We recently wrote about the wave of existing buildings playing catch-up to the amenities and in-unit creature comforts offered by Chicago’s new downtown high-rises and rental condos.

The landmark Belden-Stratford apartments, built as a hotel in 1922, is one of the buildings undergoing a renovation under new ownership. I visited the Belden-Stratford yesterday to shoot video of a model apartment furnished by Brook Furniture Rental, one of our sponsors. The Belden-Stratford is offering furnished apartments directly, and in conjunction with Brook. The Brook option enables residents to furnish their apartments to their own taste.

The high point of my visit was the view from the rooftop sundeck. The playing field of Francis Parker School, at the center of the top photo, dramatically expands the field of view from the sundeck. The eastern vistas stretch from Diversey Harbor to Navy Pier and beyond. South and east-facing apartments share these views.

The tower portion of the 43-story, 450-unit apartment high-rise at 360 West Hubbard in River North has risen eight stories out of the ground.

An aerial view makes it clear that the west-facing units will enjoy a great view of the rooftop sundeck and pool at the East Bank Club.

The building is scheduled for occupancy in September of next year, when 2,700 new apartments will be offered in the downtown Chicago market.

The Coast (center left, above) and 500 North Lake Shore Drive (center right, above) have both reached their full height and are proceeding toward planned occupancy next spring.

If all goes according to plan the 49-story, 499-unit Coast, 345 E Wacker, will open in February, making it the first of half a dozen new high-rises slated for completion next year.

The 45-story, 500-unit 500 N Lake Shore Drive tower is targeting May occupancy.

Overall nearly 2,700 new apartments will be added to the downtown rental market next year.

Have you ever wondered how your landlord decided how much to raise your rent?

You might be surprised to learn that the amount was determined by sophisticated “revenue management” software similar to the automated systems that airlines have long used to continually reset ticket prices.

The two most commonly used products are YieldStar Price Optimizer and RainMaker LRO. You’ll find a good overview of how landlords view this software and how it impacts renters in this New York Times article.

The spate of stories you’ve been reading recently about record-high rents and low vacancy rates might have you wondering whether Chicago landlords have put their properties on auto-pilot and laid back to enjoy the feast. They haven’t.

The addition of thousands of units to the market during the past several years, along with the competition from condos turned rentals and individual condo units being rented, have made for a very competitive market as tenants have the ability to choose among a wide array of quality offerings. Existing buildings have played catch-up.

Within the past year I’ve seen a nearly across-the-board effort on the part of major lakefront landlords to make their buildings and their apartments as competitive as possible as rapidly as possible. It seems like everywhere I go I’m seeing kitchens and baths that have been made over or upgraded recently, a proliferation of simulated hardwood floors and so on.

Buildings are converting once unused space into fitness rooms and business centers or upgrading their existing facilities.

A prospective resident’s first impression of a building is often formed by its lobby, so lobby make-overs have become common, even among newer buildings.

Echelon at K Station, for example, is barely four years old but recently underwent a lobby redecoration after ownership of the building changed. The lobby furnishings were replaced, new artwork was brought in, and wall coverings were redone as part of the effort. The lobby changes were only part of a surprisingly extensive series of changes in a building completed in 2008.

Two aspects of Echelon’s lobby remained unchanged: Ricardo, the building’s popular lead concierge, and the availability of free dog treats at the reception desk.

NOTE: Echelon is one of our clients. You can meet Ricardo in this sponsored video:

Was it only 5 years ago that we reported that Related Midwest, despite a weak real estate market, was forging ahead with plans for The Peshtigo, a Ralph Johnson-designed condo tower at 515 N Peshtigo Ct in Streeterville?

The Peshtigo may have been Chicago’s most unfortunately-named high-rise. Although Related’s marketing staff likely named it for the street on which it was to be located, the name has stronger associations with the Peshtigo Fire, which may have killed as many as 2,500 people.

Sales for The Peshtigo didn’t catch fire, and plans for it went into the dumpster.

Nearly a year ago Related began construction on a 45-story 500-unit rental tower on the site and gave the project a more marketable name: 500 North Lake Shore Drive.

