Chicago living questions

[Leland]

Hi Chicago guys,

Starting the week of Thanksgiving, I will be working on a ~3 month project in Chicago. I was thinking about getting an apartment in the area, but wanted some opinions on where to live up there.

The basics: My plant is in Wheeling, right off Lake-Cook Rd. I usually stay in Buffalo Grove 60089, which is a pretty good area as far as restaurants, malls, etc go. Next, my wife will be going along, so a nicer place where she feels secure during the day is important. That being said, my gym has two close locations, one is in Waukegan, 60085 and the other is in Round Lake Beach, 60073. It seems by the prices that these may be older, cheaper areas.

So, my question is what would you local guys do? Live 15 miles away from my plant or live in Buffalo Grove & drive to the gym when the traffic is lighter, assuming the drive would be pretty easy around 9-9:30pm (as someone from a traffic center, Atlanta, I know this is not always a good assumption).

Thanks in advance for any input,
Lee

[Flashgordon]

Originally Posted by Leland

Hi Chicago guys,

Starting the week of Thanksgiving, I will be working on a ~3 month project in Chicago. I was thinking about getting an apartment in the area, but wanted some opinions on where to live up there.

The basics: My plant is in Wheeling, right off Lake-Cook Rd. I usually stay in Buffalo Grove 60089, which is a pretty good area as far as restaurants, malls, etc go. Next, my wife will be going along, so a nicer place where she feels secure during the day is important. That being said, my gym has two close locations, one is in Waukegan, 60085 and the other is in Round Lake Beach, 60073. It seems by the prices that these may be older, cheaper areas.

So, my question is what would you local guys do? Live 15 miles away from my plant or live in Buffalo Grove & drive to the gym when the traffic is lighter, assuming the drive would be pretty easy around 9-9:30pm (as someone from a traffic center, Atlanta, I know this is not always a good assumption).

Thanks in advance for any input,
Lee

Lee, welcome to the Windy City!
Being from the Atlanta area, I'm guessing you know all about traffic. Here, it sucks and always does.
If it was me, I'd stay in Buffalo Grove since you are just NE of your plant and not far from Long Grove. You need to take the Mrs. there as she'll love the downtown. I would stay away from Waukegan by any means possible; higher crime rates, etc. Round Lake Beach will be just as far if living in Buffalo Grove but so you know, it quite a drive North.
Hope this helped.