On the Market

The Legacy Tower Looks Like a Great Place to Live Downtown

For a closer look at the house, launch the photo gallery »
 

List Price: From $393,000 to $7.5 million
The Property: The Legacy Tower is a 72-story condo building that overlooks Millennium Park, the Art Institute, Michigan Avenue, and lots of other wonderful downtown Chicago destinations. Yet though it overlooks Michigan Avenue, it’s not actually on Michigan. Nor is it on Wabash Avenue, which is a block behind it. Instead, it rises from the center of a block of historical buildings.

So while the tower you see on the skyline is very sleek and 21st century, with a zipper of balconies running all the way up the front, when arriving at the building on the sidewalk level (at 60 East Monroe Street), you’re entering an older, classic Chicago commercial building.

“We really didn’t want the building to impose on its neighbors,” says Jim Hanson, principal of Mesa Development, the company that built the tower (which was designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz). “We’re in a historic district here, and we wanted the building in the middle of the block surrounded by landmark properties. So you enter through a classic front door.”

One of the ways the building is plugged into its surroundings is pretty literal. As you will see in today’s video, a bridge goes from the Legacy into the University Club on Michigan Avenue. This connection brings residents of the condos into the historic club, with access to its dining, catering, and guest rooms; in the other direction, in the new tower, is a set of squash courts that are shared by residents of the Legacy and members of the University Club.

Also on that level are other exercise areas, including a line of rowing machines that look poised to head right out onto Lake Michigan. On the floor above is a swimming pool and spa area also facing the lake. Higher up in the building are two very large community rooms, two-story spaces with big outdoor terraces that look mainly to the west.

In the condos, everything is opened up to the view, including the kitchens. The kitchens and baths in the model have stylish, sophisticated finishes (of course buyers can finish their own units other ways if they like). And wherever you are within those condos, you have that nice view in one direction or another.

Condos on the west side of the building look out to the Willis Tower and all through the Loop—but they also look east. The building is shaped so that condos on the west side of the building sit in “ears” that extend on the south and north sides of the building. The living rooms there look east past much of the building toward the park and the lake.

The entire 71st floor, the highest floor where there is still space available for sale, is occupied by a 10,000-square-foot condo. That’s pretty big, but the views match it in size. On the north, you see everything up to and beyond the Chicago River—and you can look an equal distance to the south. To the east there’s the park and Lake Michigan, both framed in the floor-to-ceiling window and visible from the balcony. (That balcony is the very top of that zipper visible from the park.) From it, you look down 71 stories over the Pritzker Pavilion, the serpentine bridge, and the lakefront. Here, at the top of the building, you’re tucked into the heart of downtown Chicago.

Price Points: About 135 of the building’s 365 condos remain for sale, Shea says. They range in size and price from an 875-square-foot one-bedroom unit for $393,000 up to the 10,000-square-foot penthouse, listed at $7.5 million. Most of the condos are priced in the $500,000 to $900,000 range.

Listing Agent: Sales in the building are handled by @Properties; 312-252-0600 or thelegacyatmillenniumpark.com

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