You can see all of the major apartment projects that are planned or underway in downtown Chicago on our at-a-glance list and map.

The Bond Companies’ website is touting delivery of 200,000 square feet of retail space in the Fall of 2013 at The Maxwell, a 3.9 acre mixed-use development underway between Clinton and Canal, just north of Roosevelt Rd.

As you can see from the photo, shot yesterday morning, only a small piece of skeletal façade remains of what had been the 225,000 square foot headquarters of Chernin’s Shoes.

The completed development is slated to include four residential buildings above the retail space, each with its own outdoor courtyard and collectively housing 370 apartments.

The location, just west of Whole Foods and in the midst of a thriving retail corridor, falls between our neighborhood boundaries for the South Loop and University Village. The Bond Companies’ website refers to it as being in the South Loop, and that designation just might stick.

As of 9:30 last night, 17,511 ads had been posted yesterday in the Chicago > housing > apts/housing for rent section of Craigslist, almost all of them by Chicago’s sleazy apartment rental services. Scores of rental services are repeatedly advertising the same apartments in an attempt to frustrate you or mislead you into calling them. Don’t do it.

If you see a Craigslist ad from one of the rental services on our do-not-call list, the odds are extremely high that following up on the ad will waste your time – or worse.

But then, if you’re scanning Craigslist ads for an apartment in Chicago’s lakefront neighborhoods, it’s a certainty that you’re wasting your time. The vast majority of Craigslist ads are bait-and-switch come-ons that either misstate the neighborhood, understate the rent, overstate the amenities or fail to state things you really need to know before responding.

If you’re looking to rent in downtown Chicago, Lincoln Park or Lake View, YoChicago has an easy way for you to avoid rental service rental fraud. You’ll find almost every rental option in those areas on our at-a-glance apartment lists and maps, and useful tips about the neighborhoods in our rental Guides.

Skip all online rental advertising and deal directly with a landlord, by using our lists or by signing up for our YoRents service. You’re likely to save money as well as avoiding hassles.

If you’re determined to stick with Craigslist, at least be aware of the twenty-five things the rental services won’t tell you.

It’s anecdotal data only, but what I’ve been hearing during the past month is that a number of major landlords have been reducing or completely eliminating their reliance on apartment finders / rental services to bring them tenants.

Several large landlords will no longer pay commissions to any of the rental services. Others have become more selective in the services they’ll do business with, and / or will cooperate with rental services only on a limited number of their buildings or only on their most difficult-to-rent apartments.

Commission-cutting also appears to be becoming more prevalent. The “standard” commission was historically a month’s rent, but half- and three-quarter month’s rent payments have become more common, while other landlords are offering a flat-fee based on unit type. In some cases that flat fee has been less than half a month’s rent and is, in effect, a way of telling rental services “we’d rather not do business with you.”

The major impetus for the changing approach to rental services is the fact that it’s been a landlords’ market lately, with high occupancy rates and rising rents in most large apartment complexes in Chicago’s near-downtown lakefront neighborhoods.

What this means for tenants is that using a rental service is making a conscious decision to have only a limited exposure to what’s available in the market. Don’t expect rental services to be honest about that. There are many more things they won’t tell you about the reality of working with them.

If you’re looking for an apartment in one of Chicago’s most popular lakefront neighborhoods, you’ll find virtually all your options, with direct links to websites and more, at our at-a-glance apartment lists and maps.

An easy way to find your next apartment is to sign into our YoRents service and broadcast your requirements to participating landlords, who will respond by email if they have something suitable.

If you want to expand your search to condo buildings, you can connect with one of the pre-screened, experienced agents featured at YoRents.

It’s a common tendency among renters (and home buyers) to go for the max – to rent or buy as much housing as they can comfortably (almost) afford.

Once renters determine that they can afford, say, $2,000 a month, they typically begin looking for apartments in that price range. The trade-offs are often narrowly conceived: a larger apartment in a less attractive neighborhood, or a smaller one in a prime area, assuming comparable common-area and in-unit amenities.

