Smile Student Living, champaign-il

Absolutely love living at Smile Living Apartment! The location is super handy, close to shops and transport. The unit is always clean, bright, and feels warm like home. Staff are really nice and quick to help with anything you need. The neighborhood is quiet, safe, and such a pleasant place to stay. Great value overall — would totally recommend!

Smile Student Living has been an amazing place to live. From day one, the staff has been welcoming, professional, and genuinely supportive. Maintenance requests are handled quickly and efficiently, and the team truly cares about creating a safe, comfortable, and positive living environment for students. The apartments are clean, well-maintained, and thoughtfully designed with student needs in mind. The community atmosphere is friendly and respectful, which makes it feel like more than just student housing, it feels like home. Living here has made campus life so much easier and more enjoyable, and I would highly recommend Smile Student Living to any student looking for reliable, stress-free housing close to campus.

I would not choose to lease with Smile again due to multiple incidents that made me feel unsafe in my own apartment. The first incident occurred when my car was broken into while parked in the underground garage. After this happened, I no longer felt comfortable using the parking lot and requested a partial reimbursement of the $900 parking fee. When I went to the office to express my concerns, I did not receive an apology or acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation. Instead, I was told to email management. After following up via email, I was informed that reimbursement would not be considered. The second and more concerning incident involved smoke filling our apartment. My roommate and I were not able to figure out where it was coming from and were unsure whether it was safe to remain inside. We called the Smile emergency line to report the situation. We were told that someone would not be able to come until the following day. Given the potential safety risk, we felt extremely uneasy with that response and uncertain about what to do next. Because we were unsure whether our safety was at risk, we contacted the fire department. They arrived within minutes and identified that our water heater was leaking. They instructed us to evacuate until the issue could be addressed. Fortunately, the leak was repaired later that same day. Although I am grateful that the problem was ultimately resolved, these experiences left me feeling that tenant safety was not treated as a priority. Being told to wait until the next day while smoke filled our apartment was deeply concerning. These situations significantly impacted my sense of security and confidence in the property management. As a result, I would not feel comfortable signing another lease with Smile in the future.

I’m really sad to leave this review, but I feel I was treated unfairly by the management team. I was one of the first residents to sign a lease at 608 E Charmless building. After living here for a year, management renewed my apartment lease but never properly followed up about renewing my parking space. I assumed they might send a separate notice later, but when I finally reached out after a couple of months, I was told that my parking space had already been rented to someone else. They THOUGHT I no longer need it??? That was VERY frustrating. If management contacted me about renewing my apartment, I do not understand why they would not also ask about the parking space. Parking is limited and difficult to find, which is exactly why this should have been handled more carefully. At the very least, they could have sent a simple email to ask whether I wanted to renew it. RIGHT? What made the situation worse was the communication. My calls were not answered until the end of the day, and when I spoke with the front desk, I was not able to get clear help. I asked to speak with a manager, but was told no manager handles this issue. I was also not given a direct phone number or email for management and was only told to contact the general email??? Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. The lack of communication, accountability, and fairness made a simple renewal process much more stressful than it should have been. Also, the building has had ongoing problems, especially with the elevators. It is very disappointing that a new building could have so many issues. At this point, the situation JUST feels ridiculous.

Stephen did a great job fixing my heating issue. He responded quickly and were very professional. The problem was resolved efficiently, and my apartment is warm again. Thank you for the prompt service!