Got a Job in Lisle, IL! (Chicago, Naperville: spring break, apartment complex, lease)

[bauerdm]

Hello everyone! I'm a long time reader, first time poster. Born in raised in Wisconsin I attended UW-Milwaukee and just got offered a job in business intelligence at a company in Lisle, IL for after graduation in May. I start early June and have about 7 weeks to find an apartment to live in.

A little bit about me... I'm single, 23 years old, and have family (grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins) in the Bartlett/Elgin area but as far as "friends" I won't have any starting out in Illinois. I'm hoping you guys are able to help me begin my apartment search by narrowing down the areas I should look into. Based purely off of Google, the areas that have sparked my interest are Oak Park, Forest Park and the Humboldt Park area. I know that a lot of the young people live around Wrigglyville, Buckhead, and Evanston but I know with my commute those locations are far out of reach.

Anyway, like I said, my job is in Lisle (right off of highway 88 on Warrenville Rd) and I'm looking to be in an area surrounded by young people, bars, walkable streets, easy access to downtown, etc. I would like to keep rent around $700-$900 per month. I will have a car so parking is a must and would prefer a 1 bedroom over a studio and obviously in a decently safe area.

What do you guys think? Are the areas I mentioned good for me? Can I afford it? Any other places I should look into?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[nikitakolata]

I'm not sure if it will be in your budget, but I would look at the downtown area of Naperville. I would NOT look at Humboldt Park due to the crime in that area.

If you want to stay within Lisle itself, then I would look at the Four Lake subdivision; it tends to have a lot of young people and there is a bar and convenience store within the subdivision. It also has a ski hill and several pools.

[chet everett]

Evanston would be nuts to even consider. Bucktown would mean snaking along the Kennedy north of the Ike and that adds considerably to a commmute from Lisle (and trying to commute from Georgia is totally out of the question... http://www.buckhead.net ...). Frankly I don't think Humbolt Park is really that great an option either -- although you could take surface streets that lie west of the snarls at the interchange of Ike/Kennedy/Dan Ryan those surface streets are no picnic. If you want to be in Chicago (which does make some sense if entertainment options are a priority...) the easiest commutes are going to be from Tri-Taylor, Near West Side and University Village. These areas are also popular witth students at UIC as well folks working in the greater Medical Center district.

Easier commute from Forest Park / Oak Park area, though also signficantly longer to commute to real hotspots of the north side like Wrigleyville and BIG fall off in local entertainment options.

If your employer offers any sort of shuttle between the Metra station in Lisle that may make it possible to rely on commuter rail but there is not as much flexibility with the "reverse commuter" schedule and you'd still need to find a way to get to Union Station or stops like Western Ave on the BNSF line...

[mattywo85]

OP like you said going from Evanston, Wrigleyville, etc to Lisle will be quite a commute. If you're looking around Lisle for $700-900/month options are slim. Maybe check out downtown Naperville, Plainfield, Crest Hill, Joliet, Bolingbrook, or Romeoville. The best option IMO for young people, nightlife, and good downtown in the area is downtown Naperville although Seven Bridges area in Woodridge can be decent at night too.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by mattywo85

OP like you said going from Evanston, Wrigleyville, etc to Lisle will be quite a commute. If you're looking around Lisle for $700-900/month options are slim. Maybe check out downtown Naperville, Plainfield, Crest Hill, Joliet, Bolingbrook, or Romeoville. The best option IMO for young people, nightlife, and good downtown in the area is downtown Naperville although Seven Bridges area in Woodridge can be decent at night too.

I know you were trying to address the rent budget, but I wouldn't suggest Plainfield, Crest Hill, Joliet, Bolingbrook, or Romeoville since they are not good options for a young single guy looking for vibrant area to live in.

[almost3am]

wow, tough. If I was single I would want to be in Chicago and commute back, as long as the commute wasn't too taxing. Maybe just west of the loop with easy access to 290? Greektown or West Loop? Not sure if you could find anything for you budget, though.

I live in Naperville and there is a pretty heavy college crowd out at the bars on the weekends, mixed in with the mid-20-30-40 year olds. I guess it comes down to what you want, but based on your earlier choices it seems like you prefer being closer to the city. Or, is a larger burb okay? If a larger burb try to be as close to downtown N'ville as possible or you will be in family heaven.

[mark.caryl]

I'm actually about your age and live in Lisle at the Arboretum Villages. A 1bd apartment there will run you about 850/mo plus utilities and its very safe and quiet here. Sounds like you'd be walking distance from your work which has its plusses. It's about 10 minutes from the downtowns of Naperville, Downers Grove, and Wheaton and their amenities. Shopping isn't too bad, as you have many options within reasonable distance. Another cool thing is if you are a runner, there are many nice forest preserves nearby with great trails. I personally think its better choice to live close and then explore your options, rather than being a slave to a commute if you're new to the area. Pm me if you need more info.

