When the practical considerations of everyday life bump up against the space limitations of a high-rise condominium, many urbanites bow to the inevitable, call the movers and head for a house in the suburbs.
Eric and Sandy Russell nearly took the same path but chose another. It has required careful planning, delicate negotiations, a major investment and living through months of dusty, noisy renovation, but the Russells are confident it will be worth the hassle.
By the end of this year they hope to have expanded their 1,500-square-foot lakefront condo into a luxurious 3,000-square-foot residence that is more like a house in the sky.
The Russells are radiologists and work at hospitals no more than a 5-minute drive from home. They also are parents of two children and employ a housekeeper who brings two children of her own.
Finding their three-bedroom condo too confining for the growing household, they began looking at houses. But when their next-door neighbor decided to sell, the couple jumped at the chance to stay put and began negotiating to acquire the unit.
”It took quite a while to decide because it meant a major commitment to this building, and we wanted to be sure our neighbors shared that
commitment,” Sandy said. ”Now that we`ve made the decision, I realize how right we were.
”By staying in the city, home and work are just minutes apart, and I can be much more involved in my children`s lives. If one of them gets sick at school, I can be there in 10 minutes, and we don`t have to rely on other parents for car-pooling and things like that.”
Both work long hours and appreciate the way in which the amenities of high-rise living, from receiving rooms to security, make their lives easier. The thought of assuming the responsibilities that come with owning a house does not appeal to them.
They are hardly alone. In fact, they are part of a growing trend among condo owners. From Hyde Park to Rogers Park, interior walls are tumbling down as condo owners expand homes rather than give up the exceptional convenience and sweeping vistas they relish.
The essential cause of all this activity is a simple matter of supply and demand. Though many of the high-rise residential buildings erected before 1930 contained large apartments, few built after World War II were designed with apartments larger than 2,000 square feet. Today, as more people choose to live close to downtown, large condo and co-op apartments have become scarce.
The trend toward combining condo units has picked up momentum, especially among couples in their 30s and 40s,” said Betty Taradash, a real estate agent in the Gold Coast/Streeterville area. ”Many of the people doing this grew up in the suburbs but now prefer city living. At the same time, they remember what they grew up with and want that same sense of space and feeling of graciousness in their homes.”
At Lake Point Tower, being converted from a rental building to condos, sales manager Rosemary Pierson reported that 809 out of 879 units have been sold to date, with about a third of buyers combining two or more units.
Among them are Fred and Ellen Smyth, who rented at Lake Point for seven years. They bought the unit they had been renting as well as an adjoining unit of similar size, then gutted both to create a new space.
By combining two apartments, they also were able to incorporate 400 square feet of former common corridor area into their unit, giving them nearly 3,500 square feet.
While construction was under way, the Smyths rented another apartment in the building and lived there temporarily.
”We thought about staying in our apartment and doing half the renovation at a time, but Ron Gan, our contractor, convinced us to rent the other apartment, and it was worth it,” Fred Smyth said. ”We probably saved as much as the rent we paid by making the construction process more efficient, and of course, it was a lot more convenient to not live in a construction zone.”
The Smyths approached the project carefully, soliciting five architects to submit rough layouts before selecting the firm of Bauhs & Dring.
”The new layout combines creature comforts with very pleasing aesthetics. We both like to cook and entertain, and now we have a large kitchen and ample room for guests,” he said. ”We recently had 25 people here at a graduation party for our daughter, and it was no problem.”
Room to entertain
Finding more room for cooking and entertaining is a common theme among those creating supercondos. Don Kudzma, a manufacturer`s representative, assembled his 3,000-square-foot residence in Lake View from three units he bought one at a time, starting in 1981.
In 1984 he expanded the master bedroom of his original 1,300-square-foot condo by buying the adjoining studio unit. Two years later he added 1,100 square feet by buying an adjoining two-bedroom unit.
The resulting two-bedroom layout makes an ideal setting for Kudzma`s frequent parties. Custom-designed cabinets and walls of deep teal distinguish the expansive living room. Two dining areas (one that doubles as the reception hall) and spacious kitchen with sleek black walls and appliances make sit-down dinners for 20 a snap.
