The three Residences on Lake Shore Park condominiums make buyers cozy in the city.

A facade for one of the buildings in the high-rise residential development fronts elegant Lake Shore Drive, and the entire project is located in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. Reflecting the urbane flavor of what is among the toniest areas of the city was important to get community support and attract buyers, said Ted Weldon, senior vice president and director of acquisitions for Chicago-based LR Development Co., the developer.

It was also vital to provide at least one parking space for each of the approximately 293 units in the three buildings - the 26-story 840 N. Lake Shore Drive, 16-story Belvedere and 35-story Pearson - because many purchasers expect that amenity.

"Typically, when you see high-rises going up today, you have a huge base with parking in it," Weldon said. A potential conflict arose because a wide base for parking - typically called a podium or pedestal - might have adversely affected the neighborhood's appearance and sightlines.

Pearson Street, the road the development faces, has the distinctive street wall often found in venerable urban neighborhoods, and the expansive views of the streetscape from Lake Shore Park across the street needed preservation. "The key to this was to respect the park," Weldon added.

The 450 parking spaces will be incorporated in the development's two-level, shared basement, said Don Biernacki, senior vice president of construction for LR Development. The street wall and sightlines are protected, and the unsightly scene of hundreds of parked cars in a garage is kept out of sight.

The property for the development was acquired from Northwestern University, and as part of the purchase, the mat-slab foundation for a parking garage the university still owns north of the project was allowed to encroach into the site about 11 ft., he said. The condominiums' foundation walls could not touch the university's.

The six levels of parking were cantilevered over the mat slab, Biernacki said. Columns that are about 1 ft. wide and 8 ft. long carry the overhang.

Contextual elements help make the buildings a proper addition to the neighborhood. A cornice affixed to the south facade of the 840 N. Lake Shore Drive building at the height of the top of the Belvedere, for instance, relates the two structures, said Lucien Lagrange, president of Lucien Lagrange Architects Inc., designer of 840 N. Lake Shore Drive.

Considerate about Construction

Being neighborly was important during construction itself.

Area residents were kept informed about the work progress, said Bruce Lake, president of Chicago-based James McHugh Construction Co., the project's general contractor. Construction started at 8 a.m., rather than the usual 7 a.m., because of neighborhood rules.

Complaints were heeded. Shades, for instance, were placed on the tower cranes to direct the light beams because of grumbling from residents about the brightness.
Sandwich wrappers and similar debris were picked up so that they didn't end up in the park.

"We educated our workforce in the fact that this is a residential neighborhood, and we wanted everybody being treated with respect and dignity," Lake said.

About the Residences

The project began in June 2001 and is expected to finish this fall. The cost was not released.

The buildings' numbers vary. The 538,000-sq.-ft. Pearson has 179 units; the 197,000-sq.-ft. Belvedere has 41 units; and the 320,000-sq.-ft. 840 N. Lake Shore Drive is expected to have about 70 units. The count of units in 840 N. Lake Shore Drive isn't firm because flexibility in the floor plan for that building might affect the final number, Lake said.

The average unit floor sizes range between 1,700 sq. ft. for the Pearson and 3,400 sq. ft. for the 840 N. Lake Shore Drive. Similarly, unit costs vary between $400,000 and $1 million for the Pearson to $1.3 million and $9 million for the ultra-upscale 840 N. Lake Shore Drive.

Cast-in-place concrete provides the main structural support for each of the buildings, though structural steel holds the roof of 840 N. Lake Shore Drive. The 840 N. Lake Shore Drive is clad with precast, the Belvedere with brick and the Pearson mostly with painted concrete.

Amenities include landscaped roofs, fitness centers and concierges, Biernacki said. The individual units of the 840 N. Lake Shore Drive can be fully customized in terms of the selection of finishes and the layout of rooms. Some customizing options are available for units in the other two buildings.

Heading Down, Then Up

Critical issues were faced below and above ground.

Three buildings that had previously been on the site were demolished, but their caissons remained, Lake said. Occasionally, the old caissons were in the way of new ones needed to handle the pressure of column lines directly above.

The answer was to situate two new caissons near the obstruction and place a grade beam between new ones, he said. No old caissons were reused.

Unlike the old foundations, the previous buildings' basement walls proved useful, Lake said. Because the western reach of the project is less than a mile from Lake Michigan, water can infiltrate the site. The walls were used in many locations to keep water out.

Other measures ensured the site stayed dry, such as two different types of wells, he said. Deep wells for drainage were sunk before the slab on grade was laid, and later a well-point system was established on the site perimeter to keep the hydrostatic pressure from causing flotation or uplift.

"We're 8 ft. below lake level, so we had 8 ft. of hydraulic head," Lake said. "That's not a huge amount, but you do have to design for it."

A bentonite membrane was put on the foundation walls' exterior to prevent the penetration of water. "It was designed as a bathtub," he added.

Above grade, Chicago's blustery winds occasionally exceeded 50 mph - poor conditions for swinging the arm of a tower crane or setting precast cladding.

Heavy materials, such as reinforcing steel, were used to weigh down light objects in windy conditions, and the job was shut down, Lake said. Shutdowns due to wind occurred about six times, but some delays due to the weather were built into the schedule.

Coordinating Condos

Organizing the delivery and staging of materials required patience.

LR Development, for instance, is itself doing the build-out construction of units in two buildings, 840 N. Lake Shore Drive and the Belvedere, Biernacki said. Receiving and staging of materials for this work overlaps with the construction of the core and shell.
Most materials for the interior arrive in the afternoon, and those for the core and shell come at different times, he said. The hoists were scheduled on an hourly basis.

Some materials were arranged to arrive on a just-in-time basis, but there were limits to this procedure because of the high-end nature of the project, Biernacki said. Because of the opportunities purchasers have to tailor units, lead times of 12 to 14 weeks are expected for some materials, especially those that are arriving from Europe.

A space is dedicated to inventory, and a manager with experience in inventory management is in charge, Biernacki added. LR Development also maintains an architectural team with 22 designers, a carpentry staff and construction management team.
"Some people go with the floor plan as we present it, but that's very few," Biernacki said. "Most completely turn the floor plan completely upside down to accommodate their personal needs and things they like."
LR Development's experience in doing interior construction on multiple condominium projects has resulted in "hundreds" of different floor plans, he added.
Two different architects were involved in the project, Lucien Lagrange and Chicago-based DeStefano Keating Partners on the Pearson and Belvedere.
"It caused coordination to take on new levels of importance," Lake said. "We weren't just meeting with one architect to solve problems. We had multiple meetings and multiple resolutions to problems."

Paris on the Prairie

The project location in an elegant neighborhood influenced the architecture.
Mimicking the stylish boulevard architecture of Paris guided the plans for 840 N. Lake Shore Drive, Lagrange said. The Blackstone Hotel on South Michigan Avenue, a famed Chicago building from the early 20th Century, mirrors this style.
Elements on the 840 N. Lake Shore Drive building include a mansard roof, cupola atop the rounded corner on the building's southeast edge and vertical play to the window layout.

"It's aesthetic on the outside but also on the inside of the apartments," said Lagrange, who won a competition for the assignment. "I was convinced that this type of building should be on that site."

The zinc roof is another distinctive element. The material, which has a medium-gray hue, frequently clads the mansard-style roofs of European town homes.
"The standard is copper, but it turns green," he said. "I thought that would have been too common."