have you heard of the buckingham?! (Chicago, Columbia: apartments, dorms, school)

[maryburke]

Hi there!
My friends and I (all around 18-20) are moving to Chicago for the summer for a little bit of work and a lot of fun!
We've been looking for accommodation for ages and finally found it!
But we have to pay for the whole Summer before we even get there so I just wanna make sure its not a scam.....the place looks to good to be true!
Anyways its called the Buckingham and its on 59 East Van Buren, Chicago, Il, 60605, its beside Grant park and millennium park.
I know you are really sick of this question but do you think it is safe.....and more importantly does it even exist!!!!
Thanks!

[OrangeAndBlue]

Seems legit to me. It's in pretty far down in the loop, which should be safe, but it's dead down there after 6pm and on weekends since it's more a business district than a residential area. It's pretty easy to get to the lake and the park from there though and it's not terribly far to walk up into River North/Gold Coast. Also very easy access to the El.

[maryburke]

Oh thanks for your reply!ya we were looking for a place in lakeview because we heard it had a good nightlife....but I suppose it doesn't matter what the nightlife is like if its safe and we could always taxi to and from lakeview....Are the park and lake walking distance?on the maps it looks like they are!It's a student residence building so hopefully we'll meet some new people!

[eevee]

yeah, the Buckingham exists- it's actually one of the dorm buildings for Columbia College, for upperclassmen/older students (I would've ended up in there if I could have afforded it). the set up at Buckingham may be similar to the set up at the hostel nearby, where the school gets a certain number of rooms/floors for the students and the rest is used as housing for the general public.

the area is fairly safe, there are a lot of dorms down in that area, so a lot of students are walking around. there a a couple of incidents late at night, but that just means you have to use common sense when walking around the city at night.

not sure what website you looked at, but here's some more info about the building, via the Columbia website (it is student orientated, but there's a decent PDF tour that shows the layout. however, not sure if this is the layout for the entire building or just the Columbia portion)

Columbia College Chicago : Buckingham

yes, the park would be very close by, as is the library, and tons of L stops. not much night life there though

[Lookout Kid]

Lakeview is just as safe and probably more fun. But the area you are asking about has really seen a huge increase in student residents over the past few years, and you will have a good time. You're right at the intersection of a bunch of trains as well, so you can easily get around the city from there. It's literally downtown, though it's the southern edge of downtown.

[maryburke]

thanks for all your help guys!paid for the apartments today and have just secured a job on navy pier,everything seems to be falling into place!thanks again!

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by maryburke

thanks for all your help guys!paid for the apartments today and have just secured a job on navy pier,everything seems to be falling into place!thanks again!

Cool. What area are you guys going to live around?

[maryburke]

we got apartments in the Buckingham on 59 East Van Buren, ideally we would be living in lakeview but its way too hard to find a place there!plus the buckingham seems really cool and its such a relief having somewhere to live organized before we fly over! Do you think that the buckingham would be strict on the number of people in our apartments because some friends might have to crash with us for a while!??!

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by maryburke

we got apartments in the Buckingham on 59 East Van Buren, ideally we would be living in lakeview but its way too hard to find a place there!plus the buckingham seems really cool and its such a relief having somewhere to live organized before we fly over! Do you think that the buckingham would be strict on the number of people in our apartments because some friends might have to crash with us for a while!??!

That I do not know. For your sake I hope not.How many bedrooms are in each apartment and how many apartments did you get? How many people?

[maryburke]

One four bedroom apartment(with one shared room) so it allows 5to stay but we might have to squeeze in an extra two!!!