OOPS! MY VIEW IS GOING TO BE BLOCKED!

Yes, this tower in the South Loop of Chicago promises fantastic views. My real estate partner Maria Sabatini and I recently took a tour of a number of condo units available for sale at Museum Place 1-my conclusion? Absolutely great views towards the North, East, South and West as long as you choose from the tiers which are located on east and northeast portion of the building. As soon as this tower was completed, a second tower adjacent to the west began to spring to life. Compromised will be west and partial north views from the west and northwest side of Museum Place 1. Your best choice remains with Museum Place 1 as numerous units are still available through the developer as well as units which owners are attempting to flip at prices below the developer's!

A Chicago Brunette Standing Next to a New York Blond

The corncobs of Chicago! This is a photo of Marina City taken in the early 1960's-notice the Suntimes building to the right. Marina City has been an icon of Chicago for 40+ years, never upstaged by its neighbors.
Today, the Suntimes building no longer exists, in its place, the Trump Tower which seems to rise higher and higher each day.The corncobs of Chicago may suffer the same fate as a brunette in a room filled with blonds-she will be simply invisible!
written by Fred Scovell of The Scovell+Sabatini Team of Rubloff Residential Properties.

The British Are Coming.... To Chicago!

America: the top property hotspots for investors from Great Britain

British Buyers just have to work out when prices will stop falling - and where the hotspots are!

By Helen Davies
The American sub-prime mortgage crisis that started in the trailer parks of the poorer parts of the country is starting to spread to the middle classes. Property prices are plunging and repossessions are on the rise. According to the National Association of Realtors (Nar), America’s largest trade body, sales slipped 2.2% in December and 22% against the same period in 2006. And last month the Case-Schiller house price index revealed prices in December fell by 8.1% year on year, with an overall 8.5% decline in 2007. So even with the weak dollar, as America faces a downturn, is it a good time to buy?
Yes, according to Sean Conlon (www.conlonandco.ie), an Irishman who runs a billion-dollar property empire in Chicago. “The current downturn and repricing going on in the American economy is providing potentially the biggest real-estate buying opportunity I have seen in 20 years,” he told a conference in January. “It is the perfect storm.”

Where the investors are heading:

Chicago: Building is already underway on the Spire, set to be the tallest residential skyscraper in the world. The 150-storey tower will rise 2,000ft over Lake Michigan and its iconic status and prime prices — starting at £385,000 and going up to £20m for its penthouse — mean that Shelbourne Development, the Dublin-based developers behind the project, believe prices will stay up.
“Not only is Chicago the birthplace of the skyscraper, it is the fourth-largest economy in the world,” says Dominic Grace, head of new homes at Savills, which is marketing the Spire (Savills; 020 7409 9998, www.thechicagospire.com). Elsewhere, building is underway at the Trump Tower on the Near North Side, which will feature a £4m penthouse. Prices for XO Condominiums will start at £110,000 for a one-bedder rising to £1m for a three-bed penthouse, through Winkworth (020 7691 4269, www.winkworth.co.uk).
America is not a market for the novice and, as with any financial investment, it is important to do your homework over the short, mid and long-term and seek independent specialist legal, financial and tax-planning advice.

A Golden Chicago Skyline

This is why Chicago has the most beautiful skyline in the world.

Museum Tower One

This newly constructed condominium building creates a strong presence and can now be considered the anchor for the South Loop. The views from the units within encompass the Lakefront and across Grant Park with north exposures taking in a very dramatic city skyline.

600 N Fairbanks View At Night

The view from unit 2809 during the day really highlites how beautiful the geometric shapes city skyscapers can create. The view at night creates an entirely different cityscape which explodes with gem like and dazzling light.

600 N. FAIRBANKS

Multiple architectural styles jut upward, each appearing to joust with each other for prominence in this wonderful city scape view from 600 N. Fairbanks #2809, Chicago IL. This photo, taken by Fred Scovell of the Scovell+Sabatini Team of Rubloff Residential Properties, is from a 28th floor balcony at Helmut Jahn's acclaimed new glass tower

In essence, 600 North Fairbanks recapitulates the age-old formula of the skyscraper as a three-part building with a clearly articulated base, middle and top. The base consists of a high-ceilinged, light-washed lobby and 11 floors of parking, the middle houses 24 floors of apartments, and the top holds four floors of penthouses and an amenity floor (with lap pool, fitness center and sun deck). What sets the building apart, however, is the way Jahn plays with this convention, creating a persuasive essay in minimalism.Windows on the north and south sides consist of large sheets of extra-wide, floor-to-ceiling glass that are unencumbered by the clutter of mullions, air-conditioning units or operable windows. The concrete floor slabs are just eight inches thick, due to Jahn's use of post-tensioning cables rather than old-fashioned steel reinforcing bars. He expresses the slabs on the facade with narrow bands of extruded aluminum. Concrete columns are recessed behind the glass.As a result, 600 North Fairbanks looks remarkably crisp and transparent, though its see-through quality invariably will be compromised as more people move in. If Mies' 860-880 high-rises are skin and bones buildings, clearly expressing their structural frames, this is every bit a skin building. And due to the presence of extra-thick glass, the skin is mirror-smooth, beautifully reflecting the sky, the clouds and nearby structures. That's a welcome shift from the fun-house mirror distortions of other high-rises.

CHICAGO SPIRE-Awe In-Spire-ring

Click on the title CHICAGO SPIRE for a great preview of what may become the greatest residential building in the world located right here in Chicago!

Miesian Lines at 860-880 900-910 N. LAKESHORE DRIVE

To really appreciate Mies van der Rohe try walking in and around his buildings located at 860 and 880 N. Lake Shore Drive which are cooperatives. Two adjoining buildings located at 900 and 910 N. Lake Shore Drive are condominiums and were constructed as replicates of the original Mies properties.


"The scheme consists of two identical 26-story towers placed 46 feet apart with their long axes set perpendicular to each other. The steel skeletal frame is based on a 21-foot grid and is clearly expressed in the elevations, indicated by black-painted steel sheets covering the fireproofed columns and beams. The rigorous consistency of the design is seen in the uniform treatment of each building face regardless of orientation. Each bay is subdivided into four window units by three wide-flange steel mullions. A supplementary mullion is welded to the face of the exterior by the others. Within these divisions aluminum-framed floor-to- ceiling windows are set. The significance of this work is a pioneer curtain-wall expression as well as a fulfillment of the all-glass skyscraper schemes proposed by Mies three decades earlier."
— A. James Speyer. Mies van der Rohe. p26.

CHICAGO RIVER MEETS LAKE MICHIGAN

FUR TRAPPERS TO PROFESSIONALS
Think of denizens of the Chicago River in the 1800s', and fur trappers, canal diggers and stockyard workers come to mind. But look along the river banks these days and you'll see professionals, drivers of the city's current economy, seeking an urban lifestyle with a bit of nature.
Data confirm the large numbers of residences emerging along the river. The number of housing units one block from the Chicago River between 1200 south and 1200 north has risen 85 percent to 10,332 in 2006 from 5,576 in 1996, said Gail Lissner, vice president of Appraisal Research Counselors Ltd., Chicago.
New condominiums and apartments continue to be built, a prominent example being the New East development, where 17 buildings -- including three completions -- holding 4,950 housing units are planned between the Main Branch on the north and Randolph Street on the south. Another major development north of the river in Streeterville is River East, where seven high-rises are complete and six are in planning.
Indeed, projections show the number of housing units is expected to increase 22 percent through 2009, to 12,653, Lissner said.
"The river has great attraction in the market," Lissner added. "I call it our new lake."