The Park Evanston

I have lived at the park Evanston for four years and now its graduation time and I just wanted to say there are only a few times in life when people come together and work as a team like the people at the park Evanston the management was very nice and informative. The maintenance staff took care of any issues i may have had with a immediate response and the door staff went beyond any expectations I could have asked for to make sure all residents was treated with respect and dignity.

I have been staying here for two years, I like the doormen service and the management staff have always been helpful, just wish it had a Starbucks next door… Pests coffee is horrible! also, young professional adults/​college students they keep me updated and your in for a good conversation time to time., winter times the snow is always gone the next morning.

Worst apartment living experience ever. All they ever want to take more money away from you. The people in office always have a negative attitude as if we owe them money. My bathtub is always clogged and I addressed it multiple times during my stay of few years but was never really fixed. If you have this kind of money in to live in Evanston there are other places that will make you happier. The only thing that’s good about this place was their doormen and they would do whatever to help you but that’s pretty much it.

Really bad management. Maintenance always takes at least a few requests, communication is spotty at best, packages are rarely delivered on time (and the office is only open during certain periods that make it extremely hard for anyone working normal hours to ever receive packages). Would not recommend.

Nice building but not worth the cost. Rent, utilities, and small charges add up very quickly. Get prepared to be nickel and dimed for $ 200+ utility bills and $ 50 fees on top of the already high rent.

Start to finish the worst experience I’ve ever heard of in a rental property. Rude management. Slow attention to problems. And exceptionally bureaucratic. I would avoid this property except as a last resort. I have no lingering «bone to pick» here. Just trying to help future prospects to rent around the area. Go elsewhere.
(The doormen were nice … The management horrible)

The property was nice but terrible management.
Took months to fix issues in the apartment. Extremely rude people all around (besides the door men, they were great). Very bureaucratic.
Honestly, they need to learn to value their customers and treat us with respect.

The maintenance staff is excellent. Vicky in the leasing office is extremely helpful. She went out of her way to help me, even as I was moving out. My one complaint is that management controls whether the building is set to provide air conditioning or heat, so it can get pretty balmy on warm April/​May days (they usually turn the air conditioning on at the end of May).

I love this place! I am a new student in northwestern and I’m glad I chose park Evanston so my quarter went well! There’s a community room, business center and a gym, so I can stay in the building for everything except going to classes. It’s is solo convenient. More importantly the management team are super friendly and do their job! I usually have my maintenance request fixed within a day, often same day. I also enjoy it because they have parties often! Food are good, oyster, shrimps and lobster, all kinds of meat and vegi and desserts. It’s just a great EXPERIENCE living here.

I think it should be known that I made a Unilocal account today for the sole purpose of writing a review for this place. Mainly the management and leasing office. I had no idea that other people had such problems with them as well, and I’m sorely regretting not looking up the apartment reviews for Park Evanston before renting a unit here.
I, like many others apparently, had a hell of a time dealing with the leasing office and the absolutely incompetent people who work there, who all reside under the hand of their indescribably rude and stone faced ruler, Vicki. I hope people take my advice that when I say to students, STAY AWAY. The office staff look after the older tenants, but give about a range of zero to no cares about the concerns of the many students that live here, and treat us as though we are significantly inferior to them.
From the way my roommates and I had to deal with the nonsense the office gave us, I beg to differ on who is the inferior party here. We were charged multiple late fees on the grounds that they didn’t receive our rent, when in actuality we had paid on time but they simply lost the check. Vicki was less than unhelpful in this situation, and spoke down to us in her snotty and unbelievably annoying way, as though it was OUR fault that they did not do their job properly. We were told we «had to pay it» and «there is nothing we can do». Her office minions knew nothing, and they all just told me that «we understand», and that «this must be frustrating for you» and «we will clear this up», when I got no such help, and instead was herded over to their assistant manager Vicki, who spent 20 minutes telling me that I was wrong that they messed up.
Anyone can tell you that PE has a pool, and a 24 hour gym, and a doorman who I’m still not sure what his purpose is, as he simply sits there and watches you go inside, and is never there to let anyone in when he is actually needed. But if for the management office alone, I would tell ANYONE to stay away. Anyone who writes a good review and had a good experience here is someone out of college, who gets more respect from the staff than any student would. As tenants who pay the same as everyone else to stay in these overpriced facilities, I would say that we deserve the same respect any older tenant does, which is something the leasing office apparently does not agree with.

As a student, i have been moving every year for the last 7 years of my life. I’ve lived in dumpy places, I’ve lived in high end apartments. However living at the Park Evanston and dealing with the management staff has been the most stressful experience I’ve had by far. When you are looking to move in, the management staff is incredibly communicative and helpful, but good luck ever having them be of any use to you once you’ve signed your lease.
On average, it takes about 3 calls/​e-​mails for anyone to get back to me. Hardly ever have my questions or concerns been adequately responded to. I have never had to literally chase someone down to get a response, but I have had to every single time with The Park Evanston. They brought in people to take apart/​deep clean my apartment PRIOR to the end of my lease without telling me. I was even aggressively yelled at during move-​out by staff due to misinformation on their end.
While the location, friendly maintenance staff (and most doormen), and building amenities are plusses, I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone because of the horrific experiences I’ve (and by the looks of it, others have) had with the management team. There are so many other places you could live at, pay exorbitant rent, and still have helpful management staff!

