Water Tower Realty – 2140 Lincoln Park W. - Chicago, Illinois

Gregory D.

Shadiest Management company I have ever dealt with.
1. Gave me keys to the apt without everyone fully signing the lease. They drew up a one month lease at move in, then a three month lease. Then had me do a six month lease to “show ability to manage rent payments” even though I had not been late on payments yet then gave me another lease on my doorstep which they later said not to sign as it was in error , and then in month 7 after moving in, I had to sign the last six months to generate a full 12 month lease. So for one apt I had to sign or go through FIVE LEASE AGREEMENTS. And after all of that garbage, thirty days before my lease was to be renewed , they post on my front door that they are not renewing my lease and didn’t provide further explanation.
2. Their apt needed extermination for bugs twice before clean
3. During the summer months the building Had major mouse infestation though I was told by management they had never had mice in the building. I caught 8 mice in less than a week in my kitchen , and I lived on the top floor of a three story walk up.
4. Furnace , which was forced gas heat and the only way to heat my unit, went on the Fritz in December. I alerted management on a Friday afternoon and the live in building engineer did not come to look at the furnace until Monday morning.
5. Has to get an outside hvac professional to come on Saturday morning to fix furnace because my apt was sitting at 50 degrees. He said he had never seen a furnace in more disrepair and covered in mouse droppings in his entire career. Took an hour to clean the air return and change the filters which were so black no light could shine through them , and had to replace a burned out part. Management never reimbursed me for my troubles.
6. Charged 50 dollar install fee per window air conditioner per apt. Even if the AC was your own.
7. Sent to collections a bill for 593 dollars that hit my credit report last month. I never received a Bill, never received a phone call, and never received a notice that I owed this bogus amount. Instead they went and sold whatever debt they said I owed to another debt collection company to wipe their hands of it. Shady and underhanded the whole business.
8. Was not allowed to pay rent online like every other tenant because they made a snafu on their IT side so I had to physically take rent checks down to Lincoln park from Rogers park every month to the leasing office. Somehow after me petitioning for 9 months, they problem was solved and I was only able to pay online my rent for two months.

GIDEONNA B.

I lived in this apartment for two years and I did nothing but cry . Very unpleasant experience . Your mail will never be safe . Ever!! And the building managers will tell you that they aren’t liable for anything all the whole you are robbed daily in the lobby . They can also let maintenance in your apartment without consent . They charge extremely high fees for lock outs and key replacements. And the unit I lived in , not worth its weight in rent AT ALL . Save yourself the headache

Jennifer M.

I was about to rave about this rental company.

Maintenance is responsive and the timeliness and quality of the repairs exceeds my expectations.

HOWEVER

Their payment system is counterintuitive, has zero instruction and they refuse to accept responsibility for their deeply flawed system.

I was recently given a rent credit for renewing my lease. I was told the credit “would be applied to my account”.

WTRM failed to inform me that in order to USE the rent credit, I would need to log in to my account, UN-ENROLL FROM AUTO PAYMENT, manually make a one-time payment with the rent credit, then re-enroll in autopay.

Nowhere in the lease agreement, website, or in the pamphlet advertising the discount were these steps outlined. Only after I sent an email asking why they deducted my full rent (and after it was too late) was I told the process to use a rent credit.

Their mistake has cost me hundreds in fees with my bank because I budgeted for half the rent amount and put the other half toward student loans because I was told the balance “would be applied to my account” with no other information or instruction.

I am incredibly disappointed with this experience but also I’m disappointed with the response from the property management company.

Andrea G.

2 reviews
5.0 star rating 7/27/2016
I have to say that of all the management companies I have dealt with, WTRM is the best!

I lived in a 2 br for 5 years, when it was time to move to a smaller apt., they were very accommodating about letting me sign a lease and then move to a smaller unit.

Folks complained about the 2 washers and driers on each side of our building; we now have 3 new washers and driers on each side; yes, they are more expensive than the old ones but they not only work, no more quarters.

The rent went up each year I was in my old apt. However, it is on par with other apartments in the area and never an astronomical amt. from year to year. And the amenities are better than any other location.

The office staff (especially Valerie) have been amazing and receptive. Repairs happen in a timely manner.

Bakari B.

