Group Fox Property Management

Absolutely fantastic building management this company has a great vision and the attention to detail is so impressive. I visited the 445 E Illinois building and it is gorgeous. One of the best I’ve seen yet! Great job FOX!

All the complaints of management are pretty accurate. Kerianne Manning is either lazy, incompetent, or both. She never answers her phone and is terrible at responding to emails. It took 5+ emails and 2 weeks later to respond. But she is very prompt when it’s time to renew your lease. They post the apartments on Chestnut as luxury apartments; the only thing luxury about it is the surrounding area. Everything that looks nice is superficial. They used cheap labor to renovate the kitchen and living room areas and it shows. They provide free heating because their windows are terrible for insulation.
There are few bright spots to their downtown location, one is their maintenance man. Edin is very friendly and goes out of his way to help. But there is only so much he can do. Also, Chestnut does not appear to have the same infestation issues as other buildings.

I had a wonderful experience with Ann Cort. Not only did she stick to my budget, but she went out of her way to show me several apartments that fit my needs in different areas. She made the lease process seamless and easy – and I’m looking forward to moving into my new unit!

Terrible management of property and tried to jack up rent like crazy and thus had to move out bc some pencil pusher in an office did some «research» and said it should be priced higher … Very bad way to treat tennants, but I guess you shouldn’t expect anything less when your rent check goes to an investment firm and not a person

Nasty, disgusting, filthy, and slimy apartments. While I was at their Barrington Lakes apartment in Hoffman Estates.
** If you feel this company is deceptive practices to get you to sign a lease than you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against them and force them to pay a heavy penalty and/​or jail time. It is important that everyone here comes together make those who are doing wrong pay for their actions.***

After dealing with the move-​out process, I will have to say I am severely disappointed.

My husband and I are looking to move into the city this autumn, I recently began the process of searching for an apartment and setting up viewings. I reached out via an online contact form for Grace Shores, run by Group Fox. I received an email back the same day from a woman named Ann Cort who said she could give me a viewing of a completely different apartment, their location called The Patricians. It was followed up with another email that’s subject was Grace Shores and all it said was, «I can show this one too.»
This already threw me off as getting the property wrong when I sent in the contact from the website for Grace Shores shows an extreme lack of attention or care. I still tried to move forward though by explaining we were only looking at Grace Shores and let her know our budget, time line, and that we’d like to try to set up a weekend showing if at all possible. All I received back was, «I can meet you Saturday @ 12:30. Thank you.». No apology for the blatant mistake on her part, no question of when would work for us, no confirmation. I responded by saying we were no longer interested due to the extremely unprofessional manner she was acting with. It was after this that I came to Unilocal and read through the reviews and it seems a couple other people have had issues with her as well. Overall, I’m glad she at least made the choice to eliminate this company extremely swift.

Awful management, terrible facilities. I lived in The Patricians on 401 W Fullerton. The property manager, Kerianne Manning, will NEVER answer your phone calls no matter what kind of problem you are having. You can call her all day and night and she will not answer. She chooses to only communicate via email, and only when it benefits her. You can only imagine the frustration of not being able to speak with someone when you need to, but only at the convenience/​whim of management.
Even if you are an optimist (like I was) and figure that you will never have any issues that will require you to deal with management, PLEASE be warned that the building is poorly maintained. One of their elevators is almost ALWAYS broken and past its inspection date and garbage frequently overflows onto floor of the garbage room. I lived here for 1 year and truly would not wish this building or its management on anyone. Don’t get suckered in by the nice rooftop view, it’s not worth it. The amount of stress and unhappiness my fiancé and I had to go through was beyond not worth it. Like most large property management companies, they see you purely as a cash cow and will only try to suck as much money out of you as humanly possible rather than respect you as a good tenant and fellow human being. This doesn’t seem like a big deal until the moment a problem arises. Then you will truly regret living here.

