We're still waiting for Mod's true colors to shine through in the West Loop. When Mark drove over to the project at 1222 - 1224 W Madison St last week, the mid-rise was still as yellow as a canary and surrounded in scaffolding. Its one- and two-bedrooms have 860 to 1,470 square feet and range from the $280s to the $490s, with deeded parking priced at $35,000.

Mod's sales staff should be able to move into the building and open a model in October, according a sponsored article from the September issue of New Homes.

- Rate and review Mod at NewHomeNotebook.com.

With projects in the pre-construction phase yielding little news of use, it's probably a good time to reacquaint ourselves and some of our newer readers with the city's "older" new-construction towers and mid-rises. Who's behind these projects? What do the homes have going for them in the way of on-site and neighborhood amenities?

First up is a building we often pass in our walks through River North: Schillaci Birmingham Development's 30 West Erie, located at the northeast corner of Erie and Dearborn streets.

Judging by Joel's construction photo from May 2006, Ground broke at 30 W Erie St, site of an old Amoco gas station, in late 2005 or early 2006. Buyers started moving into the building in September 2007, and by that October, the building was far enough along for Kate and our readers to express their disappointment over the developer's execution of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture's design, especially in regards to the tower's mansard roof.

Each of 30 West Erie's 10 residential floors has just two units, and its on-site amenities include an exercise room, a dog run, a common deck and a door staff. The Starbucks Coffee and FedEx Office occupying its ground-floor retail spaces aren't the flashiest tenants, but as Joe Zekas suggested in an earlier discussion, they're practical for a working homeowner.

Branching out into the surrounding neighborhood, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market are just around the corner, dozens of restaurants, bars and art galleries can be found within a few blocks' radius, and Michigan Avenue's stores are a five-minute walk east. Two Red Line stations - Chicago to the north and Grand to the south - are just three or four blocks away, and the Brown Line stations at Chicago and Merchandise Mart can be reached by foot in 10 to 15 minutes.

According to a recent e-blast from @properties agent Greg Eldridge, 30 West Erie's two 11th-floor condos are the building's only unsold homes. The larger of the two three-bedroom / 2.5-bath units has 2,775 square feet and exposures to the north, east and south, and is priced at $1.61 million. The smaller unit has 2,288 square feet and exposures to the north, west and south, and is priced at $1.39 million.

Both have 10- and 11-foot ceiling heights, north- and south-facing balconies, plank hardwood floors and carpeting, crown molding in the living and dining areas and dens, stainless-steel kitchen appliances, and Kohler and Grohe kitchen and bath fixtures. Deeded parking, which had once sold for $50,000 per space, is now packaged with the purchase of a unit.

The MLS also lists what appears to be one resale, a seventh-floor unit with 2,288 square feet listed by Jameson for $1.19 million. According to Cook County sales records, the home sold for $1.06 million in August 2007.

As we've mentioned several times lately, Hartshorne Plunkard designed Superior 110 and Silver Tower, two concrete-and-glass high-rises that bear little resemblance to Schillaci Birmingham's tower. Schillaci Birmingham is now working on Montana Rowhomes, a new five-unit townhouse project in Wrightwood Neighbors.

- Rate and review 30 West Erie at NewHomeNotebook.com.

A video of our tour through Trump's residential condos is available on our YouTube channel and will go up on YoChicago this weekend. In the meantime, you can get an idea of how these one- and two-bedrooms look with people in them.

So what were our immediate impressions about the units? The 1,046 square-foot one-bedroom (PDF) felt a little cramped. I thought its master bath took up a little too much space compared with the adjacent 12' x 16-8" bedroom, but it has two vanities, so I'm guessing it was designed with couples in mind. Likewise, the shape of the 17' x 16-7" living room - think of a square with one corner lopped off - left me wondering how best to position a couches, a coffee table and a TV without butting up against the kitchen bar or blocking a walkway. (That's the living room at far bottom left.) I didn't think to ask when the sales staff would get around to furnishing one or all of these units, but I certainly want to revisit one once some furniture is in place to see how they feel.

By comparison, the two-bedrooms had 2,063 to 2,076 square feet, and the distribution of that extra space throughout the bedrooms and the living areas made the units much more comfortable. The 26-7" x 20-5" living / dining area of floor plan "J" (PDF) was especially nice, but what struck us most were the large walk-in closets adjoining the master bedrooms. As you can see at the far bottom right, the closet in floor plan "K" (PDF) actually turns a corner to form a kind of lazy-L shape. I can't tell if it actually has more storage area than the more traditional square-shaped closet in floor plan "J", but it certainly felt larger.

