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Originally Posted by Bombardier
^Those are the Presidential Towers. They always remind me of China... They are not public housing, they are actually pretty nice I believe.
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They were one of the first things built in an effort to rehabilitate the "Skid Row" area in the West Loop. They were pretty nice when first constructed, and were built in the "city within a city" model popular when suburban people were still leery of living in the city. Through a couple different remodels, it has opened itself up more and more to the city and been less and less self-isolating.
I lived there for a month as part of a relocation package when I transferred back to Chicago after spending 30 months in Siberia ... I mean Minneapolis. It was a studio, and I frankly *hated* it. It was February, and the air in the building was Sahara-levels of dry - I would literally boil pots worth of water and run the shower for 30 minutes before I went to bed and still felt like I risked turning into a desiccated mummy overnight and the dryness contributed to my nose thinking it smelled cigarette smells coming from the vents.
My 30 days there are largely the reason I never want to live in a high rise. I like looking at high rises, I like working in high rises, and I don't mind visiting high rises, but I would never want to live in one. The only other time I've lived in a high rise was in 2018 I spent a month living in what used to be known as the Onterie Building in Streeterville, which was built in about the same era as the Presidential Towers and felt pretty similar to me.
I think modern high-rises are better about things like air quality and such, but I'm perfectly happy living in my vintage home.