Not many people living in new-construction condos would delight in telling guests the “backstory” of their home, but residents in loft buildings are always buying a story along with their loft. Motor Row Lofts offers Chicago buyers both the best backstory and the best features we’ve seen in loft conversions this year.
In the early 1900s, automakers competed to build increasingly lavish showrooms and service centers in a concentrated district on South Michigan Avenue. Today, the buildings that once housed early Fords, Buicks and Fiats make up the Motor Row Historic District, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
The three adjacent buildings that make up the 52-unit Motor Row Lofts, 2301 S. Michigan Ave., were designed by the famed Chicago architectural firm of Holabird & Roche, whose other works include City Hall, the Palmolive Building and the original Soldier Field, and completed between 1911 and 1915. They feature multi-colored terra cotta façades, oversized windows and heavy timber construction, an increasing rarity in new loft conversions. Owners in the white terra cotta building on the corner can saw they live in “the Cadillac of lofts” and actually mean it — that five-story building was once home to the luxury automaker.
Renovated interiors combine the luxury finishes of new construction with everything loft-lovers look for — exposed timber ceilings, spiral ductwork, and brick walls and ceiling heights of 13 to 21 feet. Some units have new steel balconies and others have private rooftop decks. There’s also a common roof deck with skyline views and hookups for gas grilles.
Prices on the one- to three-bedroom lofts range from the $230s to the $650s, and the developer, Motor Row Development Corporation, has applied for the Illinois Property Tax Assessment Freeze Program, which could mean an eight-year rate freeze on owner assessments.