I’d advise renters who are new to Chicago to opt for the best neighborhood they can afford, even if it means renting a less desirable apartment. “Best” will, of course, mean different things to different people, but there’s fairly common agreement about which parts of the city serve up the most fun for young renters.

If you’re new to Chicago it’s easy to misjudge the cost of living here in a way that allows you to enjoy the city in all its richness. That enjoyment comes at a cost – for drinks, meals, theater and event tickets, cab fares, clothes, the occasional escape from the city, etc. etc. Too often renters discover, too late, that the cost of being well-housed forecloses the possibility of living as well as they’d like in Chicago.

If you haven’t looked at apartments that are well below your target rent, perhaps you should. You can find a nicely-updated $1,200 a month apartment in a great neighborhood and begin asking yourself whether the in-unit laundry, the balcony, the 24-hour door staff, the indoor pool, the party room and the business center have more value to you than the other uses you could make of an additional $800 a month in discretionary income. However you answer the question, you owe it to yourself to ask it, and to look at lower-rent options.

Our at-a-glance apartment lists and maps make it easy for you to see and compare all of your options in some of Chicago’s most sought-after neighborhoods.

NOTE: The photos are from a resident’s studio apartment at 211 East Delaware, which is owned by BJB Properties, one of our sponsors.

If you’re searching for an apartment in any of the lakefront communities covered by YoChicago’s at-a-glance apartment lists and maps, you’re wasting your time by searching on Craigslist. Our lists are comprehensive, and include links to property websites, where you can get accurate, up-to-date information directly from property owners and management companies.

Accurate information is rare on Craigslist, where the great majority of the ads are bait-and-switch come-ons posted by the tens of thousands by Chicago’s sleazy apartment rental services.

One great feature of our lists is a link to the near real-time availability information that many of the buildings publish on their website. I used those links to check three Craigslist ads published just hours earlier. Two had no availabilities for the advertised apartments, and the third had three apartments listed at 10% or more than the price advertised on Craigslist.

If you have lots of time to waste, and a taste for risk, head over to Craigslist.

What’s there to be said about this Craigslist ad from My Place Apartments, other than that it’s an almost perfect metaphor for what you can expect from this company and other Chicago rental services?

We’ve previously written about the company’s soliciting deadbeats, felons and strippers as clients, and its apparently fraudulent Google reviews. And, we have a convenient do-not-call list of rental services that you really ought to avoid when looking for your next home or apartment.

AMLI Evanston, a mixed-use development at Chicago Ave and Kedzie St in Evanston, appears to be making rapid progress toward its goal of occupancy by spring 2013.

When complete, the project will include 214 1- to 3-bedroom apartments, 19 of them live / work, and 7,600 square feet of retail space.

When I stopped by yesterday concrete pouring and finishing was the focus of activity. AMLI Evanston’s website has a detailed report, dated June 15, on the current status of construction and what’s to be expected in the near future.

If you were searching for a River North 2-bedroom with an indoor pool you might start by filtering Craigslist on 2+ BR apartments and typing the following keywords: River North indoor pool. That search, performed late yesterday, returned a flood of bait-and-switch ads – 1,000 of them, all placed yesterday!

Refine your Craigslist search by setting an unrealistic maximum rent of $1,500 and you only get 9 results – all of them, according to the headlines, in Hyde Park. Click on one of those ads, however, and you’ll see what you see in the screen cap above: a complete disconnect between the ad’s headline and its content.

The sleazy techniques used by Chicago’s apartment rental services to pollute Craigslist have a single goal: making you give up searching on your own and frustrating you into using their services. The ad pictured above, and the other 8, were all placed by Luxury Living Chicago, a company whose website tells you its “number one goal is to provide a positive customer experience.”

There’s a much easier, faster, more reliable and less risky way to conduct your search. Use YoChicago’s at-a-glance Near North apartment list and map, and focus on River North. You’ll find links to all of the websites for all of the apartment complexes in the area, and can quickly determine that only 77 W Huron, 320 W Illinois (River North Park) and 469 W Huron (Parc Huron) have indoor pools. The websites have pictures of their pools online. A few phone calls or emails will ascertain what’s available when and at what price. River North Park’s site gives you near real-time availability information and pricing.

