420 East Ohio

I really can’t believe I’ve been living here as long as I have! In the course of this time, I’ve seen multiple management companies and many more managers and assistant property managers come and go.
I have to say that in all of these years, there has never been a manager more invested in ensuring that this building is maintained, that the tenants are happy, that the front door is free from dog pee, and that there is a free-​flow of communication between the management and the residents than the current management team, led by Brandy (the property manager) and Jill (the assistant property manager). I can say for sure, without any reservation that they’re the best managers this building has had in the entire time I’ve lived here, and while I know that other residents appreciate their level of engagement, they can’t fully understand what a major, night-​and-​day difference this is from how things have been in the past. A few years ago, a woman named Elizabeth was the property manager. I was charged late-​fees because I refused to pay a $ 0.75 charge for lightbulbs that was added to my bill (the lightbulbs – provided by the building – lasted approximately one month, and nothing in my lease indicated that it was my responsibility to pay to replace light bulbs with new ones that again, lasted only a few weeks. This had never happened before, and fortunately, has not happened since). so hopefully, that illustrates just how far things have come.
Jill goes above and beyond consistently, for everyone, without a question or even a moment in which you can usually sense someone raising their eyebrows over the nature of the request – like when I freaked out while out of town that my cats had run out of water and asked if she could just go up and check for me. Another great example of Jill’s attitude is from Winter of 2014, when it was horrifically cold, I was sick for probably 2 months, and consequently super-​depressed, and generally, not in a good place. The building was replacing old refrigerators and dishwashers with newer ones from the apartments that were being renovated and getting stainless steel appliances. My new (er) fridge had a funky smell, and it just put me over the top and I lost it. It wasn’t pretty. In the aftermath, I felt horrible about it, but without judging, or even flinching, Jill offered to order me a brand new refrigerator, and that kind gesture alone was what helped me to start clawing myself back from a really low place. It made a huge difference to me in my apartment at the time, and it also made a huge difference to me in my personal struggles at that time.
Brandy shows how much she cares about this building every single day. Yes, there are things that need to be fixed or updated that are beyond her control as ultimately, the funds to do so come from ZRS, but those are issues with ZRS, not with Brandy. Brandy and Jill truly go the extra TEN miles to make sure I am happy. They’ve responded to my emails in the middle of the night. If something hasn’t been repaired to my satisfaction, they do everything possible to make it right.
I’m not really sure what kind of relationships other reviewers have built with the building management, but all I can say is that from my own experience with the current management, I have never had a problem and no request has ever been too small or too large. They really do go out of their way to accommodate anything I want or need, as long as it’s reasonable (and so far, nothing I’ve needed has been unreasonable).

I have lived here for close to 10 years and I like pretty much everything except for a doorman whose name begins with P. He is rude and incompetent. I am told that others have complained about him and nothing can be done because of his Union membership. Customer service is this man’s responsibility and he wouldn’t know how to deliver top quality service if his job depended on it — and clearly it doesn’t.
Earlier in the year he asked a guest of mine if he was a food delivery person. P. has been told all he is to ask for is the guest’s name and then call the tenant announcing the guest. One evening this year when I came home after work the elevator lobby was filled with people. I realized that P. was playing with the elevator console at his station and he was stopping the elevators before they could get to the lobby. When I complained I was told that he knew he was not supposed to touch the elevator consol. I was not the first person to complain about this particular unacceptable behavior. I saw a review on this site about package delivery. I concur with the author’s statements.
Tonight I went to the lobby because I was expecting a package and had not been notified of a delivery. The competent doormen (and all the others are) log in the package and the tenant gets an email. P was sitting at his station doing nothing and my package was sitting on the floor next to him. His explanation was that he was going to log in the delivery when he took the package to the package room — which meant I wouldn’t hear about the delivery until Monday.
I am aggravated with Ps inability to think, his lack of initiative, his lack of consideration, and his professional immaturity. His behavior does not represent the building management (or, maybe it does?) and is a detriment and an embarrassment to me. Where is this man’s job description and why isn’t anyone paying attention?
Eva Erskine, PhD

