Redlight Studio

I’ve been renting at the Kinzie location for over 6 years (through multiple ownership changes and multiple rooms). The place is not pretty but it serves the purpose. James is always cool and always available when I need something.

We got the tour of this spot. The first time we tried to go for the tour, the owner completely flaked. We had agreed upon a time, and he wasn’t there. Called, texted… no response for the next two hours. What’s worse? No apology. Okay, well, it still can’t hurt to just see the place (talking about the Kinzie location).
This owner has taken WAY too many drugs in his day (and probably continues to). How he’s able to even keep track of his business is a shock to me. His head is totally in the clouds.
Then I read the rest of the reviews on Unilocal and realized that they all completely make sense. I would never trust this guy with my money.
Furthermore, the rooms (at least at Kinzie) are not well kept. There’s no loading dock. Pricing is on the high side of competitive.
I just don’t think the proprietor is fit to be running a business.

I am with Sarah, we rented at this place for FOUR YEARS, always paid our rent on time we didn’t fuck up anything in the building, which couldn’t be said for a lot of the tenants there. We also painted our room and cleaned the crap out of it when we moved out and James NEVER gave us our deposit back which was $ 425. We placed several calls to him and he would even reply ‘I’ll get it sent out tomorrow.’ but it never came. Plus while we were there one of the guys in our band had his car broken into and several other tenants had the same fate happen to them. Also many of the practice spaces had been broken into one night a year and a half ago and a lot of gear was stolen. The doors on a lot of the rooms are not very secure and very easily ‘kick-​in-​able.’ Luckily for us we had a room with an old door wood door that opened out or else we may have suffered the same fate.
This place is cheap, but do your self a favor and spend a little more for a place that is nicer, more secure, has a better location, air conditioning (as of a year ago it didn’t have any at least) and most importantly, better management.

You know, had I reviewed Redlight while we had a space there, I would have given it 4 stars. We liked our space and were there for quite some time. However, James NEVER RETURNED OUR $ 350 DEPOSIT.
We left in November and gave him plenty of notice. We left him the key as instructed and the space was left in a million times better shape than we took it (all clean and with a fresh paint job). We have called, emailed, sent facebook messages, and even tried sending a certified letter to his house, which he refused. He never responded at all. $ 350 is a decent chunk of change, and that is inexcusable.

James has always been cool to me. My band has had two spots at Karlov for about 2 years now. There is like 20 rooms of various sizes in this old converted Y.M.C.A. There is bleed through from other bands sometime but so what thats Rock n Roll!
If you have pay for a space to play, come here. Parking is plentiful and don’t be scared of the neighborhood.