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Xavier is a 16-story, 240-unit apartment tower at 625 W Division St on the Near North Side. First occupancies started December 2015.
Portland, OR-based Gerding Edlen is the developer, GREC Architects is the architect firm and Lend Lease is the general contractor.
The apartments
Xavier has studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.
Apartments include floor-to-ceiling windows, exposed concrete ceilings, LED lighting and hardwood floors throughout.
Kitchens feature cabinet-faced appliances, blackened steel backsplashes, Energy Star appliances and low-flow fixtures.
Some of the third-floor units include terraces.
Xavier has market rate apartments with ten percent of the units set aside as affordable and ten percent set aside for Section 8.
Views. The location affords sweeping, uninterrupted, dramatic views of the Chicago skyline to the north and south.
Amenities, services, policies
Xavier offers two amenities floors.
Xavier’s third-floor amenities include a 13,000 square foot recreation deck with swimming pool, cabanas, grilling stations and viewing decks with fire pits. Additional third-floor amenities include a resident lounge with kitchenette, fireplace and game room.
The building’s rooftop lounge features a chef’s kitchen, conference spaces, media screening room and an outdoor deck with fireplace and seating areas.
The building’s lobby has a living room, landscaped garden, conference room and a grand stair which leads from the lobby to the loft level fitness center and dog playroom.
The building has on-site maintenance staff and bicycle storage. Xavier is designed to LEED Gold standards. Xavier is pet-friendly and has both an indoor and outdoor dog run with washing stations.
The location
The developer’s website touts the location as being in the “emerging SoNo / Clybourn Corridor neighborhood.” The Clybourn Corridor is a cluster of big-box retail more than a half-mile to the northwest, and SoNo is merely a condo / apartment complex, also more than half a mile northwest.
The location offers most renters the fewest advantages of any of the new Near North Side apartment towers. It’s not a pedestrian-friendly location, unless you work at the 18th District Police station, which is next door to the building. The NewCity development, a half-mile northwest, does add somewhat to the location’s appeal.
Shopping. A new Target is directly across the street from Xavier.
The new Plum Market is a half-mile east, just north of Division on Wells St in the 1225 Old Town building.
Whole Foods is three-quarters of a mile northwest of the building. The store spans 75,000 square feet and was the third-largest Whole Foods in the world when it opened in 2009. The new Mariano’s at NewCity is larger than the Whole Foods, and is more accessible to residents of Xavier.
Dining, nightlife, entertainment. Residents at Xavier have a hike to dining and drinking establishments. There’s nothing within a few blocks of the building.
Panera and Starbucks are in a strip center about a 6-minute walk east of the building. The start of the Wells Street strip of restaurants and bars in Old Town is about a 10-minute walk.
Parks, recreation. Stanton Park, a short block north of the building, has a field house with an indoor pool, a gym and two club meeting rooms. The 6 1/2-acre park also has baseball fields, a football / soccer field and basketball courts.
Seward Park, which has softball / soccer fields, outdoor basketball courts and a field house with two gyms and a boxing ring, is a few blocks east of the building.
Transportation. Public transportation is poor, apart from the #70 Division bus, which connects to the CTA Red Line and Blue Line stops on Division.
The #8 Halsted bus route travels into the nearby River West, Fulton River District and West Loop neighborhoods.
Xavier has relatively close access to I-90/94 via Division St. At peak hours, however, travel can be tediously slow.
Zipcar locations, DIVVY bike stations and taxi service are not as readily available as they are in more established neighborhoods further east.
The competition
You’ll find additional options at YoChicago’s comprehensive Old Town / Near North apartment guide.