Hubbard221 — Local services in Chicago

Unlike most of these google reviews, I have lived in Hubbard for over 1 year and wanted to wait to write a review until after we moved out. But after today I thought it was more important to share our experience with others looking to rent in the area to save them the disappointment we've experienced with this building and management company.

This review is long, so I understand if you don't feel like reading this. But know if you are thinking about moving in please think again. If you want a working elevator, power, and water (hot or cold) then don't move in here because those are not guaranteed to work here all the time.

The two stars are for the beautiful views, apartment layout with top 3 floors having elevated ceilings, and wonderful workout room. That's what sucked us into this apartment and we still love our unit and city views. That part never gets old. The people that live in the building are friendly along with the front door staff. Our floor neighbors are kind and respectful. If we could take our view, workout room, and apartment unit to any other building and management company we would do it in a heartbeat.

Our issues are not small issues.

When we signed our lease we were promised move in concessions to compete with all the other new buildings in the area. One was a visa gift card for $500...those gift cards usually last for 10 years so we didn't run out and use it. But Hubbard, being Hubbard, got a special visa gift card that expired 1 month later. So we never got to use that gift card and Hubbard did not give us another one. Our other move in concession we were not gifted immediately. We had to prove email confirmation that we were told we could get an open table gift card and free rental of the party room. They first denied us of these things even though when we signed the lease these were promised.

Our power was out for 2 days. Not due to a storm or anything. Just Hubbard being Hubbard. They did not compensate us for this inconvenience and when we asked to adjust rent they said this is why concessions are offered at move in. (Yes, the concessions that they never really gave us.)

In February , we got an email saying our elevators are not working. WHAT THE ACTUAL F. we live on the 19th floor so I had to walk to 19. And they have no ETA for when this will be fixed. This may be shocking but by the time I got to 19 I was sweaty...and guess what? I can't shower. Because the water is out due to a bursted pipe. The construction of this building must be cheap and not designed well because we've had many days like this.

The dog run. Our neighbors are friendly but some dog owners NEVER clean up after their dog. We only take our pup out here right before bed because it's too disgusting to take her here more often. Poop and pee everywhere starting from the door, down the hallway, then to the dog relief area.

Dog spa. It's great. We love being able to take our dog here for baths. BUT they lock it. I have NO idea why. So every time you want to use it you have to get the front desk people to unlock it. Super inconvenient.

Common areas. The top floor is beautiful with awesome amenities. The gym with peloton bikes, V clutch. With a view of the city, yes please! However the pool is over crowded and is a party pool. This summer people acted like animals. Not drying off before getting in the elevator and leaving large puddles on the grounds, loud music and lots of 'guests' taking over the pool area and grills, not cleaning up bottles and trash, etc.

If you got to this point in my review, congrats! I hope this helped with your decision and I hope you have looked elsewhere in the neighborhood like 311 Illinois, Jones, Env, Hubbard Place, etc. please please please don't pay what we've paid to be disappointed by the management company that could care less about their residents. The turn over in this office building is crazy. 3 new leasing agents so far in the time we've lived here. I think that's a...

Spent two days touring 7 different apartment complexes in the River North area. The leasing team at Hubbard221 was BY FAR the best. Roxanne and Whitney both clearly deserve a raise. Leaving a review solely because of their stellar service.

Whitney was my first point of contact with the apartment. All of the other apartment complexes ask whether you want a virtual tour or in-person tour. With Whitney, when I requested an in-person tour, she took it upon herself to also send me both a personally recorded video tour of two different units as well as a link to 4 different 3D virtual studio models. In addition, the email included a confirmation of the time for our tour (the only apartment complex that sent a confirmation!!), information about utilities and their pricing, a video tour of the amenities, and detailed information about their current promotion. I followed up with a couple of questions over the phone, and she was extremely knowledgable about the building (which you think would be a given, but not always true). Even before I met Roxanne (who will be discussed below), I remember thinking to myself that the management company is very lucky to have someone like Whitney.

Roxanne was the person I met for the in-person tour. Aside from her professionalism and friendliness, a couple things stand out. First, she was very articulate about the differences between the units. For example, one of the units I saw had the same floor-plan as the one I was interested in renting, but it was not the exact same unit. She explained that the difference would be the ceiling height and the slightly different view (different floors). She also helped me understand the differences between the units I saw and other units that I was interested in but couldn’t see (not vacant at the moment) and explained subtle differences like which side of the wall the closet is on. Secondly, she really went above and beyond with how much work she put in. Because the unit I was most interested in was currently occupied, I couldn’t tell what the actual view looked like. After I had left, she contacted the tenant to send me pictures of his unit’s view. The tenant was unfortunately away, so he couldn’t provide this. But she was able to get a video of the views from the unit literally right next door. Even though the view is 99% the same, she made sure to emphasize that it would be slightly different and explained the subtle difference.

Obviously, when choosing an apartment, the physical apartment itself is a huge point of consideration. That being said, what often makes the largest impact on a person’s experience is their relationship with other people, and I can’t think of better people to work with than the team at Hubbard221. Thanks again Roxanne...

To start, the location of Hubbard 221 is great. It is a brand new building, with brand new amenities, and those amenities are great; when they are clean, that is.

The units themselves, are fairly nice, the custom closets being the best feature next to the floor to ceiling windows. But, quite a bit of the work in this brand new building is poor. From seals, to caulking, painters getting the wooden cabinets, patch work, etc. I find this is strange because the building is not even a year old. They do seem kind of cheap.

Most of the residents here are drunk party slobs. Want empty cups in the pool, cans/solo cups rolling around on the roof deck (some for days), spilled sticky drinks, leftover food sitting on the grills, or heck, a bunch of dirty dishes & old food in the Chef's Kitchen?! If that isn't for you, how about drunk or high people in the lobby. LOTS of them. Every. Single. Weekend. You don't even want to enter the building with the groups that congregate. If that's your thing, then this is the building for you. This is a party building. Plain and simple. There are amazingly loud parties every weekend as well. Management needs to step it up on resident's behavior, and enforce the no smoking rule too.

Now, back to the cleanliness. While the amenities do get cleaned, (not to my standard, but they do) it would be GREAT if someone would vacuum the hallways, or take a broom to the trash rooms even just once a week. It is insane to look at the same debris for weeks at a time. It just doesn't make sense. Or, that the trash area piles up since it isn't collected daily. It is supposed to be a "luxury" building.

On to that part. Yes, there is a front desk staff, but they are not always there. Leading guests to have to call from the lobby, and me having to go downstairs and get them. It's annoying, because it happens a bit too often. Everyone from the front desk is very nice, and always busy, but maybe they've been given too many tasks - so they are not able to always be available in the lobby?

Overall, there are a lot of drawbacks that management just hasn't addressed. Having tastings in the lobby just doesn't make up for it. So, I don't think I will be renewing my lease.

Lastly, Hubbard221 is far above market rate when you look at comps in River North. It's too expensive for what it is, which is probably why most of the units are rented out to roommates.

Yet, I will say, that the model apartment showed really well.

The views are...