Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/123336
REAL ESTATE NEWS power shifts IN A DRAMATIC REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, LOCAL BUYERS ARE NOW AIMING HIGH, AND RENTERS MAY SOON BE SITTING PRETTY. BY LISA SKOLNIK Hubbard Place at 360 West Hubbard Street (pricing and leasing information not available at press time). THE ULTIMATE RENTAL All those new kids on the rental block will have a few penthouses apiece. But the ultimate luxury pad is a one-off: the grand 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath penthouse on the 10th floor of The Drake Hotel. Once home to the hotel's manager, it's been a rental for the past 15 years and has been inhabited by an ambassador, a general counsel, and most recently a Russian prince and Austrian princess, notes Prudential Rubloff realtor Joan Fox (312-401-8208). It can be had for $16,000 a month, which includes elegant traditional furnishings (or updates, if desired); a private laundry and storage room; and use of the hotel's valet parking, fitness center, concierge, cable TV, dining at the members-only Club International, business center, catering, and daily housekeeping. And don't forget the priceless location and view that come with the pad for free. PLENTIFUL POSSIBILITIES Last year, star rental brokers bragged they had wait lists as long as their arms for amenity-rich pads. That's about to change as six new buildings deliver roughly 2,700 new units in the next few months. "That's a lot of luxury," concedes James Berger, founder and president of luxury apartment finding service Chicago Signature Properties. RIGHT: 345 East "With 1,200 new units last year, the Wacker Drive. BELOW LEFT: rental market was tight, and traffic Related's 500 is up right now, so they will likely be Lake Shore Drive. BELOW RIGHT: The absorbed relatively quickly. But Drake Hotel there's another 4,000 or so coming down the pipeline in 2014 and 2015." Bonus: These are "condoquality buildings with incredible amenities. And they're all going for some level of LEED certification," he notes. "And rental increases, which rose about eight percent last year, will probably slow down by half." Reading between the lines, that means they're primed to go condo as the economy picks up. Leasing now are Magellan's Coast at 345 East Wacker Drive with 515 units (studios to threebedrooms at $1,700 to $9,000 a month), offering water views and all the assets of Lakeshore East (magellandevelopment.com; 312-9464040); Fifield's K2 at 365 North Halsted Street with 496 apartments (studios to three-bedrooms for $1,650 to $6,500), the fifth building in K Station, fully loaded and right off the expressway for reverse commuters (k2apts.com; 855-886-7774); and Related's 500 Lake Shore Drive with 500 units (studios to two-bedrooms; $2,500 to $13,000). Coming soon are AMLI'S River North at 71 West ABOVE: AMLI's River North, at 71 West Hubbard Street, will soon Hubbard Street and Habitat's be leasing. RIGHT: Princess Diana was a fan of The Drake Hotel. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS The Drake's priceless location on East Lake Shore Drive—which is Chicago's Goliath of elite streets despite its David-size oneblock span—calls to mind a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: On May 29, the Art Institute of Chicago's Architecture & Design Society is organizing an apartment walk dubbed Around The Block, as in the entire block bordered by East Lake Shore Drive, Walton Place, and The Drake. Some of the city's most legendary names are opening up their equally legendary apartments to benefit the Society, and needless to say, it's not every day that one can get into these places. Upper-level Society membership is required to participate (starting at $250 per person), and the tour is an additional $100 per person. To participate, contact Jennifer Brecker (312-443-3631 or jbreckner@ artic.edu). MA PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BRININSTOOL, KERWIN AND LYNCH (345 E. WACKER DR. EXTERIOR); DAVE BURK/HEDRICH BLESSING 2012 (500 LAKE SHORE DR. KITCHEN); AMLI RIVER NORTH (71 W. HUBBARD ST.); JIM YOUNG/VHT (THE DRAKE HOTEL); TOM WARGACKI/GETTY IMAGES (DIANA) S tiff competition is a given in the real estate world, but these days the contenders have traded places. Sellers who had to lower prices are now at an advantage thanks to a severe shortage of building stock; at the same time, five dazzling rentals are delivering this spring, which should make the luxury rental market more negotiable. 130 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 130_MA_HP_RealEstateNews_MayJune13.indd 130 4/16/13 10:16 AM