Prentiss Creek at Downers Grove Apartments — Local services in Downers Grove

I've lived here since Jan 2015. And I ❤️ the complex. PERFECT LOCATION! Looking to move due to increase in rent, parking, and personal discontentment with minor unit issues though.😞

Staff: The office staff is SUPER friendly. They are always a joy to visit, very helpful whenever I have a question, and they always give out snacks! During the year they have various themed events which I always thought was nice, though I could never attend because of work. They all spoiled my dog when she would visit the office with me. I remember when I needed a new parking sticker and they were helpful! See the rule is if you need a new parking sticker for any reason, you have to bring the old one in, no matter the condition you have to bring back at least pieces of it, or you have to pay for a brand new one. Well silly me, I sold my truck (with my sticker), and forgot about getting a new one then got a giant, ugly adhesive green sticker on my brand new car stating I was in violation of parking in resident parking without a sticker (I was PISSED, my own fault if course, but still I live here! Lol). Well my sticker was long gone, but with proof I traded in my truck and bought a new car, they generously gave me a new sticker for free! :)

Maintenance: These guys are awesome! They are all very nice and they always speak when they see you in passing, (if your friendly like me and speak of course). When I moved in, I didn't notice the renters before me had a couple broken things in the apartment (it's been 11 months and I just learned to deal with the broken things because they didn't bother me much), but since I planned to move and didn't want to be charged for something I didn't do I reported it and it was fixed the same day! A part of my door frame got messed up (pet owner problems), maintained fixed it and it looks like new! And even though they enter your house when you're gone, the leasing office checks first to make sure you're okay with it, plus nothing has ever come up missing so they are good in my book!

Building and my unit- I live in the pet buildings, in building H. My apartment is decent sized. My only dislike (after a year here), is the units don't get warmed enough for me. I've had my heat set to 85 because I'm always cold, but it never gets past 70/75 in here. So personally, I'm still cold, which I don't like at all. I keep a space heater in my bedroom, the living room is cold. On the contrary in the summer, its hotter in the bedroom and only cool in the living room, as the AC is not central (it's an AC unit) Nevertheless, you can bet your bottom, to have HOT water, EVERYWHERE! The counter space in the kitchen is small, a struggle to cook with limited space (and not enough space and sockets for counter top appliances). Still all the appliances are newer, matching black, and work great! Not worth new rent of $1009 plus utilities.

Community- Neighbors are polite (hold doors, speak, respect your car in the lot). It's kept neat enough for an apartment complex with dogs. The dog park is a little to small for my 7yo lab, who loves to run far to play fetch. The ball always went over the gate, and I always feared having her off leash playing (rules and all). So didn't play much outdoors here, mainly walks. The pool was closed all summer under construction (bummer), something about a non compliance for permit in regards to locations of bathrooms. But it still looked great. There's a BBQ grill so a cool place for a cookout. The game room has 2 arcade games, a pool table and tvs. It closes when the leasing office closes, probably so people don't tear up the stuff or steal it at night. Not sure. But the gym is nice, small but lots to do. PARKING HOWEVER..... DREADFUL. There are too many cars and not enough spaces. I work 2-10 shift. Getting home at 1030p, there are almost always no open spaces. You have to drive around and invent spaces, some invented spaces will get you the ugly green sticker and while others are tolerable. I find it unfair, and hate scraping my windows with a razor to get the sticker...

