Sky55

My husband and I have lived at Sky55 for about two years. We toured several downtown rental buildings, and the Sky 55 building has the best views of the lake and city, and very easy access to transit and restaurants and museums. Our unit is comfortable and attractive and the maintenance staff is very prompt and helpful. Our experience with the leasing office was easy and clear, the management office is professional and always tries to accomodate (reasonable) requests.
For a densely populated hi rise, the security staff does an excellent job. We appreciate that they enforce rules that are necessary in a building this size, with seniors, working adults, kids, and lots of pets.
Also, the shared areas are keep clean and well maintained, and the 7^th floor pool patio area is very attractive and a fun area for bbq and enjoying a nice summer evening.
We will give Sky55 another star once the fitness room upgrades are complete!

The longer we live here the more we dislike it. They claim to be a dog friendly building but there’s nowhere nearby to walk a puppy who is potty training. Now even the nicer staff threatens our rescue puppy with fines if she can’t hold her pee and needs to relieve herself right in front of the building. We are just proud that she’s able to hold it long enough to get outside.
They also refuse to let pets on the lawn on the 7^th floor patio, so if you’re potty training a rescue prepare for threats of fines. The night staff is great but the day staff makes you feel like you are an inconvenience to them. Even when I followed up with management about a complaint I got little support. It’s to the point that I don’t even talk or ask questions any more.
There’s a free gym but it has random personal training people in it and, as it is quite small, this can become an extra obstacle in your workout. We were treated with excellent customer service from the leasing staff until about a month in. Then my emails went unreturned. Unless, however, you have a large package delivered… Then you are their top priority because they need it out of their way asap otherwise they tell you they will mail it back. I work in customer service and have worked in property management in the loop, and I’m unimpressed with our experience here.
With that said, the apartments are nice and modern. I’d say the one shining star of this building would be the maintenance staff. They are wonderful and always have a very quick turnaround time.

So here’s the story, you can all decide if this sounds a little shady to you or not. My wife were relocating to Chicago from Arizona, and went into the Leasing office on a Thursday afternoon and toured the building and a particular apartment. We actually found one that we liked very much and decided that the location and building was very nice and we put in an application. Everything is done online, even making payment of the $ 100.00 Application fee (non refundable), and a $ 350.00 admin fee that would be applied to the last months rent.
First the online system didn’t work very well, we attempted to make the $ 450.00 deposit but their system wasnt working. My wife and I the decided to go get our check book at our hotel in River North, then go back to Sky55 and write a check for the deposit. This took an hour and we made it back at 5:55 (the office closes at 6). We were told the the background and credit check would take 24 hours to complete and we would be approved by the end of business on Friday.
I received a call from the Leasing Agent on Friday morning, and he informed me that the background check would not be complete until «Monday or Tuesday» and once complete we would be accepted and be able to sign a lease.
In the interim, my wife and I received some personal news on Monday, that would delay our move by three months. On Tuesday (5 days later), I then received an email from Sky55 informing me that we were in fact approved to sign a lease and move into the building. I then sent an email to our Leasing agent on Wednesday morning informing him we would be delayed by 3 months and asked for the return of the $ 350.00 Admin Fee,
After no response, I emailed him again on Thursday, I again emailed asking for the return of the fee and i was then informed by reply email on Friday that if I didnt cancel with in 72 hours of submitting the application (the previous Sunday), it was then non refundable.
So here is my Shady issue with Sky55, I applied on Thursday, they initially told me I would be approved by Friday. I was approved on Tuesday which is 5 days after I applied. I sent my email that I had to cancel six days after we applied, and it was then I was informed that I had until Sunday to cancel and receive my deposit back.
Sky55 informed me on Tuesday I was approved but only had until Sunday to cancel. This to me is wholly unethical, and I am curious as to how many other people they tell the approval process takes 1 day to complete, but ends up taking 5 days to complete, which just so happens to be outside of their Undisclosed 72 hour cancellation policy and id Abusive.
RENTER BEWARE!!!
I posted the following reeply to the Managers response to my post.
Renters Beware Continued:
I find your business practice deceptive and I would encourage any potential renter at SKY 55 to beware. Your agent told us it would be 24 – 48 hours to be approved. It took 120 hours to be approved by your screening service (Realpage), yet we only have 48 hours from the second we sign the application to cancel and receive a refund. application. This was not explained by your agent. What you really did was electronically process our deposit check (on Friday evening) wait 48 hours for it to clear before you even started the screening process (Tuesday morning) and finally approve us on Wednesday. Why should Sky 55 not have to live by the same standard of 48 hours to approve or deny that you force potential renters to live by? BTW my next stop is the Better Business Bureau. I find it difficult to believe Forest City needs my $ 350.00.

