North Harbor Tower

We had to find a studio for our son who is attending college in Chicago. He seriously lives like a king there and he is safe, which is peace of mind for us. He has so many amenities available to him and I love the front desk guys. Thanks to Michael at the front desk, my son will make it home for the holidays. Long story but THANK YOU MICHAEL! Took one star off for transit accessibility. The building is far from any train station.

I have lived in this apartment for 3 years and I would say this is the best luxury apartment to live in Chicago. It is affordable with great view and staff. The doormen are so nice that you can tell they treat you like a friend. Since it is a old building (more than 20 years), there are some minor issues you will encounter. But the maintenance team come fix it real quick. Moreover, NHT holds some events once in a while so you will never get bored. What I like most is that there is a small grocery shop downstairs in next building and you can get there through the indoor walkway. It is very important as we all know that winter in Chicago is cold and long. They offer free coffee every morning. Every Friday they provide you with free bagels. This is definitely a quite, safe and most comfortable place to live in the lakeshore east !!

I lived here for years… The amenities are great and the location is awesome! Would highly recommend it.

I’ve lived at NHT for almost two years, and as a whole, my experiences have been good. The breakdown beow:
The good:
— Great amentities — gym, pool, newly renovated sundeck, and newly created outdoor lounge are all really fantastic.
— The door guys — they are by far the nicest, most helpful, and overall fun and friendly people I’ve ever met.
— Very close to the Marianos grocery store
— Great views of the city or lake
— Apt requests are addressed very quickly
— All the residents are friendly
— They allow pets
— Great wifi access in the lounge, library, and gym
The not so good:
— It’s a bit far to get to any public transportation. The 60 bus comes right by, but if you want to catch the L train, it’s a good 10 – 15 min walk to any of the stations.
— The business center is pretty terrible. It’s currently undergoing renovations, but very few of the computers have Microsoft Office or Adobe on them, and only two of the computers actually link to the printer. On top of that, the computer software is terribly out of date. Hopefully that changes with the renovations.
— Rent increases year over year and there’s no way to sign a lease contract for more than a year to try and lock down prices.
— Amenities tend to have issues regularly, whether the elevators are broken, printers aren’t working, or multiple laundry machines/​dryers are broken. All you can do is wait or figure out another way to take care of your needs outside of the building.
Lastly, I highly recommend working with Sheri, Troy, and Stephanie in the management office. They’re my favorite folks out of the office as they’re friendly and easy to work with. I highly recommend them.

I have been living here almost a year and my lease is up soon. Not sure if I’m extending or leaving but most likely, I will stay. Living downtown Chicago is hard to find a great place in a great area that I love plus all the amenities that come with, North Harbor Tower is the most affordable place in the Lakeshore East area with huge floorplans for the money, with amenities and staff. Location is fantastic. Easy to exceed to everywhere. Walking distance to magnificent Mile, restaurant and places. Taxi service is right up front the building.
Maintenance is top-​notch, friendly staff. The building is always spotless. The door staff is out of this world. Very friendly and helpful. I love when they greet everyone by name with a friendly smile.
I’m so happy I found NHT.

I have lived here for a year and just renewed my lease for another year.
Management goes out of their way to help you especially Troy.
Big apartments, fair price.
No wonder vacancy rates are so low!

This is one, if not the, best location to live in Chicago. The facilities are great here, and the staff is amazing, mainly the doormen. The views are epic, and it is priced decently. However, looking at previous reviews youll see that the elevators are mentioned as an issue.
Laundry room machines are in need of an update as well.
UPDATE as of 12÷1÷2015: The elevators are all working as of now. But when they fail again, which I assure you they will, Otis (the elevator repair company) will take about 3 – 4 months to repair it. Hopefully more than one wont break at a time! 4 stars for now

Very sad to see this building with so much potential being managed as poorly as it is. Elevators are a nightmare. One elevator for hundreds of residents is the norm. Residents have been told «we’re working on it» for months. Commonly there will be 2 Otis employees for 7 very outdated elevator banks. It seems the solution would be a full team of Otis technicians working around the clock. ZRS has determined the frustration and inconvenience to the residents (many of us paying between $ 3 and $ 4,000 per month) is not worth the cost. Instead we must factor in an extra 15 mins to get up or down from our apartments. For many of us, that is several times per day. This has been an ongoing problem for several months and I was told by Otis this could potentially continue for another year or longer. Hard to believe in this age of technology and engineering this could be happening. There is also a dog run under construction that was promised to be finished in early summer. We do however, have a nice, new outdoor facility on the first level. Unfortunately, the hassle of getting in and out of our apartments makes the thought of taking steaks downstairs nonexistent.
Conveniently, a suggestion box or any form of communication with ZRS is not made available to residents. On the positive side, the doormen are fabulous. Too bad they have no control over ZRS management decisions.