You don’t get what you pay for and they are very good at losing tenants. it’s been almost 3 years that i’ve been here and i believe this will be my last. The 2 stars are for the 1^st 2 leases. Unfortunately i have been quite disappointed in the (mis)management of this bdg. When i pay $ 1700 in rent (ahead of time) for a convertible that has a peeled off kitchen sink + lots of other flaws including dog pee on the doors from the previous tenant, all i ask is not to be at least treated rudely. When i TRY to make a simple POLITE, basic request from the mail room lady (return package to UPS) and i am yelled at & treated like she is doing me a favor before refusing, that is NOT acceptable. Unfortunately, ZRS Management are too greedy to care. People keep moving out, half the building is empty, but the issues remain the same. They will raise your rent every year & refuse to negotiate it, but they will never fix anything. The mail room is ran by an unmedicated bipolar sociopath with severe mood swings, who is also a liar and not up to this simple task. Her biggest problem is that she is SURE she will never be held accountable for anything; she knows she is underpaid and that the bdg won’t give up on her so they can spend the $ on the appearance of the bdg to get more tenants. And let the present tenants pay the price for their greed! i have witnessed the symptoms for more than 2 years. Residents keep complaining about her, and the management has made FALSE promises to imminently do something about her, and nothing has ever been done. Her rude, unhelpful and flat out mean attitude has only gotten worse. Today was the last straw. i was so outraged, i went straight to the manager to talk about it. Her reaction was to defend the mail room lady lol. Not one apology. i left the office almost convinced that she wasn’t even going to talk to her even though she said she would. But i don’t believe her as this was not her first lie. She told me that the sociopath has a lot of «stress during the holidays». Huh? stress? She was sitting there listening to music when i arrived. i lived in a huge 700 resident building where the mail room had 4 times more packages: they closed at 8:30 pm, NOT at 6:30 pm and they were always nice and friendly. What stress? What a lame excuse. And does stress justify being RUDE and vulgar? The previous time, the excuse was that there is a language problem. Fine, FIX IT and hire someone who knows how to talk, to listen, and who doesn’t interrupt you every time you say a word ! i am paying $ 1700 to endure this ??? They make lots of promises that they don’t keep including the fact that the 1980s laundry room would be upgraded to accept credit cards (still nothing has changed), the entrance construction work would be done mid-​october yet it’s still not over. Should i add that the tiny trash room does not get emptied as frequently as it should be and is sometimes full of bottles and bags and boxes for more than 2 days and you can smell it from a distance? That the vending machines are CONSTANTLY down? That there is no more guest parking and my visitors need to look for a parking spot or pay $ 38 every time at least? i don’t see any luxury in my apartment, certainly not the cheaply painted closets and the knobs that keep falling out, the sinks and the bathroom counter that started peeling 1 month after moving in because they didn’t want to spend too much on fixing it after the last resident left.
Should i add that i have always been extremely nice and polite to everyone and that i received last week a message from the building manager that was meant to be sent to her colleagues instead, but that she sent me in error, where it was obvious what kind of rotten mentality runs in that office? She was practically COMMENDING the doorman for NOT helping me get my packages when THEY promised they would bring them down for me BUT forgot. Who would even believe that? That’s like 3^rd grade mentality. Do you think they apologized with honesty? oh no, she caught herself up by sending me an offensive/​defensive email where SHE blamed ME for asking for my packages when THEY forgot to bring them down. And then she conveniently denied having promised anything lol. How classy, how professional. i had even sent them a nice email a while ago regarding renewing my lease, where i mentioned that we loved them and that they were very helpful people, etc. Now i cannot believe how stupid i was. 2 neighbors who chose to move out this summer told me the same thing: the management talks behind the back of the residents. And now to get yelled at by some crazy mail room employee? that’s just too much.
UPDATE ¹²⁄₂₁: as predicted, 3 days later, the crazy employee punched her desk with her two fists in anger, SCREAMING: «DON’T CALL ME EMPLOYEE !!!» because she was giving ME orders and I told her that I’m not her employee lol. Honestly, she scared me and next time I’ll videotape her for your entertainment ;) Home, sweet home…

This place is an absolute nightmare. Do not be fooled — they are not a «luxury» apartment. The management staff is incredibly unprofessional, and will yell at YOU when you have an issue in your apartment. And trust me – you WILL have issues. Showers are horrible. Air conditioning is not really «central air.» Instead of fixing things, they put a Band-​Aid on them, only to have them actually get worse several days/​weeks later. All this, and you’re paying $ 3,000+ to live here. Save yourself the headache and go live someplace where the staff treats its tenants with respect, and the units are worthy of the cost they’re charging.

Don’t believe the good reviews! Also note the date of the good reviews are NOT recent ones. this place is a nightmare. We broke our lease after 4 months. The staff is beyond rude and unprofessional. Our apartment had nothing but problems including leaking ceiling that they KNEW about but failed to fix let alone mention. PArking a rip off and over crowded… I think they decreased the size to be able to fit and charge more cars. Pool small and dinky, gym a joke and being on Ohio street makes a very loud existence… even 37 floors up the noise is unbelievable! Then add in the crowds and hustle of the street for being the only near underpass to navy pier… just say no. Read all the recent horrible reviews of this place and keep looking. far better places in area… FAR BETTER.

We had a lot of issues

They are nice when you live there, but as soon as you move out, they are horrible. I had a package accidentally delivered there, and they were of no help in trying to get it back. They were rude and unhelpful. They gave me the run around for days and days, and I am still left without the package. They can’t tell me what they did with it despite that my tracking says it has been delivered. I have no idea whether they returned it to sender or someone took it. Beware once you move out. They will never help you again.