- Rate and review Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Construction wrapped up on the nine-unit building at 3255 N Paulina St in Lake View last spring, and Jameson Real Estate agent Michael Downing says they've sold about one per month since then, leaving two remaining two-bedroom / two-bath condos. Now, the developer is offering $20,000 off the price of the next one that is sold.

When I spoke with Downing yesterday, I asked him if there were any other developments in the neighborhood to which he would compare 3255 Paulina. He responded, as any good agent would, that his building was too unique to be compared with anything else in Lake View.

That's a predictable answer from someone who's trying to sell something, but Downing has a point. He says this type of building is more typical of Bucktown than Lake View, which, regarding the architecture and price of this development, seems accurate.

According to Downing, the difference between this development and the other new-construction condos in Lake View is that most other developers would try to fit three bedrooms into the same space. I don't have the square footage for either of these two units, but in the first, which is priced in the $560s, the master bedroom is 20' x 16', the second bedroom is 14' x 12' and the living room is 24' x 23'. The second is priced in the $540s, and the dimensions of both of its bedrooms and living room are slightly smaller than those of the first.

Each home can be ready for delivery within 30 days, Downing says. Garage parking is offered for $25,000 per space, and Downing says there are three available parking spaces in the garage.

- Rate and review 3255 Paulina at NewHomeNotebook.com.

The three condos we toured at Trump yesterday were east-facing units on the tower's 37th floor. You'll see some of Mark's videos in a bit. For now, check out a few of the views I snapped from the units' living rooms and bedrooms.

I also shot the following picture from the northwest corner of the 16th-floor terrace:

- Rate and review Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago at NewHomeNotebook.com.

JAB Real Estate's Roscoe Flats got most of its press thanks to its connection to Oprah-approved designer Nate Berkus. Berkus designed the building's private roof deck and two-bedroom model and hand-picked most of the project's interior finishes, opting for stone tile floors and DuPont Corian countertops over hardwood and granite (although those were available as well).

Yo reviewer Eric Borys said in April 2007 that the "loft-like" homes at 3028 W Roscoe St in Avondale "could be a good buy," thanks to their room widths, high ceilings, and nearby transportation options like the Blue Line and the Kennedy Expressway. (JAB wisely promotes its proximity to another neighborhood amenity, Hot Doug's, located just three-tenths of a mile east.)

In fact, the only negative thing anyone here had to say about the project was regarding the JAB's promotion of the faux-berhood "West Roscoe Village," an area Joe Zekas said was once labeled "Northwest Nowhere." I can't say I've ever heard the latter term employed by anyone other than Zekas, and I'm actually surprised I haven't heard much of the former one lately, just as I haven't heard anyone mention the words "West Bucktown" lately.

Anyway, after almost two years on the market, JAB is down to two unsold units at Roscoe Flats, says sales director Paul Chason. The two-bedroom / two-bath units come with their own indoor heated parking spaces and are priced in the $290s and $310s. Judging by the descriptions and photos on the MLS, it looks like both homes were built out with upgraded finishes, meaning they'll have those Corian countertops and stone floors, as well as stainless-steel appliances and Waterworks and Hansgrohe bath fixtures.

- Rate and review Roscoe Flats at NewHomeNotebook.com.

This new five-unit condo building located at 1632 - 1634 W Julian St in Wicker Park was just added to the NewHomeNotebook.com database this month, so I stopped by Julian Street to have a look at the place last week. Scott Whelan from Century 21 Sussex & Reilly says all five of the units have three bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and the first-floor and top-floor units are all duplexes, while the one on the second floor is a full-floor unit.

Some might remember Whelan from his marketing efforts for a condo development at 947 W Agatite Ave in Uptown, which got a bit of play in the local press. If you buy one of the two-bedroom / two-baths in that building, you get a $3,000 pre-paid bar tab at a nearby bar.

Unfortunately, no such incentive is being offered at 1632 - 1634 Julian, at least for the time being, but Whelan says the price points of these units give them a leg up on most of the competition in the neighborhood.

"If you base it on a price per square foot, it’s below average,” Whelan says, adding that the next biggest duplex he sold in the neighborhood had 2,040 square feet and went for $700,000.

The two duplex-downs at 1632 - 1634 Julian have 2,400 square feet of living space and are priced in the $650s. Its duplex-ups have 2,500 square feet of space and are priced in the $750s, and the full-floor unit has 2,450 square feet and is priced in the $690s.

