HEAVENLY TOUCHES MAKE CONDO WORTH WAIT
Chicago Tribune
South Loop condo
By Tiffany Meyers | January 18, 2009
Author’s Note: My editors at the Chicago Tribune sent me off with a notebook and realtor, viewing three condos within specific parameters. My task was to write about the one I loved.
Wouldn’t you know it? After being presented with two perfectly viable options, the condo that finally turns my knees to jelly doesn’t actually exist. Not, at any rate, until summer 2009, when The Roosevelt Collection will start delivering its 342 one- and two-bedroom condos, priced from the $300Ks to the $650Ks.
With Realtor Lindsay Fath of Century 21 Sussex & Reilly’s Lowe Group, I spend an afternoon viewing South Loop lofts priced at $450,000 or less. Our first stop: A condo that needs slightly more love, I’m afraid, than I have to give. The second option is … very nice. So I poke around: Nice view. Nice appliances. Stainless steel and so on. But I wonder: If I’m going to pretend to spend $450,000 of my hard-earned play money on a condo, is “nice” really the best I can do?
Maybe. But Fath and I persist. Parking her car in a gravel lot at 709 S. Clark St., we crunch up to the sales center for The Roosevelt Collection. By “sales center,” I mean “trailer.” We exchange a look.
But this trailer is very much not the kind you’d see on “My Name is Earl.” In the center of the space, an architectural mock-up commands our attention. It displays a miniaturized version of the forthcoming South Loop development, which will sit off Roosevelt Road, bounded by Clark and Wells Streets. With noses pressed to the Plexiglas guard, Fath and I agree that the tiny cars along the boulevards could not be more adorable.
As important, the replica provides a sense of scope: The approximately 1.3 million-square-foot, mixed-use development-one block west of Whole Foods and nestled beside Target-will include six levels of loft condos, at least 40 retail stores, and, eventually, a 43-story residential tower.
Beneath the retail plaza, a three-level parking garage with access via both Roosevelt and Wells could serve to reduce traffic congestion. This isn’t a LEED-certified development, but Centrum Properties has worked toward sustainability in a few notable ways: First, the development exceeds Chicago’s energy-efficiency code. And the green roofs atop the theater and plaza buildings-along with the underground parking-will help reduce the heat island effect.
So far, all of this transcends “nice.” But what of the condos? I walk into the trailer’s adjacent room, where a model unit is set up. And when I cross the threshold, I can almost hear a heavenly-choir sound effect. The fact that a space in the back of a trailer could communicate luxury so instantly somewhat defies reason, but then, good design works miracles.
Anna Simone and Elaine Cecconi of the Canadian interior design firm Cecconi Simone Inc. are responsible for these cared-for details: Clad in porcelain tile, the bathrooms-which will include soaking tubs and rainshowers-feature Grohe fixtures. A bodacious sink is a custom-designed, white rectilinear slab of home-spa Shangri-La, with, appropriately, an infinity drain.
In the model kitchen, granite countertops and imported Italian wenge wood cabinetry warm up the stainless-steel Kitchen Aid appliances. Other features includethe kind of chimney-style stove hood that seems to get the typical home chef more excited than a wet hen.
In the parlance of real estate, my condo of choice is “cozy.” More than a dozen floor plans fit my target price, ranging in coziness from 759 to 958 square feet. I select a two-bedroom, two-bath floor plan of 958 square feet, with an additional 63-square-foot balcony.
But Cecconi Simone Inc., working in collaboration with the architects, make up for the tight squeeze with intelligent space planning. In many condos, entry halls often go as wasted space. Here, the floor plan lines up a workstation, a closet and a washer/dryer, turning a hallway into the Grand Central of household affairs.
I decide to plunk down my make-believe deposit here. And if I happened to be in the market, I’d fork over real money too.
