Last night Yo went along to the grand opening of The Tailor at Jackson, a West Loop loft development that we’ve told you about before.The 114-unit development is a conversion of the old White Tower building, which originally housed a garment-maker on the 800-block of Jackson Boulevard. It’s one of the tallest buildings in the West Loop.
The upper units of the building will boast sweeping views of the city skyline, including Sears Tower, the John Hancock Center, the University of Illinois, Chicago, and a scrappy little car wash company.
The building’s lower floors are home to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s G2 gallery. I have to say, it beats having a parasitic bank or a Seven-Eleven as an anchor tenant. Give me great art (and even the mediocre stuff) over slurpee machines and stale, overpriced food any day.
Needless to say, the crowd was suitably hip, and the developer, The Tenley Group, apparently took a few reservations.
One of the attractions of The Tailor at Jackson is that it eschews the Mc-value combo deal approach to interior design that afflicts so many Chicago developments these days. Interiors are by Chicago design company jamesthomas, and come in contemporary, traditional and middle-of-the-road looks. The model showcased featured sleek bathroom fixtures, cool, square bathroom counters and silestone countertops.
Unfortunately, the very ordinary photo we took of the model’s kitchen doesn’t do it justice. This particular floor plan (one of 19), features a huge kitchen island which doubles as a dining table/cocktail bar/you name it. It’s wide enough to prepare food on while someone else sits opposite you.
It’s such a great use of space that it almost makes you forget that you wanted a separate dining area. The added bonus is that you could sit and eat dinner side-by-side your family members without having to look them in the face.
We hope to see more from The Tenley Group, which hails from Washington D.C., and is a new kid on the block in Chicago.
Developers take note: it is possible to be imaginative. It won’t kill you and the marketplace will probably reward you.