Before Chicago was buzzing over the Fordham Co.’s proposed 115-story hotel and condo tower in the shape of a “twisted candle,” there was the controversy over the “shadow” building.
Named 600 N. Lake Shore Drive for its address, this development, a joint venture of Belgravia Group and Sandz Development Co., is one of 13 new projects in progress or planned for Streeterville, the fast-growing neighborhood between North Michigan Avenue and Navy Pier.
The building will be a couple of doors north of 530 Lake Shore Drive, developed by the same team, at the Grand Avenue exit from Lake Shore Drive.
Designed by the Chicago-based architecture firm Pappageorge/Haymes, it will have 400 condominiums in two towers about 60 feet apart. The towers will rise above a nine-story base where parking, lobby, fitness center and services such as dry cleaner and business center are planned.
Neighbors fought development on the grounds that the project would cast shadows on Ohio Street Beach, a patch of sand across Lake Shore Drive. It was an argument city officials didn’t buy, apparently because taller buildings with bigger shadows had been proposed for the site in the last two decades. Those projects were never funded or plans were abandoned.
The controversy is seldom mentioned by shoppers visiting the sales center at 540 N. Lake Shore Drive, said sales representative Suzy Grossman.
The reason for buying in the building is “location, location, location,” Grossman said.
Early buyers are a combination of suburbanites who want an in-town place, empty-nesters returning to the city from the suburbs and singles wanting more space, she said.
The influx of suburban buyers who also want and can afford an in-town place is beginning to make this part of Chicago “like New York,” Grossman suggested. Ground recently was broken and about 60 percent of the first of the two towers–the north tower which will be 40 stories tall and have 31 floors of residences above the nine-level parking base–are sold. First move-ins are expected in summer 2007.
The 46-story south tower will have housing on 37 floors. Construction on it is scheduled to begin in mid-2007. The project will have a landscaped plaza and a sculpture garden.
All the units opening to the garden already are sold, according to Grossman.
There are five floor plans for units in the north tower. One plan–a two-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath residence with 1,618 square feet on the northwest corner of the building–has been sold out.
The remaining four plans range from a one-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath residence with 1,032 square feet on the southwest corner to a three-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath plan for the northeast corner with 2,552 square feet. Units are base-priced from $381,300 to $1.63 million. The price of a parking space is an added $44,000 to $59,000.
The builders have created a full-size model at the sales center across the street from the site. It’s a smart idea in a hot neighborhood where competition for buyers is intense.
Although visitors will have to use some imagination to mentally eliminate the exposed ductwork and thick wood pillars in the loft-like sales center, walking an actual size model is a lot easier than studying a floor plan.
The model is a mock-up of a Residence Four plan, a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath unit with 2,149 square feet. The windows in the model have panoramic photos to simulate the views of a 32nd-foor unit price from $1,148,000.
Visitors step through the front door into a foyer that leads to the right past a coat closet and to the intersection of two hallways. A short hall to the left leads to the public rooms at the east end of the unit overlooking Lake Michigan. The hall straight ahead leads to the three bedrooms to the right.
Most visitors will turn left toward the wall of windows with an expansive view of Lake Michigan. They will pass a narrow powder room before entering the living room, roughly 16 by 22 feet, which is open to the 11 1/2-by-16-foot dining room.
The two rooms together form the southeast corner. The dining room’s south wall also has floor to ceiling windows that will overlook the south tower with views of Lake Point Tower and Navy Pier.
The east wall of the living room is on an angle so the room is not a perfect rectangle or square. The angle maximizes the view, but will also impact furniture arrangement somewhat.
The door to a triangular 7-by-13 1/2-foot balcony at the front of the building is from the dining room.
One of the most appealing rooms is the 11-by-16-foot kitchen behind the dining room. The long granite counter dividing the kitchen from the dining room might double as a sideboard for formal dining parties.
This is a real kitchen with plenty of counter space and a good amount of storage, above and below the counter. There is a long wall of 42-inch upper cabinets (standard) and more over the double oven (standard in this plan). The refrigerator and range are on the other two walls.
The rooms are less generous in the private living spaces. The laundry room comes equipped with side-by-side washer and dryer and is easily accessible. However, there is limited space for the laundry basket and other equipment such as the ironing board, mops, vacuum or kitty litter.
The three bedrooms will be along the south wall of the building with floor to ceiling windows.
Of the three bedrooms, the smallest, roughly 12 by 13 feet, is shown as a den/TV room. It has a standard-size condo closet and is across the hall from a small linen closet and the secondary bath.
The master suite at the back of the unit includes a bedroom, about 13 by 17 feet, two large walk-in closets side by side and a comfortable master bath.
This is a serviceable, comfortable floor plan, but this is not the building for those looking for inspired architecture.
Two towers may have been used to counter neighborhood complaints about shadows on the beach but the windows on two walls of the towers offer a view across the 60-foot air space. The windows will be tinted light blue to filter out ultraviolet rays, but they will not be opaque.
One may be able to lie in bed in the master bedroom suite in Residence Four to glimpse a sliver of the lake, but it also may be possible that neighbors will be watching you.
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600 N. Lake Shore Drive
Developer: Belgravia Group and Sandz Development
Phone: 312-832-0060
Web: www.600NorthLakeShoreDrive.com
Description: Condominiums with one to three bedrooms, 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 baths and 1,032 to 2,552 square feet, with balconies, priced from $381,300 to $1,638,000. Heated indoor parking spaces, $44,000 to $59,000. Monthly assessments, $310 to $770. Prices as of August 18.
Amenities: Nine-foot, 4-inch ceilings, marble in foyer, master bath, and powder room; oak flooring in living and dining room; porcelain tile in kitchen. Stainless steel kitchen appliances, granite kitchen countertops, 42-inch upper cabinets. Doorman and concierge.
Neighborhood: Overlooking Lake Michigan, Olive Park, Ohio Street beach; near restaurants, retail, Navy Pier.
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sstangenes@tribune.com
