Algonquin Apartments

I’ve lived in the Algonquin for about 2 years now and for the price, it is a pretty decent place to live (not saying that it’s cheap, because it’s not — as the area has skyrocketed in recent years because of the boom of new businesses/​retail. But in comparison, it is a «steal»).
Hands down, the biggest issue here is the management company — Mac Properties. Honestly, the Algonquin might as well not have any management, because that’s what it seems like. The building (s) used to have its own management team on location, but now is managed by a «Resident Success Team» from Mac (that works out of the Regent’s Park apartment building) that is 1) difficult to get a hold of 2) unresponsive to maintenance issues 3) non-​communicative in general.
And don’t get me started on the laundry situation. If the machines are working properly (which is like 70% of the time) then the card machine you have to use to refill your laundry card is broken. Which, by the way, is only in one of the 6 buildings meaning if you don’t happen to live in the building that houses the card machine, then you can only fill your card during certain hours of the day — which is oh, so convenient.
What keeps me at the property is the apartments themselves. They are modern (renovated) unlike most apartments in Hyde Park and the location is top notch. Right next to the lake (some lake views depending on which building and which side of the building you live on), close to public transit (CTA and Metra) and close to 53^rd street and all it has to offer.
What’s difficult about renting in Hyde Park is that Mac unfortunately owns most of the nicer properties in the neighborhood.
Honestly, if you can avoid renting with Mac I highly suggest it.

Sigh. So much to say.
Positives:
+Algonquin is one of the few renovated apartment complexes in Hyde Park, which is clutch because the neighborhood is very vintage. Modern and sleek, nice views… it’s a sexy place to live.
+Location is awesome. Right off Lakeshore Dr, at LEAST 5 different bus routes in a short walk, metra right outside, divvys everywhere, close to treasure island, la fitness, etc.
+Free internet. Not the best, but it works.
+Personal experience — I’ve never had major maintenance issues. When something does break, help is sent rather quickly.
+Secure. Need a fob or buzz-​in to get access.
+Floor to ceiling mirror closet doors. Big plus for me.
Negatives:
–Tiny bathroom and storage space. I’m outgrowing the place, quite frankly.
–Paper thin walls. I can literally hear my neighbor peeing. It’s gross. It’s even grosser than I’ve gotten used to it, though.
–The metra and amtrak are super loud. I have to turn up my television when they run by.
–Heating is a joke. Our apartment barely got over 65 all winter, thank God we can demand space heaters. If the thermostat is set to 90 degrees I should NOT be able to rest my hand on the vents and feel nothing! My BREATH gets warmer than the apartment. It’s ridiculous, we all pay way too much money to freeze
–On the other spectrum, the rooms with no AC unit are basically hell. Whenever the weather breaks 80 degrees, my room is literally (ok figuratively) set on broil from about 4 – 7 pm. The heat is extreme and dry, almost suffocating. This summer it got to the point that I don’t even go to my room when I get home from work, I just sit in the living room and wait for the sun to go down. Pity.
–The laundry room is terrible. $ 2 wash $ 1.50 dry, and the machines are RARELY functioning. One day I spent 5 hours washing and drying and redrying and redrying 2 stupid little loads. I called management and was sent off several times until I eventually wrote a looonnnggg letter to D Lansley (the new property manager). What happened? I was completely ignored.
–The gym is dingy, outdated, and small.
–Speaking of management, this complex recently went through some major changes. We went from having our own leasing office and service team onsite, to being absolved into the MUCH larger complex next door (Regent’s Park). It is literally10x harder to get in contact with anybody now. I can basically get nothing done! Example, last time I called with an issue I was given at least 3 different names and numbers and every person said they weren’t who I was supposed to be talking to. I just gave up. We need our own team back! I miss Jolie! This was the final straw between 4 stars and 3 for me.

