Burnham Pointe

Have lived here for 2 years going on a third. I will say after new management took over, the building has improved by a lot. The gym has been furnished with new equipment, the swimming pool has also been improved and cleaned for the better. We now have seasonal parties which brings the neighbors together making it easier to meet your local residents. I’m very happy living in this location it is constantly improving and new restaurants keep opening up making the neighborhood more diverse when it comes to dinner options. The manager is very accommodating and thoughtful to the residents I would highly recommend living here. Their pricing is competitive and very negotiable when signing up for 1+ year. Compare the prices to the local area apartments you’ll find that they have more to offer.

Don’t move here! This was a well-​run building until it was sold for a roughly $ 40 million profit to Crescent Heights Inspired Living (ugh!) last year. Now, the new company is trying to earn its money back in a hurry, while making life for residents less than inspirational. For the amount of rent, there are much better options in the neighborhood, especially as new all rental properties open nearby.
The new management has put some money into marketing and some renovations of some common areas, but it is mostly superficial. The main «update» I’ve noticed is a cloying, advertising voice attached to most communications, which reminds you that attending any event in the building will be taken as consent to use your picture in future ads.
These events include, for example, when they invite everyone with a dog to bring him to the lobby between 5 and 7 for a «yappy hour.» Now, I love dogs, but I don’t think that asking all, say, 200 that live in the building to the lobby at the time of day when everyone is coming home from work is that bright an idea. There have been some (minor) dust-​ups, but more importantly it seems a little inconsistent the reminders that taking your dog to anywhere besides the disgusting piss-​carpet of a dog run on the «amenities floor» will result in, I believe it said, $ 200 fines.
The new people working in the building are fine, but there have been a number of snafus related to new ownership. Inspired Living came in and fired all of the front lobby employees from the start, so you have a 28 storey building where no one knows anyone. They also quickly fired an employee that happened to be working when CPD showed up because of a call of someone with a gun on one of the upper floors. (It’s a generally safe building — don’t get the wrong idea — from what I heard it was a domestic dispute, not a random mugging … still I think they blamed a guy for drawing the wrong shift, or maybe it was for just letting the six or seven cops in without signing the book).
There is great water pressure.

I’ve been living here for about three months and absolutely love it. It seems the new management is doing great things for the building — they just finished a complete renovation of the fitness center (including a brand new virtual work out assistant — super cool). The pool and hot tub is well cared for and ALWAYS clean. Lobby renovation is coming soon — the designs look fantastic — and all common areas/​hallways are always clean. The door staff is friendly, inviting and just nice to chat with. Shoutout to Shawn who is always great to talk to.
BP is always throwing events for residents with free booze (yay!) and lots of free food. Definitely appreciate that in a high rise, it seems a lot of the time a resident appreciation event is a box of donut holes and coffee. At Burnham Pointe, it’s a catered holiday party with champagne, wine and delicious food from local businesses. There’s always free coffee in the lobby for residents and snacks at the front desk occasionally.
Speaking of great management, I want to recognize Tessa. She was with us from viewing the unit to getting our keys and was more than amazing at every step. After we moved in, she personally followed up to see how things went for us and if we needed anything. Tessa is a great asset to the management office at BP and to be honest there is really no replacing her. We had a lot of questions and Tessa was prompt at answering them quickly through email/​phone calls. She made the entire application process clear, simple, quick and efficient. BP is really the first place in Chicago I’ve lived where I feel that the staff actually cares about me — and it started with Tessa.
It’s definitely likely that I will recommend friends to move into BP if they’re looking. Thanks for everything — love living here!

I’m a broker here in Chicago and I recently placed my first client into this building. The building is on point, the views and location are fantastic. The new management is putting serious money into updating the common areas and it’s going to look fantastic.
This review is really about the leasing office. I had the absolute pleasure of working with Tessa. I wanted to make sure management knows what an amazing employee they have in her. I come from a strong customer service background and I have to say that I recognize above and beyond when I see it. I hope to be doing a great deal more business with this building specifically due to my interactions with Tessa. If this is any indication of the level of service the building has for it’s residents, I have no reason to believe you would look anywhere else for a home in the South Loop.

