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Live above the West Loop in this sky-high penthouse renting for $10K

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Behold, the highest apartment in the neighborhood

A curved living space with a kitchen, dining area, and seating area overlooking a row of tall buildings through a continuous wall of windows.
The spacious unit is on the top floor of 495-foot-tall 727 W. Madison apartment tower.
Photo courtesy of Downtown Apartment Company

Chicago’s rapidly developing West Loop neighborhood has no shortage of new luxury apartments available for well-heeled renters. This penthouse on the upper floor of the neighborhood’s tallest building literally tops them all—for $10,000 a month.

Rising nearly 500 feet in the air, the two-bedroom apartment sits on the 45th floor of the 727 W. Madison apartment tower. The glassy building opened late last year just west of the Kennedy Expressway. The unit’s curvaceous open floorplan hugs the structure’s southern edge, where the tower’s elliptical layout is on full display.

A oval bathtub in front of a window facing a cluster of tall skyscrapers.
A tub with a view.
Jim Tschetter

Notable features include a high-end kitchen with full-size Viking appliances, a smart thermostat system, and lots of marble in the master bathroom. Ethan Allen staged the space, and the furniture can be purchased as a whole, piece by piece, or removed before move in.

For all of the unit’s bells and whistles, the view is the real star. The wrap-around, floor-to-ceiling vistas include the glass and steel mountains of downtown to the east as well as Illinois’s pancake-flat topography stretching as far as the eye can see to the south and west. The angle from the freestanding tub in the master bathroom is especially jaw-dropping.

At 1,885 square feet in size, the home is the roomiest apartment in the building, as well as its most private. Because it is the only residential unit on the floor, you won't have to interact with too many neighbors. The apartment does, however, share the level with the building’s “sky lounge” amenity space at the tower’s opposite end.

While paying $10,000 in monthly rent is unrealistic most Chicagoans, there is clearly a market for these types of properties considering that developers continue to offer them in new buildings. In June, a massive 8,000-square-foot penthouse at the Old Town Park development hit the market for a headline-grabbing $45,000 per month.

A kitchen with large counters and an oversized stone island. The space flows into a larger living space lined with windows.
The kitchen has high-end cabinets, appliances, and marble counters.
Downtown Apartment Company
A sofa, coffee, rug, and two chairs are staged in front of a wall of windows overlooking much lower buildings extending to the horizon.
The opposite end of the wide-open main living space has room for ample seating.
Downtown Apartment Company
A white-framed bed sits against a wall flanked by two nightstands topped with lamps. There is a bench at the foot and a dresser on the opposite wall. Tall buildings are visible out the windows.
The master bedroom offers skyline views to the east.
Jim Tschetter
A bathroom with white stone floors and shower behind a glass door lined with stone tiles. There is a large mirror above a vanity with two sinks and wood drawers.
A master suite also includes a marble floor and shower as well as a massive double vanity.
Jim Tschetter