The Marquette Companies’ Front Street Lofts development, currently under construction in Lemont, offers the first residential opportunity in the village’s Downtown Redevelopment Project.
Lemont is located 30 miles southwest of Chicago along Interstate 55 and has a population of 15,000 residents. The community is home to several well-known attractions, including Cog Hill Golf Club, home of the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, and the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. Commuters are a 50-minute ride from downtown Chicago via the Lemont stop on Metra’s Heritage Corridor line.
Three years ago, the village of Lemont and The Marquette Companies joined together to promote the Lemont Downtown Redevelopment Project. It’s unusual for a developer and a small town to co-promote a development, but the city leaders felt that the vision for their downtown deserved this unique type of project.
When complete, the Lemont Downtown Redevelopment Project will comprise 10 city blocks along the historic I&M Canal and will offer 400 new residences, 750 structured parking spaces and 150,000 square feet of new commercial space.
Front Street Lofts consists of four buildings containing 82 loft condominiums. Delivery of 17 of the 29 sold units will begin this month.
“When we first started this project, the town had kind of a ‘show me’ attitude,” says project manager Art Betuzzi. “But now that the lofts are a reality, there is a real air of excitement.”
When complete, the four buildings will house lofts ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, including one building containing only duplex units. The studios and one- to three-bedroom residences range in size from 836 square feet to just under 2,000 square feet and are priced from $219,900 to $495,000, with one exception – a three bedroom residence priced at $628,000 and containing 2,323 square feet.
The four buildings are built around a 262-car parking facility, and each unit is allocated one free parking space.
“The design process for this project was somewhat unique,” says Chris Payne, a principal with Sullivan Goulette, the project’s architecture firm. “The exterior is what I would call a ‘new urbanist’ aesthetic in that it tries to get away from the Chicago styles of architecture by incorporating architectural cues such as motif and stone work from some of Lemont’s older historical structures.”
Payne goes on to explain that the “loft” characteristics of the interiors are not consistent. “Some units are almost completely finished, while others are true all-concrete with completely open designs,” he says.
Betuzzi explains that going from hard-loft to soft-loft to almost-no-loft was done to attract different types of buyers.
“First-time buyers looking for a modest one-bedroom are different from empty-nesters who are used to living in a house and are now downsizing to a duplex,” he explains, adding that early in the redevelopment process, the village held a design “charrette,” during which people were invited to submit their designs for various aspects of the village redevelopment.
Some of the unit amenities include balconies throughout, fireplaces in select floor plans, maple kitchen cabinetry, stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops in kitchens and baths, ceramic bathroom flooring, first-floor hardwood flooring in duplexes, washer/dryer hookups, and multimedia wiring. In addition, each unit includes a $7,500 furniture allowance at Avanti Furniture.
The Front Street Lofts of Lemont sales center is located at 102 Stephen St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.