My fiancé and I have been living here for almost 5 months and absolutely love this building. Clean, updated, pet friendly and under a new and improved management company. The staff is so nice — from the folks at the front door to the front office. The maintenance staff is amazing too, and has been with the building through the mgmt. change. When we moved in, there were a few issues with the AC, outlets, etc., but all of these requests were fixed within a day. A few weeks ago, our microwave was acting up — they ordered and installed a brand new one at no cost, and did so on our schedule (not a 12−5pm window like you’ll see elsewhere). A dog pees in the elevator — tell the front desk and it’s cleaned up immediately.
Here’s a quick overview of what you’re going to get by living here:
— Updated apartment/​appliances, balcony, in unit washer/​dryer
— A walk to work if you commute to the Loop or S. Loop
— Very pet friendly accommodations
— Awesome amenities from outdoor grills to an indoor pool and gym
— Top notch maintenance staff
* If you’re reading reviews to decide whether to take a tour or put in an application, I recommend looking after July 2015, when the management change was completed.

Here’s an update: I still enjoy living here. A huge positive is the maintenance staff. I’ve placed a couple of requests online and they were handled literally within minutes of putting in the request.
Two negatives:
1. HVAC is EXTREMELY LOUD. When the heat turns on, we have to turn up the sound on the TV. It kicked on one night while I was asleep — DEEP SLEEP — and I woke up in mid-​dream. It was very startling and I couldn’t get back to sleep. It’s way too loud.
2. Parking garage: I don’t own a car, but I use Zipcar (which is in the building and very convenient); however, the garage is open to the general public and I really don’t like that. I heard a couple of cars got broken into in the garage. The garage gate is always up. And now I just learned they will lease 40% of the garage spaces to the general public.
I don’t regret moving here because the apartments are huge, great staff, great views, large balcony AND within 2 blocks of red, blue, brown & Metra lines. And 6 blocks from orange line. The location simply can’t be beat. And there’s a small convenience store in the building.
One final point: If you don’t like, uh, love dogs, don’t move here. There are dogs, dogs, dogs and more dogs everywhere. I love dogs, so it’s not a problem for me, but if you don’t love them, you won’t enjoy living here.

ok — the maintenance team and the door staff are top notch. the dry cleaner is awesome and friendly. but after that it goes down hill. i could go on and on, but here are the top 10:
— sidewalk in front of the building is always full of garbage and dog urine and feces.
— the urine and feces can also be found in the building! (mostly in elevators and hallways)
–gym equipment is always busted. tv’s don’t work.
–the common computer room — computers often don’t work. when they do there are people who use them for hours. printer always out of paper
–many ppl who live there are rude. don’t wipe down gym equipment (nasty!), don’t hold elevators. they even throw trash over their balconies. (kid you not — see Unilocal photos)
–common area on 7^th floor always smells like urine from the «dog walk» so disgusting.
–although against the lease, there are pit bulls allowed in the building. when management is told about this, they say mixes are ok.
–elevators are usually broken. expect lengthy wait times during peak times.
–the management team is very rude. bring up an issue, don’t expect it to be address and expect an attitude.
–no matter how long you have lived there, expect your rent to go up $ 200++ a year.
it was the worse 2 years of rent i’ve ever lived through and was so happy to get out.

This building isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Pros: amazing views, nice sized balconies, wood floors and carpet in rooms and pet friendly. The appliances are upgraded, and they help install big items. The morning maintenance guy always says hello, and Derrick is the friendliest and most helpful security guy.
Cons: the leasing staff has a chip on their shoulder, they don’t want to help you and they are slow to respond. The doors are thin, and the staff does not respond to maintenance calls in a timely manner. My apartment has smelled of cigarette smoke seeping through the vents for 2 months now… no fix yet. There’s always poop right outside the front door and the metra in back is pretty noisy. The heating/​ac sounds like a plane is landing in your apartment and they use an outsourced company to bill you rent, water, trash, and heat. The cost is divided among the building per person per room. I could have gone on vacation for a week and still had to pay for other tenants usage of all of the above amenities. There are no screens to your balcony, and the open windows are pretty minimal so it gets really warm when the sun is out.
It’s alright, but I would also keep your options open.

