Tenant Reviews for 732 W BITTERSWEET PL

I rented here for over 1 year. Unfortunately, the cons outweigh the pros. Firstly, I must say I actually enjoyed the environment that the building has. Great tennants, no noise problems, friendly people. Mostly people in their 20 and 30's maybe with a dog and/or one or two kids. I liked that the HOA put on a Christmas party for the tennants. I enjoyed the location and accessibility to express buses at the end of the street and it's close proximity to the lake. Also, the unit I rented was in great, modern shape. New appliances, polished hard-wood floors, nice carpet. I'm sad that after a full year of renting that I decided to leave. There were many, very good reasons to bail on 732 bittersweet. Firstly, when the building was rehabbed they removed the old steam pipes and replaced them with electric heating coils in each unit. Well, originally the steam pipes that were used to heat the building were also used to indirectly heat the water pipes in the walls. As a consequence of their removal, the water pipes will CONSTANTLY freeze in the winter and cause problems throughout the building. In fact, I made the mistake of not letting my water run (good thing I wasn't paying for water) while I was at work... when I got home my pipes froze, burst and caused water damage in my apartment and the apartment below me. They had to crack a hole in the bathroom wall to fix it. Not good. Also, closet and storage space in the units were almost non-existent. Parking is also in the crapper. The proximity of high-rise apartment buildings (high density population) and un-zoned parking make street parking in this area a commodity. Lastly, the windows were very drafty... putting up cellophane is a must in the winter and hot summer. Side note... when my lease was up the owner offered to sell me the unit (I would want to get rid of it, too). What I eventually learned from the HOA president, personally, was that the exterior building facade needed to be up to code. Apparently, the original developer apparently lied to the HOA in the past and will not fix it. All responsibility to fix it will EVENTUALLY be left upon the owners themselves. The verbal, verbatim number the president personally gave to me was "approximately $3 million". Divide this by the number of units (90??) and you come up with $20,000 to $30,000... not good. One very good reason why banks will probably have reservations to mortgage this place. Play it safe and look elsewhere to buy. Should you rent? Maybe, if you pay a lot less than what I did.

I have lived here for just over three years and thoroughly enjoy this building. Yeah, parking can be a ----- when you get home from work at 3am, but no big deal for most folks who work days. My neighbors are great and the building has a diverse mix of people. Many of the tenants are owners, but there are quite a few renters as well. It is an older building, but it suits me nicely. I have a great view of the lake on the top floor. The entire building helps out every year planting flowers that has become kind of a big deal. The board throws a Christmas party every year and puts up a tree. There seems to be a lot of effort by the board and the management company to have a positive living experience in the building. Bad reviews of the building are out there, but don't believe the hype. This really is a great place to live.

This place is horrible! The management company NEVER calls me back. I usually call 3-4 times a day just to try to get a hold of somebody. Also, my unit was one of the apts affected by the pipe burst last year. The management contracted the worst in the business to do the repairs. Then, they wanted to charge me for it! I should've done the work myself but I was told that it wasn't an option. I am now spending close to 1000 dollars to repair the damage done by the construction company. (Brandon Builders is a ---------- operation!) Also everyone living in the building is some yuppie wannabe. They all shop at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and can't wait until they can afford to live in the South Loop or Lincoln Park. There is ZERO closet space so if you own any clothes these apartments are not an option.

Dear readers, Please note that Bittersweet Place has been completely gut rehabbed. The units are small, but they're great. There have been some issues with the Freight Elevator, but they have been addressed and the elevator is in good working condition now. The facad of the building is being worked on as we speak. The people who own and rent in this building are friendly young professionals. Don't be fooled by all of the negative reviews below as these reviews were given when the building was a rental propery owned and operated by THE WORST outfit in Chicago. I assure you that this building and it's residents take great pride in 732 West Bittersweet Place. I know I do.