If you were paying close attention to its website, you might also have noted that 520 N Kingsbury (Kingsbury Plaza) has indoor access to the two indoor pools at the East Bank Club, which you can join for a fee.

If you want an even easier search you can sign into our YoRents service and broadcast your requirements to participating landlords, who will respond by email if they have something suitable.

If you want to expand your search to condo buildings, you can connect with one of the pre-screened, experienced agents featured at YoRents.

Planned Property Management, one of Chicago’s largest property owners, has over 3,000 apartments for rent in the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and Lake View neighborhoods.

Planned is student-friendly at all of its buildings, working closely with students and accepting of in- and out-of-state co-signers.

The vintage building at 596 W Hawthorne in Lakeview East has affordable starter apartments on a tree-lined block close to the lake, grocery shopping, restaurants, bars, nightlife, public transportation and, of course, Wrigley Field.

Planned’s Dan McDonough shows us the environment and a studio apartment in this sponsored video.

1225 Old Town, the new 16-story, 250-unit apartment tower at 1225 N Wells St in Old Town, is ahead of its construction schedule and anticipates welcoming new residents beginning in July.

According to David Bach, an associate with Hines Interests, online leasing began May 1st, the rental office across the street opened May 15th, and the development was already 28% pre-leased heading into last weekend.

Bach was my host in the above video walk-through last week, from the exterior to the 11th floor amenities level. The amenities will include an outdoor heated pool and hot tub, a fire pit, stainless steel grills, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a private movie theater, a demonstration kitchen, and a cyber-café and social lounge.

Residents may have the best amenity of all on the ground level – a new Plum Market grocery scheduled to open next spring.

NOTE: 1225 Old Town is the sponsor of our Old Town apartment rental guide.

1575 Oak offers studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments in a contemporary 8-story building with outdoor and garage parking.

Apartments feature large new kitchens, baths and hardwood floors, and wall-to-wall windows with sweeping views of downtown Evanston, which is steps away.

1575 Oak is a 3-minute walk from the Davis Street Metra and CTA El stops. It’s in the heart of one of the most interesting, pedestrian-friendly, shopping, dining and entertainment rich downtown areas in the country. It’s also close to Northwestern’s Evanston campus.

BJB Evanston also offers a wide selection of vintage and contemporary apartments in other Evanston locations, including a vintage courtyard directly across the street at 1576 Oak Ave.

Five years ago yesterday we were reporting that Thrush Companies was planning an 8-story mixed-use building with 155 1- to 3-bedroom loft-style condos at Madison and Racine in the West Loop.

The property went into foreclosure in August of 2009, was acquired by an affiliate of MB Financial Bank a year later, and remains vacant land.

The site is immediately east of mod Apartments, which was originally planned as a condo development of two 5-story buildings. Only one was completed, and it transitioned to rental apartments in March of 2009.

In the following video, shot in October of 2007, I chatted with developer George Thrush about his history of pioneering Chicago neighborhoods. George was just about to turn 80 at the time, and was still active in development. The Thrush Companies is now a resident of the developer deadpool.

The renovated vintage midrise at 860 Hinman is home to two of Evanston’s favorites – the Brothers K coffee house and the Lucky Platter restaurant. Along Main Street and around the corner on Chicago Ave residents find a good selection of one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants, together with Starbucks and Whole Foods. CTA and Metra stops are a block away.

Studio and one-bedroom apartments have dishwashers, microwaves, hardwood floors and newer kitchens and baths.

Residents at 860 Hinman also enjoy a fitness room, laundry, and on-site management and maintenance.

The property is managed by BJB Evanston, which also offers a wide selection of vintage and contemporary apartments in other Evanston locations.

Residents of 1225 Old Town, the new apartment tower about to open at 1225 N Wells St, could look forward to a feast of nearby grocery shopping options: a Jewel, a Dominick’s, two Potash Markets, two Treasure Islands, two Whole Foods and a Trader Joe’s – for starters.