Their way to do business is very abusive. My husband and I went to Scott 55 on a Thursday afternoon and after deciding to fill out an application which they said it would take them 24 hours to 48 hours to be approved that never happened. After the 48^th hour they said it would actually take five days to approve us or not. In the meantime we started looking for other options but we got news that will delay our move-​in for three months. So we communicated to them as soon as we got the news that we would not be able to move there. Instead of refunding us The amount they said that that wouldn’t be possible since we did not cancel within 72 hours. Which was never told to us it was never made clear from what point these 72 hours would start running. I believe that sky 55 houseful this trick on to other applicants for a very long time because they have refused to give us back our money even though they have the upper hand on telling us if we are good enough for their apartment or not. We have no problems with paying our bills and that is just atrocious attitude from sky 55. I think that you have to really make sure that you are not scammed by this building before you apply.
I HAVE ANSWERED IN PRIVATE TO THE PERSON WHO MADE THE COMMENT BELOW: «I stand by my testimonial; your team told us it would take 24 – 48 hours to provide us with an approval or not, when in fact it took you 5 DAYS, ALMOST A WEEK TO LET US KNOW WHAT YOU HAD DECIDED. I find it very unilateral and abusive that YOU DON’T HAVE TO ABIDE BY YOUR WORD, BUT WE HAVE TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIGNING PAPER NO ONE READS AND YOU KNOW IT!

We’ve rented from Sky 55 for about 3 months now with a short term lease and we’ve enjoyed our rental. We love the location and ease of access to buses, trains & local restaurants/​bars. We are on the 18^th floor so we don’t get too much street noise but there were times during hectic Chicago weekends (ie Spring Awakening & Dead Head concert weekend) where the sounds of the emergency vehicle sirens were constant and noticeable but I don’t think any place in the area would have been better.
Things we like about the rental:
* Location
* Units are nicely equipped and up to date with granite, stainless Steel appliances & modern cabinetry.
* hardwood floors in the living room, kitchen & hallway. Nice tile in the bathrooms. Neutral color carpeting in the bedrooms.
* Repairs are usually completed within 48 hours; nice maintenance staff
* Very nice pool area/​BBQ area. Of the 4 apartment buildings that we looked at, this was the nicest with a park-​like setting on the 7^th floor.
* Decent workout area but I can honestly say that I haven’t spent any time in there (but had good intentions too — lol)
* Amazing views of the north and west (lake views)
Cons:
* The parking lot spaces are very narrow. We have a Ford Escape which isn’t that big and we are often moving on to other spaces in hopes of finding a little wider spot.
* refrigerators are a little on the small size
* Bike storage is located in the garage on the 3^rd floor so it not convenient. We’ve taken to keeping our bikes in the unit and stored on the balcony
* Our unit became available to us after 5:00 on a Saturday. Since it was during hours that the management office is not open, the front desk (who had the keys and paperwork) was confused and initially could not find our papers/​keys. After about 40 minutes, it was resolved. Lots of confusion in this process.
We are about to leave for Florida but have plans to be back next summer. We are hoping that Sky 55 will have availability and will rent from them again if they do.

