Review for Wheaton Center Apartments

I have lived in the One Wheaton Center tower apartments since May 2005 and have never been so unhappy with a rental in all my life. Initially, you are plesantly surprised as you approach Wheaton Center, with its layout of the grounds and the view you may get from the towers with a 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment receiving 3 nice balconies. Lobby and laundry facilities seem adequate and well kept, and your viewing of a "model" will have you thinking of happy times and the true meaning of "luxury". But, once you sign that lease agreement, it all goes downhill from there. You think that you are enpowered with having a 30 day guarantee to cancel your lease, but, you will notice that any imperfections that you are hoping to catch, will only show themselves "after" the initial 30 days. Upon closer inspection, you notice the outside of the building has a lot of wear and tear, with big patches of concrete chipping away and rusted construction rebar protruding in many places. Unless you rent one of their newer "upgraded" apartments that started in early 2007, you will have "average" appliances, and your kitchen and bathroom furnishings that are in place look to be in the "20-30 year" range from when the apartments were 1st built. The balcony that you thought would provide you many a beautiful view (and does) is erased quickly from your mind when you see the same chunks of missing concrete that you saw when you entered the building showing its same face on your balcony. The balcony floor is slowly chipping away from Chicago-type inclement weather that happens through out any given year (sun, rain, snow, sleet, and high powered winds). Speaking of rain, you will come to "cringe" whenever you hear of it in whichever "weather forecast" you come to peruse on any given day, as this will provde you the opportunity to see just how bad the apartment construction is deteriorating. In my apartment, in which I live slightly above the mid-point of the 20 story tower, I have 4 leaks. 2 are in the master bedroom coming from the roof and the floor off the balcony. 1 is coming from the floor in the guest bedroom, again, off the balcony, and 1 is in my dining room, again, seeping into the floor directly off the balcony. This does not count the obvious sign of water damage showing in the dining room/living room area directly under the air conditioning unit from the unit above me, or, on the roof directly located near the other glass sliding door which leads to a balcony. With all these problems, it leads you to ask about management and the maintenance that they provide doesn't it? Well, unfortunately, The Habitat Company, which manages Wheaton Center, is problematic, unresponsive, and fails to acknowledge any problem that you bring to their attention in a timely manner. You are told that most repair requests are responded to within 24 hours, but that is true only if you count having someone come into your apartment, and provide you excuse after excuse of why it can't be fixed. Everything from age of the building, hot and cold weather, and too much snow, will be responses that you will hear to most of your maintenance requests. It should only prove even more that The Habitat Company also mis-manages the Presidential Towers in downtown Chicago, and their residents are in the midst of filing a class action lawsuit against them due to their persistent "bedbug" problem that was brought to their attention and were ignored to no avail. The only positives that I can think of when it comes to Wheaton Center is its proximity to downtown Wheaton and its businesses and eateries, along with the Metra train station being located directly across the street allowing you a quick get-away to downtown Chicago for work and/or play, but, allowing tower residents facing the tracks to get the noise that comes along with that due to the apartments not being retrofitted for "sound proofing" like you might find if you were close to a airport, for example. If you drive, parking is not too much of an issue unless you are willing or able to part with upwards of $55.00 a month for covered parking, or are willing to dig your car out a typical Chicago snowstorm as the lots are rarely plowed before 9 or 10am the following morning. All in all, you definitely need to do your homework before considering Wheaton Center apartments, because unlike me, you'll notice that it's all smoke and mirrors and much too late to do anything about it.