All of the units have outdoor space. Whelan says Unit 1W is almost finished and will be ready to show as soon as he gets the appliances installed.

- Rate and review 1632 - 1634 Julian at NewHomeNotebook.com

After a week of troubling news reports, you'd be forgiven for thinking that things were falling apart for Pure, the new 67-unit high-rise at 24 S Morgan St in the West Loop. The Chicago Journal reported on Wednesday that the president of Sunrise Equities had disappeared, and the Sun-Times followed up on Saturday with news that investors had filed a suit against the company.

We're getting an official statement about Pure's future later this week, but I did learn this afternoon that someone new is steering the ship and hopes to have it back on course shortly. Deliveries - which were supposed to begin this month - could be delayed by as long as 60 days, but they will happen, according to a source working with the project, and construction crews will continue to put the finishing touches on the building.

On Friday I wondered if Rubloff had taken over marketing for Pure after the developer's disappearance, since we had always gotten our news from Sunrise's in-house sales team prior to all this. Not so: Apparently Rubloff has always been the project's broker of record - it's just not obvious from Pure's Web site or promotional materials - and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

None of this is all that surprising, given how close Pure is to completion. People will end up living there, one way or another. But what does this mean for the little things Sunrise promised - you know, amenities like the Pure Portal or the Skai Lounge?

- Rate and review Pure at NewHomeNotebook.com.

There's nothing a little name change can't fix, right? That, and a new marketing team. While driving around Noble Square this morning, I noticed a new sign in front of the development formerly known as ChicagoView II at 1400 - 1418 W Chicago Ave. The sign advertises a website, 1400-1418Chicago.com, but it doesn't seem to be active right now.

The old banner, meanwhile, has seen better days:

Earlier in the summer, ChicagoView II was marketed by Century 21 Sussex and Reilly, but the new sign lists Gabriel Datcu and Brian Morand of Baird & Warner.

Morand, who is marketing only the three units in the project's westernmost building, says it will probably be 60 days before he can open a model, but he expects first closings can start by the end of October. One of those units is under contract, and the remaining two are priced in the $430s and the $460s.

In describing the homes, Morand emphasizes the luxury finishes, rattling off a list of features like Viking appliances, a steam shower with Grohe body sprays, eight-foot-high doors, and stone tiles. Below are a couple of photos from his listings, showing off some of those kitchen and bathroom finishes.

- Rate and review 1400 - 1418 West Chicago at NewHomeNotebook.com

The Chicago Journal and its partners must have declared this "Disappearing Developer Week," by the looks of their latest issues. For example, you may have read Wednesday's report about Rokas International head Andrius Augunas, who fled to Lithuania and filed for bankruptcy this year after withdrawing $770,000 in deposits from Rokas' Motor Row Condominiums project (not to be confused with Motor Row Development's Motor Row Lofts).

You also may have seen an article about Sunrise Equities head Salman Ibrahim, who the Journal says has gone off the grid. What you wouldn't have gleaned from the paper's story, however, is that Sunrise was more than just an investment firm serving the Devon corridor's Indo-Pak community - it's also the developer of Pure, the new 67-unit high-rise at 24 S Morgan St in the West Loop.

Mark reported a couple weeks ago that Pure is about 95 percent complete, and that buyers will start moving into the building by the end of this month. No one's picking up the phone at Sunrise these days, so it's hard to tell how this latest wrinkle could affect those deliveries, if at all.

I noticed this morning that Rubloff lists Pure as one of its featured developments, which suggests that someone out there is managing the project. (Up to this point, we've always talked to the folks with Sunrise's in-house sales and marketing team.) Rubloff's Web site says Pure's one- to three-bedrooms range from the $240s to the $730s; by comparison, the homes were priced from the $280s to the $810s at the start of the month, when we were talking directly with Sunrise.

All 24 or so of Pure's available units have been built out with bamboo floors and carpeting, recessed lighting, granite countertops, Poggenpohl cabinets, Fisher & Paykel and Bosch appliances, and Grohe faucets. Rubloff's site mentions a $10,000 upgrade credit, so either there are still some room for improvements, or it's an upgrade credit in name only and simply will be applied to the purchase price. Parking has dropped in recent months from $35,000 per space to $17,500.

Way back in February, I wrote two posts comparing and contrasting two-bedroom homes at Pure and Emerald. One, which focused on price per square foot, may be a little out of date if the prices have dropped, but should still give you a good look at the similarities and differences between those two West Loop projects. The other was a look at the projects' floor plans, which probably haven't changed.

- Rate and review Pure at NewHomeNotebook.com.