Bucktown Condo Building Wins Builder Magazine Project Of the Year

Glass and steel are a long-time Chicago real estate tradition. Urban developer Bob Ranquist has been melding the two materials in projects with a contemporary edge and his work has helped invigorate the city’s hip Bucktown neighborhood.  Much like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe did downtown, Randquist is putting his modern fingerprint on this near northwest side Chicago neighborhood.

The modern four-story condo building at 1615 N. Wolcott Street, an anchor in the final phase of a revitalization project known as “Urban Sandbox,” and winner of Builder Magazine’s design of the 2009.  Designed to complement the modern style single-family homes on the same block, it’s perhaps a proposition of function following contemporary-form.

The building was design and built in collaboration with highly respected architect Dave Miller. The fact that the frame installation was an add-on at the end allowed for more efficient construction sequencing and required less of a staging area according to Builder Magazine.  Steel tubes and wide flanges were combined to form two-story modules, which were then craned up and bolted in place once the building shell was intact. The final step was clipping translucent, modular panels in between the frames.

The eight-unit building houses a mix of two-bedroom flats, three-bedroom lofts, and twin penthouses with access to private roof decks.  Ranquist specified the pro forma as mixed-use and included an 1,800-square-foot office space on the ground floor, which is now occupied by a pediatric dentist.  A native Chicagoan who is familiar with the area will no doubt take immediate notice of its stunning exterior.

Once on the site of a former warehouse, the building maintains the same 50 foot height as a commercial zoning allowance would.  “We wanted to build as high as we could because that’s what you do in the city of Chicago,” says Ranquist director of development John Pawlicki. “You can see for miles from inside these units. Other commercial buildings will be able to build just as high, but not higher, so the views will never be blocked.”

The fact that the site is a mere half block to a commercial district teeming with cafes, clubs, high-end retail, offices, and an elevated train station. The building opened in March 2009 with prices as high as $1.4 million and now has just one flat available of the original eight.