Six months into the Covid-19 pandemic, home has taken on new meaning, as our wants and needs have changed. For many people, home has literally and figuratively become the center of the universe, and reflects not only our desire for safety and security but also our practical need to accomplish so much more within four walls.

Everybody deserves to live luxuriously. Luckily for us, being in the Chicagoland area means that luxury living is always right at our fingertips.  We’ve gathered a list of the 5 hottest developments in the Chicagoland area, developments that define luxury in their own way.

Check out this list and let us know what your favorite development is!

Chicago-based Convexity Properties and its exclusive sales and marketing firm, @properties, announced the opening of a designer model residence at 4 East Elm, a new luxury high-rise condominium building in Chicago’s Gold Coast. The building, where homes are available for immediate delivery, recently surpassed the 75-percent sold mark.

Floral Avenue, a new-home community that is ushering in a movement of urban-scale housing in American suburbs, has reached an important milestone, welcoming its first homeowners. The community, which is located in Skokie, Ill., about 10 miles north of downtown Chicago, features 20 custom-tailored single-family homes ranging in price from $495,000 to $850,000.

Large floor plans, ‘town center’ location and nationally-ranked schools highlight maintenance-free condominiums in Vernon Hills.

Contemporary 15-story high rise will feature large layouts, exclusive, contemporary finishes and private 2- and 3-car garages

Chicago-based Smithfield Properties and its exclusive sales and marketing agency, @properties, have announced the start of sales for 400 West Huron, a new high-rise condominium development located at the corner of Huron and Sedgwick Streets in Chicago’s River North neighborhood.

The 15-story high-rise features 26 condominiums ranging from 2,144 to 4,931 square feet. Plans offer two bedrooms plus a den to four bedrooms plus a den, 2-1/2 to 4-1/2 baths, and large balconies or terraces with up to 2,650 square feet of outdoor living space. Floor plans are limited to either two or three units per floor. Base prices range from $1.25 million to $4 million, which includes a private two- or three-car garage, per plan to initial buyers.

In a recent Crain’s Chicago Business article, reporter David Lee Matthews writes “the downtown apartment construction boom has fueled a new trend: the pied-a-terre rental.”

One prime example of a development that’s attracting people looking for a pied-à-terre is 850 Lake Shore Drive – the transformation of the historic Lake Shore Athletic Club to luxury apartments. At 850 Lake Shore Drive, 12 to 15 percent of new tenants own a primary residence elsewhere, according to Matt Phillips of Integrated Development Group. Phillips told Crain’s “Many people moving would rather have a new or newer unit, and there just haven’t been many new condominium projects.”

Webster Square Apartments, the only new-construction luxury apartment building in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, has surpassed the 90-percent-leased mark with just six units remaining. The 75-unit building, developed and managed by affiliates of Chicago-based Sandz Development Company, Inc., opened this spring. Chicago-based brokerage firm @properties has overseen leasing and marketing.

@properties, the largest independent real estate brokerage firm in Illinois, and Seneca Property & Asset Management, a Chicago-based property management firm, recently formed a strategic partnership to offer multi-family owners and investors a full-service property management and leasing solution.

@properties will provide leasing services, while Seneca Property & Asset Management handles property management. Michael Golden and Thaddeus Wong, co-founders of @properties, and Tom Morabito, president of Seneca Property & Asset Management, will jointly oversee the venture.

The venture’s first assignment is 850 Lake Shore Drive, a 198-unit, Class A apartment community by Chicago-based Integrated Development Group and Washington, DC-based National Real Estate Advisors. Straddling two of Chicago’s most affluent downtown neighborhoods, the Gold Coast and Streeterville, 850 Lake Shore Drive involves the adaptive re-use and top-to-bottom renovation of the historic Lakeshore Athletic Club building, built in 1927. Monthly rents at the property range from $2,290 per month for a studio to $12,000 for a three-bedroom duplex apartment.

Chicago-based Convexity Properties recently held the groundbreaking for 4 East Elm, the first new condominium high-rise to begin construction on Chicago’s North Side in five years and the first in the Gold Coast since 2007. The development offers 35 half- and full-floor condominiums ranging in price from $2.2 million to $7.2 million. Sales began this summer.

The groundbreaking ceremony included Donald R. Wilson, chairman of Convexity Properties and DRW Holdings; Chicago Deputy Mayor Steven Koch; and 2nd Ward Alderman Robert Fioretti. Also on hand were representatives from @properties, which is conducting sales for 4 East Elm; general contractor Leopardo Construction; project architect Solomon Cordwell Buenz; interior design firm Gary Lee Partners; and construction manager Daccord LLC, all based in Chicago.