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Do
it your way by Alison Soltau
The empty nesters
from suburban River Woods are customizing their three-bedroom condo into
an urban home that will perfectly suit their lifestyle when The Elysian
is complete, sometime in the next two to three years. Mindy, a gourmet cook,
will bring in her own designer to install the kitchen, and the pair will
enjoy a state-of-the-art, home theater system with a 100-inch screen.
From the remote-controlled
TV that will flip out of a cabinet at the foot of the master bed each
night to the mechanized blinds that the couple can control from anywhere
in the world via the Internet should they forget to close them before
going on vacation, customization will make life that little bit easier,
Jacobson says. The Elysian’s
architect, Parisian-born Lucien Lagrange,
has personally helped the Jacobsons reconfigure their floor plan, switching
the positions of the kitchen and living room so that the kitchen will
open onto the balcony. The famed Lagrange has been the mastermind behind
a number of Chicago’s luxury highrises, including 65 E. Goethe, The
Pinnacle and 840 N. Lake Shore
Drive. Lagrange gave in-depth design advice to many buyers customizing
at The Elysian. “We are lucky,”
Jacobson says. “[Lagrange] is a big name in town, and he was generous
with his time. The Elysian has been very helpful.” The couple is typical
of many buyers in the ultra-luxury market. They want homes that offer
quality, convenience and a showcase for their personal style. And like
many empty nesters buying city homes – a major part of Chicago’s
luxury market – they plan to keep their suburban single-family while
they craft a new condo in the city. Options
available As a general rule,
buyers wanting to alter floor plans, convert a bathtub to a Whirlpool
or install recessed lighting are more likely to get their way when the
project is in the pre-construction stage. At that point, architects still
have a chance to factor in the changes and ensure that they don’t
negatively impact other units in the building. Many developers will
not alter the building’s plumbing because it is difficult, time-consuming
and expensive, and many will not consider making fundamental structural
changes once the building is framed, and construction is underway. Hard
labor The hurdles include
everything from finding the best contractors for the job to working out
when each will get access to the elevator. Many homeowners spend a year
or more – and $1 million-plus – building out their space. Businessman Jon Butcher
knows just what it takes to successfully complete a build-out. He has
done his share of customizing and is planning the mother of all makeovers
when he takes possession of a penthouse at Waterview Tower in 2008. Butcher’s hobby
is creating Japanese gardens. He has built three intricate landscapes
inside and on the terraces of highrise condos he has owned over the years,
and so far, has sold two for a modest profit. Butcher plans to enlist
the help of Portland-based Japanese designer Hoichi Kurisu, who will create
a garden inside the penthouse that will include granite boulders and black
bamboo. Mood lighting will be computer-controlled and aromatic woodland
scents will be pumped throughout the penthouse. “I’m definitely
going to do a pond and waterfall, if not two or three,” Butcher says
of a process he estimates will take two months to actually build. Butcher
has not finalized his project so he cannot estimate the cost, but a much
smaller project he completed in another condo cost him $60,000. “The first thing
I look at [in a potential condo] is how big is the freight elevator,”
he says. Getting the necessary city permits to build his masterpieces
adds paperwork to the already stressful process of buying a new-construction
home, but for Butcher, creating the sort of serene aesthetic he likes
is worth the hassle. “You walk in
and see what looks like Kyoto, and behind it is the Sears Tower and Merchandise
Mart, and it’s just surreal,” he says of previous projects. Ready-made
package These developers say
their floor plans are so flexible and their standard finishes of such
high quality that upgrades and build-outs are not necessary. It’s
an approach that other developers may well envy. While upgrades are often
profit centers for developers, allowing heavy customization at the highest
end of the market can add to costs and cause project delays as builders
try to accommodate demanding buyers. At 30
W. Erie, developer Peter Birmingahm, of Schillaci
Birmingham Development, says he’ll agree to small changes, such
as construction of bookcases. But buyers won’t have to “go ballistic
with designers,” Birmingham says, because he has anticipated so many
of their needs. Standard features at 30 W. Erie include oversized crown
moldings, top-notch appliances and two balconies per unit, one with a
gas grill hook-up. Trump
is also not offering customization. The developer offers generous floor
plans, high ceilings and a wide palette of choices for cabinetry and flooring,
says sales director Tere Proctor. Buyers can’t move walls or make
big changes, at least not before closing, but this approach hasn’t
deterred them. At press time, more than 70 percent of the 92-story building,
currently under construction at 401 N. Wabash Ave., was sold. “They are happy
because they are getting so much,” Proctor says. At 340
on the Park, the focus is on maintaining a cohesive design throughout
the building, says LR Realty’s
Laura Molk. The first 42 stories of the environmentally-friendly development
are not open to customization but offer a unified aesthetic, with natural
woods and stones, and bamboo flooring. Buyers can’t choose finishes
the way they can at some projects, but according to Molk, they’re
also paying less for top-quality products, such as General Electric Monogram
appliances, because the developer is buying them in such quantity. Penthouse
buyers, however, are given great flexibility in customizing, Molk says.
Their new homes could be inspired by anything from “French country
to southwestern Santa Fe,” she says. Battle
of the bathrooms “People are trying
to outdo each other in the kitchens and the bath,” says Jim Kinney,
of Rubloff Residential Properties. It’s here that
top brand-names feature prominently. Sub-Zero refrigerators, Miele dishwashers,
Grohe and Kohler fixtures and Snaidero cabinetry are common in the toniest
projects. And kitchen countertops are invariably made of granite. “Remember when
we went from Formica to Corian?” says Kinney of the brand-name laminate
and acrylic or polyester countertops that once battled for supremacy in
the kitchen countertop market. “When Corian came in, you saw Formica
and you couldn’t have it, it was terrible. Then came granite, and
the Corian had to be thrown out.” This, by the way,
is not the same granite you’re likely to find in a one-bedroom condo
in an up-and-coming neighborhood. This granite is thicker (usually ¾
inch), and shades are consistent, not mismatched. So looking into the Swarovski crystal ball, what’s the next big thing? Anything’s possible. And granite already has some competition in the kitchen. “The newest trend we are working in is composite stones – 95 percent quartz and 5 percent resin,” says Laura Molk, of LR Realty, describing the countertops at 340 on the Park. |
Now
that corporate lawyer Jim Jacobson and his wife Mindy, a nurse, have purchased
a luxury condo at