All of those grocers may have a tough time attracting business from 1225 residents who will have a new Plum Market on-site. Crain’s recently reported that Plum Market will be leasing 28,000 of the approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space in the development. This will be Plum Market’s first foray outside of its Michigan base.

The exterior of 1225 Old Town was nearing completion last Monday when I shot the above photo. The leasing office is open across the street at 1212 N Wells.

NOTE: 1225 Old Town is the sponsor of our Old Town apartment rental guide.

Planned Property Management, one of our sponsors, has run contests for the best video set to the company’s theme song and for the its official t-shirt design.

The latest contest solicited residents to vie for a $300 rent credit by creating a video describing why they love where they live. The entries are as varied as the residents, and you can see several dozen more of them at Planned’s YouTube channel.

David Nadler of City Ranch Real Estate is a staunch proponent of the notion that condo and townhome rentals are value-priced in comparison to rental apartment buildings.

I asked David for some recent examples, and he sent along a half-dozen, ranging from a studio at Sandburg Village to Lincoln Park townhomes. David singled out a north-facing 2-bedroom, 2-bath he recently rented at Water Tower Place as “the most interesting of the properties.”
Unit 3402, which spans nearly 1,800 square feet, rented for $3,900 a month. David’s take:

In a ‘healthy’ housing market, renters would not have the opportunity to live in Chicago’s landmarks, which were traditionally reserved exclusively for purchasers.

Water Tower is a special landmark building. $3,900 represents a very fair price for a 2-bedroom right now in general. This home has unobstructed lake views and includes a separate dining room, a full-size laundry room and walk-in closet.

Access to the recently renovated Carlton Club is included in the rent. The Ritz Carlton Hotel services, including room service, are available to residents of Water Tower.

There are several luxury rental buildings nearby with 2-bedroom rent rates ranging into the high $3,000s, but none with comparable square footage or a level of service and ambiance comparable to that of Water Tower Place.

Another 02-tier unit in the Water Tower, Unit 4002, is currently offered for rent at $7,500 a month. From the pictures, it appears to have a much higher level of finishes than Unit 3402.

You can see some of the properties that David considered bargains in the following video, shot several months ago, and see the second and third parts of our tour at YouTube:

K2 at K Station is a 496-unit 34-story apartment tower that’s under construction in Chicago’s Fulton River District.

McHugh Construction Project Engineer Owen Smith showed me around the site yesterday, starting at ground level and ending on the 13th floor, which is partially complete. From the 9th floor on we climbed construction ladders.

We stopped a number of times on various floors while Owen answered my questions about what we were looking at.

Thanks, Owen, for an informative tour.

NOTE: Apologies for the shakiness of some of the video, but it was all shot hand-held due to site conditions.

There’s more video from K2 at our YouTube playlist.

Optima Center, 200 E Illinois in Streeterville, has risen to two stories above the upper-level of Illinois Street. When complete the 325-unit building will be 42 stories tall.

The building in the background at the right of the photo is the new Ronald McDonald House.

Optima Center is a project that generates a lot of interest among architecture buffs, and you can see many more pictures of its progress in a thread at SkyscraperPage.com.

You can track the major new apartment projects underway in downtown Chicago at our at-a-glance list and map.

The 500-unit apartment tower under construction at 500 N Lake Shore Dr in Streeterville is more than halfway toward its 45-story height. In the picture above the building is framed by the RiverView Condominiums, 415 and 445 E North Water St.

When complete, the building will include a 30,000 square foot amenity package with club rooms for entertaining and relaxing on the 11th and 45th floors. The building will also feature a landscaped exterior roof terrace with a lap-length pool, sundeck, private cabanas and dining spaces with kitchens and a fire pit.

The development is targeting occupancy beginning in May 2013.

You can track the major new apartment projects underway in downtown Chicago at our at-a-glance list and map.

Bits of the façade are nearly all that’s left of the Mexican restaurant and rent-a-car outlet that formerly operated at 73 E Lake St in the Loop, and they’re being pulverized, bit by bit.