I’ve lived here since the Fall of 2012 and have experienced a dramatic decline in both services and accountability.
1.Laundry rooms are a joke. Currently there is one working dryer. This problem has persisted since I moved into the building. Luckily I am not dependent upon the building to fulfill this need. Management has made no serious effort to fix this problem. Additionally, laundry cards can only be recharged in one building.
2. Poor communication between management in residents. The management transition is a great example of this issue,
3. Shoddy record keeping. I was told I had a balance on my account. Luckily I was able to provide proof that rent had been paid consistently and on time.
4. Package deliver. I’m not sure what the problem is here, but package are often left unattended in the lobby for days.
5. This is my personal opinion, but I do not care for the cheap cosmetic upgrades made to the elevators. It traps more urine and dirt on the floor.

This building sucks ass!!! Everything is ALWAYS broken and it takes them days to repair. Looks nice but is not worth the money

Lived at Algonquin for several years below you find helpful information to determine if you would like to live here:
Laundry units in the basement are old and constantly break down. You have to demand refunds which you may or may not receive.
Stayed in a non pet friendly building but people snuck in their lovely animals. The elevator became the urine express because every time you get on it smells like urine and literally you would stand in puddles of it. When you walk outside take in a deep breath of fresh poop in the air. The irresponsible pet owners leave their animals lovely gifts around– watch your step!
Your basement proxy card may get cut off randomly. It work one day and not the next so don’t leave anything you may need down there.
The windows are nice but in the winter you feel a nice draft! Keep your space heater handy.
Monthly activities were nice… Now they combine them with regents. Not as personable.
The fitness center has old equipment — be careful.
People steal packages and the delivery people will leave them in the front of the building. Get a box at the post office. If it’s important get insurance or request a signature.
They use to have a separate leasing office. This was nice. Unfortunately since they merged with regents since it’s all «Mac apartments» it’s been a mess! There was no notification of the apartment switch so all of a sudden you go by the office and it’s closed. Funny thing is they have email info, phone number, and living address and failed to communicate this transition properly! After informing them of this there was a note in .8 font in the display case in the lobby. That was the start of the snowball that just kept going downhill. The new management did the switch without establishing properly with fed ex ups and usps. Several packages ended up missing and to make matters worse the usps carrier can not deliver packages to regents because they already have two Vans units that go there and they are not zoned to go there.
The only Reason why they get any stars is because of Jolie at least when she was there things we’re maintained and if I had an issue it would be resolved immediately. Don’t waste your time. There are plenty of places to stay in Hyde park. Always talk to a few current residents before you make a decision. Don’t talk to the ones that want to get a rent deduction for their referral… They will just tell you anything.

Bumping down a star. All my previous comments stay the same, but a few things to add.
As others have mentioned, they divide the heat/​hot water bill for the building based on your apartment size (it is capped, though). So, no matter how much/​how little heat or hot water you use, it’s pretty much up to how much everyone else uses it. Add to that the fact that because of the way their heating system is, and landlord heat laws in Chicago, and the heat is on from mid-​September through June. I’ve paid the capped heating bill every month I’ve been here (moved in in December) except for August (which was the bill from June, when the heat was off). Add to that that come May it was so hot in my apartment that I had to have the a/​c on, so I was basically paying to heat my apartment (through this shared cost), and cool it (through my individual electric bill). I’m not a fan of that system.
Also, just got my lease renewal information, and rent is going up anywhere from 6−10% (based on the lease term), which seems high based on the research I’ve done. Additionally, I’ve emailed both the property manager (who is usually quite responsive) and the general leasing email about my lease renewal, and haven’t heard anything in a week.