BED BUG!!!!! BED BUGS!!!!! AND RUDE MANAGEMENT!!!!!!!
I recently moved into this apartment building on June 1 2013. I am very displeased with everything from the management company to the bed bug infestation in this building. On Thursday 6/26/13 as I was laying around in my apartment I got up and saw a bed bug and I instantly called the management company. When I reported what I saw the leasing agent tried to blame it on me but then indicted that they did not have a bed bug infestation in a long time. She then went on to say that the exterminator will not be available until Monday 7/1/13 a whole four days from when I reported the problem. I indicated that bed bugs spread fast and I need someone immediately thus could she see if someone could come on as soon as possible. She said she would check but never got back to me. Then on Friday morning 6/28/13 I called but no one answered until 12pm at that time the leasing agent told me the exterminator had been in my apartment without my notification. However, they indicated that I should go to the apartment to check the work order. As such, I checked the work order which only indicated that delta dust was put down in my apartment. I then went to the leasing office to see if the exterminator could come back out they stated “that it was against their policy to have him come back until a week later and that I would have to pay for him to come again". They also stated that I would have to pay to have him come out again. However, I still have questions i.e. where the origin, how long have they been there is. I requested the exterminator's number which they gave to me after I complained for several minutes; I called him and left several messages but no response. I have also emailed the leasing agent and the CEO of the company Nick Harris but no response. I am now paying $500 dollars of my own money to get a real exterminator that will heat my whole apartment and perform the proper three step treatment process. They also have yet to inform my neighbors of my bed bug problem as they spread to other apartments and have not even taken prevention by inspecting the apartments around me. It disheartens me how rude and non-responsive they have been. I am left with heavy bill, bites all over my body and a rude management company. Please do not rent here. I am currently aiming to get out of my lease. It is just sad how they treat their tenants.

Signed
Displeased Tenant

TM M.

I paid my rent on time and they cashed it last January. Then, they harassed me and told me to pay up or get out. The refused to check their own book keepers so I have to contact the BBB to stop the harassment. They call my work, my mom, and my friends in addition to emails. The BBB is going to straighten them out.

Cipher S.

I loved my stay here for around 1.5 years and this place was exactly tailor-made for me. I was at 2140 N Lincoln Park West spot.

1. The best thing about this place was the location, just opposite to the park entrance. The view is awesome. So, if you ever get bored, there is all a green path between the N Lincoln Park West street and the parallel Stockton drive, just take your music system/instrument and chill out on the grass.

The Lincoln Park zoo, although not exactly a big zoo, but looks really really beautiful. It's more of a scenic recreational park.
There are really good restaurants/bars nearby of all sorts of ethnicities. Grocery stores, pharmacy store, café, etc. all nearby.
Lincoln park as a whole is a good young locality. You might be tempted more with River north, old town, etc. but I like greenery or recreational places near me in addition to ease of access, so this place worked really well for me. There was village life on one side and urban life on the other.

2. The lease process was no nonsense. No deposit, no movein/moveout fees, no application fees, nothing. Satisfy the leasing criteria, get your stuffs in. Inclusion of free heat was also a good deal.

3. For transportation, there are 4 buses within a block which covers almost the the entire city in north/south stretch. CTA train station is a little far away, but there is Clybourn Metra station nearby to go to the North/North-west suburbs, so you can skip the crowd of the union station.
There is free parking in most of the adjoining streets, paid parking is available on Clark and on a big parking lot around stockton/armitage. I see people crib about dedicated parking not available during LP light fest, but people are people, they crib about everything. Instead of crying, why don't you stay in 2130 N Lincoln Park West or Webster House buildings nearby, pay a fortune there and enjoy your dedicated parking, "Millennial"

4. I see that their property management guys take a lot of hit for being rude and all. See, whenever I had an issue here, it got resolved really quick and that's what matters to me. They even helped me at the time of moving out. You might see Faruk in the building and he will act as if he didn't see you or you might see Valerie in the elevator and she might ignore you completely, but honestly I never gave a damn about this. I am a professional myself, I was not there to build relationships and I can care least if someone likes me or not, yeah if they don't' answer my requests then that's a problem, which never happened to me.
At times, I do have to follow-up for my requests, but then I feel that those 3 guys in the leasing office are very overworked. They are looking into many buildings and requests, so I don't like to blame those 3 folks in the office for this delay.

5. As far as construction is concerned, it's definitely old. On the brighter side, the walls are really thick and I didn't hear my neighbors much. This was really good for a guy like me who has office calls with offsite team past midnight very often and who practice rock vocals. In my previous place, I could hear my neighbors fart too, phew.
Also, the rooms are very well isolated, so even if temperature outside is in 40s, you can still go commando inside your place.
The negative side, is the bugs/insects. I experience bed bugs once and I did end up losing my lovely new bed among other stuffs, as I had to throw them. But, to an extent my mistake too that I didn't detect the bugs early enough and once I got them, together with WTRM guys, after 3 back to back treatments, my unit was clean af
I have also heard people getting cockroaches and even spider. Although, I never got them even though I wanted them, I didn't have any pet and live a kinda lonely life, you know 🙁

I had to move out due to my new job in California, else there was no way that I was gonna leave this place anytime soon \m/

P.S.: Did I tell you, that the building has many awesome cool chicks? 😉
As far as the guys are concerned, the best one left with this review, so be content with the existing lot, lol

Bradford H.

Do not rent here if you like peace and quiet, professional management or problem resolution with issues with noisy tenants. Everyone slams doors, walls and ceilings and floors are paper thin and lots of unfriendly neighbors. You can find better. Wish I had looked harder.