M&R Development anticipates locking down construction financing shortly for a 42-story, 336-unit apartment tower on the site, according to Chicago Real Estate Daily. The new development, which will be known as Summit on Lake, is following the trend of planning to compete with existing apartments by offering “condo-style amenities and finishes.”

You can track the major new apartment projects underway in downtown Chicago at our at-a-glance list and map.

The honking RENT NOW! sign for SoNo East apartments, 840 W Blackhawk St, is atop SoNo West. It’s hard to miss even from points that are miles away. Below are some recent shots from 1157 W Diversey, 629 W Deming and 2850 N Sheridan.

The on-site signage is even more difficult to miss.

The south portico of the building is mercifully free of commands.

The 43-story tower at 360 West Hubbard is just coming out of the ground in River North. It won’t be long before it obscures the south-facing views from the Sexton Lofts, 360 W Illinois.

When it’s complete, 360 West Hubbard will include 450 apartments and an extensive 9th-floor amenity level above a 520-car garage. Some of the spaces in the garage are set aside for the East Bank Club, which is directly west on Kingsbury St.

The Coast, 345 E Wacker Dr, is about two-thirds of the way toward its ultimate 49-story height. It appears to be on track to meet its targeted completion date of February 2013.

When it’s complete, The Coast will include 499 apartments, 18,000 square feet of retail space, 18,000 square feet of amenities, and parking below Wacker Drive.

You can see many more photos and follow the progress of the building in a thread at SkyscraperPage.com.

My recent schedule has kept me from spending as much time as I would have liked to at K2 at K Station, which is under construction in the Fulton River District. I did stop by briefly on Wednesday to check on the project’s status.

Crews were pouring the 6th floor and planning to start construction on the 7th the following week when I visited on April 18:

Plans called for a 3-day per floor construction cycle after the 9th floor and, as you can see in the above photo, the project appears to be hitting that target. You can also see windows being set on the first residential floor of the 496-unit, 34-story tower.

Our recently-launched YoRents service connects renters directly with quality landlords.

Many renters, however, are daunted by the task of finding an apartment on their own, or unwilling to invest the time, and choose to work with a rental agent. That choice presents them with an even more daunting task: finding an agent who will respect their wishes and help them select the new home that best meets their needs and wants.

Yelp and other review sites are no help. Most of the reviews of individual agents and rental services are untrustworthy at best and fraudulent at worst. Personal referrals are a bit more reliable, but suffer from the referrer’s typically lacking broad experience with rental agents.

The staff at YoChicago has decades of experience in working with real estate agents. We know how to sort the good from the bad, the experienced from the rookies, the knowledgeable from the know-nothings, and the true professionals from those who lack integrity and commitment to their clients.

We’ll soon be launching an expansion of YoRents to introduce you to professional agents who have experience and expertise in selected neighborhoods. It will be a paid advertising feature, but only agents who meet our standards of experience and integrity will be allowed to advertise. We’ll introduce those agents to renters through a brief biography and video, so that renters will know exactly who they’ll be working with rather than walking into a rental service and running the risk of a random rookie.

Introducing Amy Reynolds
Amy Eigel Reynolds was born into the real estate business. The daughter of Prudential Rubloff CEO, Chris Eigel, Amy became a third generation Realtor in the Chicago area shortly after receiving her B.A. in music from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Amy is a licensed broker with a dozen years’ experience. She has expert knowledge of Chicago’s Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods.

A former collegiate volleyball player, a musician and an animal lover, Amy lives in Wicker Park with her husband, her son and their dog.

Amy was recommended to YoRents by Francesca Rose, who I’ve known for twenty years.

Prudential Rubloff is an advertising client of YoChicago’s parent firm.

Anticipating a slow Mother’s Day, the 215 West apartment tower in the Loop sent an email blast on Saturday reminding rental services that it’s paying a higher than normal commission for renting some of its apartments:

Hi Brokers!

We don’t have many showings scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) so I thought I would reach out! Also we are still at 150% commission!!!