I just called inquiring about the Patricians property and dealt with the rudest property manager I have ever encountered.
She would only identify herself as Terry (I doubt that is her real name).
She hung up on me TWICE!
Unbelievable.
I simply called requesting info about a sublease they had listed online.
She would not stop talking and didn’t listen to a single thing I said.
When I pointed this out she got extremely upset and hung up on me.
I will not be renting a property from you guys. Thank Terry!
Glad I got to know her before signing a lease. I cannot imagine living somewhere with a monster like that in the management office.
*** UPDATE ***
I was emailed by the management company and told that no one by the name of Terry works for Group Fox. So I called the number back from a different phone and got a voicemail box for Ann Cort who sounded remarkably similar to «Terry».

I lived at the Van Der Rohe Apartments for 2 years, and would have signed a lease for a 3^rd year if I could (husband is starting school again so we have to move). I remember being worried about the negative reviews on Unilocal for this management company before signing the lease, but I never had any serious problems with them in 2 years and I loved my apartment!
Read the lease before you sign it so that you understand the cost (yes, utilities are not included in the price, but they were always a completely reasonable price and they said that upfront). Lisa the building manager was always very courteous and helpful. Jimmy, the building engineer, would sometimes be slower on maintenance requests if they were minor but he was prompt at fixing any serious issues right away so I have no real complaints. Even if it took him a few days for minor issues (e.g. a cracked mirror or missing drain cover) he always fixed them. Occasionally (a few times a year) they would have breakfast out in the lobby for the tenants and would often have candy and some decorations for the holidays.
I have not moved out yet, but barring any crazy problems I would highly suggest the Van Der Rohe apartments!

I feel like I have to write a review because this damn Unilocal is the reason it took us 2x as long to sign our lease. We read all these reviews and got really nervous. I think the lesson is, do your due diligence and don’t read open forum complaints. If you spent more time reviewing your lease than reading Unilocal reviews you probably wouldn’t be on here getting all fussy. I could literally write whatever I want here and as long as I didn’t copy and paste it into this box, Unilocal would post it as a legitimate review.
I digress.
For anyone who went through the same turmoil as me & my roommate — since a lot of these complaints seem to be about the lease — rest assured, I had my attorney review the lease and it is on par with every Chicago lease she had ever seen. So relax.
Read your lease people. Don’t sign stuff you haven’t read! If you read everything you will be fully prepared for everything you are complaining about on here. Get everything in writing, and when in doubt, get a professional to review it all.

DROP THE PEN! DON’T SIGN THAT LEASE! DID YOU READ THE ADDENDUMS? DID YOU READ PAGE 68? DON’T YOU DARE SIGN IT UNLESS YOU KNOW THE FOLLOWING…
Do you Like Green Eggs and SCAM? Chances are you can find both in a building owned by Group Fox.
LET ME BE PERFECTLY CLEAR… about the fact that any representative from this company is a bold-​faced liar. They will tell you upfront that heat, water, and trash are costs that are separate from your monthly rent bill. However, read the addendum about the costs of heat. It states that (at least for their Ravenswood location) that heating historically has cost $ 50 – 70 per month. Historically. That’s the key word, it has cost that much, on average, since the 1920s. Also, paying for water usage in the City of Chicago? I’ve never even heard of that. Most residents of the City of Chicago pay nothing for water usage.
HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT…
–Average heating bill $ 175 per month
–Non-​responsiveness to maintenance requests (my back window was cracked the entire 12 months I lived here)
–Drafty, inefficient steam-​heat. (Bedroom will be 80 degrees, and the back door of the kitchen will have a sheet of ice covering the window)
–All appliances are from the 1970s and 1980s, Radiators are from the 1920s
–SASSSSSSSY property managers, who take no time to answer your questions via email. Every time I had a question, she would copy and paste my email into the her reply and write short, cave-​man like responses in BOLD RED FONT. I don’t think anyone in this company is capable of constructing a sentence.
–6% annual increase in rent prices
HERE’S HOW MUCH I SAVED BY MOVING OUT…
-$ 145 every month on rent
-$ 125 (average) every month on heat
-$ 40 on laundry
–Overall, more than $ 3,720 annually to NOT rent from Group Fox anymore.
–Plus I have an in-​unit washer and dryer, central heat, forced-​air furnace, and all of my appliances are from this century… and I’m only 4 blocks away from the old building.
Only having one day in 2013 to search for an apartment was an experience I’ll never have to relive, thankfully. So, if you have the time check-​out everything on Craigslist before you even think about this place.