PATHETIC MANAGEMENT DETERS THIS APARTMENT SEEKER
I’ve been looking at renting in Streeterville for several months and finally decided to move into the North Harbor Tower. Not now. On at least three occasions recently armed vandals shot rounds into the lower level pool area. That wasn’t enough to deter me from renting because vandalism can happen anywhere. It’s the response from top management that made me know for sure I wanted nothing to do with any ZRS Property.
In a memo to residents management said «something» was fired at the windows from Lake Shore Drive and that steps would be taken to ensure the protection of property.
Hey bozos, it was BULLETS that were fired. To hell with protection of property, how about the protection of lives? Oh, and this, police say the shots could have been fired from the sidewalk below.
ZRS is a property management company out of Florida and in addition to North Harbor Tower manages two other properties in Chicago, Chestnut Tower and 420 East Ohio.
ZRS Offices 773−382−8423

I lived here for a year. I really enjoyed the indoor pool, the workout facility and the door men were the best! They quickly learned my name, and my friends, and were always cordial. The maintenance staff was 24/​7, and were always responsive. Each week they have /​had various food vendors selling dinner so you didn’t have to cook. The location was slightly undesirable for cabs, and public transportation. However, the proximity to the new Mariano’s and also the great park and other attraction’s made me fall in love with it.
Don’t expect any street parking, and the guest parking was rather expensive and at times the building’s guest parking was full.
I did also love being able to not have to leave the building and I was able to have one convenient store, as well as a small grocery store within INDOOR walking distance.
Overall, I loved the apartment building, as well as the location. If you want a quiet non traveled residence, you will enjoy this experience. Also, being able to watch Navy Pier’s firework shows from your driveway or «Friendship on the Lake» was awesome!

They have upgraded this place quite a bit.

I have lived in this building for 3 years and have watched the steady decline of concern for residents, by the management and staff. Yes, there are a few nice doormen, David, Leo and Jose (the one that works the nightshift) are great. But a few good employees are not enough to make this building worth the rent. The ultimate insult occurred this evening as another resident’s large, unrestrained dog attempted to attack my leashed 16.5 lb dog. The incident occurred in the front entrance and the doormen watched. When I asked them to assist in identifying the individuals and their dog so that I could file a formal complaint the doormen claimed these individuals were guests and therefore strangers, yet when these «strangers» returned the doormen buzzed these «strangers» through the secured door without question. If you are concerned about the well being of your family or pets do NOT move here. What if the unrestrained dog attacked a child or another individual, would the apathetic doormen still stand idly by and watch? Are you willing to take that risk? If these individuals were strangers, doesn’t buzzing them in without identification or any questions defeat the purpose of doormen?
Let me also mention that I have come home on multiple occasions to find out that my apartment was flooded due to issues with the building HVAC. Also worthy of note is that I spent 5 full days without hot water in my apartment despite multiple calls to the leasing office and I did not receive adequate service until I threatened to file a complaint with the City of Chicago. There are more problems that I could detail at length, but there was no direct threat to my safety, until now. Seriously, there are a number of buildings in this neighborhood that may charge a bit more but the management of these other buildings will do their best to keep residents safe, something NHT has failed to do by allowing unrestrained animals to attack and then allowing strangers access to the «secured» building. Also, if price is the primary concern, many of the buildings in the neighborhood charge a little more but residents receive additional amenities such as free wifi, cable etc. PLEASE do your research and really take a look at all of these Unilocal reviews before moving to NHT. If by chance you ignore this warning I seriously wish you good luck… you will need it if you live at NHT.