We have two 2 bedrooms on manager’s special! These are the only 2 apartments that are at 100% commission, not 150%.

Is this a sign that the apartments at 215 West aren’t competitive on their merits?

If you’re using a rental service you should negotiate at least half of its commission back into your pocket – unless you’re enamored of paying $1,000s of dollars for a few cab rides and bad advice.

You can hear about the services of 215 West’s “door-cierge” in the above video.

For the second week in a row the number of MLS-listed homes, apartments and condos in 6 north lakefront ZIP codes reached a new high since we began tracking earlier this year.

There are currently 581 units listed for rent in the MLS from Lincoln Park north to Rogers Park. That amounts to less than a 4-week supply at recent absorption levels, which saw more than 300 units rented during the past two weeks.

We’re seeing a growing number of major management companies listing rentals in the MLS, something they’ve rarely done in the past.

Lincoln Park‘s Belden-Stratford, which was recently acquired by the Laramar Group, has listed a number of units for rent with Koenig & Strey (a client of our parent firm). One-bedroom, 1- and 1 ½ bath units are renting from $2,399 to $2,925 a month – at the high end of the rent range for managed rental buildings in Lincoln Park.

The Laramar Group is converting 68 units that had been operated as a hotel into residential apartments. According to a recent news release:

Some of the amenities and features include granite counters, stainless steel appliances, in-unit laundry (select units) and central air and heat. Front Desk/Concierge staff is on duty 24/7, and the building is small pet friendly as well. For an additional fee, monthly parking spaces are available. Lease terms are flexible depending on the choice of a furnished or unfurnished unit.

Unfurnished apartments may be leased for a minimum of six months. The Belden Stratford also provides corporate suite options that can be leased for as short as one month.

You can follow our weekly updates of north lakefront rental data at this Google Docs spreadsheet.

I’m not a fan of domu’s rental search, despite its slick map-based interface and ease of use. I’d rather take a slower path to accurate, up-to-date information than domu’s quicker one to info that’s often stale and sometimes misleading.

If you’re a renter, check out our at-a-glance apartments lists and maps and search MLS listings at a reputable brokerage firm’s site as an alternative to domu.

If you’re a Chicago landlord, however, domu has some terrific information, advice and free forms available for your use, and a blog you should follow.

Domu’s Chicago landlord’s guide to security deposits, for example, is a must-read for the shrinking number of landlords who still charge security deposits. It’s a well-researched, lawyerly product, but written in clear, easy-to-understand language. The author summarizes the holding of Detrana v Such on the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance as follows: “A hermit living in the basement qualifies for the ‘owner-occupied’ exemption.”

It’s been almost exactly three years since we received word that Kimball Station, a 59-unit condo development in Albany Park, had converted to rentals. Although we’d been told at one point that 15 of the units were under contract, none ever closed.

Crain’s has just reported that the project, which includes a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments and 6,000 square feet of commercial space, has been sold to an affiliate of Inland Real Estate Group for $11.8 million. All of the units are said to be leased.

Kimball Station takes its name from the Kimball Brown Line stop, which is directly across the street.

When we looked in on 77 West Huron, back in March, the River North high-rise had 22 vacancies and was offering a $100 a month discount on 9 to 12-month leases.

The building currently lists 48 of its 304 apartments available for rent between now and June 3, most of them for immediate occupancy, and recently sent this solicitation to rental services:

Thank you for all your support during our renovations. We appreciate your continued business during the pre-leasing phase. We would like to offer your clients a little incentive while construction on our amenities begins. We are offering 1 Month Free Upfront on all the renovated apartments.

We hope you are having a busy week and look forward to meeting with you!

$1555-1742 (studios 536 SF- 571 SF)
$1789-1975 (1 BRs 694 SF- 757 SF)
$2058- 2155 (1BRs 766 SF- 813 SF)
$2813- $2858 (2×2 1108 SF -1154 SF)

You can see all of your options in River North and nearby neighborhoods on YoChicago’s at-a-glance apartment list and map for the Near North area.