[chet everett]

The advice from "mark.caryl" is pretty solid. Sadly the vast majority of folks who post on the forum here have a narrow view of "city" and many have said that when it come to the region they simply cannot stomach any housing choice that is outside the magical 606xx zip codes of Chicago...

The fact is with many well developed rail centric options in DuPage Co there are suburbs with more density and options than many traditional "smaller cities" in the country but the bizarre defensive and "pack mentality" that seems to drive trends like "hipster" clothing / eyeware/bicycle fashions for some or "frat bar" sports & beer social patterns for others also gives the impression that anyone outside of "the pack" will forever be a sad and lonely subset of the "in crowd". I suspect that if profilers wanted to gain insight into what forces drive the mentally unstable to mass shootings the researchers would find find similarities to the behavior that many posters on web forums display...

The OP in this thread is not some one with no clue about the broad region -- Milwaukee is close enough that they have certainly had the opportunity to visit Chicago and they also have family in the suburban areas of Bartlett / Elgin. I suspect that driving a short distance from an apartment complex in Lisle to work would give them more free time to get to know co-workers and neighbors. It is not as though every single worker outside of Chicago is anmiddle aged minivan driving drone... Of course I cannot argue that there are any shortage of boozy hang outs in Chicago and the ratio of such places is far smaller in even the most entertainment oriented suburbs. Of course not everyone has a nonstopnneed to swill down a libation and there may very well be something to be said for enjoying the forest preserves, work out centers/ gyms, and bicycle paths that are common in DuPage Co. instead of wasting hours a day in traffic ...

[Domino369]

That's funny, I could walk over to that job.

That being said, having lived in Lisle for nearly 20 years, it's a ridiculously safe area and in good location retrospective to most that's around. Downtown Naperville, Fox Valley Mall, Yorktown Mall, Oakbrook Center, downtown Downer's Grove, 75th street and all it's glory, promanade in Bolingbrook, and given a little bit of driving, you can get to Schaumberg (Woodfield Mall), Arlington Heights (I like Mitswa over there personally), and Rosemont (MB Financial and the numerous conventions they have). The La Grange area isn't too far as it's just a straight shot down Ogden, and Brookfield Zoo is half an hour away. Oak Park is a little far though because of the heavy traffic that seems to pop up as you get closer to Harlem Ave (give or take 1st Ave too).

That all being said, there's not much in Lisle (very good Hibachi on Ogden near Naperville Rd but it might as well be in Naperville) so a car is pretty much a necessity. If you live in the Great Lakes subdivision, you are close to a nice little strip mall in Woodridge that has a movie theatre, Buffalo Wild Wings, etc. HOWEVER, if you work up on Warrenville Rd, you'll have to deal with 53 rush hour north which to me always seems worse than the Kennedy as I commute south. The construction doesn't help either.

I haven't seen Warrenville Rd during rush hour, but I wouldn't be diverse to living in Wheaton. Their downtown is nice, but the area that really shines is Danada as far as location relative to Lisle goes. Since you'd be near Butterfield Rd, you could take a short drive to the northern Downer's Grove-Lombard area which has, from my perspective, some of the best sushi I've ever had (coming from someone who travels a lot) at Kyoto Sushi among other things.

But yeah, look at traffic patterns if you're intending on living anywhere further than 5 mins away. Traffic going north is absolutely ugly. You don't want to be stuck for half an hour on a drive that google tells you will be 10 mins. If you want to go into the city, take the BNSF or drive there. Parking isn't that expensive (it's 30-45/day in Boston, and I won't even talk about NYC). You're also near Wheaton College, which I hear is very good for things not engineering, in case you decide to go for your Masters.

I'm 21 and live near the Ogden corridor in my own house :3

[Ldoubled]

I'm a middle aged minivan driving drone but I was young once, I think. From what I can tell, Naperville has a good nightlife, there's even a small college next to downtown, it's about 5 min from the four lakes complex. The streets and sidewalks of downtown naperville, including bars within walking distance of each other, appear very busy on the weekend nights I've been there, with plenty of 20-somethings. The woodridge complex near Great Lakes subdivision has BWW, movies, some kind of Cantina-spring breaky looking place and a breastaurant . I don't know what kind of nightlife it actually attracts as I don't go through there on Friday or Saturdays much. I don't know much about Wheaton and I love the Danada area...for shopping but I don't see it as a young person's mecca.

I don't know what lease options are, but you're young, I assume haven't amassed a huge amount of chattel, why not rent near your work for 6 mos and then in the evenings you can audition reverse commutes to the areas you mentioned if you find Lisle/Naperville not to your liking?