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Residential Developer
Fall 2006
"Stop the Presses, Chicago's Printer's Row emerges
as a new hot spot"
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It's no longer a 1900s-era printing and publishing industry
mecca, but Printer's Row still generates press.
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The South Loop area is producing a flurry of loft conversions,
with developers saying the area's mix of high-end boutiques
with new multifamily housing are a draw for new residents.
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"I lived in Printer's Row in 1992 when not much was
going on," says Thaddeus Wong, co-founder of @properties,
a Chicago brokerage firm that markets Printers Square,
a 1920s bailing converted to 355 condominiums. "Now,
with the real estate market boom over the last decade
and a resurgence of people wanting to move back to the
city and in close proximity to the lake, Printer's Row
became an obvious location."
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The area seems impervious to economic factors. Printer's
Row projects—Such as Library Tower, a 17-story building
of 184 loft-style condominiums—enjoy strong preconstruction
sales.
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"The market was a lot stronger a year or so ago than
it is now," says David Radomski, president of Lennar
Corp.'s Chicago urban division. "Where many developments
have slowed down, we have continued to sell."
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He and other Printer's Row building credit the diversity
of buyers. They include baby boomers, parents buying housing
for their adult children who are just starting out or
are in college, and young professionals who want to move
up in quality of housing but stay in the city, says Michael
Ezguy, managing member of Terrapin Properties. Terrapin
is developing The Residences at Burnham Pointe, a 29-story
condominium tower with 298 units.
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After one month of sales, 100 of the 298 residences have
been reserved, Ezgur says, "I guess I didn't see
this amount of response so quickly, especially at the
affordable price points (of $300 per square foot),"
Ezgur adds.
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The same is true for Winthrop Properties, which converted
a loft into condominiums a few years ago and is now working
on Printer's Corner, an 88-unit, 15-story mid-rise.
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"The Printer's Row area really has a near combination
of residential and small retail" says Bob Horner,
coprincipal of Winthrop. "It has a very neighborbood
kind of feeling with a lot of history."
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