We just returned from a long weekend and stayed in unit 2708. The three star rating is more about the leasing company and a little about the unit rather than the apartment complex itself. Sky 55 itself is in a great location and offered a great jump off point for anything in the city. There are a lot of amenities within walking distance of this place the attached store downstairs has just about anything you’d want. We stayed in unit 2708 or as Steps to Everything identifies it, Unit I.D. 43. First off, the views from this unit are «fantastic» and the layout is great. We really enjoyed our stay here and would definately chose a condo again for a hotel for our family. At the risk of sounding negative, here are some details about our experience. Our main issue with the unit was that we wanted a condo with a full kitchen for our family as we planned on eating a few meals in. The unit has a great kitchen, but has next to nothing in the way of utensils, pans, etc. In fact, whats actually there is
reminiscent of a 1^st year college dorm room… cheap warped frying pan, mismatched cups and glasses, no pot holders… and the unit itself looks like it was decorated with a mixture of assorted yard sale finds. The walls and base board trim could all use some paint. Maybe its just late in the rental season and its showing wear and tear, but this unit needs a hug. A $ 1,000 trip to Marshall’s for a couple of rugs, some wall hangings, better bedding, and basic kitchen supplies would take this condo from good to amazing.
As for the leasing company, «Steps to everything, Chicago», my experience was very stressful. Their isn’t much online about them and I think thats because they act as a broker within a broker advertising within sites like Expedia, VRBO, etc. The communication was awful and the booking process left me feeling like I made a mistake and gave my personal info to an identity thief. There was nothing about the process that made me feel secure. I didn’t receive the full info on the condo unit until days before my scheduled arrival. In the back of my mind, I almost fully expected to get to Chicago and find out that the building didn’t exist. The unit was quoted at $ 315.00 per night for three nights, but after taxes, fee’s, parking, etc. is worked out to about $ 444.00 a night for us.
In the end it worked out and we enjoyed our stay in Chicago. We’ll definitely seek out another condo rental in the future, but not sure I’ll use «Steps to everything» again unless their booking process gets better.

I have been a resident at Sky55 for almost two years and would like to commend the front desk staff for always being professional, polite, and always friendly. I would like to especially commend Tanika and Tawny (the tall young man) for their exemplary customer service and willinginess to assist with any of my needs as a resident. I appreciate seeing Tanika patrolling the building, including the pool area during the summer, which has made me feel safe when I’m on, or of the premises. To have experienced the front desk staff going above and beyond for the residents of Sky55, has definitely assured me that my choice to be a resident at Sky55 was a judicious one.
I would also like to commend the maintenance staff for responding to any issues within my unit in a timely fashion. My experience here as a resident has been great!
Signed,
Happy Resident.

There are a lot of great things about this property that make it an excellent choice for a long weekend rental for vacation, including a friendly staff, adjacent grocery/​liquor store, plenty of nearby restaurants, easy access to rail and bus transportation (if you don’t plan to rent a car) and a stunning view of Grant Park and Millennium Park. However, beware of last minute changes.
Before i confirmed my reservation, I took the time to review photos of various units available so I could verify the view and the different styles of furnishings. I chose one that appeared to have clean, modern furniture. Twice I was confirmed for the unit I chose. Upon arrival though, I was given a key to another unit, one with dismal furnishings, and I mean dismal. I was not happy. Not to bore you with the details of the phone call I made to the rental agent upon my discovery, let me just say that I ended up with the unit they gave me, but not the one I chose. Since I arrived at the property very late in the evening and there were no other units available, it was really too late for me to make changes, so I reluctantly stayed put.
This is just bad business and I felt scammed. So if you book a unit to rent for vacation, you better make darn sure you get the one you requested. Have this conversation up front so there are no last minute changes.