I can’t imagine a better building staff anywhere. My disposal clogs, they fix it within the hour. Loose towel rack? Two hours. Burnt light bulb in the kitchen? Yeah, they’ll replace it.
The building itself is not perfect (noisy heater, chintzy mini washer) but the soundproofing between apartments is state-​of-​the-​art. I never hear a neighbor. I do, however, see «evidence» of neighbor’s dogs. To the building’s credit, they clean it up ASAP.
All in all, I’m very happy with the choice I made. Thanks, building staff. I hope you read this.

My husband and I were moving from out of state and were in Chicago for only 48 hours to find a place sign a lease for when we moved here. We looked at 18 places! Burnham Pointe was the second one we looked at and we’re so glad we moved here.
For the value, the apartments are top notch: floor to ceiling windows, hardwood floors, granite countertops, gas/​stainless appliances, and ample sized balconies.
The door staff are incredible. Extremely friendly, helpful and responsive. Same with the maintenance staff. They are prompt and fix anything that goes wrong without additional fees. They’ve helped us with things as simple as changing a lightbulb to more complicated, such as plumbing or A/​C issues. One of them even helped me jump my battery in the garage.
The amenity floor has a gym with free yoga/​pilates classes a few times a week, as well as a lap pool and hot tub. There is a nice sun deck with BBQs, and an office space with computers and a printer. There’s also a nice party room available first-​come, first-​serve, or for reservation.
The building is close to the red and blue lines, and all loop trains, and there is a Zipcar in the garage. It’s easy to live here without a car, and there are ample restaurants and stores nearby. In fact, you don’t even need to leave the building in the cold months to run down the hall to the back door to the convenience store, or to drop off dry cleaning.
The staff has planned free local happy hours every few months where residents can enjoy free food and drinks and meet one another. A nice perk.
There are a lot of dogs in the building, but we’ve never been bothered by any of them or heard noise. We happen to have cats and were welcomed in with our pets.

So I’ve been here for about a year and no problems thus far. The doormen are awesome and very helpful and always greet us come rain or shine. Their on staff maintenance team is amazing, they’re fast, friendly and get the job done. When I had moved in a lot of my outlets didn’t work and they realized there was no wiring so they got that done pretty fast. I had an incident when my microwave keypad went out and by the end of the week they had replaced it with a new one.
They always have events from BBQ and yoga and things in between. I’m not really a pet person so it does get annoying when there is urine on the elevator or right outside the main doors, but I guess that is to be expected in a pet friendly place. Luckily I haven’t had any barking dogs ruining my sleep but over all if your a pet person this is the place to be.

Looked at these apartments a few years back and so glad we chose AMLI over this place three years later. I walk in front of Burnham every morning on the way to the train and their sidewalk is disgusting! Poop and pee from dogs literally everywhere that you have to do the ‘avoidance dance’. The poor puppies look so embarrassed too, I feel for them. With the price of Burnham being slightly higher than AMLI you would have thought that could have at least taken some time to put in a dog run or some green space for the dog owners. And if there is a green space and the owners are avoiding it for their own convenience because its easier to just walk out front, than shame on them! It’s like your parents making you use an outhouse instead of the proper indoor bathroom when you were young.

I have only lived her for a week, but wanted to write a review anyways because so far my experience has been great. The front doormen were really helpful when it came to us moving into the building and the management office are really flexible, which I appreciate. They are dog lovers like us. And at this place there is only a 1 time pet fee. We have a dog and wanted to give back by fostering another. There was no additional charge. The apartment is definitely much nicer and more spacious than what we were getting in the Gold Coast. So far, I highly recommend.
Also, something that really impressed me was their willingness to help current renters find sublets. When we looked, they mentioned that someone in the building was looking to sublet their apartment. That gave me a great first impression. It made the decision of moving here easy. I was sold. :))) If things keep going this way, they will definitely be getting 5 stars from me. :)))

Our experience here has been great! Ok, so the first day we moved in there was a fire… but that was a dumb residents fault not theirs. The damage has since mostly been repaired. Other than that, I am not sure why there are so many negative reviews? I think the management, staff, and pretty much everyone working here are very helpful, nice, responsive, and a pleasure to work with. Far better than any other place I have previously rented from! I mean, the maintenance guys CHANGED AND REPAIRED MY TIRE FOR ME! How nice is that?! We had a problem with one of the stove burners when we first moved in and guess what? NEW STOVE/​OVEN! On top of that, there are fun cocktail events and the amenities are nice. Not sure what went on with previous managements but they have gone above and beyond to make sure we’re happy. For the space, price, location, and style… you should def check it out.