This is a really good apartment housing and the best management and maintenance staff. They are really friendly and not to mention helpful. Troy the Leasing consultant has been so helpful. I wanted help setting up lamps I bought at ikea and he said ‘yes, we can help you with that’. Any maintenance request is just taken care of within 24 hours. My husband has lived in Presidential Towers before and I cant tell you how pleased I am we moved here. PT is living hell and this is heaven.
Bus 60 comes right at your door, there are secret hallways that lead you to the pedway. Zipcars in the basement, downtown life couldnt get better. Great park at a stone s throw. Great Gym and pool and they have free yoga, water aerobics classes, paid zumba classes. They keep having events to keep it lively.
If you ever find an empty apt, make sure you swoop in and take it. They do everything to make you feel like its your own home. I love this place.
Although I agree with Ben. I do get second hand smoke through the vents. Nots ure where it comes from, but friday nights and late saturday nights its more obvious. Hallways are smoky. Sometimes I wonder they are a bit too friendly.

Excellent place to live with one big problem.
I have lived here for almost two years. The door staff is great and there are a lot of great people in the building. I love the location and the view from my living room is to die for.
My only complaint is second-​hand smoke. I get cigarette smoke coming in through the vent in my bathroom. It is intense to the point that I cannot use the bathroom at night. This is obviously unacceptable. I have been working with management for over 6 months to fix this. None of their solutions has been acceptable. I have spoken to several other residents who share this same issue.
The building’s ventilation system is not set up well enough to handle smokers and non-​smokers, but the building management and ownership are not willing to make the building smoke-​free, even though the owners have several other smoke-​free buildings in the area. I would encourage the owners of the building to strongly consider making the building smoke-​free.
I would love to turn this 3-​star review into a 5-​star review, because everything else about this building has been truly wonderful. The pool, gym, and lobby are all great. The rent is pretty reasonable compared to other buildings in the area.

We’ve lived here for several weeks now and I’m really enjoying this location. The office staff has been helpful when we’ve needed repairs, and the fix-​it staff is very prompt. I have an end unit, which may be why I don’t notice any odd smells, as one reviewer noted. We have had a couple incidents with smoke coming through the general vents. While people are supposed to smoke only outside, when they smoke indoors, it does impact other residents. That is my only complaint. The door staff is warm and friendly, close proximity to parks, grocery, transit. Glad to live here. I would purchase here if they were for sale.
Updated: Mar 2013: Still giving a great review with additional info. Since the building is a rental, there are lots of repairs and updates being done, which means noise. NOISE! Hammering, sawing, drilling — which sounds like it is IN my apartment. If you need to sleep during the day or at odd times, this is a problem. I really cannot hear my neighbors, so this maintenance noise is a puzzle to me, but it’s most definitely a near-​constant. Every day, something new to be drilled, hammered, sawed.

I haven’t even moved-​in yet, but I’m already writing a good review!
I’m moving out of one Lakeshore East building (because they raised my rent $ 340 a month) and into another. I was pretty set on one building but decided to check out North Harbor Tower for a fair comparison, and I’m SO glad I did!
My lease agent, Stephanie, is so awesome! She gave me a great tour of the building and cheerfully explained all the details of the lease process. I have a relatively complicated financial situation and she was so patient and responsive with all our emails and faxes back and forth, making the whole process very easy. She also seemed legitimately excited when I was approved.
Wait…I’ll feel appreciated as a resident?! Cool!
P. S. I’ll check back in with another review when I’ve actually moved into my new unit!

