Shoreham and Tides — Local services in Chicago

I lived in The Shoreham for many years, so I have a good perspective of being a resident and what it's really like. I have listed the pros and cons of the building so you can make your own informed decision. I will say, and this has been said here by others here, there is a noticeable downgrade in overall quality since Waterton took over. These are my own opinions, although I do reference incidents I have personally experienced. This is not a luxury building, this is a nice middle of the road building- I only say that so people do not expect the "luxury" experience. I am happy to read the new residents seem to like the building, and I do hope The Shoreham continues to strive to keep the new residents happy.

PROS: Great location Beautiful park Fantastic door staff and maintenance team Common area upgrades look great Building is trying to promote social events for residents, which is nice Great rooftop pool

CONS: Overpriced for what you get: you will be nickled and dimed for EVERYTHING (ex: $5 monthly fee just to get your utilities e-bill, $25 to register your pet - and that's not the actual pet fee itself)

Building is billed as "non-smoking". It is not. The pot smokers on my floor were awful. Building would do nothing other than put a note in a weekly newsletter reminding people it was a non-smoking building. The day I moved out, even my own movers commented on how bad the smoke smell was....

Lack of transparency to residents with building issues (fires, floods, trespassers).

Heat/AC issues- all building controlled.

Flooding in units- I personally experienced 2 floods during my stay. If your unit gets water from above units and the flood is through no fault of your own, the building will claim no responsibility and will immediately advise you to utilize your renter's insurance. If you have a flood, make sure it's worth filing a claim on your insurance.

Poor records retention- this is more for the long-term residents (pre-Waterton): be aware that if anything ever happens where you may need to have Waterton (current management) verify something, they may claim they don't have record of it because of all the sales of the building.

Utilities billing- used to be a flat rate, now it varies. Be warned, it can vary by A LOT from month to month. Keep that in mind for your budget purposes.

Construction/Elevators- just be aware this is happening as you'll deal with noise/delays during the workday. Elevators break down a lot, which can create massive delays.

The below reviews are true: after you move out, you will be sent to a collections agent just 3 days after you receive a final billing statement. I was promised in writing that I would have my final billing statement on the day I moved out. That did not happen. You are also cut off from their website portal the day after you move out, so you cannot make any additional payments. After you finally receive your final bill, you will be directed to send your final payment to one address. However, Resident Advocate (collections), will tell you otherwise and to send it to a different address. Please keep all communications and records for your own protection.

Package issues- in the recent past, there were a ton of issues with their Luxor package system (packages getting lost, not getting a notification etc.), but to be fair, they seem to be striving to...

I lived in the Shoreham for 2 years. When I moved in, it was being managed by Lincoln Properties. While they had their shortcomings, they were nowhere near as bad as Waterton, who currently manages the property.

While living at the Shoreham, there was an electrical fire both summers I was there which took out the power for multiple days. Lincoln Properties reimbursed me for groceries that I lost the first summer. Waterton refused any compensation the next summer because "it wasn't their fault." They also didn't perform any wellness checks on us. On NYE, we had another fire. That's 3 times that building had been on fire in the short time I lived there.

In January of 2022, I noticed people were moving out in droves. This building had a reputation of keeping tenants for a long time, so I instantly got concerned about the lease renewal. I reached out to Waterton management to see how much rent increase I should expect. I got an email reply stating that the increase would not go above 15%. However, at my renewal they increased it 20%. When I tried to negotiate, they wouldn't budge. They blamed the miscommunication on the employee being new and said the new rate reflects market value. However, other apartments in this area cost about the same but had way nicer units and amenities. My unit had wall to wall carpet, popcorn ceilings, and old white appliances. They didn't care. I stupidly renewed so I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of moving.

Shortly after renewing, it was announced that they would be doing massive renovations to the units, hallways, and amenity floor. When I asked for a timeline for completion, they stated it would take several years because they'd be renovating as units become available and therefore couldn't predict an end date. In my opinion, this should have been disclosed to us at renewal. I work from home and I work with protected health information, so I don't have the luxury of using the amenity floor or going to a cafe to escape the noise.

I, also, found out that they are building two high rises across the river which will obstruct the view of Lake Michigan on the north side when it's completed in 2024. It will also create a lot of noise when construction begins. 400 N lake shore drive is the address, if you want to look it up.

The last straw for me was when people started getting their 2023 lease renewals with yet another massive rent increase and changes to the utility fee. They are changing the flat utility fee to a fee that will range in price based on everyone's usage. That seems unfair to me. They are also removing the included internet service and now charging an additional amount a month for it.

So, I decided to break my lease. I've moved to a neighboring building, living on a much higher floor, with amazing unobstructed views and basically the same square footage and practically paying the same amount for rent.

I recommend looking at Cascade, Coast, and Aqua if you're wanting to live in the Lakeshore East area. Avoid any properties that are managed by Waterton. You can google them to see that they have consistent, bad, reviews on all properties they manage with the common theme being that they don't care about their residents,...

I have lived in several different apartment communities in the last decade due to frequent school- and work-related moves. I can definitely say that this is by far the most expensive and the absolute worst property I have ever lived at. The Tides was managed by Magellan until late 2017. They weren’t perfect, but they were significantly better than the current management company, Lincoln Properties. The quality of this property completely plummeted when new management took over. For starters, this property is advertised as having a “beautiful view of the city.” If by beautiful view, they mean of the portable bathroom atop the Vista Tower then they are on point. Second, Lincoln does absolutely nothing to enforce rules regarding cleanliness and maintaining the healthy standard of living for all of its residents. I complained to management several times about the condition of the trash chute room, and they did nothing to address it. As a result, residents would dump their recycling and trash bags (torn up bags!) into the room all the time. There were days I couldn’t enter the room unless I stepped on garbage. Not bags, actual garbage. Another issue was smoking: I pleaded with the management company (Lincoln) for months to place restrictions on a tenant who was smoking (legal and illegal substances on a daily basis), often multiple times per day. I was pregnant at the time, and later had the same battle once my baby was born. The smell seeped into my apartment and got into our clothes, sheets, etc. For months, we were told there was not much they could do. When Lauren finally did something, the tenant was served a notice to correct his behavior within the next ten days. Well guess what? He complied for ten days and then started smoking again on day 11. And again there was “nothing that can be done.” We were eventually released from our lease several months early after we had been asking for help resolving this issue for about 6 months. We found a new place to live and gave the property 32 days notice even though they only required 30. We were still charged an additional days rent and when we asked the assistant property manager Tina about it, were told that management had been “fair, but thanks for asking.” Subjecting a pregnant woman and later a newborn to cigarette and marijuana smoke, and then punishing the family by giving them no real alternatives to packing up and moving with a newborn is fair? So we get punished and the person actually breaking a law in IL does not? Goes to show how family friendly this property is. In sum, if you want to live surrounded by literal bags of trash, listen to nonstop construction noise from the Vista tower (7 days a week), and have a nice view of portable bathrooms and jackhammers from your almost $3,000/mo. apartment, then this is the place for you. If you’re looking for peace and quiet, a family friendly community, respectful management, and a healthy and enjoyable living environment, stay FAR away. It’s a shame that Lincoln completely destroyed what was a very nice community when I...