I have to give this place a huge thumbs-​down, even though I haven’t been a resident, because when I called to ask about an apartment, they informed me that I’d have to have my cat declawed.
I was shocked and told the lady on the phone so, and she said I’d have to call the management firm directly to ask if there was an exception to be made. I called them and they said there was no such thing in the leases they were looking at. So there’s a big of a confusion in their own management teams.
Suffice to say, I didn’t schedule an appointment. To require that pet owners deliberately amputate their kitty’s fingers at the first knuckle is inhumane! In parts of California (where I’m from) it’s banned completely.

I’ve been at Burnham Pointe since June, 2010 and at first, it was wonderful. The apartment is beautiful with great views. Great finishes and overall we really like the building. The doormen are friendly and great. But the management company is a different story.
Draper & Kramer, the previous management company, was great — very friendly, welcoming and always concerned with our experience with the building. However, the new management company, Altman or whoever, has been HORRIBLE. Management will forget to put a work order in for maintenance, schedule maintenance appointments for when maintenance is not even working and take forever to order parts for broken appliances. Our ice machine was broken from the time we moved in, and it took about 2 months for management to order to part of fix it. Our washer has now been broken and unusable for 5 days and no one has even come to take a look at it. Apparently the work order was «lost.»
Additionally, our parking was included in our lease, but for some reason my roommate’s parking transmitter was deactivated. The woman at the management office argued with me, but finally gave in, saying that if it was in our lease, she can have it fixed. This is after many, many emails and phone calls to both Standard Parking and our management office that really were not necessary.
If the management company would think about taking care of their residents (or if the owners replaced the management company), this would be an absolutely great place to live.

We moved in early 2010, and have been here through one management change (from Draper and Kramer, who we signed our lease with, to the new company – Altman, I think). Overall, we are very happy with our place, and are really hoping to stay here for the next few years while we’re in Chicago. Some pros and cons:
Pros:
–We really like the location. We travel south to Hyde Park for work, and the commute is pretty convenient – not much traffic on that part of Lake Shore by car, and options to bus it, take the Metra, or take a bus/​El combo. At the same time, we still feel like we’re living in the city proper, and it’s easy to get from here to almost anywhere in the Loop or North Side.
–Related to location: close access to the Red Line and Blue Line. This is a real positive if you do a lot of air travel, because being able to take the Blue Line to O’Hare and back obviates a lot of unpleasant ⁹⁰⁄₉₄ time.
–Pretty good sound insulation. There are a lot of dogs in the building, including our two – and a lot of them are small, barky dogs (including our two). While you can hear them (and, by extension, other apartment noise) if you’re in the hallway, noise between floors or between walls between apartments is pretty minimal. This is a big improvement over a lot of apartment buildings we’ve lived in, in the past.
–Nice kitchen, condo-​quality touches, pretty reasonable gym facilities, blah blah blah – this is the sort of stuff it’s easy to get in this area if you’re willing to pay for them.
Cons:
–Most of our apartment seems to be pretty well put together, but we did find a leak in our bedroom corner – basically, water would come in and saturate the carpet near the wall when it rained a lot (only when it rained really heavily, though). The maintenance team was pretty responsive when we originally reported it – dried and cleaned the carpet and replaced and repainted the baseboard in that area – but I don’t think they totally fixed the original problem. Every few months, with heavy rain, it seems a little damp in that area again.
–New charges with management changes. We had a convenient set-​up with Draper and Kramer for automatic payments, with no extra charges to do so. With the new management company, we are charged to actually even receive the monthly bill (for rent, utilities, pet rent, etc.). We also can’t do automatic deduction, and because different charges appear on our bill at different times at the beginning of the month, we have to wait a few days after the start of the month in order to get a correct tally for the total bill. What the hell? This should be easy in 2010!

