Hi dispositif,
The apartments along Madison Park are nice. I will be moving into one of those at the end of August. I was initially also going into move into a Kimbark apartment right off Nichols park, but it's too big for just me. I actually prefer the Madison park location, even though I have a dog and Nichols park looks perfect for her, I'm sure it gets lonely and dark at night. I am originally from Chicago, but have lived in Hawaii the last 7 years, and now I'm back for family and graduate school. The Madison Park apts are a good location because they're on Hyde Park boulevard and the Metra and buses to downtown are walking distance. Along Madison Park side it's private parking and really pretty landscaping, and the maintenance guy said people bring their dogs to play with each other. Hope you accept it, I'm sure I'll be running into you!
PS: the grad housing on Madison Park is also one block over from Obama's home, it is barricaded and only resident traffic can go through. When he's in town, you really don't have to worry about safety - there will be Secret Service everywhere.