EDIT: BEWARE: My roommates and I paid a $ 500 security deposit when we signed our contract. When you move out, they WILL NOT return this security deposit to you because they claim it is an administrative fee. We were not careful enough at the time to make sure that our signed lease reflected this $ 500 security deposit. Very sneaky. Learn from my mistake and do not fall for their trick!
Original Review:
I lived here for almost two years (2012 – 2014) and it has been a pleasant experience. The rent is on the higher end, but you do get what you pay for. Most importantly, the apartment is clean and the location is great. I have never had a bug problem and all the public areas are kept tidy. There is a Whole Foods next door as well as many restaurants, the library, and Lake Michigan within walking distance. Public transportation is about a 10 minute walk away.
It can be loud sometimes because a lot of students live here, but you can call the doorman to check it out. There is a community room as well as a business lounge area where there are computers and printers for residents to use. On holidays, they sometimes host community parties or offer free food in the lobby, which is a nice gesture.
Management was a bit difficult to get a hold of the first year I lived here, but it has gotten much better my second year and I haven’t had a problem since! They answered all of my questions promptly and are nice to deal with.
You pay for your actual usage for most utilities except for heat. They take the heating bill for the entire building and figure out each unit’s bill based on the square footage and number of people living in the unit. It’s a fair system, but prepare for exorbitant heating bills from November to February.
Package receiving is both a positive and negative experience. It is convenient to not have to worry about packages getting stolen, however, picking up packages can be a dreadful experience. The woman who is in charge of the packages (Grace) acts like she doesn’t want to be there. She is frequently grouchy, talks in a condescending manner to me, and blames me for her mistakes! I no longer ship my packages here just so I don’t have to deal with her.
Overall, good experience and if you are willing to pay the price, you’ll probably enjoy living here.

Move-​in is incredibly slow and inconvenient. No effiiciency and new information is thrown at you every day of new things you need to do before you move-​in. No option for electronic payment for move-​in, and I mean we’re living in year 2013. Everything is all over the place and takes hours and hours to get everything set up before you move in.
Otherwise a nice place to live!

Cheap quality for the price you pay, and rude management. Also, a few (of the many doormen they hire) do nothing but watch you open the door and pass through. If your hands are full, they still do nothing but watch you struggle to open the door and pass through. Lastly, if you cannot find your key in the cold winter, they do nothing…

Good: The gym and pool have stunning views and there are great amenities for students such as a business center with a conference room to have meetings. You can also rent out the recreational room, which has a pool table and 2 tvs, for a price and have relatively nice party. There’s also a security person on duty 24/​7, which seems a bit superfluous in a town like Evanston. The units, overall, are pretty spacious and probably one of the best you can rent in Evanston. The leasing agent there is also very helpful.
Bad: The management team doesn’t really appear to do much. All utilities and other ancillary costs are billed by a 3^rd party company, but you pay those cost along with your monthly rent, which is slightly inconvenient. Also, I would read the lease carefully whenever you’re prompted to do something by the property management as they may ask you to do things that aren’t required of you according to the lease. You’re also forced to use the apartment’s preferred satellite and internet service provider. Their internet service provider is EXTREMELY slow and the connections are not stable. You also can’t receive high definition unless you purchase a satellite receiver through direct TV. The in unit laundry machines can be convenient when they’re not breaking down.
In terms of aesthetics and cleanliness, it’s a really nice place to live but given all the hassles, I’m not sure it’s worth the $ 2,600 — $ 2,800 per month you’ll be dishing out.

Back in college I knew a few «fancy» people who lived here and I thought this place was a palace. I should also mention that at the time I was living in a disgusting house with 10 other girls that smelled like a barn, shook everytime the el went by, and had a kegerator (we thought that part was pretty cool ;)). My taste has improved the past few years so I was curious what I would think of Park Evanston when visiting it with my future sister-​in-​law today, a prospective kellogg student.
It’s not as palace like as I remember, but still nice! We were looking for a 1 bedroom and unfortunately they were only able to show us a 2 bedroom model, but I liked what we saw… spacious, well lit, nice windows, an updated nice sized bathroom, walk-​in closets, and a nice sized kitchen. I was disappointed to see the kitchen wasn’t updated with stainless steel appliances and wood cabinets (after seeing them across the street at Evanston Place), but everything else made this a very nice living environment.
Brian, the leasing agent in the building, was an absolute doll and did a great job of showing us all building amenities: a beautiful gym with updated equipment, a doorman, a laundry room with plenty of machines, a wi-​fi equipped common room, and even a conference room (which I imagine would come in handy for my sister-in-law’s group projects).
So yeah, it’s nice, but then again it should be for the prices! An average 1 bedroom seems to run for around $ 1700/​month, which seems absurd to me for Evanston. Then again the building is completely full so I guess people are paying top dollar prices with no problem. And if you don’t spend all your money on rent Whole Foods is conveniently located next door where you can spend the rest of your «whole paycheck.»