It’s the No. 1 New Year’s resolution–losing weight–but it’s never easy to keep. Some people, however, have a major advantage. The key: they have a full-scale gym, and perhaps a swimming pool, just an elevator ride away.
Downtown Chicago’s new condo buildings are running full-speed ahead with an increasingly popular trend–elaborate fitness facilities targeted at both young and older buyers.
This is the time of year when an in-building health club gets more of a workout than ever.
“The gym at Grand Plaza gets really busy because of everyone’s New Year’s resolutions,” said Sean O’Dell. He and his wife, Naomi, bought a two-bedroom condo last fall on the 14th floor of the 37-story, 283-unit building at 545 N. Dearborn St.
But O’Dell predicts that many will not keep their resolutions: “A lot of people won’t stick it out. Many will go away by February.”
O’Dell and his wife, though, work out five or six days a week for 45 minutes to an hour. He especially likes running on the outside track, playing basketball and swimming in the resistance pool.
“Having a gym in the building is convenient and is less crowded and less expensive than outside health clubs,” said Naomi, who works at a bank downtown. Sean works at a civil engineering consulting firm in Mokena.
Grand Plaza, built in 2003, also includes a 56-story east tower, which remains rental while Tarrapin Properties is converting the west tower to condos.
“Professional couples like amenities that give a building the feeling of a self-contained resort,” said Tamara Laber, executive vice president of Tarrapin.
“There’s so much competition today in downtown condos that everything is important, including fitness centers,” said Daniel McLean, president and CEO of MCL Cos., which plans indoor and outdoor pools at its latest project, ParkView, a 47-story tower that will be built at Illinois Street and McClurg Court.
“Health clubs are standard now. In the higher end, you’re at a disadvantage if you don’t have all the amenities. Some residents even bring in personal trainers to help them in their workouts,” McLean said.
MCL’s RiverView, two towers on the north side of the Chicago River just west of Lake Shore Drive, has a central exercise facility with an indoor pool.
“The pool played a great role in our decision to buy at RiverView,” said Carla Benedetti, who swims twice a week with her daughter, Eleonora, 4.
“All the kids come to swim, especially in winter,” said Benedetti.
She and her husband, Enrico, moved in when the building first opened in August 2000. He is chief of the division of transplantation in the surgery department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a real estate agent.
“Developers are notching up the amenities,” said Gail Lissner, vice president of Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago firm that tracks the residential market.
“But it’s a balancing act. Developers don’t want to burden a condo association with amenities that are too expensive to maintain. An indoor pool, for instance, may be too expensive for a small building. A fitness center will always be included in a building of 100 units or more, but not in buildings of less than 40 units.”
Lissner noted, though, that the trend is toward larger projects that can support larger amenity packages.
Another option is the inclusion of a commercial health club in a condo. That way, only those who use the facility have to pay.
“State Place [a new residential complex that replaced the police headquarters at 11th and State Streets] has a 40,000-square-foot commercial facility. Also, there will be a commercial health club at Trump Tower,” Lissner said. The latter is under construction on the Chicago River near Wabash Avenue.
“A fitness center used to be a 10-by-10 foot room with a couple of machines. But now we’re building serious facilities,” said James Loewenberg, chairman of NNP Residential & Development, which is building Lakeshore East, a 5,000-residence project north of Millennium Park, in a joint partnership with the Magellan Development Group Ltd.
“For developers, it’s a sales tool, a mushrooming trend. People are more conscious of keeping fit and demanding bigger and better exercise facilities,” Loewenberg said.
One of those larger facilities will be built at 340 on the Park, a new condo under construction on Randolph Street. Ajoint venture ofMagellan, NNP and LR Development Co., it will showcase a full-floor fitness center overlooking Millennium Park.
“People expect more than in the past. They want spas, pools, sundecks, a concierge, even room service,” said Joel Carlins, chairman of Magellan.
“The fitness craze is huge in the U.S. People are so health conscious today. Every residential project has to have an exercise facility,” said John McLinden, partner of Centrum Properties Inc. “They are getting fancier, bigger and better appointed. But they don’t have to be the East Bank Club.”
Amenities at Centrum’s new CityFront Plaza project, planned for three towers with 1,000 units on Illinois Street just east of Michigan Avenue, will include fitness centers and an outdoor pool and deck. But McLinden envisions a special Asian-inspired spa in the 70-story tower, which should open for sales in 2008.
“We wouldn’t do it for young professionals in River North, but our market at CityFront Plaza is 50 percent empty-nesters, second-home buyers who want a pied-a-terre,” he said.
McLinden said the third tower with the spa might have a hotel as well as condos.
Real estate analyst Steven Friedman, president of S.B. Friedman & Co. in Chicago, said the increasing amenities in downtown buildings are being targeted at Baby Boomers.
“Boomers tend to be noisy about everything, including fitness,” said Friedman.
“Empty-nesters are the main driving force downtown; so developers are offering suitable products for them. As people age, their bodies need more exercise to stay in shape. They need to work out more. Full-scale health clubs in condos are becoming more elaborate and more used,” Friedman said.
One new high-rise planned for the South Loop even proclaims a fitness theme in its name–Astoria Tower Residences and Spa.
To be built at the northwest corner of 9th and State Streets, the 30-story, 240-unit building will have a 12,000-square-foot spa on the 10th floor that will be reserved just for residents. It will be equipped with an indoor pool, hot tub, sauna and steam rooms, salon for manicures and pedicures and a concierge to book treatments and other services.
“We want to provide a spa-like living environment,” said Barbara McGill, project manager for the Astoria. “The spa will satisfy the lifestyle needs of the residents. In today’s world, people are rushed and want to come home and have services provided for them where they live. They don’t want to have to go outside.”
McGill said that Urban Oasis will provide the massages, which will be paid for individually, and not be part of the homeowners’ monthly dues.
She added that amenity rooms located on floors three to nine will include billiards, a golf simulator, game room, home theater, business center and cyber library.
“We hope to break ground in April” for the Art Deco-style building, McGill said.