I have always said that I wish I could I live in a luxury hotel, and here, I feel that I do.
I have an unobstructed view of Grant Park, the city, Michigan Avenue, and the lake. The apartment itself is well appointed, and the building’s amenities are exactly as advertised. My closet itself would be considered a bedroom anywhere else.
This building is extremely well run (even my very, very picky significant other commented on how well run this building is). Staff are friendly, courteous, professional, and efficient. Everything is well maintained and kept in good repair. The building’s maintenance staff not only respond quickly to requests, they actually fix things properly.
I feel as though I’m on vacation every time I come home.
I have lived here for a year, and I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

I have lived in this building for 5 years and had a wonderful experience. The view is truly unbeatable, the staff is great, the location is excellent, and the apartment itself is very nice. In the summers, the pool and outside deck is awesome. Almost everyone who comes over to my place is impressed by the apartment and building and asks about living here.
I am truly baffled by some of the reviews given, they are both nitpicky and unfair. This building is in a prime location so the prices reflect that. In addition, while there may be an occasional issue with the staff, they are consistently nice and accommodating. I have never had a repair which has taken longer then a day. The building manager and staff are constantly trying to improve the building and create community events, which is rare. Some of the other comments regarding the mix of people in the building is ridiculous and there is certainly no pervasive smell of pot. These comments are bizarre! Come and look at this building for yourself and decide.

Pedro has got to go. Talk about the polar opposite of the definition of a concierge. He’s rude, inflexible and was completely unwilling to help with a minor issue. He’s needlessly argumentative and I was so thankful for Daniel and Jo stepping in to make the situation right. They care and consistently demonstrate customer service. I’ve had multiple interactions with Daniel that have been positive and I highly recommend that he get better staff that are up to par with his level of professionalism.
I really wanted to give this complex 5 stars. The views are the best in the city, the apartment units are nice, and the building is so close to public transportation and the Loop; however, they need to stop allowing all kinds of trash to move in and make a mess of everything. Hardworking, professional, and courteous people beware: your neighbors will blast their TVs and radios whenever (including weekday mornings while you’re WORKING from home and they clearly have nowhere to be), will cause domestic disturbances at all hours (CPD has been here), leave their garbage just piled up in the trash rooms, and smoke out their windows so it wafts into your unit.

Great place, solid management, very nice common areas, and overall I recommend. Would give five stars but I think management needs to be more forceful on the anti-​smoking as some residents sneak it in and it goes in the vents and not a fan of new parking policies. Not a huge problem, but just saying. Also, I like the old guest parking policies better.

My cousin’s boss let us stay at his place for a couple of days and it was the best two days ever! As we walked in, we were amazed of how well kept this place is. The view from the apartment is amazing! All the rooms are very spacious and the beds were so comfortable! Loved laying on the pillows as well. Felt like I was laying on a cloud! Everything was there for us to use such as plates and utensils, even though we only used the cups to drink water.
The door that leads to the outside of the balcony was a little tricky to open. Also the towels that they have there were kind of hard, stiff, and not soft at all. That was my only gripe but other than that.
I went to their gym as well and it is well kept. All the machines run smoothly and you have all the basics to do a full body work out. I also had a chance to take a dip in the pool around 8:30pm. The pool was heated so that was a plus! Jacuzzi was also available too! Pool only goes in the 3 feet range and I believe that the deepest was 3 feet 10 inches.
When I visit Chicago, I would totally love to stay here again, that is if my cousin can pull some strings!

Hate this place.
First, I don’t live there. I live in the building just to the east of it that has conjoining outdoor common space. My apartment looks out over their pool deck. I do have a friend that lives here though, so I have a lot of first hand info about the building. And our garage is shared (I’m told it’s run by the Sky55 people).
We did look into renting at this place when we first were looking in the neighborhood. The rents here are exorbitant. Not worth what they offer at all.
I always wondered how the hell the music (that they literally play nonstop from 8am — 11pm. Every. Day.) was so damn loud. And then I got to visit the skydeck pool area. Oh, because they have outdoor speakers every 5 feet and it’s not «background» music, it’s a damn dance club. This place is surrounded by skyscrapers. Music just bounces around off of these buildings and seems to get louder. The people in my building have sent around a petition to send to our Alderman because of this constant issue. As I write this I’m being forced to listen to the INCREDIBLY LOUD movie that they are showing on the deck. It’s 10pm. It’s beautiful out. I’d like to keep my freaking windows open.
Lately our garage fob has been working like crap and I asked my building manager for some help. She has to send me to Sky55 to get it worked out because she says that they deal with all garage issues. Great. So I go over there, the security guy says that the person that deals with that isn’t in but that I can leave her a message. Three days later and, SURPRISE, she hasn’t called me back!!! Shocker.
Sky55, PLEASE, for the love of neighborly peace, start behaving like a considerate neighbor.
Oh, PS, when I’ve called for other issues (there are plenty of others) they cannot be reached. The prompts for the rental office will hang up on you and you can’t reach the security desk anymore.

