The Oliver on LaSalle Apartments — Local services in Chicago

Living here has been nothing short of a nightmare. The renovation work was beyond amateur—paint splatters, holes in my ceiling, bugs in my windows, cuts in the floor, missing cabinet backs exposing what looks like mold, and floor tiles that were cracked and uneven. It’s as if someone with zero skills was hired to remodel this place.

No dishwasher, garbage disposal, or microwave—despite the model unit showing one.

The stove wobbled dangerously due to a gaping hole in the vinyl flooring. The ceiling fan was unstable and obnoxiously loud for months before it was finally fixed—after four months.

The area outside is just as bad. All summer, homeless people and addicts loitered by the church. I had to call the cops when they fought, blasted music, and did drugs right outside my window.

The walls and doors are paper-thin. If privacy matters to you, stay away—you’ll hear every conversation through the door. I was lucky to have quiet neighbors, but for months, one had a dog that whined and pounded on their door, creating an echo that sounded like someone was slamming my walls.

Hot water and water pressure are unreliable.

No maintenance on Sundays. The emergency maintenance number is hidden—I had to call the leasing office to get it, which was useless when my toilet flushed non-stop for nine hours overnight.

The elevators are abysmal—tiny, unbearably slow, and poor quality. If you still move in after reading this, measure the elevator first. Thankfully, I was on the third floor and avoided relying on them.

The roach infestation is disgusting. The first-floor bike room is littered with hundreds of dead cockroaches. I found a live one dying in front of someone’s door in October and constantly saw them crawling near first-floor apartments. They’re even in the laundry room—which is next to the garbage chute. That means every trip to do laundry comes with the stench of rotting trash lingering in the hallway.

The washers are always filthy, covered in dog hair and debris.

Now, the price. $1,400 for a 300 sq. ft. studio with the cheapest, shoddiest appliances imaginable. On top of that, utilities add $110 monthly, bringing my total to $1,510 for a poorly renovated, problem-ridden unit. As of October 30th, my faucet broke—just one more example of how cheaply this place was put together.

The entire building smells—sewage and garbage odors overwhelm the ground floor near the leasing office and package area.

Security is laughable. The so-called “security guard,” a tall, thin guy, was literally asleep at his desk multiple times and frequently absent altogether.

Management is a mess. When I found a subletter, they dragged the process out unnecessarily. My subletter worked with Sean, but when he was out, nobody else could step in. Instead of helping, Keyara told us to wait until the next day. What’s her job if she can’t process basic paperwork? When the lease was finally being prepared, they stalled again, claiming Sean was too busy—even though two full hours remained in the workday. I’ve worked as a leasing agent. I know this does not take that long. It’s unacceptable that Sean is the only one capable of processing applications. What is the rest of the staff doing?

This property is a scam. The management is incompetent, maintenance is unreliable, conditions are abysmal, and the pricing is absurd. If you value your money, peace, and sanity,...

I lived in this building for 2 years, around 1-2 roaches a year. However, the end of last year I had an almost daily occurrence with roaches in my kitchen, bathroom, closet, hallways, etc. for about a month. My unit has been approved by pest control that the roaches were not coming due to the cleanliness of the room, but the building itself. I spent hundreds to roach proof my unit and locked most my belongings in plastic bins instead of the cupboards or closet due to the roach sightings there. I reached out to management (the new company, RMK), and was dismissed that I was not experiencing a roach infestation and was only flagged for the once a month pest control treatment.

Communication was delayed and seeking out in-person conversations, I was left waiting for 40 minutes in the office after being told that my concerns regarding personal expenses to roach proof and inability to use parts of the unit were "repetitive", so not a priority to respond to. I was working with tenant's rights organizations and managed to break my lease, no penalty. I was told that it was a "courtesy you are able to leave".

Please reconsider signing a lease here. It's worth noting that there is a significant number of vacant units for the area and price, and is offering large referral incentives. Rather than keeping loyal tenants, it seems they are trying to get new ones in. I believe this shows that other tenants are also leaving due to ongoing issues.

Edit* In request of contact information of the landlord and proof of the building's city law compliance of habitability, management refused to provide both contacts. To add, I was also told in the same conversation being dismissed of my unit's roach infestation, of "roaches falling from the ceiling" and "sweeping roaches off the first floor hallways".

Management refused to validate, reassure, or provide any form of support for additional expenses. To add to all of this, I was not given the legally required two-day notice of staff entering my unit, with management citing generic building-wide announcements that failed to specify individual units. Additionally, despite requesting monthly pest control visits, I saw no trace of pest control coming into my unit, further highlighting the lack of...

I live here and do not recommend it.

Community standards are merely a suggestion; there’s zero courtesy and no enforcement of quiet hours. It feels like a college dorm on weekends.

Management recently changed from Greystar to Cardinal Group. Cardinal is disorganized and seems to have jumped in blindly. I'm not entirely convinced they aren't making up everything as they go along.

There's a sign-in sheet at the front desk; apparently all guests need to sign in, even though doors are controlled access and people can get buzzed in. I've heard staff gossip comment about how often someone has guys over. The disregard for privacy is disgusting and offensive.

The building is old and the heating system is ancient. The boiler has one setting: extremely high. I have both radiators turned off AND windows open. It's 40 degrees outside and 77 degrees inside.

The walls are extremely thin and I can hear my neighbors' entire conversations while waiting in the hallway for the elevator. I also hear the neighbor's dog bark incessantly; likely because it can hear everything that goes on all around. There's random yelling and beeping from the alley, and weekends sometime sound like this is a dorm on a college campus.

There's no smoking in the building per the lease, but management has yet to enforce it aside from polite reminders.

The apartment was filthy when I moved in and it was empty over a week before I arrived. I keep finding cat hair...and I don't have a cat.

The side entrance, lobby, and elevators smell heavily of something putrid that resembles moth balls. It's inconsistent, but frequent enough to mention.

There are cockroaches and glue traps in the bike room. But hey...there’s a bike room.

On the bright side: rent is cheap for the neighborhood, the train and bus stops are close and convenient, there are two grocery stores in close proximity, and there are a lot of great gyms and fitness studios nearby.

This place is fine if you just need a place to sleep, shower, eat, and store the contents of approximately 2-3 suitcases. Look elsewhere if you have any sort of standards beyond not...