Modern cities are amazing creations, pulsing with life 24 hours a day, and built to cater to every need of residents. Take away just one of any city dweller’s basic necessities like plumbing, electricity or heating/air conditioning, though…
Any building in Chicago taller than, say, five stories usually has an elevator—and often, new buildings of even three stories have an elevator. If you live in a high rise co-op or condo building on Lake Shore Drive or elsewhere in Chicagol…
It's a common enough story: the condominium was relatively new, but from the start its board of directors was stingy with maintenance and repair dollars. Then the recession struck, and the percentage of unpaid maintenance fees spiked. …
As spring dawns anew on a frigid Chicago landscape, many condo dwellers will get their first prolonged looks at Mother Nature’s wintery ravages. Nowhere is this better seen than on a property’s exterior siding, much of which might need c…
They say a house is only as strong as its foundation. While it's true that a bad roof or shoddy plumbing can set your building back a lot of money, a foundation in disrepair can put the entire structure at risk, and can cost tens—even h…
After the four walls of a given structure, the roof is sometimes referred to as the “fifth plane”—and just like the walls that hold it up, the roof is an all-important structure that can make or break a building’s performance. Chicagola…
April showers may bring May flowers, but the snow and ice storms of December and January are certain to bring a busy work schedule to Chicagoland condominium properties. Whether the region experiences a typical winter—with its…
You may not realize it, but your building may be hemorrhaging money. Not in the form of disastrous lawsuits or maintenance crises like a collapsed roof or exploded boiler, but in a steady trickle coming from your method of ordering sup…
If you want to make a good impression, nothing quite says luxury and elegance like a vast expanse of polished marble—particularly in the lobby of an upscale condominium or co-op building. Marble has been used in palaces, temples, and ho…