By enjoying morning coffee on one of his two balconies, with a sweeping panorama across Lincoln Park to Lake Michigan, it`s easy to understand why high-rise dwellers are seduced by their views.
The sky`s the limit
No residential address offers more altitude than the John Hancock Center, where Mihroh and Vivian Tashdjian chose to expand their condo rather than retreat to a house at street level.
”It`s a way to live in the city but really be involved in nature,” said Vivian, a former fashion model and photographer who now concentrates on painting. ”Up here, the storms are all around you, and we feel very in touch with the changing seasons.”
Their living room, at the northwest corner of the building, provides a breathtaking vista. It is part of the three-bedroom apartment Mihroh was renting when they married in 1974 and decided to buy three years later. At the same time, they acquired an adjoining studio that they converted into a study for Mihroh, a pediatric orthopedic specialist.
In 1985 another adjoining studio became available, and the couple decided to expand again. Part of the doctor`s former study was incorporated into an enlarged dining room, while the rest was added to the new space to create an expansive family room. In all, the apartment now totals 3,800 square feet.
”It really feels more like a home now than an apartment, and I find that very comforting.”
More recently, the Tashdjians acquired the high-rise equivalent of an outbuilding when Vivian gave up her loft space in River North last year and bought a one-bedroom apartment on one of the Hancock`s lower floors for use as an art studio.
”I love it up here,” she said. ”It`s a wonderful building, but when the wind starts to blow, it can really sway.”
Putting down roots
Affection for a particular building can be a major factor in a condo owner`s decision to expand. Large buildings take on the character of a private neighborhood, and once established, many people will go to a lot of trouble to stay.
”My roots have kept me from moving,” said Ron Tarrson, a dental-products executive whose North Side condo is next door to the building where he lived for six years as a child.
Today Tarrson lives in a 2,400-square-foot supercondo he described as having ”the open feeling of a loft.” It includes a master bedroom suite with workout area, a guest bedroom and an office.
When Tarrson decided the 1,300-square-foot apartment he originally bought in the building was too confining, he talked to the couple next door but found they weren`t interested in selling. After looking at other buildings and finding nothing that appealed to him, he heard about an apartment for sale on the 30th floor of his building and decided to see if it had expansion possibilities.
As it turned out, the owner of an adjoining unit said he would be willing to sell if he could find a way to stay in the building.
”It took a lot of negotiation, but eventually I was able to buy one outright and make a trade with the owner of the adjoining unit-his apartment for mine, which was a little larger,” Tarrson said.
Pulling it together
The need for delicate negotiation has been only one of the obstacles facing Skip and Meredith Herman in their effort to create a supercondo to accommodate what they hope will soon be an expanding family.
After deciding to stay at the same address because they loved city life and the vintage feel of the high ceilings and interior detailing of their building, they quickly found that adding to their apartment would be impossible; their neighbors weren`t selling.
Keeping an ear to the building grapevine, the Hermans decided to be patient and vigilant, hoping that contiguous apartments would come on the market.
Eventually, adjoining units on another floor became available, one offered by couple eager to leave the city, the other part of an estate bogged down in probate.
”We tried not let one seller know we also were talking to the other seller so that the price wouldn`t go up,” said Skip, an attorney.
With both deals now closed, contractors are at work combining two apartments. But remodeling the space also has been a challenge.
”The walls were covered with layer upon layer of paint, wallpaper and paneling. When workmen tried to remove old walls, they found pipes and wiring that weren`t evident on the original building plans,” Skip said with a sigh. ”In another instance, when we tried to combine rooms, we found the ceiling heights didn`t match because they had been altered over the years.”
All these complications may send the Hermans` architect back to the drawing board. ”I`m just insisting that any new walls we put up sound just as solid as the old walls. We want our home to maintain the character and solidity of a 1920s building,” Skip said. The resulting 5,500-square-foot layout will have four bedrooms and five baths, along with living, dining and family rooms, a den and the kitchen.
”It`s a lot of trouble to go through, but with this kind of space, we`ll have the personal privacy that most city apartments lack,” he said.
”Meredith and I have a great marriage, and this will make it even better.”
