Ultra-luxury features:

• Interior monologues: Ultra-luxury finishes meld super standards, building aesthetics and buyer personalities
• Size matters: Luxury rises with building heights on Chicago's soaring skyline
• No stone unturned: CBI's granite mansion in Lake Forest has a room for every occasion
• Living large in Lincoln Park: Buyers assemble sprawling condos at Lincoln Park 2520

Room at the top: projects push to stratosphere of pricing, luxury, targeting wealthy boomers despite slower market

by Kate Hawley

Chicago has always had luxurious homes – after all, moguls and CEOs need to live somewhere. But recently the high-end for new homes in the city has shifted significantly higher in a surprisingly short amount of time. Developers have introduced a new crop of buildings with hot downtown locations, stunning views and price points that even a few years ago would have seemed off the charts for this Midwestern city. (more…)

The crowd trailing Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava through the 18th floor of NBC Tower stopped at an unusual display: a pair of open-mouthed human heads crafted from bronze, one male and one female.

The custom creations were destined not for an art gallery or a science exhibit but for lobby doors – as a hefty pair of doorknobs residents and visitors will grasp to enter the planned Chicago Spire, the 150-story condo tower Calatrava designed for 420 E. North Water St., in Streeterville. The Shelbourne Development Ltd. project is planned to be the tallest building in the nation and the tallest all-residential building in the world. (more…)

The rolling hills of Bucks County, Penn., feel a long way from suburban Chicago – unless you happen to be driving down Laurel Avenue in Lake Forest. CBI Custom Homes channeled the historic region in its latest project, a rambling six-bedroom mansion at 172 W. Laurel Ave. that evokes Bucks County’s stock of Quaker-inspired stone houses.

That influence is most obvious in the home’s central section, made from gray New England granite, according to Brett Marlowe, CBI president. The stone structure is flanked by white clapboard wings. Graduated slate roofs cover each section of the house, and its street-facing windows are framed with crown moldings.

“The big difference between our company and other luxury homebuilders is that we confine ourselves strictly to creating period-specific homes,” Marlowe says. (more…)

It’s no secret that people in Lincoln Park love big homes. Any cursory tour of the North Side neighborhood will reveal enormous houses rising on double- or even triple-sized city lots, many of them ornate faux-historical creations with jumbo price tags.

“In Lincoln Park, there are some extraordinary numbers that come out when people can assemble residential lots,” says John Murphy, a principal in Ricker Murphy Development, LLC.

He ought to know. Ricker Murphy is building Lincoln Park 2520, an ultra-luxury high-rise at 2520 N. Lakeview Ave., overlooking the park and Lake Michigan from the sort of site that rarely becomes available in the pricey, popular, highly developed neighborhood. (more…)

It's not uncommon for developers of downtown condo high-rises to offer plush "lifestyle" amenities such as spas, massage rooms and upscale restaurants. But to say that Canyon Ranch Living - Chicago, a 67-story tower planned for 680 N. Rush St., is part of the "lifestyle concept" is like saying that Beethoven wrote some symphonies.

(more…)

Ultra-luxury features
Ultra-luxury projects move to "new" locations
Design-builds let you have your way
Hotel condos get mixed reception
CBI's Glencoe Tudor and KB Home's "single-family condos"
Search ultra-luxury developments

Builders have dramatically expanded luxury home choices, but is this small club getting a little crowded? 

by Alison Soltau

Finding the ideal home is never easy, but for those shopping in Chicago's ultra-luxury new-construction market, it's becoming tougher still. Today, having millions of dollars to spend on a newly built dream residence opens the door (which comes in oak, walnut or teak), to an unprecedented range of choices. High-end pricing pushed to new levels in recent years as Chicago's upscale developments became ever more lavish, and builders have tested the depth of this exclusive niche by planning and building more ultra-luxury homes than ever before. (more…)

CBI Custom Homes sweats the details for $3.9 million Tudor in Glencoe

by Dan Schuyler

When you cast an eye over design-build firm CBI Custom Homes' stunning period-specific houses, you're reminded of the quotation from 19th century Chicago architect Daniel Burnham displayed on the company's Web site, CBICustomHomes.com: "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood." (more…)

Luxury development heads south as "new" locations go high-endÂ

by Alison Soltau

Not so long ago, if you had several million dollars to lavish on a high-end condo in downtown Chicago, all, or at least most, roads pointed to the tony Gold Coast. The fabled neighborhood was, and still is, the darling of many buyers of ultra-luxury homes, offering lake and skyline views, top-flight dining, abundant nightlife and world-class shopping on the nearby Magnificent Mile. Not to mention the snob appeal of a Gold Coast address. (more…)

Design-build offers perfect homes for picky buyers with time, money

by Joel Hoglund

To build or not to build, that was the question facing 36-year-old Devin Mathews and his wife Gina as they moved their young family back to Chicago last year.

Temporarily settled in a Gold Coast condo, Devin and Gina cruised the single-family home market with three options in mind. They could buy a new spec house, rehab an existing house, or design and build their own custom home. (more…)

Some developers check out of fledgling market as home buyers flock to others

by Alison Soltau

Buyers scouting downtown Chicago for in-town residences during the last couple of years couldn't escape the growing number of builders hawking hotel condo projects. But by late 2006, several of those developers had reservations about the market and decided to check out.

The reasons why they headed for the door vary, but observers say a rebound in conventional hotel business and doubts about the depth of this niche market in Chicago were factors. (more…)