You know how some people like bitching about stuff just because they can? That’s what some of these reviews remind me of. I’ve been at NHT for a year in a three bedroom and the value can’t be beat. I think three bedrooms are all somewhere around $ 3K/​mo these days at NHT. I’ve looked at comparables in Lakeshore East and there really aren’t any. Finding a ~1800 sq ft three bedroom rental in a nice area of the city isn’t easy. We have an exceptional view of the entire city.
Could the apartments use some updating? Yeah, sure. Our kitchen is fine, but the bathrooms are rather plain. I don’t mind, it just keeps my rent more reasonable. If you can’t deal with that, then buy a condo and do the place up the way you want.
I do have a couple complaints. One, the elevators suck. When they work, they work fine. When they don’t work, they really don’t work. Sometimes I’ve had to wait for a while when the elevator is at my floor, but the door just hasn’t opened. I’ve heard of people also having the elevator door open between floors. Not cool. The other big complaint I have is of a smoke smell that is rare. We don’t smoke, but apparently smoking is allowed in the apartments. Because of the ventilation system, that means a chain smoker might as well be puffing in our faces while sleeping from time to time. It’s a huge deal, but they’ve closed off some outside vents which has made it a very rare occurrence now. Still, it clearly violates the terms of the lease where I deserve a healthy environment.
We got a parking deal since we moved in off season that gave us a reserved spot for $ 150/​mo which is awesome. There’s a bike room with reserved bike spots as well for free. The management has been extremely helpful and has fixed anything we’ve needed fixed within 48 hours. They’ve even handled emergencies well (bachelor party, backed up toilet, enough said).
The building is mostly well kept. The heated indoor pool is a huge plus, and even the gym isn’t half bad. I can do all the workouts I need to do, and I lift about six times a week. There is a nice range of dumbbells (~3−75 lbs), a smith machine, and a free bench with weight plates, as well as ellipticals, treadmills, a rower, swiss balls, weight machines, cable machine, etc. You get the point. There’s even free fitness classes everyday, with Yoga currently once or twice a week, and, for you ladies, Pilates twice a week. I guess guys can join that too, but, ones more adventurous than myself.
The doormen are all really cool. A lot of people just stop to strike up a conversation with the guys from time to time. By them, there’s free coffee every morning, and free bagels every Friday. There’s even special events like a Christmas party for the building where the management team serves up some decent food, music, drinks, etc. Yeah, it’s technically coming out of your rent, but it feels good anyways.
We don’t plan to leave NHT until we buy a place, or until it just gets too expensive to stay.

NHT is the place to be! During the time I moved to this place — they were switching management. To be honest, the reviews on here are very old & more or less scare you away from this place. But don’t be deceived! I’ve lived in other apartments before & loath every single management I’ve had so far EXCEPT NHT.
Everyone here is so kind & it’s heart-​warming in a sense because the workers treat you like a family, our doormen even remember my family members who don’t live in the building (My sister’s personal favorite is «Little Jose»). The price is to die for (very reasonable for Downtown Chicago), the location is fantastic (you can get anywhere by walking — it’s literally a 15 minute walk from AMC River East, 5 minute walk to Mel. Park & transportation is right out the door), during the summer you can see the fireworks clearly from the front of the apartment building, it’s clean nearly 98% of the time, I rarely ever find that the carpets aren’t vacuumed, most of the residents are friendly & most of all living here makes me feel safe.
NHT is in High Demand right now, I recently checked the availabilities of different units here & saw that we are now wait listing potential tenants!
I now have high expectations in places I live/​want to live because of NHT. I feel like I can’t find a place with a better deal than this. We’ll most likely be extending our lease.
Thank You NHT STAFF!
** The place comes with many other hidden goodies, you’ll just have to wait and see when you come live at NHT!

We’ve lived here 3 months. Plain and simple — it’s like living in a hotel w/​o paying the cost of a hotel.
Free coffee every morning, free bagels every Friday. Great pool, sundeck w/​grill, fitness center with free fitness classes, laundry room w/​big screen tv, the list goes on… the doormen are super friendly and always hold the door for you.
The few times we’ve needed something fixed in our apt they have sent maintenance with 48 hours to fix it — no questions asked.
It may be a ½ mile from the el, but the 60 bus picks up right in front of the building practically and takes you into the loop. And you have Millennium park — aka Lolla, Taste, etc. right outside your door.
Yes, on occasion the elevator tends to stink a bit of trash, but that is my only complaint. It’s worth putting up with a little smell for all the other great things.

I worked as a nanny in this building for over a year… so I basically lived there.
Location: While decent and tucked away, with great views (some units), is in a wind tunnel! It’s a good 5 block walk to Randolph/​Michigan. But near some great parks (Millenium/​Grant). Can see the fireworks from the Navy Pier in North facing units… Can see Monroe harbor from south facing units.
Cons: The elevators smell like garbage often. I have no idea why. It’s gross. The management is terrible. The apartments are outdated and in need of newer appliances and fixtures. Pretty expensive, but on par for the location and cheaper (because its older) than the other newer high rises in Lakeshore East. Parking is around $ 220 a MONTH!
Pros: Clean hallyways/​foyer, doormen, 24 hour biz center, indoor pool, 24 hour laundry, on site fitness center (pretty decent). Also a small grocery in the bottom of the neighboring building that can be accessed through the parking garage. Views. Transportation is pretty close (Blue Island bus).
If you want to pay $ 1000 for a studio…(cheapest)…this is your place ;)