Funny how a «bad» (honest) review about MAC management is mysteriously deleted from a Unilocal comment board. So I’ll repeat:
Do not live in Algonquin Apartments! Where do I begin?
The management is unprofessional and incompetent. As stated by a previous reviewer, there is no adequate insulation on apartment windows which leads to a significant waste of heat during the fall-​winter-​spring months. The effect? The apartments are never well heated-​bitter cold unless the average temperature outside for consecutive days is between the mid-​30s-​40s. I contacted management numerous times about this issue but was told to use space heaters. However, this did not solve the problem of «drafty windows», obviously. In effect, the required monthly «energy management fee» which is often times always at the cap of $ 60, is down right offensive given the subpar building insulation and irregular distribution of heat throughout the building.
Also, while it was extremely and unusually old these past winter months, I was a bit peeved with the way management dealt with a broken/​burst pipe that affected my apartment. Luckily, I was home when the pipe burst but no one from management contacted me about the «leak.» I called the management’s office about the water, after water didn’t stop leaking from walls onto my floors for about 10 – 15 minutes. They responded, «we know… a pipe burst in an apartment above you about an hour ago…» Riggghhht. The conversation proceeded without them being able to inform me promptly about what I should/​expect next to alleviate the situation. In fairness, a maintenance crew was able to respond about an hour to an hour and a half later…
I live in one of the pet/​smoke friendly apartments. Albeit, I am not a smoker but the constant marijuana smoke coming from residents’ apartments was unbearable (the smoke clouded hallways/​stairways). Management refused to take any significant actions to deal with the illegal activity and constant nuisance. Their response after several complaints from tenants on my floor? They slipped «memos» under tenants’ doors with a reminder that «illegal drug activity on the premises is illegal.» We were also told that we tenants, (not management!) would have to call the police to deal with the illegal activity.
My first three months or so at Algonquin included consistent and adequate cleaning of the common areas. However, since roughly December 2013-​Spring 2014, there has been a lack of maintenance.
I think the maintenance crew does a wonderful job repairing and responding to specific tasks when they receive specific requests from the online common/​message board provided for tenants. However, when it comes to general common space-​structural issues with the building tenants are left in the dark and to just «accept» the situation.
In sum, the problem with this apartment complex is it’s overall management. I repeat, the management (NOT the maintenance crew) seems to not be well trained, and are more willing to cut corners, than to adequately run or handle the complex.

I just moved out of a 2bedroom in Algonquin because of school term coming to an end. My roommate and my stay at this place has been bittersweet. We enjoyed the space, which is beautifully renovated. The kitchen and bathroom are well upgraded. The bedroom themselves are a decent size. We paid approx $ 1,400/mo in rent alone (utilities extra. I’ll come back to this one). Considering the cost of other buildings in this block, this was definitely the most affordable.
The management and maintenance are both very considerate of your requests and needs. Security is not a concern either. Even though the building does not have concierge security of it’s own, Regents park across from it does. Regents park is always busy and keeps the area well guarded.
Now to the challenges we have had with living here. Heat is capped at $ 60/​mo and electricity has no caping. We paid consistently $ 60 for heating throughout the winter months… of course we would use Max heating with the polar vortex hitting north America this year! However, the heating was below sub par ! Despite heating being cranked all the way to Max, it kept the appt warm below 65 °F. So really what is the point of using heater and charging us for it? the problem lies in their windows which are not properly insulated. Solution to this was providing us with space heaters by management which further cranked up our electricity bill to $ 200/​mo! How is it fair that we pay the Max we can for heating yet have no heating provided? And in addition rake up our electricity to 200 – 300 because of additional heaters we have to use to compensate ?
In addition the discomfort due to our apartment being cold was unbearable. My roommate and i had to layer up under our thick blankets. Several tenants complained to City of Chicago, who then came and checked the temperature in our apts. They contacted the management and asked them to fix this solution. Their solution was adding plastic boxes on AC units. Not darn enough! It did not help the situation much.
I would love to come back to Algonquin for next term but I am not sure if I can put up with the intolerable temperature problems. They need to step up their game and work on insulating their windows properly. I will check back in few months and see if they have worked on the issue .
However, if you’re looking to stay only for summer-​spring months… this would be the ideal place in Hyde park! I would strongly recommend it.

I moved here from South Loop so it felt like a huge money saver though this is probably one of the pricier options in Hyde Park.
As you probably know they gut rehabbed it so it looks new. I have enough kitchen stuff for a familiy of four and the kitchen cabinet space is adequate in my studio. The studio at ~450 sq feet is on the small side but perfect for me.
Management is very responsive and repairs happen in a timely fashion
Parking is $ 150 for an uncovered, reserved spot in the lot. However it’s also doable to park on the street if you’d rather not spend the money. I did that for a few weeks.
OK, my updates were getting way into TLDR territory. The short of it is:
— the internet is hit or miss. I hate AWB but I have a personal beef with them
— the leasing office getting absorbed into Regents has had no bearing on my day-​to-​day. I get packages weekly and I haven’t had an issue with the transition. But I do miss Jolie too :(
— there is a mini gym in the basement of one of the buildings which I have yet to check out
— the laundry machines are always functioning when I do laundry but I go at the crack of dawn *shrug*.

