Architect/developer David Hovey's Optima Chicago Center opens this weekend, and Curbed was on hand for a preview event Thursday night. A joint venture of Optima and DeBartolo Development birthed the striking 42-story Streeterville tower, with a 60-story pairing on the way (more on that in a week or two). As we've laid out for readers previously, Optima Center Part I has 325 "luxury" apartments and 235 parking spaces encased in an opaque glass podium. The fun begins on the 10th floor, where we visited the fitness center, basketball mini-court, and swimming pool (a sexy beast), all flanked by outdoor terraces. Not looking to get sweaty, we soon departed for the 32nd floor "Residents' Club" with its lounge areas and flatscreen TVs. Once again, a terrace came into play: a tremendously long one with diverse city views and a particularly fine close-up of the Tribune Tower. Back inside, opposite the elevator bays, is a cluster of supplemental one-bed units designated for nightly leasing for guests or in-laws, as Optima owner Eileen Hovey explained.
Hovey is unabashedly proud of the building, and sensitive to any minor imperfections. For instance, up on the 41st floor roof deck is a metal trellis meant to encourage dramatic vine growth over the top of the tower. But all you see for the time being is steel grating. That small detail wasn't lost on Hovey. Otherwise, the consensus from her and visitors to the building, confirmed through the barrel of the camera, is that Optima is one of the most impressive new residential structures, architecturally and pragmatically, rental or otherwise. The rooftop reinforces that claim, with its carpet of succulents, sun deck, fire pits, all-weather TVs, and railing's edge hydrotherapy pool.
The unit mix consists of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedrooms, with two three-bed penthouses. As for monthly rents, get ready for a taste of NYC: Studios start at $1,960; one-beds at $2,011; two-beds at $2,994; three-beds at $4,744; and penthouses at $10,154 and $10,311. Seventeen private offices are available for leasing by residents, and 17,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space is up for grabs.
·Optima Chicago Center [official]
·Optima Coverage [Curbed Chicago]
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