Mac Properties - Chicago Apartments - Chicago, Illinois

Julia R.

I had an amazing time living at Solstice. The facilities are impeccable and maintained to the highest quality level. The common areas are super comfortable and always sparkling clean. Even if half of the credit for this amazing experience goes to the facilities themselves, at least half definitely goes to local management: I am so grateful to Juaria and the entire team for their exceptional work and dedication. Their friendliness and attention to every single detail truly makes the Solstice experience outstanding! Dealing with Mac Properties' rental processes is less amazing though, thus only 4 stars.

Naiima D.

I have always held Mac Properties in high regard, especially because my mother has been a tenant in one of your properties for over 15 years. She has never been on Section 8 and has consistently paid market rent. However, my recent experience with your leasing process has been extremely frustrating and disappointing.

As a separated mother of three, with one child who has autism, is non verbal and also has a heart defect, I already face numerous challenges. I am also currently in graduate school, so I am certainly not the “typical” section 8 tenant. Despite this, I feel that I am being unfairly discriminated against because I am a Section 8 voucher holder!

I have been searching for a walk-up unit in one of your properties due to elevator issues occasionally in my current high-rise, which present a serious concern for my child’s health and well-being. I’ve reached out to your leasing consultant Saurav Kumar Nanda, multiple times, requesting to fill out an application, but instead of providing me with the application, she continues to send me only the pre-application. Furthermore, she has been largely unresponsive to my emails! Despite my efforts to communicate, including an email expressing that I feel discriminated against, she has failed to acknowledge or address my concerns.

Up until I mentioned that I am a Section 8 tenant, our communication was positive and Consistent. However, since then, I’ve been constantly ignored, and I still haven’t received an application, nor have I been given any clear guidance on how to proceed. I am actively trying to secure a unit for June, as indicated on your website, but the delays and lack of communication I’ve faced are both discouraging and unprofessional.

I am deeply disappointed by the treatment I’ve received from Mac Properties over the past few weeks. As a long-time admirer of your company’s reputation, this experience has left me extremely frustrated and disillusioned! I don’t recommend!

3/26/25

Me replying to the owners response…

Mr. George Robnett, the leasing manager, has been responsive in the past, and I am currently awaiting his reply to an email I sent on 3/24/25. One of the apartments that Mr. Robnett previously mentioned was on hold—the same one I had been asking Saurav Kumar Nanda about, which had been ignored multiple times—is now listed as available on the website. As you know, time is critical when dealing with the CHA and the RTA packet, so I’m hoping to hear back from him soon. If not, I am dealing with the same treatment that I dealt with prior to the owners response!
I will continually keep you updated!

Jen

Renting from Mac Properties can be a mixed bag of delight and frustration. I'm delighted with my apartment -- vintage, with good bones, built in the 1920s. Mac Properties' call center can be frustrating at times, as the reps are not well informed about the property. Some maintenance staff have low standards, and their work suffers, as when my bath tub caulk was partially replaced and looked worse than what I could have done.

Treshida W.

If I could give Mac Properties zero stars, I would. DO NOT RENT WITH THEM! There was a roach on the first day in, and by the 3rd day in, a mouse running through the kitchen. Me and my gf had to reach out to a outsource exterminator because Mac would only provide sticky traps. Even though we clearly had a roach/mice problem. There is no emergency maintenance number and they only deem floods or fires as an emergency. If you request for maintenance services while you are home, they make you wait 24-48 hours even if it is something as simple as changing a shower head.

Before moving in, our leasing agent was not clear about added fees or when we could get our keys. We asked to move in mid-August but were told that the unit was not vacant -- this wasn't true, they pushed us to move in on the last day of the month so that we would have to pay the pro-rated amount for August. So on top of the $600 admin fee and $100 application fees, Mac wanted us to pay the full amount of rent, plus a prorated rent fee before we could receive our keys.. we moved in on August 31st 2024. Mac Properties also tried to charge us a $200 vacant electric fee, stating they paid our electric bill.. even though we needed to show proof of utilities bills prior to moving it. It took mac properties two months to take accountability of them being at fault.

Extremely cold winters of course with the radiators, but they placed the biggest radiator in my smallest bedroom, and they put the SMALLEST 3 prong radiator in our master bedroom. Our apartment is never warm, and we sleep in layers of blankets with hoodies and sweatpants.

They use this Mac Resident's app that is heavily monitored and censored by someone who claims to not work for Mac but is moderator of a Mac app. They also have a bunch of random Mac employees in the app who gaslight you and discourage any tenant to tenant discussions about anything other than tea parties and book clubs.

Last week, my cabinet fell apart just by opening it. Instead of replacing it with a new one, all they did was glue it back together.

Jake M.

My wife and I were tenants of Mac Properties for 3 years. Our experience was awful from beginning to end. This company is solely motivated by profits, and they will dehumanize you and cut any corner possible.

When we first were moving into the apartment, the day before we were supposed to move in, a Mac employee called us and said that our place wouldn't be ready for another two weeks. They said we could either cancel the lease or accept their temporary accommodations. We had no choice to delay our move and take the accommodations since we had a moving truck coming.

When we finally moved in, the apartment was rank with fumes from the floor being refinished. There were dozens of repairs that needed to be done. After dealing with so many maintenance men who couldn't solve a problem, we bought materials and made fixes ourselves.

While living in the building, we experienced so many issues. The elevator in our building was constantly down. Our heat went out frequently. Once we were double charged for rent and then charged late fees on not paying the second charge. We were mysteriously charged "fees" for months before someone told us we were missing a line of text on our insurance policy. The customer support rarely answered our phone calls, chat messages and emails, and problems took months to resolve.

We moved out with 4 months left on our lease, and surrendered our keys. A Mac representative advised us to do this, and said that they would make an effort to lease the apartment so that we wouldn't have to pay for a vacant unit. Instead, Mac advertised the availability date for our apartment to the day our lease ended, ensuring we paid the full amount. Furthermore, the sales reps giving tours left the lights on in our vacant apartment, resulting in only dollars of electrical charges. Mac had the audacity to send us the bill as well as a $50 late fee per month, $400 in total.

Avoid this unethical, heartless company at all cost. They are a blight on the community.

Michael H.

Juaria Shelton is an amazing property manager at Solstice on the PARK in Hyde Park Chicago. She was very helpful as we began to prepare to move our daughter into her first apartment as a college student. Juaria gave us a great assistance and advice as we were preparing for the move in she made our move-in day arrived smooth and uneventful. She is professional, kind, thoughtful, and a great intermediary for parents of college students living in their first apartment. She is just an amazing human being. Her entire staff of front desk staff and maintenance are fantastic, knowledgeable, professional, warm and considerate.
We are thrilled with the professional manner in which Solstice is managed.

Marshall M.

I’m counting the days until my lease is up. If you can, avoid Mac. The management staff is not helpful, even after submitting the same complaint repeatedly in the past year. The prices go up but there’s no benefit. They only care about their newest and most expensive buildings like the Solstice and Windermere. It’s slim pickings in HP but if you can, choose elsewhere. Don’t tell me to call you, Mac. Y’all don’t answer the damn phone anyway.

Taylor C.

Mac updated the buzzer for my building and for the past month my intercom has nonstop been high pitched ringing and the property has yet to solve it. Peak experience is throwing up outside of the building because I couldn’t stand to be in my own apartment