You don’t need to be in a downtown high-rise to enjoy spectacular views of Chicago’s skyline. You don’t even need to be in a high-rise.

The above view to the south and east was shot from the roof deck of a six-story Lincoln Park apartment building at the six-corner intersection of Diversey, Lincoln and Racine. The view below spans the skyline from Rogers Park to the West Loop.

BJB Properties, which owns and manages the renovated property at 1157 W Diversey, is one of our sponsors. Studio and one-bedroom apartments in the building rent from $985 to $1,185 a month.

I’ll be posting more of the 360-degree views from 1157, and will link to higher-res versions at Flickr. Click the above images to enlarge them and enjoy the view.

It seems like only yesterday that we were reporting steep price cuts on apartments at EnV in River North. It was, in fact, all of four days ago.

Yesterday’s email brought the details of another round of even deeper price cuts from EnV:

Bring a client into EnV Chicago and receive 100% commissions! This is for a limited time only; the client(s) must move in by 6/13/12. This week we are offering AMAZING specials – 2 months FREE on all floor plans if they sign a 13 month lease; they will get an ADDTIONAL [sic] 2 weeks FREE if they move in by 6/13/12. Finally if they look and lease within 24 hours they will receive 1/2 off the administration fees (we normally charge $500 so it would only be $250).

The latest discounting works out to 19.2% from pro forma rents, and 27% if you factor in the commission to the apartment rental services.

According to a recent Marcus & Millichap report, vacancy levels are low – in general – in Chicago.

EnV sold recently for a reported $483,000 a unit to a deep-pocketed owner – MetLife.

The latest email newsletter from 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly brings word of an upcoming public meeting to discuss plans for a proposed development at Wolf Point.

In typically Reillyesque phrasing, Ald. Reilly notes that “I have directed Hines Development Corporation and their team to start our community review process early, even before they take the initial step of filing a formal application with the City of Chicago.”

The details, from the newsletter:

The Applicant (Hines) has submitted a proposal for the development of three towers at this site, with Site “A” (West Tower) proposed as a residential, 525 foot tall structure containing 510 units and 200 parking stalls; Site “B” (South Tower) proposed as a 900 foot tall, mixed use structure containing 600 units and 885 parking stalls; and Site “C” (East Tower) proposed as a 750 foot tall, mixed use structure containing 200 parking stalls.

WHAT: 350 North Orleans (former Wolf Point site) Development Project

WHO: Hosted by Alderman Brendan Reilly, the River North Residents Association (RNRA) and the Fulton River District Association (FRDA)

WHEN: Tuesday, May 29th at 5:30 P.M.

WHERE: Holiday Inn, 350 West Mart Center Drive – Wolf Point Ballroom

Pending and proposed new apartment developments in downtown Chicago now total nearly 13,000 units.

Discount is a dirty word in the world of new rental high-rises, where price-cutting takes the form of “free rent” specials limited to new renters. Discounting is a no-no because you don’t want your investors to focus on a failure to achieve pro forma rents, and you certainly don’t want your existing tenants to ask for the same deal being offered new ones.

Late yesterday afternoon EnV circulated an email “hot sheet” to Chicago’s apartment rental services offering 2 to 2 ½ months’ free rent on selected apartments, an effective discount of 14% to 18% on 14-month leases. The free rent concessions can be taken upfront or amortized over the duration of the lease at the River North tower.

The hot-sheet headline enticed rental services with “1 Month 100% Commissions for ANY move in before June 5, 2012.”

Nominal rents (before discounts) for apartments listed in the hot sheet were $2,003 a month for a 16th floor studio, $2,566 to $2,827 for 1-bedrooms and $3,760 for a 26th floor 2-bedroom, 2-bath.

If you’re using a rental service you should negotiate at least half of its commission back into your pocket – unless you’re enamored of paying $1,000s of dollars for a few cab rides and bad advice.

A month ago we questioned whether EnV’s negative reviews on Yelp singled it out as Chicago’s worst new apartment tower. Since that time EnV has had two glowing reviews from new Yelpers, and another that was filtered as suspicious.