Edgewater already was an affluent community of large houses and peaceful beaches when the Edgewater Beach Hotel opened in 1916, but the exclusive institution became an immediate symbol of the community. Its extravagant Marshall & Fox design – Spanish-style stucco in the shape of a Maltese cross to maximize lake exposures – drew celebrities from Bette Davis and Babe Ruth to Marilyn Monroe and Nat King Cole as the hotel became the place to see and be seen in Chicago.
As the decades progressed Edgewater grew denser and more urban and like most city neighborhoods, suffered its share of problems. Most of the hotel was torn down in the late ’60s and only the giant pink beacon of the Edgewater Beach Apartments, an annex built in 1927, remains.
But since the early ’90s, Edgewater like much of the city, has seen a rebirth, with commercial strips revitalized, old homes rehabbed and new development rising on nearly every available lot. It’s fitting then that the new Catalpa Gardens development, a 126-unit condo project slated for 5539 N. Broadway, displays the same sort of flamboyant style that marked the Edgewater Beach Hotel and an earlier heyday in the north lakefront neighborhood.
The design, by Thomas J. Green, of Greene and Proppe Design, calls for three brightly colored 11-story towers connected by glass walkways. The side of the building that faces the adjacent elevated train tracks will be painted in an undulating pattern of blue and beige that might echo the waves of the nearby Foster Avenue Beach. In between the buildings the fourth-floor courtyards contain landscaped “tea gardens” where vines overflow, creeping down the outer wall. The rooftops hold more gardens decorated with red gazebo-like structures.
“Catalpa Gardens Condominiums is destined to become a neighborhood landmark because of its unique architecture,” said William A. Lockhart, who is a development partner along with Charles Cornelius and Reza Toulabi, owner two Reza’s Restaurants in Chicago, including one in Andersonville, at 5255 N. Clark.
Acquisition of the site and the original idea for Catalpa Gardens came from Toulabi, a prominent business and property owner in Andersonville.
Designing the development as three towers instead of one large building maximizes light and views, said Wayne Caplan, a senior associate at Sheldon Good Brokerage, which is marketing the units.
“The three-towers design, as opposed to one single building, will create an additional eight desirable corner units, bringing us to a total of 12 corner units per floor,” Caplan said.
Base prices on one-bedrooms range from $155,900 to $236,900, and two-bedrooms are priced from $259,900 to $366,900. Plans call for the towers to be built atop a three-story garage structure that will have 185 heated parking spaces, some of which will be available for purchase to neighborhood residents and business owners.
All condos have 1.5 or two baths and private outdoor space on a balcony, rooftop or terrace. Features include hardwood floors in living areas, gas fireplaces with stone hearths (per plan), ceramic tile baths, Moen bathroom faucets, granite countertops, maple cabinetry and GE stainless-steel appliance packages. Development amenities will include a rooftop community room with a sundeck, a rooftop dog walk, a penthouse workout room and an on-site building management office.
The Catalpa Gardens Condominiums sales center is now open at 5539 N. Broadway, on the north end of the development site.