E2 is a nice place to live. The units are nice and the overall property and attention is pretty good (minus the broken west tower elevators and random issues that seem to pop up once in a while that become larger issues than they should).

All that being said, the value of E2 is very poor. The rent is much higher than other locations and E2 is no longer the newest or nicest property in Evanston for students. Further, the rent increase from my first year to my second year was pretty steep. I'd avoid signing a 1-yr lease here because you'll either decided to stay a 2nd year at a higher rate or have to deal with 2 moves. Would recommend the new buildings or a 2-yr lease at OHO or OV.

Very social building with a lot of MBA students. I wanted to live alone so I chose to live in E2 because I knew I'd be able to easily see friends. However, the building is not well maintained (ex. elevators have been out of service several times). It's also incredibly overpriced -- I love my little studio apartment but it is more expensive than apartments that I lived in in NYC and London!

Nice units, good amenities, lots of students in the building. Expensive compared to other buildings in Evanston. Be prepared for slow elevators, bad management, and lots of false fire alarms. The required, included WiFi is slow at its best and goes down a lot.

New Features

Overall E2 is a great place to live - tons of other Kellogg students there so easy to get together and the places themselves are relatively nice. The only drawback is management is very poor at fixing problems promptly. The west tower elevator has broken down multiple times this year and I've had to walk up 11 flights of stairs while they fixed it. Also internet goes out a couple times a year.

Great to have easy access to pool during summer / late spring months and 4th floor common room for group work (though common area internet is spotty). Nice to have packages received but much more convenient in east tower. If I could do it again, probably would have gone with Centrum if i needed a one year lease to pay less or Optima Horizon to get way more for my money (have heard some people have 2 Bed / 2 Bath for the same price as my 1 Bed / 1 Bath at E2)

Very expensive for what I'm getting and have had trouble getting responses from the management team.

Living in an E2 Townhouse has the benefit of the E2 social scene and amenities without the pain point of the elevators. However, there is an ongoing confusion with US Postal Service and the Doormen about how to exactly list your mailing address. Additionally, the E2 Townhouse is on the ground floor which does not allow for a lot of privacy.
On the other hand, E2 Townhouse is the perfect place to host friends, as the entire first floor is public space and all bedrooms are on the second and third floors.

Do not think the value received is worth the premium

The best thing about E2 is that so many people live there it's so easy to get people to visit and come to you. I think especially because it gets cold that's important.

That said, it is probably not the nicest or the cheapest building. It is just the most convenient.