to the degree or length of inconveniences that we would have when having us sign our lease for the year. When there are elevator outages, the most helpful warning we get is a sign saying that there will be intermittent service throughout the day, please allow 10 extra minutes to your commute. TEN MINUTES spent waiting for the elevator on almost a daily basis.
but beyond the construction, because that will eventually (maybe) be finished. The package delivery system is terrible. You are often not notified of packages until 24 – 48 hours after they are delivered. Almost everyone I know in the building has had multiple arguments with the loading dock, showing them a record of delivery, and having MPP tell them that the package isn’t there yet. There have also been multiple instances of lost packages, in which MPP claims absolutely no fault.
there is absolutely no security. Absolutely nobody gets stopped by the front desk, and because of the construction there is no need to get buzzed in. Anybody can just walk in with no issues at all.
As many other reviews have mentioned, the internet is terrible! management touts this as a benefit of the apartment, but does nothing to ensure quality.
I could go on and on, but bottom line — DONT LIVE HERE

The construction is a terrible inconvenience. The elevators are often shut down during peak hours which causes elevators cars to be heavily congested, when you are able to land one. It takes up to 20 minutes to get an elevator sometimes. Also, each week, there is a new path you need to take to get in and out of the building, which is very confusing. Further, there is no security right now. The door that you once needed a fob to get in doesn’t exist. Pretty much anyone can get into the building, no questions asked.
The building also advertises that internet is included but the internet connection is awful. It is constantly cutting in and out and is very slow in general.
I initially moved into the building because of the affordable rent and ideal location. However, at this point I feel like I definitely overpaid to live here.

After waking up to the sounds of jackhammers for over a year, I feel the need to actively discourage other people from living here.
MPP is a living nightmare. I’ve been here for the last 2 years because of the following reasons:
1. It is very close to the Metra, which takes me and half the building down to Hyde Park for MBA school.
2. It is cheap and I am currently poor.
These are literally the only pluses to living here. Let me do a quick rundown of the cons:
1. Never-​ending construction. It’s taken over a year to renovate the lobby. First, the back staircase was shut down. Then the south. Then the north. We are now sent through a veritable maze just to find the elevators. Wonderful construction planning.
2. Random water shutoffs. Hope you have friends nearby to use their shower during emergencies!
3. Elevator banks randomly shut down. Good luck being on time after waiting on your floor for 20 minutes.
4. Unreliable laundry. I’ve lost at least $ 20 to the machine breaking down, the cards not working, etc. I’ve talked to the manager and was there even an offer of just giving me the money back? Of course not, that wouldn’t make sense here.
5. The internet/​DirecTV gives out suddenly and for no reason. Then, you are forced to go through some random 3^rd-​party provider who makes Comcast service look like the Ritz-​Carlton.
6. They raised rent while continually downgrading the living experience since I’ve been here. Thanks for that extra little barb.

My fellow MPP neighbors have some pretty horrid things to say about this place (just keep reading the reviews — you’ll find them).
Having lived in 6 different apartment complexes across the city of Chicago, I have to admit that this one is pretty much on par with all the rest of them (i.e. management is apathetic and conditions are, at best, inconvenient and at worst, dangerous). My 2 years here have been just as hit or miss as everywhere else I’ve lived. **Caveat: this is the first time I’ve lived in the Loop, so I don’t know about other places nearby**
However, there are a few things about MPP that you should know before deciding to sign a lease:
(1) Management communication is laughably horrible. Almost as bad as their response time to serious issues (think: water outages, flooded bathrooms, etc). No one was informed of the planned construction until after it started, and we still haven’t been given an end date.
(2) The construction is terrible, and you don’t get ANY rent relief or additional amenities. And no, MPP management: a handful of bottled waters and juices to service the ENTIRE building Do. Not. Count. I bet when the construction ends (IF it ends), they’ll jack up apartment rates even higher. Not worth it.
(3) Be prepared to share your front sidewalk with the eight zillion tourists that flood Michigan Avenue nonstop. And the street performers that cater to them (i.e. the kids w/​bucket drums).
I honestly think it’s worth it to take a look at other buildings nearby, especially ones a little further off Michigan… it’s worth the extra 5 minute walk to wherever you need to be.