The apartments in this building look nice because they've all been renovated, but trust that this building is not up to current standards. The building was built sometime between 1910-1926-- I've been told 1912, 1916 and 1926, specifically, but have not confirmed. The boiler system in the basement that used to keep the pipes thawed is no longer in use. Consequently, when the temperatures dropped in February 2006, all of the pipes froze and many tenants were without properly running water for nearly the entire month. I had no water in my kitchen or bathroom sinks from January 30th through February 23rd, and water from my bathtub/shower was intermittent and unreliable. Imagine getting your cooking water out of the bathtub everyday. Aside from taking a month to restore running water to the affected units, the property management company and the building's condo association have stated that there are no immediate plans to correct this issue. Basically, if it gets this cold again next year, you can plan to be without running water until it warms up again.<br><br>Also, the freight elevator has been out of service for over a year. When I signed my lease in April 2006, I was told that the freight elevator was not working, but assured by the unit owner that the elevator would be in working order before my move in date at the end of May. Not only was the freight elevator NOT working when I moved in, it still has not been repaired to this date. The staircase spirals after the first level, so it is impossible to carry anything large in the stairwell. I could not fit my queen size bed up the stairwell and nearly did not fit it into the regular elevator. I had to take my couch apart in order to fit it into the elevator--I almost stored it, because I didn't think that we would be able to fit it. Moral of the story, if you have regular size furniture, I would ensure that the freight elevator has been repaired before you sign a lease. <br><br>Last, but I can predict that more will follow, there has been scaffolding at the front entrance of the building for over a year. Again, I was told that they were repairing terra cotta moulding on the exterior of the building. It was estimated that this would be completed sometime early summer 2006. The scaffolding has been there since I signed my lease in April 2006, but there has been no work done AT ALL. <br><br>One more thing, another rater wrote that the building is now primarily owner occupied. Surprise to the inviduals who do own units in the building, A LOT of units are being rented either by individual owners or a management company that has bought or leased open units: http://www.chicagoshorelineapts.com/<br>p.s. the prices listed are MUCH less than what I pay my landlord (an individual owner).<br>

A great place to live, the neighborhood and the building. I have been hearing about the development for a while now from some friends in the building. The developer (including his family) is not good people, but he will be out of there very soon. The new management is very good. The assessments went up from dirt cheap (developer's interests) to the normal level for a well functioning building; yet the assessments are still low in comparison to other multi-family complexes in Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Buena Park and Uptown.<br>I did my research. The tuckpointing is a contentious point. It is not going to be $3MM, who came up with this number? Which realtor, the one who got fired by the developer? A good reason to be bitter, but why misinform the rest of us? <br>The building is older than some (that's its value!) and needs upkeep work like any other building. Current Owner Association I've heard from the owners is doing a great job in maintaining the value. <br>Great buy and/or rental place.

This is a very interesting web site. I have to say that some of the comments are no longer valid as it is no longer an apartment building and has not been since May 2004. <br><br>The management company that is spoken of in disgust is no longer managing this property and I have to say that since the new management came on in March 2006, things have been much improved.<br><br>Farrah Topps and the rest of the Topps family, who own, manage, and build other buildings in the Chicagoland area as well, are very dishonest and unprofessional to say the least. So those comments I would agree with. I would do research on James, Gail, Farrah, and Chris.<br><br>In regards to the building itself. I would not say that it is a disaster and it DOES NOT need $3M worth of tuckpointing. That person is a moron. Don't believe realtors when they quote money, estimates, work needed, etc. <br><br>Finally, the people in this building are great.

I was due to close tomorrow and it's been a fight every step of the way. My body just froze when I read about Farah and the management when it was an apartment. I’ve purchased one condo conversion before and this has been far worse. Everything came to a halt when the developer couldn’t get a title. Because of this, some facts are surfacing and it makes sense why it’s been so hard!<br><br>My lawyer just told me that there are many building code violations, some are minor but a couple are major; one of the major code violation being the FAÇADE IS DETERIOATING!!! <br><br>I guess the attorney review was never really completed because developer/lawyer never responded to some of my lawyer’s request for more information (one of many red flags along the way). Thank goodness that should be enough to get me out of the contract. I should get my earnest money back but I lost my loan application fee. I also owe my lawyer and realtor major favors. I consider myself lucky though!<br><br>***I've never lived in the building so I have no opinion on the actually building and the people who live there***

If the realtor took the time to the read the property report they would have know there was an exam done for the city to inspect the tuckpointing. Plus i had a home inspector before buying. The tuckpointing is in great shape. <br><br>I think this realtor didn't get the listing and has sour grapes.<br><br>I own in this building and I love it!<br>I can see the lake from my bedroom, I can walk to the el, wrigley, coffee store etc..<br><br>Plus, we recently got our fitness center.<br><br>That other person needs to get a life!

For those of you idiots who think that by buying one of these cheap "condos", that you're getting a deal...take it from a realtor who knows. 732 Bittersweet needs MAJOR tuckpointing, to the tune of about $3million bucks. Tuckpointing the developer refuses to do before selling units to unsuspecting buyers, like you. <br><br>Guess what? In a few years, the tuckpointing will be necessary and if you divide the # of units in the building by 3 million bucks, each owner will owe about $20,000 for his or her share.<br><br>So have fun with your "bargain!"