Our experience at Optima Views has been great. It is centrally located and great for a family and for pet owners. The people who work at the front door are very nice and helpful and the new building manager is also great. With that said I'll share some negative aspects of the building and units. The building itself is not well insulated and the heating system is strange. The windows all around make for great views but can make certain rooms super cold in the winter, while others with less windows are hot. Then the heating system is piped in at ceiling level so your head gets heated while your feet remain cold. I think this is not applicable to all units but something to look for. Another thing is that you will rent from an individual unit owner, so people have various experiences on how dealing with their owners are when then need something. Scheduling work has to be done with the building management and can be annoying. The gym and pool are also small and not the best, but if you aren't after amenities then they should suffice.

Is the only building with 24h doorman in Evanston, that's very useful for receiving packages and letting visitors in. The new management is very friendly and most of the neighbors just mind their own business.

It’s not the newest building, but the location is great (close to many other students) and the amenities are decent.

Very positive experience so far! Good value for the room (e.g. significantly cheaper than E2 with comparable apartment quality and amenities) and good location downtown. Note that units have significantly different floorplans.

Our apartment is great! Very spacious compared to where I was living prior in NYC. We each have very large bedrooms with walk-in closets and our own bathrooms, and the layout is very nice as the bedrooms are in separate areas. The living room is very large and we have a full kitchen and dining room table. We also have a small balcony, and included parking is a plus. The doormen are all super friendly! Makes it easy when getting mail/packages etc. They are also much more lenient with large number of guests coming over - much more so than other apartments like E2 or Optima Horizons where you have to have the doorman call each time there is a guest or have to come down and let them up.

Much of the experience living at Optima Views is impacted by your landlord and luckily we have an awesome landlord who is highly communicative and responsive. We really have no complaints -- everyone who works on the property is nice and the location is central and super pet friendly. I also greatly appreciate the attentiveness of our front door men and women because it does help us feel more secure.

It’s great.

Overall, I've had a great experience living at Optima Views. The building is well managed and the units are very nice. The location is great for accessing the Metra and CTA and is close to all of the downtown Evanston restaurants and shops. While it doesn't draw a huge number of Kellogg students, Optima Views is located just a few minutes walk from the more popular buildings.

Experiences at Optima Views is very landlord dependent and we happen to have a great landlord who is very responsive!

The building is pretty nice and the apartment is very spacious. The layouts are a little weird, so decorating is tricky. Fairly central between downtown Evanston and classes. Lots of windows and natural light.