The neighborhood by Elm, State, and Rush streets near North Michigan Avenue in Chicago is part of the city’s tony Gold Coast. But as in other cities, some buildings on those streets have been upgraded more than others. Rush, in particular, had a history of bars, clubs, and low-lying buildings from the 1920s and ’30s that had seen better days.
After the city began recovering from the 2008 economic fallout, Convexity Properties, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm, bought a 19,500-square-foot parcel with a three-story walk-up apartment building from the 1930s whose units were mostly vacant. “Our idea was to redevelop the site for a condominium, since the buildable portion wasn’t large enough to make it a good financial investment as a rental,” says Christopher Oakley, Convexity’s director of design.
Target Affluence
Unlike upscale rental buildings that focus on large shared amenity spaces and smaller individual units, this swank condo, named for its address, has large, family-style homes of about 3,100 to 3,500 square feet, except for a 5,200-square-foot penthouse sold as empty space. The nonpenthouse units have three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, open floor plans, plus a study alcove in many and at least one balcony.
“We thought about making more units, but when we engaged real estate brokers to find out what people wanted, we learned it’s individual space,” says Oakley. The target audience became a mix of empty-nesters and young families with children, says John Lahey of Chicago-based SCB (Solomon Cordwell Buenz), the project’s architect.
Stand Out
Chicago has long been known for its architectural verve, though the vernacular has changed from the days of legendary Louis Sullivan, Henry Richardson, and Frank Lloyd Wright to today’s modern glass buildings, including starchitect Jeanne Gang’s wavy, 82-story Aqua Tower. The 4 East Elm team wanted its building to be a showstopper that would take advantage of great views and aesthetically transform the site. Most of the 23-story façade is sheathed in a high-performance, tinted glass that permits good visibility but minimizes interior reflection so “you don’t feel you’re in a house of mirrors,” says Gary Kohn, SCB managing principal. “We did a lot of mock-ups,” he says.
The podium, which includes three and a half levels of indoor parking, has a stone exterior, with windows to fit the neighborhood, and ground-level retail. The building is LEED certified.
Build in Amenities
Because buyers would gain generously proportioned living spaces, less square footage was devoted to public areas than with rentals. Yet, there’s still a well-outfitted fitness center, club lounge, conference area, movie screening room, and landscaped deck with pool and spa 50 feet above street level for privacy. The overall look is light and airy, with rich woods that lend a fresh, earthy feel rather than an old-fashioned, dark, clubby aura.
The individual units open from private elevator banks. The windows are almost floor-to-ceiling height, with 10-foot ceilings, and the finishes reflect a high building standard, with a base choice of white quartz countertops and white rift oak flooring. Upgrades were an option, and many buyers went that route. Interiors were by Gary Lee Partners, another Chicago firm.
Offer Flexibility
For the units, the developer and architect again listened to what real estate brokers knew this affluent Midwestern market wanted—one master bathroom, for example, versus the two that buyers in a similar South Florida development favored, or even more open floor plans and fewer closets for another upscale buying cohort in Honolulu, who don’t need winter clothing, says Lahey. And here, too, they knew buyers would want large balconies that could accommodate seating and a grill rather than just serve as viewing perches.
Unit prices varied by floor and view, with the least-expensive sold at about $2 million. All went quickly once construction started in 2014, with completion a year ago. “We worked hard with community groups to gain approval, and in later work, with the technical challenge of building above part of the city’s transit system and tunnels,” says Oakley.
The result—the first luxury condo in the area in years—a gleaming, glass oasis.