Good Condo, great ammenities.

bad neighbors poorly managed

Overall I enjoy living here but there are some problems. Ciculating smoke odor from cigarettes and marijuana, getting into our apartment, is an issue here. We learned to minimize this problem by weather proofing our entry door and blocking air coming through the bathroom vent. The building is going smoke free next year, so this should help.
It’s very dog friendly and the location of the building is great (tons of parks and walking trails near by). Public Transportation is at your finger tips. The leasing office has been friendly and accomodating over all. The parking garage works out well most of the time but it is used for events and sport games which can make it hard to find a spot during these occasions.
There is a very diverse ethnic crowd here and people are friendly overall. The building is well maintained and maintenance crew is one of the best I have enCountered, they can fix everything.
After looking at many apartments in downtown, I found this place to offer the best value for its ammenities and surrounding resources.
I recommend living here. The only major negative issue is the smoke odor but that can be minimized if you’re willing and able to make adjustments to block it.

Pros– Security (Especially Kenny and Gonzalez) They have been very helpful to me this past year and have really gone out of their way. Other positives– Fitness center, convenient parking garage, location, quick maintenance staff
Negatives — I have had numerous problems with neighbors on my floor being loud at 1am fighting, keeping their door open which is causing disgusting odors (usually burnt food) to enter my unit. In addition, the quality of the floors and cabinets is very poor. For this kind of rent I would expect something a little nicer.
I also experienced a flood in my unit this year, due to an issue that was several floors above my unit. Everything was taken care of in pretty good time, however, I had damage to shoes and clothes and nothing was reimbursed. I thought they would at least deduct a tiny fraction of my rent that month… at least. or something… but no, nothing. They said if I could find receipts from the shoes they could possibly do something. but I unfortunately did not have the receipt, as they were purchased last year. It was several days of annoyance and disgusting odors of mold that were soaking in my carpet. Luckily, once it was fixed it was okay. (minus my poor shoes and clothes that were ruined)
I did enjoy living here, however, with the recent problems with my neighbors and the fact that they are raising my rent, I cannot justify renewing. I will miss the security staff!

DO NOT RENT HERE! The building is unsafe. It is a beautiful building in a great location, with great amenities. But there are several tenants on my floor that are smoking marijuana, blasting music, and fighting daily. When I try to contact management, no action is taken. When there is an altercation, the door staff come up to intervene, but they should not be put in harms way either. These tenants should be evicted, but this behavior seems to be tolerated all over the building. The building is 30% section 8, and thus, I am paying $ 2600 for my one bedroom apt, while my gangbanger neighbors may be paying a fraction of the price. I’m afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. The door staff are always courteous, however, anyone may enter the building without a key. I’ve lived in many buildings in the city, and have never been afraid in my own home.

I lived in Sky55 for almost 2yrs. Recently I have been trying to get in contact with the office and the Sky55 number that I have in my phone that I never had an issue with won’t contact me with anyone nor a voice mail. I was trying to find out when our lease is was up, finally once my roommate informed a guy about wanting to move they finally sent up a vacant notice. Our rent went up almost $ 300, so my roommate and I decided to split ways and move out. We received our contract to vacate the week of the 14^th of April, we waited till about the 24^th to return it. Due to getting our new addresses and the things that usually go with moving. After returning the contract they told us we are liable for paying for the full month of May because our lease ended the 11^th of May and we did not give them a 30day notice. Does that make sense to you?
So now, not only are we paying rent for not living there, it takes 30days to cancel your paring as well. So I’m stuck paying for a parking space and an apartment that I’m not living in. I have to say that I would not recommend anyone living here if you want to be scammed out of your money.