The Commodore

This location is good and there are other positives to the building. But there is a huge problem. Considering this is a pet friendly building, there is no condo board or rules regarding such pets. Currently, I am typing this and there is a dog barking every single second for the last few hours. It’s crazy. I’m going crazy. So I talked to the building manager and he told me to talk to the renter/​owner of the unit. Fine. I asked him hypothetically if the renter/​owner didn’t want to take care of the barking, are there any rules regarding the barking. He said no, because there is no condo board. Then I asked him, ‘so I would have to hope the owner would agree to do something about the barking dog, and if not I would be out of luck’. He literally said ‘yeah, pretty much’. So here I am, just going nuts, listening to this dumb dog consistently bark. Would you want to live here? I sure am glad I’m only a renter. I am out of this joint ASAP. You would probably have trouble selling the unit. Other than that, although the units look okay superficially, a closer look reveals some shotty work. The hallways look bad. And I don’t trust that sometime down the road, there isn’t going to be a major building revision that will be passed on to everyone’s assessments. It might seem like a good deal initially, but living here now, I would certainly not buy right now.

I’m writing this review in conjunction with my review of the management company (see Kass Management review). The building itself has been in apt-​to-​condo conversion for the last year or so. When over half the condo units went unsold, the developer re-​rented out the apartment units, which is when I jumped in and signed a lease.
The location is great, safe. The building itself, is a bit drab. The updated lobby looks fine, but the elevator walls are tiled LOL. There’s laundry on the mezzanine level, and I never had an issue with it being full (this is mostly due to the fact that the condo units had washer/​dryers in the units). No fitness center (aside from two tandem machines on the mezzanine hallway), no ‘computer’/business center. The rooftop deck is very nice and for the most part, open year round. There hasn’t been any strict guidelines during winter.
My biggest gripe was that I had put my name on the waiting list for the indoor first level garaged parking and was told by the condo property manager I was third on the list. However, I later realized that he pretty much had the parking spots reserved for any potential buyers. Makes sense, but no need to lie to me about it. I only realized this when I started noticing the «new» people coming in and out of the garage! There’s also the second level parking which remained empty from fall-​spring and was reserved for the ‘developers’. (I often took my dogs out here to poop and play during the winter). Street parking around here is moderately easy as long as you’re home by 5:30p. A minute later and, well, good luck.
The two on-​site building engineers were extremely friendly and useful/​helpful when needed. They’d keep the common areas clean each morning and would always say hi. I agree about the building’s leasing agent. She’s been kind of standoffish when I run into her in the lobby or elevator, and I think she’s only said one nice thing to me ever (which was «cute dog»). The night front desk persons have been very nice, though! Directory box can be programmed to call your cell phone (one cell phone only) which is cool — theoretically you can buzz anyone in then from anywhere.
I too had a corner unit on the 16^th floor. EXCELLENT VIEWS. LOTS of closet space, lots of windows and natural light… (am I getting a commission on this? lol). I had western exposure, and also on the north end I had a view of Belmont harbor (squeezed between two neighboring buildings, of course). Since it was still an apartment, I had the dated 70’s retro kitchen, and there was an annoying buzzing noise that came from one of the kitchen walls (something that was brought to their attention but NEVER fixed) —- was annoying when trying to sleep! The apartment also had other issues that were never fixed, but didn’t hinder my day to day living.

I’ve lived in a 3-​bedroom condo with two roommates in this building for about 2 years.
The location cannot be beat if you’re bus savvy but don’t plan on taking the el anywhere. It’s a super duper long walk to the Sheffield, Diversey or Fullerton stops. The lake view is superb; I’ve gotten really spoiled waking up to the sunrise over the lake each day. They have coin-​operated laundry available for those without in-​unit machines.
There is no gym to speak of… 3 elliptical-​type machines akwardly in a nook in the hallway. No pool either but the sundeck itself is top notch. New furniture, grills, trellises, and sun lounging chairs. There’s even a spa shower to cool off! When we first moved in there was no one up on the roof ever but it has gotten progressively more crowded as the building fills up. If you plan to bbq or tan on a nice day, get up there early.
However, there are negatives that would have been nice to know going in. First, my top-​floor (16^th story) bedroom floods with about an inch of water every time it rains heavily! The building managers always respond to phone calls and send guys up to shampoo the carpet, but come on! This is has been happening since we moved in and nothing has been done to fix the problem. I cannot keep anything of value on the floor in half of my bedroom. AND every room located where mine is (NE corner) seems to be flooding too (according to neighbors and management). I would NOT buy a condo here or move into an apartment at the NE corner of the building until this is fixed.
Also worth mentioning are the staff. There are two guys who manage the building and they are incredibly nice and helpful. The leasing staffer we call when the apartment floods is Ross. He’s great and responsive — although the problem hasn’t actually been fixed. The female leasing agent who lives in the building has brown curly hair and a dog and is totally useless/​rude. A month after moving in I was locked out of my apartment with no phone, wallet or laptop. I found her and explained my predicament, knowing she had keys to all the apartments. She basically told me, without looking, that she had no idea where the key to my apartment was and that I should probably call a locksmith or something. What? No offer to use the office phone, let alone the computer to find a locksmith. She just closed her door. She couldn’t have cared less about helping me. I had to track down a building engineer on my own and beg him to get me into my apartment. She has been rude ever since, ignoring residents while faking sugary-​sweet nice to potential buyers/​renters. What a useless person.
That’s the building in a nutshell. Great place to live, just not the NE corner. And don’t ever get locked out!