Advise on apartment location
 

Hi Fodorites,

Next June I´ll be visiting Chicago for the 1st time and since I´m not famiiar at all with the city I would like your opinion on the location of an apartment I´m looking to rent at 439 W Huron St. Is this a safe location? Is it close to major attractions? I will be attending my nephew´s graduation at Northwestern in Evanston so I will have a car.

Any advise, please.

Bea

It would help if your headline included the word "Chicago."

I'm a little lost. I did a bunch of searching and can't find that there is any building at 439 W. Huron. Are you sure that's it? There's a large apartment building at 451.

Yes, happytrails, you are right. NeoPatrick, I also googled it and couldn´t find the exact address given by the
renter.

Where is the listing for this apartment? Can you post a link? I'm afraid either you made a mistake with the address or perhaps this is a scam?

Perhaps it's 469 W Huron? I would also advise against a car. Driving in the city is a challenge even for residents. On most city streets there is a two-hour parking limit that is strictly enforced 8 am to 9 pm 7-days per week, 365-days per year.

You can easily get from either airport to the central city and from there to Evanston via public transit. Check www.transitchicago.com for a trip planner, info and how to track buses and trains with a smart phone. You can purchase day passes that allow unlimited rides on all CTA trains and buses. A 1-day pass is $10 and a 3-day is $20.

From downtown Chicago to Evanston, you also have the choice of the Metra Union Pacific North Line. It's a commuter train that runs less frequently than CTA, but is a bit more comfortable. It leaves Ogilvie Station about once per hour and the trip to Evanston Davis Street Station is about 25 minutes. A one-way ticket is $4.25. Check schedules and info at www.metrarail.com.

Hi, bea001.
The area is what I would consider safe, but a few, long blocks walking east to get to the main commercial and dining areas near Michigan.

I worked for years in the 300 W block of Superior street, so know the area. Perfectly fine location, if you absolutely must rent an apartment. Street parking is difficult, so hopefully the renter offers parking, too. The immediate area is uninspiring - few mature trees, lots of either new condo buildings or big, commercial loft buildings.

Will not be hard to drive in and park the car in that area, and will be nice to be able to drive to Northwestern and to b'fast/lunch/dinner in/around Evanston that day - but I'd discourage you from driving in the city, just because of the parking situation.

You're not terribly near tourist attractions, but Chicago is not hard to get around by bus or subway/elevated train. From that location, you'll likely be catching the 'el' train at Chicago avenue to go south into the loop, or catching the Chicago bus to go east toward Michigan Ave., where you'll catch all the buses to go to the museums.

I always recommend against apartments -- seems like a lot of bother and uncertainty when there are loads of hotels available - but I don't know your circumstances.

I don't want to discourage you if the rate is good -- it's very much in the city. Everyone needs to use bus/train anyway, even if you're in a hotel on Michigan Avenue. And once you get on to Superior, there's nice art galleries and a comfortable STarbucks right on Chicago right beneath the el train.

NeoPatrick, this is the link for the apartment http://www.vrbo.com/408313. The correct address is 469 W Huron St., but when googling I´m still unable to see the building, even though in the google page it says "at thia address Parc Huron Apartmens".

Bea

Citylights and Chgogal, thanks so much for the very useful information regarding transportation, so no rented car this time. I was worried about getting to Evanston.

In all my travels,which are quite often, I prefer apartments to hotels, for lots of different reasons, but one of the most important is that I am a smoker and it is easier to smoke in a balcony in an apartment than it is to walk all the way down in a hotel to smoke in the street.

What would be a good area to look for. VRBO gives me several options, but again, since I´m not familiar with the city I have no idea which would be the best area. These are the options given:

Far North
Near North
North Side
Central Loop
Near South
West and Near West
South Side

Many thanks for your help.

Bea

From a tourist perspective, you'd want to be in The Loop, New East Side (of Central Loop) or Gold Coast, Mag Mile, or River North (of Near North Side). South Loop, Printers Row and Old Town are fine neighborhoods, just a little farther from the sights.

Thanks very much Citylghts, will start my search right away.

Bea

I have rented apartments a couple of times at One West Superior (Called Superior Place). At the corner of State Street and Superior, a block from the Red Line, with a Whole Foods on the ground floor, you couldn't ask for much more. There are several companies who rent vacation apartments there. I've had one on the very top floor -- and the building is VERY high. Beautiful.
Here's one site for rentals there. There are others as well. I was amazed how reasonable it was -- but availability is often tricky for short term as they do a lot of one or two month executive rentals and have to "fit you in". Worth looking at.
http://www.suite-home-chicago.com/On..._Place_PDF.pdf

Thanks very much, NeoPatrick, the place looks gorgeous. Having Whole Foods on the ground floor is the best of it all. Carrying groceries is not my cup of tea. I've already emailed them and hope to get a reply soon. Last night I wrote to some others in the areas Citylghts suggested, but still haven´t heard back from them.

Many thanks for your help.

Bea

bea, the apartments I rented in that building were not through the linked company. I'm unable to remember the name of the company that did do the renting. It's a huge building and several different companies have short term rentals there. You can google the address and there are a ton of tripadvisor listings and reviews -- perhaps looking through them you could come up with other rental opportunities there.

I'm thinking the company I used was called SP properties or something like that, but I didn't find them when I googled.

If you want to be near the museums, the Loop and Mag Mile/River North are the spots for you. If being closer to Evanston is a priority, then North Side near the lake might work. Rogers Park on the far north side near the lake is a nice neighborhood and borders Evanston. It's far from the museums, though. Lincoln Park and Lakeview are farther south, roughly halfway between the Loop and Evanston depending on where exactly you are.

bea_001, renting a vacation rental (apartment/condo) which is not licensed with the City of Chicago is illegal and has been for quite some time. You'll need to verify that whatever you are looking at renting conforms with the city's laws.

NeoPatrick, Andrew, exiledprincess, thanks very much for your suggestions. I finally got a reply from a company renting short term and I think this might be the one. The location is 540 N State St and Ohio. Tomorrow I´ll call them and verify if they have the required renting licenses. Google maps shows a grocery store close by and a metro station one block away. What do you think, guys?

Many thanks,

Bea

It's an excellent location, right near the red line, the Mag Mile and many top restaurants.

Great location!
And less than a block from Quartino -- one of my favorite eating places.

I agree, it's a great location. The transit system within the city and nearby suburbs is <b>The L</b>. <i>Metro</i> is not used because the suburban commuter system is <i>Metra</i> and there's too much room for confusion.

(Even when it runs underground, it's still called The L because the elevated trains were built in 1890 and the subway tunnels dating only from 1951.)