I have been at Burnham Pointe since May of 2009 and honestly… I have nothing good to say about it anymore. When I first moved in I was happy and it was great but then it went downhill. With the multiple management changes, things just seem to have gotten worse overtime. I regret renewing my lease for 8 more months but I was «promised» my issues would be taken care of if I did renew it (Duh, of course they would say that, anything to keep a renter that pays their rent on time). I thought the new management would have taken care of my problem but I guess residents’ allowing their dogs to use the bathroom on other people’s balcony for 12+ months isn’t a problem. Silly me, I thought that was a health hazard but I guess not. That must be why my CONSTANT complaining has gone unanswered and that resident is still here.
So I guess if you want a balcony covered in dog urine and feces from the people above you, this is the perfect place for you! Or if you are a lazy dog owner who doesn’t want to walk their dog and just let them go on your balcony, come on down cause you can get away with it here! Just play dumb each time someone confronts you about your dog waste and that will be it. Management doesn’t care so look at this building as one big fire hydrant for your dog.
Sometimes when I do try to enjoy my balcony I like to play the game, «Dodge the Dog Urine» when it falls down. Its super fun, I highly recommend it. Oh and on good days your apartment can even smell like dog waste when the neighbors above you decide to wash their balcony off and ALL the waste from their balcony falls on yours. It’s fabulous.
I apparently also have to watch my monthly bills now, I was charged for a game room rental and guest room that I never used. Also when I paid my rent (the full amount on my statement) I somehow have an overdue balance of $ 375 this month. This makes me nervous that I even have to look for these errors and have to do their bookkeeping now.
I just want to add the constant cracks in my walls and on my ceiling. I’ve had one spot fixed twice since I moved in. Other places just show up randomly. Just looks ghetto to have cracks all over and it’s a constant problem. I’ve also noticed the scent of cigarette smoke in my master bedroom nightly. I’ve had to get an air purifier to help with the smell. I don’t smoke or allow smoking in my apartment, so it’s not me or any of my friends. It’s coming from either the windows or the vent and I am just stuck with it.
As for the parking, I am only going to mention this because it’s irritating. The building is connected to a parking garage that goes though Standard Parking. The spots are SUPER small and sometimes there isn’t enough spots because people purposely take up 2 spots at a time because their car cannot fit in just one spot. Seriously I’ve had to climb out of my passenger door because I couldn’t get out of my driver side door. It might be better to check out the lot across the street, yeah it’s not a covered garage but at least you get a parking spot that you paid for.
Seriously, coming from someone who has lived here for 2 years, I would look elsewhere. They have quite a façade going on so don’t be fooled. Sharing a cardboard box with a mentally ill homeless man on the street would be more accommodating and sanitary.
**UPDATE** It is now Feb 2011 and I still have a balcony covered with dog urine. They claimed back in December they gave them a 10 day notice and these residents refused to leave so they have to file something with the courts. They sent maintenance to clean my balcony and they were disgusted but had no way to clean it. Over it! I’m just at a loss.
**NEW UPDATE** Well it’s now May 2011… yes May and guess what? Nothing has changed. I still have urine falling onto my balcony and the management still doesn’t care. I LOVE how I was told they were given a 10 day notice like 6 months ago yet they are still here. I love it when my apartment management lies straight to my face to just shut me up and get me out of their office. I really feel sorry for people that I see looking at the building. I vomit in my mouth when I hear any of the leasing agents talking the building up. What is there to brag about? I just hope people will see through the façade and see this as the hovel it really is with animals waste covered balconies. Now that’s classy!
**ANOTHER UPDATE**It’s now mid July and after handing in my notice to move they actually asked me why I was leaving… really? You have no idea why? I asked them if one of the managers could go through my unit once I removed everything for a final inspection and she looked at me like I was crazy. She said they would have a maintenance guy do it. Not acceptable and I refuse for them to come back and say I owe them money for something ridiculous. They have also painted all the doors on my floor ugly neon green. Also the parking garage has had some break-in’s and vandalism. I’m just ready for August 31.

My unit on the 12^th floor is not dog noisy; I think the unit is great.
It is quite expensive to live here (in a 2 bedroom), but I would recommend the building.

Unbeatable place to live. Close to everything, SPECTACULAR VIEWS, and they allow dogs (plus they have an on-​site dog run on their amenity floor!!).
PLUS all their apartments are condo-​quality, because the building was supposed to go condo before the real estate market went bad. So you get to live in well-​appointed units with hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, and granite countertops!
Management here is also great to work with. Highly recommended, especially if you work in the loop!