Madison Club promotes sound construction

One of the biggest complaints of builders these days is the high cost of materials and labor, which has led most to look for ways to save money in construction. "Masonry," for instance, has become a fluid term, which, solid as it sounds, no longer means much. So why is SMB Companies constructing the Madison Club, 1155 W. Madison, from all brick and stone, without the cheaper block façade that has become a mid-rise standard?

"We've learned over the past from our colleagues that the biggest complaint you hear from people is sound transmission between units," says Art Mitchell, partner with Ken Sproul and Dan Buck in SMB Companies. "By constructing a masonry building on the outside as well as between units, we're keeping sound transmission to a minimum."
While the shell of the building will be all brick and stone, even the demising walls that separate units will be 12-inch thick concrete block. Most builders use staggered 2x6 studs and drywall to build such walls. The floors also will be solid concrete 10 inches thick. How much is this standard of construction costing SMB?

"Building this way adds about 12 percent to our costs because of the thick demising walls and concrete floors," Mitchell says. "It is more expensive than buildings that use just 2x6 stud walls between units."

But Mitchell believes buyers are impressed by the higher standards, especially after they see the sample cross sections of an SMB wall and a typical wall in the Madison Club sales center. The sample of a typical wall can be lifted with one hand, while the SMB one can't be lifted with two.

Sales figures seem to back Mitchell's assertion that consumers want this level of construction. At press time, after less than four months on the market, the 56-unit building was nearly three-fourths sold.

The condos have one to three bedrooms and one or two baths, with prices ranging from the $190s to around $600,000. At the high end, six penthouses have more than 2,100 square feet, two-bedrooms with dens, master suites with marble baths, separate solariums with 18-foot glass fronts, stunning skyline views and an upgraded package of standards.

Every unit in the six-story Madison Club has a balcony or deck, 10-foot ceilings, a fireplace, Canac cabinets, Whirlpool appliances, hardwood floors, a six-foot soaking tub with separate shower and laundry hookups, according to Jim Lynch of West Loop Realty, which is marketing the project.

The elevator building will have parking on the first floor, but no doorman, swimming pool or other fancy amenities. The focus, Lynch says, has been to provide an elegant, efficient building that will be easy to maintain as it ages (assessments are estimated at $127 to $299 a month).

"This is a maintenance-free, very efficient building without the kind of amenities that will increase assessments down the road," Lynch says. "They're going after a classic design, something that will look good 50 years from now."
With a façade of red brick accented with limestone and renaissance stone and 5x10-foot balconies, the Madison Club appears very traditional in the context of the more industrial-flavored West Loop, a neighborhood dominated by lofts. But Mitchell says his new units are "soft lofts" on the inside.

"They have high ceilings and exposed ductwork, but also the more traditional feel of drywall and interior walls from floor to ceiling, so you don't get a lot of dust or efflorescence and you have real privacy in bedrooms," Mitchell says. "So you get the benefit of the loft feel with the comfort of a townhouse."

Both entry level and move-up buyers have been buying at the development, mainly transplants from other neighborhoods, Lynch says. Many want to live in the West Loop, which is the city's fastest growing neighborhood, but don't want to buy a converted "hard" loft with less privacy.

"They love the closeness to downtown and transportation, the access to nightlife and restaurants on Randolph, and they know about appreciation in this area," Lynch says. "They think this area will keep on developing over the next 10 to 20 years and they want to be a part of it."

Mitchell agrees that the West Loop location has been as important to sales at the Madison Club as the high standard of construction, not that the two are completely unrelated.

"The main appeal in the West Loop is the quick access to downtown, the Randolph street restaurants and on weekends and evenings, surprisingly, how quiet this neighborhood is," Mitchell says. "It's not a place where people are going to hear loud music like on Lincoln Avenue, or have trouble getting to sleep."

And given the thickness of floors and walls at the Madison Club, that promise will hold no matter who moves next door or upstairs.