Zero stars if that was an option. If you are thinking about renting here, please also read other reviews. From day one I’ve had issues with this apartment complex. Starting with one of their Leasing Consultant’s Diana. My move in date was May 1st, I went to look at the unit a couple of prior to see how it looked. Diana let me know that they were still working on the unit, but I could still see it. I went to go look at the unit and I could see that they were still working on it from the dirt on the floor and dirty stand in water in the kitchen sink (at least that’s what I thought). Once I got back to the leasing office, I asked Diana would they have everything cleaned up before I moved in? Because earlier she said that the people who clean the apartment were off this weekend. When my move-in date comes, I go and pick up the keys as soon as they open and ask Diana again, “Do you know if they cleaned the apartment?” She said yes, they did and fixed the linen closet door. I didn’t bother on checking because I was pressed for time with the moving truck and working I didn't go and check. Once coming back to the apartment with my belongings, I see that the apartment wasn't swept nor mopped and all the same stand in water in the kitchen sink. It was VERY INCONVENTIENT and STRESSFUL having to clean around my belongings. That 1st night is where I dealt with the kitchen sink. Water started to come up from the drain and it had a horrible smell. I asked one of my neighbors on the if they had the same issues and before I could even finish, they said YES! A pond talking to my neighbor I noticed that there were roaches, spiders and other bugs all in the hallway. There is a video I attached so you can see the proof. And that same smell that was from the sink I could smell it in the hallway as well. I put in a maintenance request to have my kitchen sink looked at. When maintenance came, all they did was run the water for 10-15 minutes and said it was fixed. It seemed odd because normally any plumber would just rod out the sink if any backup issues. Needless to say, that didn’t fix the issue because later that day the water came back up. I put in another request to have maintenance to fix the sink. Same thing, a different maintenance person came, ran the water for 10-15 minutes and then said it was fixed. Once I got an email from the complex about doing a survey, I filled it out and let them know about the issues. Stephanie called and I explained the issues I had with Diana lying about the apartment being cleaned, the sink and bug issues. Stephanie put in a request to have maintenance come back to look at the sink issue and to have an exterminator come out to spray my apartment. The BUG ISSUES WERE INSANE! I had to deal with Gnats ALL DAY EVERY DAY! It was like they were coming from somewhere and I didn’t know where. I even bought Flying insect traps which I filled up four from just having it plugged into the kitchen outlet (Picture is provide). The exterminator came and sprayed my apartment but, that didn’t fix the issue. Finally, another maintenance person comes to check on the sink. As I try to explain what’s going on with the sink, he was literally finishing every sentence about the issues I was having. So there’s a clear indication that this is an issue he dealt with before. He then tried to rod the sink out but couldn’t fully do it because he said he needed a longer rod. He said it might be a broken pipe but when he went back to find a longer rod, he couldn’t find one. After another failed attempt on fixing my sink, they finally called a Plumber which they had the smell I described is from dead rodents, the same smell as in the hallways. THIS IS DEFINITELY A HEALTH HAZARD! Also, recently just dealt with ants in my linen closet, bathroom, bedroom closet and even in my bed. To anyone who is looking to live here, DON'T! Save yourself time, money and stressful. I wish I had done the same. I wish that I could load videos to show the ants that where coming from my linen closet but google...

My wife and I have lived in this complex for 4 years. 3 of them have been in a single bedroom (Building R) and this last year in their largest 2 bedroom (Building S).

When we moved in the apartment seemed to be full of young professionals and friendly retirees. It was a pleasant place to live despite the aging structure and hodge-podge upkeep. The primary way they keep things updated here seems to be by slathering on the paint. Most of the construction and amenities here are old and worn out. We did not have high expectations since it was rather inexpensive for the area and the neighborhood was nice.

Our final year here we moved to a fully 'renovated' 2 bedroom. Their highest sqft model. Since our careers were taking off and we had some extra money we wanted to live a little better as we saved for a home. However, this last year has been no good for this complex. The young professionals have been slowly moving away over the years and it does seem like section 8 has been moving in. Although we live in the most expensive model, the smell of cigarette smoke and weed is inescapable. We blow a fan at our front door and keep 2 air purifiers running in our bedroom all night yet we cannot keep the smell out. Our belongings have started to smell like it too. We have also found cigarette burn marks and scorch marks running up the walls in the hallways. We only hope that we can move before the building burns down. We've complained many times with no action taken.

All of the outer doors are supposed to lock yet have been broken since we moved in. People have knocked on our (inner) door attempting to solicit us multiple times. We can here the neighbors screaming and throwing things regularly as well as taking part in other, more private, activities (thank goodness for the loud air purifiers). Our vehicles have been vandalized multiple times with eggs, dents, and scratches. The mail lady here destroys mail and the boxes are often left open as well (Not the apt's fault just figured I'd mention it).

We've never had any issues with the staff being rude. They've only been indifferent and have not helped us with any of our neighbor issues. Maintenance has always been prompt and polite as well as efficient in their repairs. Hats off to them since I'm sure keeping an old place like this running is no small task.

I give this complex 3 stars only because our first 3 years here were relatively pleasant and tolerable as we made our way into our careers. This last year however has shown a steep and rapid decline in the quality of residents as I assume the new structures in downtown Downer's take the young professionals away. It has been a bad year and we're excited to move. If I had to grade this complex on our most recent experience I would likely have given a single star.

I sincerely hope they can get a new influx of quality residents or do something about the shady and illegal goings-on here before this place goes under completely. At this time I can't...