I haven’t written many scathing reviews. But I’m about to up that by 1.
Off the bat, I want to tell every single person looking at MPP as they’re starting school to NOT LIVE HERE. Spend a few extra bucks and look in other buildings in the area.
This is, by far, the worst place I have ever lived in. Setting false expectations from the outset and then not delivering on them shows absolute disregard for tenants who pay a lot of money to live in a place that offers basic amenities promised reliably. RELIABLY. And that’s something MPP just does not do well. On any budget, and especially on a student budget, this is just unacceptable.
There’s an issue with pretty much everything that you can name here. In no particular order —
1. Things just break down. For example, the internet, which is included in the rent, but we’re supposed to talk to the cable company when its down (which it is often). Then there’s the insulation, which just doesn’t work. My heater breaks down so often that now I’m more inclined to bundle up in the apartment than call and talk to the management. Speaking to them just reminds me of their absolute disregard for their tenants. (except for the security guards downstairs — they’re pleasant enough)
2. The construction was supposed to last for a ‘short while.’ The short while has now stretched to over 1 year now, with no respite. In fact, every passing day (and every email from the incredibly patronizing management) competes to outdo the ridiculousness and obnoxiousness of the previous. This is what I pay 1K+ for (live in a 3 bedroom). Absolutely unacceptable. And they have the nerve to raise the rent — the building looks like shit, it’s always a task in the morning to figure out which elevator to take, as it is to figure out which one to get on when coming back, and its just ingratiating beyond means to see so many construction workers around all the time obstructing the way and yelling/​drilling all the time. So much for making things comfortable for tenants now.
3. I understand the management is not entirely responsible for not changing anything. But they have a responsibility towards making sure our complaints reach and then are acted upon, especially when its been going on for so long. Going by the reviews recently, I am not the only one complaining — complaints have come from nearly every other person for various reasons and the fact that nothing is done about it other than patronizing emails coming in saying «we understand and we apologize» over and over again is just ridiculous.
Just save your money, time, energy, AND sanity and live somewhere else. The hundred/​couple of hundred bucks is just not worth it. Not at all. And you will NOT get the things you were promised.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE ‘CHEAP RATES’ AT THIS APARTMENT. This has hands down been the worst apartment experience I have ever had.
The main concern for this apartment is the Management. Mainly, Terry Patrick. Everyone else has attempted to help or tried to ease concerns. The management on the other hand continues to lie to and deceive its residents.
1. Construction — Residents were never told when signing the lease the longevity and severity of the construction. We were told there would be some remodeling and that it would be done in a few months. One year later, its worse than ever. Elevators don’t work (you’ll be waiting 10 – 15 minutes for one), there is only one entrance and exit for the building, and things are routinely out of order. Rent continues to increase every year, but construction does not stop. When large apartment tours come around they actually tried to hide all the bad stuff — pushed elevators closed, opened construction areas, put up pretty pictures (all in the name of sales). Everything went back to normal once the tours left.
2. Heat — The apartments are very poorly insulated. If you get an apartment on the 38^th floor DO NOT TAKE IT! I had a 186 sq ft studio and my heating bills for winter bills were approximately $ 125 a month (sometimes more). My apartment continued to stay very cold — never going above 65 degrees with the heat running all day. After months and months of complaining I finally got another heating unit installed. My bills are still high but at least I’m warm. I have never been so patronized before by a landlord when I’ve complained about legitimate issues I had. I was ignored for several months and when I showed Terry my heating bills, she said there was nothing wrong.
3. Service — The front desk is very nice and wants to help, but can’t do much around management. The management does not want to be straight forward or willing to listen to its residents when problems arise. Even asking simple questions about lease terms, subletting, etc are met with rude or patronizing responses.
The apartments may look appealing to students who are shopping on a budget. However, you run the risk of getting what you paid for in terms of service and quality.

Just walk away. Please don’t waste your time. What once was a good deal is pretty horrible right now with the construction. Elevator issues, elevators closed off, management unresponsiveness, doors being closed off, lobby half closed, packages lost, explosions, fires and probably more to come… If the construction is completed you’ll be paying too much for an average apartment space. Pay the extra money and live in another building.