Chicago's Millenium Park Sparks High End Housing Development

Modernist Millenium Park has transformed Chicago's East Loop area from a low-key office and commercial district into one of the city's hottest housing markets. A 2005 study commissioned by the city found that the park is responsible for about $1.4 billion in residential development and for increasing residential real estate values in the area by $100 a square foot. James Kinney, local real estate executive explains: "You've got the park, the harbor, Navy Pier, the museums and other cultural attractions and easy access to expressways and public transportation. It's a pretty unbeatable combination."

New modernist buildings contain a mix of residential uses. Aqua Tower, an 80-story high-rise by architect Jeanne Gang, will have a 215-room hotel and 476 rental apartments on the lower floors and 263 condos on top. Its design takes inspiration from Lake Michigan: "The building has a sensuous rippling facade created through the use of irregularly shaped concrete floor slabs. Ms. Gang, a protégée of the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, said the inspiration was striated limestone outcroppings that are a common topographic feature of the Great Lakes region. 'We were looking at ways to tie the building to its place and realized the lake is the biggest thing in the area,' Ms. Gang said."