Absolutely the worst experience I’ve ever had. I lived at their Rockwell location in two different apartments for several years, and both places were absolutely disgusting.
Roaches and Insects: The problem was so bad that I actually took photos of the bug infestation and sent them to management. The building manager rarely, if ever responds to phone calls or emails. Only after constant calling, was I finally able to get someone on the phone. Their response was to send over someone to spray for literally 2 mins. Needless to say, the German Cockroaches came right back.
Also there is constant dust problems with the apartments on Rockwell. Whenever the radiator kicks on-​the dirt and dust flys all over the place. Really bad breathing and allergy issues because of the poor air quality.
Heating is a joke. We were charged electric and gas. They use the shared gas system, which means even if you don’t use the heat, you pay. Sometimes the gas bill went up to $ 150 a month. Just crazy.
Over the years, I personally witnessed many young couples move in to units-​only to move out a couple of months later.
Again, management response is a joke. Not worth $ 1,100 for rent, plus gas and electric. Oh, and you don’t get a storage space. Finally, the laundry. Washing and drying machines usually had problems. I always had to dry my clothes two times, because the dryer never worked properly. Boy is it expensive.
I can’t believe I lived there for so long. So happy to have finally gotten out.

I have only been renting from Groupfox for a couple months and it has been constant issues. I like the building and my apartment but since I’ve moved in I’ve had the hot water go out for a day and a half, I’ve had them enter my apartment illegally without notice. They have lots of construction work being done at 7−8am on weekend. Loud banging on walls and just no care at all for the people they rent to. Overall, I’d say run from Groupfox or you will be pissed on the regular. Awful customer service, they really don’t care.

This management company is horrible. Where should I even start? This management company simply takes advantage of anybody they can.
They charge fees on top of your rent that total over $ 100. I was charged $ 60 a month for heating\air conditioning plus the electricity to run the unit. The other $ 40 is for trash removal, gas and water. According to the city regulated water costs, I was being charged for 1400 gallons of water per month. Last time I checked this wasn’t California; these fees are unnecessary and I doubt anyone else in Chicago charges their tenants these absurd fees.
On multiple occasions, I had to call maintenance which is reasonable and expected but the maintenance guy is very rude, and very hard to understand. He never schedules an appointment and shows up when he wants to. He’ll even enter your apartment on his own accord to complete work. Typically, you won’t know when he’s coming or when he’s finished. I’ve received bills from Group Fox for maintenance work orders without any approval and then when I refused to pay the bill for the maintenance they sent an eviction notice stating the bill was due within 5 days otherwise my lease would be terminated. Another time, the maintenance guy hit on my gf by saying he’d show up more often if he knew she was around. As you can imagine this is a very uncomfortable situation when the guy has keys to every unit in the building and enters without permission.
Upper management is very rude and unorganized. They barely return phone calls and barely answer. My property manager left my lease renewal on the wrong apartment door, seems pretty easy to read numbers right? She then proceeded to harass me about renewing, after stating I hadn’t received the renewal paperwork, she sent me the info in an email and expected me to agree to it. She didn’t even attach a pdf of the paperwork to the email, she simply stated it and was shocked when that wasn’t good enough. About 2 weeks and 3 phone calls later, she left the paperwork on the proper apartment door. I responded that I wasn’t renewing and she proceeded to call me 4 more times stating she hadn’t received the paperwork and wasn’t sure if I was planning on renewing. I don’t know who has time for that type of situation but it definitely came off uneasy.
They also scheduled a move out inspection of my apartment without any notice almost as if they were taking advantage of me because I was moving. Every tenant has rights but with Group Fox, they’re nonexistent.

