For more than a year, we've observed JFJ Development's Superior 110 from street level, but yesterday, Joe and I finally made it into the building. From the inside, we were finally able to gauge whether those windows look as blue from the inside as they do from the outside, and we went up to the penthouse level to check out the view from the 26th floor. Click "play" on the video player above, and see for yourself.

When you enter a home in 50 East Chestnut, the lights turn on and the window shades draw, which makes it feel like the home is in sync with your every move. That's because Chicago-based Premiere Systems has installed a home automation system that would rival the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey (minus the part where HAL kills the astronauts, of course).

In a follow-up to my January post on the customizable technology features offered at 50 East Chestnut, I met with Ken Johnson, president of Premiere Systems, for a demonstration of some of the technology features offered at that development.

Johnson says most of the work that Premiere does is in single-family homes, but the company has served a couple other condo high-rises. Of the high-rises for which Premiere has installed home automation technology, he says 50 East Chestnut is probably the most high-tech.

Related posts:
• 50 East Chestnut: The technology edition (Jan. 30)

It's tax day, folks, and that means that today is the first day that the City of Chicago and the Partnership for New Communities will be offering a $15,000 grant to buyers at five Plan for Transformation sites across the city. To mark the occasion, Joe and I attended a media tour of a couple of South Side developments yesterday, beginning with Oakwood Shores.

In this first video from the trip, MK Communications president Marilyn Katz offers an overview of the incentives that will be offered over the next 15 days. Follow the link below to view Joe's recent writeup explaining the 15-day incentive, and check back in the coming days to view more footage from the Oakwood Shores and Park Boulevard sales centers.

Related posts:
• Deal of the day: Partnership boosts bonus for buying at five developments (April 7)

Many new-construction brick buildings with street-facing balconies are very dark inside because the cement or wooden balcony floors cast a heavy shadow into the condo. During my visit to Luxhaven, located at 1733 W Cornelia Ave in Roscoe Village, developer Jody Libman said the answer to that problem was to install a metal grate floor on the balconies, much like a fire escape.

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review Luxhaven

The second and final stop I made during my recent visit to SoNo, 860 W Blackhawk St, was to a two-bedroom / two-bath furnished model on the building's 17th floor. The model is located on the southeast corner, which has a pretty spectacular view of the downtown skyline and the Near North Side.

From there, you can also keep tabs on two proposed rental developments: New City, Structured Development's planned mixed-use development at the intersection of Halsted Street and Clybourn Avenue, and the second SoNo tower — both of which are supposed to break ground soon.

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review SoNo

If you are making the trip Roscoe Village this weekend to check out the new Paulina Brown Line station, one new development that will be hard to miss is Luxhaven, which, at 1733 W Cornelia Ave, is just a block and a half north of the station. On Wednesday, I returned to Luxhaven to meet with developer and builder Jody Libman from Trianon Development. The eight-unit building is still under construction, but we looked at a few third-floor units that have been finished out.

All eight of the homes in Luxhaven are still for sale, and one- to three-bedroom condos are priced from the $330s to the $720s.

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review Luxhaven

On Wednesday, Joe and I took a little field trip to SoNo, Smithfield Properties' 28-story high-rise at 860 W Blackhawk St in Lincoln Park. I had been in the building before, but this time we came armed with a camcorder. In this video, we look at the north-facing one-bedroom / one-bath model on the 17th floor that's priced in the $340s. Later, I'll post another video from a two-bedroom / two-bath model on the same floor.

According to @properties agent David Wiencek, who let us into the building, Smithfield plans to break ground on the second tower, which will house rental apartments, later this spring.

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review SoNo

Ride with Joe Zekas up the Edens Expressway toward Optima Old Orchard Woods, Optima's tri-tower condo complex at 9645 Woods Dr in Skokie.

As of last month, the development's 20-story, 181-unit Elm Tower was about 93 percent sold, with remaining one- to four bedrooms running from the $250s to $1.5 million. The 20-story Maple Tower is nearing completion, with approximately 70 percent of its 281 units still for sale at the same price range.

Each residence has panoramic views of the city or the neighboring Harms Woods forest preserve. Units feature floor-to-ceiling windows, kitchens with stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops, and designer cabinets, and in-unit laundry appliances.

Each Optima tower features amenities like a two-story fitness center with a pool and spa, a two-story party room with catering kitchen, a green roof system and sky garden, a reflecting pool and courtyard fountain, and a heated parking garage.

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review Optima Old Orchard Woods

Did Joe Zekas' panoramic photos of the view from the 14th floor of Superior at LaSalle leave you begging for more? Play the video above, and get your fix of the dynamic River North skyline, looking south from 150 W Superior St. As Joe says in the video, the River North skyline has changed quite a bit in the past few years, but with the addition of Flair Tower and the Parc Huron rental towers, it's still a work in progress.

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review Superior at LaSalle

After touring a few model units last Sunday at The Silver District, 2800 W North Ave, Karen Biazar from North Clybourn Group took a few minutes to talk with me about Humboldt Park and the surrounding area. Karen has been a licensed Realtor for 20 years, and she has seen neighborhoods like Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, and the East Village change over that span. With prices soaring in Bucktown and Wicker Park, she sees some buyers looking further west, in neighborhoods like Humboldt Park and Logan Square.

From what she has seen during the recession, Karen says that buyers are getting smarter, "either through their diligence, or through direct experience of not being able to do what they thought they could do."

NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review The Silver District