If you enjoy living with rude pretentious people, then this is the place for you! You can encounter long waits for one of the 3 elevators that service a 40 story building, that is if the freight elevator isn’t being «reserved» for someone who is moving in or out, so leave 5 min earlier just for the ride down. Don’t expect most people to hold the door for you when walking towards the elevators with arms full of groceries that you either had to drive to get, pay double for poor quality at nearby Treasure Island, or walk the 8 city blocks to Trader Joe’s. East Ohio is also one of the main entrances for Navy Pier, cool right??? That means your street is flooded with tourists all day and night. Good luck having friends over and trying to find parking. But don’t worry too much about the parking, there’s an overpriced garage in the basement. Some of your neighbors are so thoughtful that they allow their friend’s to park in your spot, so you can be repeatedly annoyed by the inconvenience of trying to get a car towed, which can’t fit in the garage anyway… So you get to try and find another spot to park in and inconvenience another neighbor, yay! The rich brats who live here also think that the walls are sound proof, so you can complete your daily activities to club music. This is also a pet friendly apartment, on a nice day you can walk out and the delightful odor of dog urine slaps you in the face. It’s heavenly when it rains, and for a day or so you can breathe freely. If you are one of the unfortunate ones without laundry in your unit, there’s a laundry mat on the 3^rd floor. It closes at 10:30p. There are also extremely inpatient people living here, if they need 4 washers at one time, they will remove your clothes as it’s finishing the spin cycle, and throw your clean clothes on the dirty counter for you. They are also very talented at spilling bleach and not cleaning it up, So I got to buy a new wardrobe of undies, whoopie! There’s also a nice sun deck off the laundry room, it should be called a shade deck because the other buildings tower over it most of the day. There is a pool, locker room, and gym on site. Only nice things i can say. The apartment is now cleaner than when I moved in. If you need assistance at off-​hour times, good luck, the managers are not very helpful either. I have never met so many rude, inconsiderate, and entitled jerks in my life. Everyone is in a hurry, and lacks any common courtesy… I had high hopes of living in the Big City, I’d rather pluck my eyelashes out one by one then live here or in Steeterville ever again.

I am STUNNED by the good reviews here.
I came extremely close to signing a lease — I walked out after viewing my apartment after they spent a week «cleaning» it.
It was filthy, the rent doesn’t even come close to what the total amount is, and the parking garage is a nightmare. The gym is tiny with only a couple treadmills, and there is an indoor pool but no steam room, sauna, or whirlpool like many other buildings in the area.
I am so thankful I had the sense to leave, and I now live in a building that has all the amenities 420 lacked and more, and has a beautiful garage and amazing maintenance. My apartment was restored perfectly prior to me moving in, and that’s how it should be. Shame on 420 for trying to give me a place in that condition with such an outrageous pricetag.

I love living at 420. It is close to everything, quiet, and the people who work here are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I cannot say enough good things about the Property Manager how accommodating she and everyone is. It’s a great place to call home.

I just moved to Chicago and sort of lucked out finding Four Twenty East. The Leasing Office was very accommodating, allowing me to complete the paperwork via fax and email. They answered all my questions in a timely and honest manner. My move in went very smoothly and I was floored by the incredible views from my living room and bedroom. The apartment was freshly painted and the carpet and appliances were spotless. For a two bedroom apartment, the living and dining areas are pretty spacious. There is a 24 hour doorman and all the staff are very friendly. The location is perfect, a five minute walk to Navy Pier and the Ohio St. Beach, four blocks from Michigan Ave., and right in the middle of an assortment of restaurants and bars. There are two movie theatres, a bowling alley, and and various grocery stores all within a short walk. All in all, I couldn’t be happier with my new apartment!

We’ve lived here for almost 2 years now and we have no plans on leaving anytime soon.
They’ve replaced our microwave, oven, and toilet with no cost to us and now they are installing new hardwood floors to our entryway to keep our apartment updated along with the updated apartments.
There’s 24-​hr staff and doorman so no matter what someone is always there and willing to help.
For a one bedroom we have close to 1000 square feet, which is enormous and our rent covers water, heat, a/​c, garbage. and you will never find monthly parking so cheap anywhere!
And since we’ve been here 2 years they also offered us a free carpet cleaning when we re-​signed our lease early.
It’s the only apartment I’ve ever lived in that let me paint and hang whatever on the wall. There’s no monthly fee for pets just a one-​time fee which was one of the reasons we moved in. And we are so close to everything, including fireworks from our lake-​facing apartment, so I have never had to pay to commute to work.
Love love love. I would recommend this to anyone and if your splitting it with a significant other, it’s SO cheap for the area.

This 40-​story apartment building was completed in 1990, years before «The Streeters» and neighboring 600 Lake Shore Drive would tower above it. And while many new buildings have gone up in the interim, Four Twenty East (as it is known) has quietly maintained a pleasant, neighborly property with good people and better vistas.
Since I’ve lived here I’ve been pleased with the pleasant demeanor of the staff as well as the general good nature of my neighbors. There are 255 units at Four Twenty East, all priced around what you might expect for Streeterville and a view of the lake and/​or the city. I’ve required maintenance on a few occasions and on all of them the staff came in that day or the next and addressed the problem.
I would recommend anyone looking for a rental in Streeterville to check out Four Twenty East. It’s a pretty nice hang.