Earlier this year, I was on the hunt for a new apartment and came across one of Group Fox’s properties, The Chatelaine. After looking at countless buildings online, I was basically sold on this building — the units were a decent size for the price range and area, I loved the layout and vintage style, and the location was perfect.
I tried contacting Group Fox three separate times to set an appointment — once through their website, once by phone and once via Craigslist. It took me a total of two weeks to finally get an appointment.
When I arrived for my appointment, I called the leasing agent and asked if it would be OK for me to leave my car parked in the loading zone. She said that would be fine, and threw in, «By the way, I’m late. Just wait for me in front» No apologies. By quarter after, I was beginning to get irritated. She finally arrived at around 20 minutes late — again, no apologies. In fact, she barely acknowledged me before rushing into the building and ushered me into the elevator.
Throughout the entire tour of the building, this woman made me INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. I don’t want to make assumptions about what her issue was, but I will say that she seemed… unstable. She couldn’t walk very straight, bumped into the wall a few times, slurred her words, and generally speaking, seemed «off» — especially for 9am on a weekday.
At one point during the tour, she asked what other buildings I was looking at, and I mentioned that I had an appointment to view the building across the street. She made a noise of disgust and spent several minutes making disparaging (and highly unprofessional) remarks about the units, the management company, the way they remodeled their building, and so on.
And then, there was the way she treated me: she kept looking me up and down with disgust throughout both elevator rides. While telling me about the building, she’d blatantly stare at my shoes, at my coat, at my jeans, and at my purse with her nose scrunched up and a look of disdain. (And because it apparently matters, yes, I was dressed nicely — a Kenneth Cole coat, Tory Burch flats, and dark denim jeans.)
Towards the end of the (extremely half-​assed) tour, she made a point to emphasize — twice — that I would have to pass a credit and criminal background check in order to be allowed to move in.
I truly couldn’t wait to get away from this woman and was relieved when the tour was over. I’ve never met someone so unprofessional, and I’ve never been treated so rudely before. Had it not been for this woman, I would have put in an application then and there. I refused to do business with someone so nasty and allow her to earn a commission check off of me.
If this is the type of person Group Fox employs, then I want nothing to do with them.

My fiancée and I are looking to move to Chicago from California and we submitted an application with Group Fox for an apartment lease gor their Grace Shores property. They charged us $ 50 per applicant for a credit check and background check. Apparently we did not qualify because I have a felony on n my record? Wtf! I have never even been arrested. If I had a an felony then I wouldn’t qualify for federal student grants which I do get every year since I’ve been attending college. I would have also on been arrested at customs during my last entarance to the US from abroad. I believe that they were just being lazy and only looked my name up without going any deep plus my name is very common. Screw you guys!

I found the process with Group Fox to be simply easy. I called and inquired about several apartments that they had listed on their web site. I spoke with John, who started helping me right away. A few days later he showed me several apartments and I selected the one that fit my needs. After that, I simply did everything online. John was always there to answer my questions. I have never really filed out an apartment application online and thought it was just something the kids are doing these days. However, I found the process to be much simpler than paper application. I love the fact that you can easily correct something instead of scratching paper. Also, signing the lease was done online. This was by far the best thing. I loved the fact that I did not have to take time off from work to go fill out the lease or fax something back and not sure if all the papers made it.
In addition, I love the fact that you can pay you rent online. As person that does not write checks, it’s the best option. I hated the fact that I had to drop or mail the check with my previous leasing company. I do understand that my experience may change, once I move into my apartment. However, so far my experience has been great.
UPDATE
Due to promotion from my company, I had to sublease my place and move out of state. I must say that the process was pretty simple and I barely did anything, but list the place on Craigslist. The manager worked the new tenant and was able to get everything done in 2 days. Once again, I think that Group Fox is pretty easy work with and had nothing but the best experience.

