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Life
at the top by Alison Soltau
The 14,000-square-foot
abode, which comes finished on the 89th floor of the River North development
is setting real estate records and causing jaws to drop citywide. Chicago’s penthouse
landscape has shifted in recent years and the units marketed as penthouses
today often are at odds with the classic definition. Instead of naming
a solitary unit just under the rooftop the penthouse, developers have
expanded the term to include a selection of units that are larger and
command better views in the upper echelons of a building (or sometimes,
not so upper), and perhaps have more cachet than the regular units below
them. “People use any
technique possible to try and achieve their sale,” says Charles Huzenis,
of Jameson Realty Group. “A
penthouse isn’t what it used to be.” Huzenis doesn’t necessarily
think this is a positive or a negative trend. “It’s just a change,”
he says. As everyone knows,
the penthouse is the most sought home in any highrise. That wasn’t
always the case, however. Once upon a time,
the top floor of a building was actually the least desirable place to
be. But in the 1920s, after the advent of the elevator, penthouses gained
popularity in cities like New York and Paris. The original penthouse was
a sort of mini-building constructed on top of a highrise. It was set back
from the edge of the main roofline to allow for a spacious terrace, often
around 800 square feet, as opposed to a balcony, says Jim Kinney, of Rubloff
Residential Properties. “It was like
the old Superman-Lois Lane-style apartment,” Kinney says. “It
had a terrace, a place for Superman to land.” Unlike New York, Chicago
has had few highrises with terraces, partly because so much of the highrise
housing stock is composed of rental buildings converted into condos in
the 1970s. Locally, the term penthouse has come to mean simply the top
floor of a building. Today’s
penthouses So what exactly constitutes
a penthouse in the Chicago market right now? “The definition
[of a penthouse today] is based on [the unit’s] placement in the
building, views, ceiling height, lifestyle, services available and the
unlimited ability to customize,” says Laura Molk, of LR
Realty, which is selling 17 penthouses on the five top floors at 340
on the Park, a planned 62-story highrise that will overlook Millennium
Park at 340 E. Randolph St. While the number of
people who can afford to buy a 10,000-square-foot full-floor unit constitutes
a small club, many more have the means and desire for a large unit with
fewer neighbors, higher ceilings and killer views. Developers have catered
to this group in recent years at a wide range of new highrises, where
they have included multiple floors of “penthouse” units. At Waterview
Tower, the 89-story highrise planned for 111 W. Wacker Drive, penthouses
are offered on levels 68 to 84. On the lower levels, they start at just
under 3,000 square feet, for $2.148 million. The penthouses are
configured with three per floor, then two per floor. The top six stories
have just one unit per floor, and the top penthouse, an 8,070-square-foot
unit, sells for $7.5 million. Three of the six are sold. Features include
11-foot ceilings, Poliform kitchen cabinetry, Miele appliances, radiant
heating, floor-to-ceiling bay windows and computer technology that allows
residents to control heating, lighting, butler, maid and other services
remotely with a Palm Pilot or a cell phone. The building has a
60-foot lap pool, a Whirlpool, sauna and steam rooms, an exercise facility,
and an 8,000-square-foot landscaped garden with a sundeck and a pet recreation
area. But no matter what
the level of luxury, how many penthouses can one building have? “We use the term
‘penthouse’ to help sell, because people like living in a penthouse,”
says Dorrie Freiman, of developer Teng
and Associates. “It has the cachet – it’s ego-driven
too.” Freiman says the 89-story Waterview Tower will be the third
highest residential building in the city, so many of the floors well below
its roofline are still much higher than the top floors in shorter buildings,
where the penthouse might be on the 69th floor. Waterview Tower has earned
the term “penthouse” for its premium units, she says, by virtue
of their height, space and privacy. So, if height is the
standard, what differentiates the top floor? “Our top [floor]
is a mega-penthouse,” she says. But purists, such
as one recent browser at Waterview Tower, are not necessarily buying into
the redefinition of penthouses. When told the top-floor penthouse was
sold, but another full-floor unit was available just below it, his response
was simple. “He said, ‘It’s not the same, a true penthouse
is [at] the top,’” Freiman says. Customized
luxury “There’s
no way to anticipate what somebody wants in a $6 million building,”
says Michael Maier of MCL Companies. “They are going to think, ‘Well
gosh, I want what I want.” If a moment of Zen
is what you want, then maybe you can find it. Businessman Jon Butcher
is constructing a Japanese Garden in a 13-by-13-foot room in the penthouse
he is buying at Waterview Tower, complete with pools, fountain and granite
boulders. Planning is underway to realize his dream, says Freiman, of
developer Teng and Associates. In stark contrast
to Butcher’s penthouse fantasy is the old-world ambience and dash
of history offered at the 7,880-square-foot art deco duplex penthouse
going for $10.7 million at The Palmolive Building. With the building
designated a historic landmark, the developers have restored or recreated
many of the unit’s vintage details dating from the days it served
as office for the chairman of The Palmolive Company. The building was
also the headquarters of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Magazine for a time.
