It's only a 10 minute walk to the Jacob Center and also close to the restaurants and bars. Lots of Kellogg students in the building. You can hear the train when it passes if you are on even numbered apartments facing the train tracks; but you get kind of used to it and it no longer bothers me. I think the prices if great compared to Park Evanston and Evanston Place who have older finishings.

We contacted 2nd year students who were graduating to rent the place. The apartment is great, 2 bedroom + den with a nice living room. The building is full of Kellogg students which makes it really convenient. Location is perfect, <10min walk from school and right downtown.

Very friendly landlord and management. Pretty strict on move-in/move-out and trash rules, but not too hard to to follow once you get used to it.

Great location (<10 minute walk to Kellogg), a good gym (so I didn't need a gym membership), and 24-hour concierge. The apartment comes with a yard/ patio, which is extremely rare in apartment buildings. Some patio furniture is included. It's a really nice place to relax or have dinner- I used it a lot when the weather was nice in the fall, spring, and summer.

Optima is a great location because it's the closest building to campus that is still within the 'downtown Evanston' area, making it equally as convenient for doing errands, dining out, and going out! There are a good amount of Kellogg people in the building so many times I don't even need to go outside to meet up with people which is fantastic!

Apartment is clean, on the newer side and well maintained. Floor to ceiling windows allow lots of light. Convenient to NW campus and downtown Evanston. Gym is small but has enough for simple workouts and the pool is nice, if underutilized. Some conflict between older and younger residents, but if you're not too loud it's generally not a problem. Condo association has increasingly restrictive rules, so definitely read the fine print before deciding if the building is for you.

The good: location, nice places, pretty much everything
The OK: Kitchens and living rooms are fairly small, but good price for the units
The bad: Move in and move out fees are high. You have to sign a 2 year lease minimum, and you can't sublet if you go abroad or intern somewhere else in the summer

Optima Horizons is a great building, has a gym and a pool. 7-10 minutes walk to campus. Overall- highly recommended.

Best place to live for being 7 minute walk to campus at all times. The apartments are very nice and spacious and perfectly located on the edge of campus and downtown Evanston. Next door to EAC gym, and close to all bars. Also the most popular for Kellogg students so live with many classmates in the same building.

Great place to live. Since it's condos the individual landlord can make a huge difference. The building management is pretty terrible and the elderly tenants like to do things like throw out shoes left in the hall, tell on people for not breaking down boxes in the recycling, etc. It's great but you should be aware of those facts before moving in.