It looks like my previous review was deleted, but people need to be warned about Group Fox! Especially the manager at 833 W Buena.
It’s not fun living here when you are overcharged and they take away amenities!
They took away package delivery so you have to go to a room where everyone has access to and locate your package. It is the most unorganized and ridiculous thing ever. Tenants are not even informed when their package has arrived.
Maintenance requests are usually fulfilled quickly, but not the best. The closet doors are terrible. Always falling off when they are not even touching anything. One time the maintenance man blamed my luffa that was on the faucet for causing the downstairs apartment to flood. He must be delusional.
We also had a cockroach problem in our unit, but Group Fox said we had to wait five days to get any action done. We insisted that we were not comfortable and asked to have another company come out. Their response was that we would have to pay for it than. It is disturbing that Group Fox does not care that their tenants would feel uncomfortable and allow them to live in an unhealthy environant, You are suppose to provide a suitable living space for us!
In the winter out apartment was extremely hot! Tenants cannot control the heat, but yet we have to pay for it. When we contacted the management they said there was nothing to be done about the high temperatures. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! So when it was negative temps outside we had to run the air conditioner because it was 80 degrees in our apartment. We suffered cracked lips and nose bleeds because of this!
We were told in January/​February that work would be done on the elevator to be up to code with the city of Chicago. This has obviously not happened. Also, the elevator is not working 9 out of 10.
Management just does not seem to care about their tenants at all!
Counting down the days til I move out end of May and never have to deal with Group Fox and especially the manager at Buena Shores! Who is the most difficult person to deal with!

I would never recommend anyone renting from them. Even years later (I lived there from 2004 to 2007) I still cringe thinking about living there. (While deciding on whether to renew my current lease, I thought about this company and decided to review it. Things may have changed since then.)
When I first saw the place, it looked nice. I was lied to and told that you wouldn’t be able to hear the Red Line stations from where I lived across the street. Puh-​leeze. You can hear every single «Next stop _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​.» And the place was spotless when I came to look at it. However, the day I dropped by to clean up before moving in, there were all these black roach repellant things. I asked about them, and they said this was a safety issue but there were no roaches. Not even two weeks after I moved in, here come the roaches. And I have never in my life lived with roaches. I lost it.
They had to bring out at least three exterminators because I kept complaining. Not only that, then out of nowhere a mouse showed up. And then there were the spiders. I swear I felt like I was living on a farm. I went absolutely ballistic over the sanitation of the building. I was given the option of moving after several months of complaining, but at this point I realized I would be paying more to move than to make them actually take care of their own apartment that they swindled me out of (through Apartment People).
I also never understood why my bathroom sink was on the outside of the bathroom. I found that to be so gross and always ended up disinfecting the knob. And then the parking lot situation was a mess because they got rid of two spots, and the only spot I could park in was next to two huge dumpsters. And I’d just bought a brand new car. I was furious when my car ended up scratched because of one of the dumpsters.
They got it together by around year 1 (Gisette was SUPER nice; the rest were horrendous, specifically one lady who sat right in front of me in the real estate office talking about her «moods» with her boyfriend) and I did end up having an okay time (minus the trains). I gave up on opening my windows. But there just never seemed to be much peace. The rent at $ 650 wasn’t something you could beat. I loved my huge living room, too. That’s the REAL reason I kept dragging it out. But by year 4, they’d upped the rent to over $ 800 and I laughed hysterically and moved.
No way in the world would I recommend anyone living there. I like Gisette. But that’s about all. But again, this was in 2007. I sincerely doubt the staff’s customer service has changed unless they literally changed the staff. But if you’re looking for something cheap straight outta college until you can find a home worth staying in, they’ll do for a very short term. But you should ABSOLUTELY make them earn every single dollar of the rent you pay because they will try to get over on you.