Luxury Rentals

As was the case last summer, cranes are up all over the City of Chicago.  Most of what is under construction will be rental rather than condominiums.  Most require a heavy monthly outlay.  Some 7,000 rental units are under construction, with somewhere around 3,000 to be completed this year.  Another 4,200 are projected for completion next year.  And I am not even talking about the mammoth developments planned for Goose Island and the vacant no-man's land adjacent to the east of the river from Roosevelt Boulevard down to Chinatown.  The monthly rental rate can hit $4 per square foot in the luxury buildings lining the river in central downtown--that's $8,000 a month for a 2,000 square foot apartment in case you are keeping score.  That's a lot of scratch, but tenants get fabulous common space, with fire pits, gyms, screening rooms, business cubicles, gardens, and saunas.  A single person never has to leave the building or log on to Tinder, which I think is the appeal.

Of course, many people cannot afford such exorbitant monthly rates.  One developer has apparently found  the solution:  Great river views and in-door plumbing.  Just don't sleepwalk.  It's a long way down.