I have been here for 3 months & I really like living here. The place is very nice the bedroom is spacious & I love the closet you can arrange it to what you want. Great windows. Bathroom is a bit small & I am not crazy about the towel bars. The livening-​room is a nice size & the windows are great. Good light if your a plant lover. They supply the window blinds. The kitchen could be a bit bigger enough cabinet space but could use some more draws. The sink is in a bad spot hard to do dishes. Bring a lot of lamps the have no over head lighting in the bedroom or livening-​room. The street is quite & it has been a safe place to live. You can hear the train but its not to loud & you’ll get use to it. Parking is a bit of a challenge & I think they shouldn’t charge for a spot in their lot! $ 150.00 as of Oct 2013. There is a lot of places you can walk to. You can get all of your shopping needs in walking distance. There is a lot of places to eat also. But over all it’s a nice to live & if I get transferred back to Chicago this is where I would stay.

After undergoing an intensive rehabilitation, these apartments look pretty darned good. Unfortunately, one can already see the cracks. They’re pricy, the air conditioners are underpowered (even for a studio apartment), the laundry machine card machines don’t always work, and the office hours are terrible (basically only business hours, so if you work, you’re out of luck during the week). I think they’ll be decent places to rent for the next couple of years, but after that, they’re going to be way too expensive for what’s delivered.
Also, this is just a little thing, but while they promote that Mies van der Rohe designed the project, he ultimately disavowed his connection to it.

I’ve lived in the Algonquin for the past 3 years and it’s been a great experience! I wouldn’t be leaving except I can’t afford the rent on my own.
1) The units are beautifully updated: new appliances, granite countertops, and tons of light.
2) The location is INCREDIBLE. My favorite coffee shop is right across the street and there is a lovely park less than a block from the front door. The bus stop is literally right out front and Metra is less than a block as well. I’ve loved running along the Lake Shore trail. The neighborhood feels both safe and friendly.
3) One of the most positive aspects of living in the Algonquin has been working with the building manager, Jolie Stinson. It’s so wonderful to have a competent and caring professional in charge of the building. Repairs and maintenance are always completed in a timely fashion and I was made to feel valued as a resident.
4) The Algonquin has great amenities: workout center, laundry in the building and parking. It has everything I could ask for in an apartment!
5) My only criticism is the lack of storage in the 2-​bedroom units. I purchased an armoire to store my coats and extra clothes that wouldn’t fit in the bedroom closet.
I highly recommend the Algonquin. I’m moving to another MAC building in August that the MAC staff helped me find and am looking forward to having another positive experience.

I live in the Algonquin now and am enjoying it. It isn’t new construction, but they have gut rehabbed the buildings to the point you couldn’t tell the difference.
Overall, the apartments are well laid out and the kitchens are great. Some of the neighbors suck but hey, you will get that anywhere you live. My only real complaints are:
(1) The closet space is bad. Not the bedroom closets, they are huge, but there is no true storage closet. There is a funky three-​mini closet thing in the hallway, but nowhere to put brooms or anything with a handle. Damn you Mies van der Rohe.
(2) That’s it. Really. I have no other complaints. Other than the fact it is in Hyde Park. But that really isn’t the building’s fault.
The location is great, the view is decent, the price is right and management isn’t overly-​annoying. And I highly recommend it over Regents across the street. I looked at apartments there and knew something was wrong when the saleswoman was selling us on how «safe» it was «despite being on the South Side,» and how she had to use Pea Pod because there are no grocery stores in the area. Seriously? There are three grocery stores within half of a mile. Oy.
If you live in Hyde Park, or need to move here, I highly recommend the Algonquin. And you should pay the little extra for a high floor — the view is nice.