Quote Originally Posted by grafrich
воспользоваться шансом и на лифте доехать'
That's definitely close enough to the meaning I was looking for.
I'm afraid it is not.

Quote Originally Posted by grafrich
Instead of walking all the way to the top using the stairs, I'll just chance it and ride the lift up to the lift house on the roof
I'm quite sure "chance" there means taking a risk that the faulty lift can fall down. but you're still willing to take that chance. This idea is further intensified by talking about how safe these lifts actually are.

Here's the thing. Chance in English can mean both "risk" and "opportunity". In Russian it's ONLY about an opportunity and mostly about a good opportunity. So

воспользоваться шансом means to take an opportunity. With this your original meaning gets mangled. Now from "I so don't want to walk up there that I'll risk a faulty lift" to "Hey, there is a lift here! Now I don't have to walk up there", which is kind of strange, lifts are virtually in every building nowadays

Use рискнуть there, that'll convey your meaning well enough.