Buyers have the option
of purchasing the penthouse raw or having it finished with a range of
top-quality fixtures included in the price. It features a magnificent
lobby, mahogany walls, a fireplace, media room, library, express elevator
and extensive master bathroom and dressing rooms. It also boasts magnificent
views of Lake Michigan, the Gold Coast and the city skyline. One of the
floors has nearly 630 square feet of terrace space. As with purchasers
of all The Palmolive Building’s units, the penthouse owner will have
access to a private concierge, 24-hour door staff and valet service. All
residents will also enjoy the comforts of the private Beacon Club, which
features a wood-paneled lounge, library, caterer’s kitchen and wet
bar, along with a state-of-the-art fitness center, whirlpool and steam
rooms. “This is a location
thing; it’s a more established location, and Palmolive is an intimate
building, with a sense of history,” says Katherine Chez of Coldwell
Banker, which is marketing the development. Trump-style Ceiling heights that
rise 16 feet, a level virtually unheard of in a new Chicago highrise.
The height alone adds grandeur, says Trump sales director Tere Proctor,
but the sensation is even more pronounced when coupled with floor-to-ceiling
glass windows overlooking the beautiful Wrigley Building and the confluence
of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Trump is a hotel condo
project, so all units have the convenience and luxury of the five-star
hotel in the building. That includes a 24-hour doorman and concierge,
a 60,000-square-foot health club, a five-star restaurant downstairs, a
1.2-acre river-walk with 500 linear feet along the Chicago River and a
dog run. Luxury finishes inside
the units include Brazilian hardwood floors and individually controlled
all-season air conditioning. In the kitchens you’ll find Snaidero
Italian wood cabinetry, Miele appliances, granite countertops and full-sized
backsplashes. Lavish bathroom features include limestone walls and flooring,
Dornbracht fixtures and an over-sized bathtub. Buyers also have the
security of knowing that their investment was produced to the highest
standards of billionaire Donald Trump himself, Proctor says. “In a year I
think we will look back and think this is a bargain,” she says, noting
that other luxury units on the resale market are fetching $1,200 a square
foot. The $28 million Trump penthouse comes in around $2,000-a-square-foot,
but that’s for brand new construction in the highest profile unit
in Chicago’s highest profile project. What you won’t
get in the penthouse is a balcony, because of the high winds on the 89th
floor. Parking will cost another $65,000 to $85,000. At press time, Proctor
said she was in negotiations regarding the penthouse with an unidentified
out-of-state buyer. Trump offers a total of nine penthouses on four floors,
and six of them have already been sold, three to Chicagoans. Buyers vary
from out-of-state businesspeople to empty nesters, Proctor says. Empty nesters also
are the prime target for Jameson Development’s 50
E. Chestnut project. Here, every floor of the 34-story building, located
just off the Magnificent Mile, is a penthouse, says Jameson’s Steve
Mandell. With pricing from $2.3 million to $3.1 million, he is confident
of luring empty nesters who don’t want to relinquish the generous
floor spaces they are accustomed to in their suburban homes. A
growing market
The trend is reflected
in the optimism behind the initial asking price for the Four Seasons Residence
penthouse, but the price correction reflects growing market times, especially
for the highest of high-end product, and a corner of the market that some
say is starting to look a little crowded. Superbly located one-of-a-kind
homes like the Four Seasons Residence penthouse are facing stiff competition
from new construction selling in the $6 million range, says listing agent
Pamela Miles of Rubloff Residential Property. The very top penthouses,
however, offer this consolation: no matter what happens in the local housing
market, there is not another unit in the city like the $28 million top
unit at Trump or the Palmolive’s $10.7 million penthouse. The best
penthouses are true originals, and though the pool of potential buyers
is small, they’re also better insulated from trends in interest rates,
local housing and the overall economy. Starter
penthouses Penthouses in the
West Loop sell for around $350 per square foot, while luxury product near
Michigan Avenue is currently in the $600 to $1,000 a foot range, says
Charles Huzenis, of Jameson Realty. New towers underway
or recently completed in the South Loop also offer a wide variety of comparatively
affordable penthouses. The 34-story highrise at 1111
S. Wabash St., for instance, has penthouses starting on the 30th floor,
with a 2,084-square-foot space priced at $627,010, says Deborah Chiet
of developer The Gammonley Group.
These penthouses, which fetch more than $1 million at the high end, feature
views of the Museum Campus,
Soldier Field, Grant Park and
Lake Michigan. “Our buyers are not just empty nesters – we are seeing successful professionals in their 30s and 40s,” Chiet says. |
For
the true high-flyer nothing tops buying a penthouse, but buying the biggest
pad in town right now, at 
That
price would represent major appreciation – an increase of around
150 percent in 16 years – but the fact that the owner felt comfortable
testing a price tag of $7.5 million, then $6.695 million, then dropped
it substantially reflects the state of this small niche. Chicago’s
market for ultra-luxury homes, including penthouses, has expanded rapidly.
Both new construction and resales have hit new highs, going for prices
that would have been laughed at a few years ago.