"If I knew what I was getting myself into, I would have rather just stayed in the dorm," said sophomore Nicole DeFrancisco, who lives on the third floor of the trendy-looking, steel-and-glass building in the 1200 block of West Fullerton. DeFrancisco is one of many students who say the partial walls between bedrooms, the concrete floors and problems with unsealed walls between units mean they hear everything their neighbors are doing.

Other complaints have included broken or leaking windows, bedroom locks that break easily and flaking insulation.

The building’s management says some of those issues have been addressed and that they are willing to work on others.

The $73.4 million project, developed by Smithfield Properties of Chicago, opened late last summer under an arrangement in which the owner is a nonprofit entity, MJH Education Assistance IV LLC, that supports DePaul and contracts with the Scion Group LLC to manage the apartments.

The project has won industry accolades for designing a building that offers more independent living than a dorm, with an edgy post-industrial look. There are retail shops on the ground floor, as well as a parking garage.

In a typical arrangement, four students share a four-bedroom, two-bath furnished unit with a modest kitchen and living room, each paying $1,045 a month in rent, including utilities — totaling almost $4,200 when four people are living there.

There is a hefty fee if you move out before your contract ends — it can hit $5,000 in some cases — but students also do not have to pay more than their share of rent if someone moves out.

As with a dorm, the management can move new roommates in or, in some cases, require a renter to relocate to another unit.

The building contains 580 bedrooms in 160 apartments, with 540 of the beds now filled.

The rent — which is substantially higher than the $549-a-month fee a student might pay for an ordinary double-bed dorm room at DePaul — is supposed to allow the nonprofit to "break even," said Eric Bronstein, executive vice president of the Scion Group.

But some students say that regardless, they’re not getting what they’re paying for.

"They said these are luxury lofts. These are not luxury lofts," said senior Thaer Sous, who learned about the improperly sealed unit walls when a neighbor told him she could see into his apartment from hers.

"I didn’t even know at. She said, ‘Yeah, I could see the back of your TV,’" he said of the crack, which has since been sealed.

Liz Flanigan and Lauren Wulf, freshman roommates on the second floor, said during heavy rains, water would seep in where the window met the ceiling in one of their unit’s bedrooms, leaving a puddle on the floor.

"She went downstairs to report it, and all they did was give her a bucket," Wulf said.

Sophomore Sarah Albert, who lives on the sixth floor, said one of her outside windows cracked in the beginning of July and another cracked in August. Those finally got fixed in January — and a third one that she said cracked Dec. 20 didn’t get fixed until Friday, about two months later.

"It’s really kind of a letdown, with the amount of money we’re spending. It’s not cheap," Albert said.

A spokesman for Smithfield Properties acknowledged problems with gaps between some units and window leaks in others. He said all of the unit walls, even those without gaps, were recaulked over Christmas break, and the leaking windows were recaulked, as well.

Bronstein said the unsealed unit walls were "not like a peephole … but it was still inexcusable because it was not fully closed."

There were about 12 windows that cracked, either from improper installation or, in some cases, suspected impacts from objects inside the apartments, Bronstein said. "Unfortunately, it’s taken a while [to repair] because they’re custom-made," he said.

As for some students’ complaints that noise bounces easily over the partial-height bedroom divider walls and off the polished concrete floors, there are plans to add acoustically treated foam to try to cut down on the noise, the Smithfield spokesman said.

The bedroom divider walls can’t go all the way up to the ceiling because of a city code that requires natural light and ventilation for bedrooms, he said.

DePaul University spokeswoman Denise Mattson declined to comment on the complaints, saying the building is not a university property — even though it will revert to university ownership after the tax-exempt bonds are paid off in 30 years.

Benjamin Noble, president of the nonprofit MJH, said the developer and management company are responding to complaints and that "I don’t see major issues in workmanship.

"It’s a new building. Everything that’s new has a few bugs," Noble said.

The building management maintains that the rent is fair, considering the building is steps from DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus and that students don’t have to worry about subletting if a roommate moves out.

"I think we’ve done a good job on this property," Bronstein said. "It’s not perfect, but overall, we think it’s in pretty good shape."

Via Chicago Sun Times