The Enterprise Companies has turned away from the style, or lack of style, displayed in its first Museum Park buildings, thank the architectural gods. This prominent site, clearly visible from Lake Shore Drive, is part of a stretch that perhaps more than any other, helps form visitors’ impressions of Chicago. Large numbers of people, in fact, know the city almost exclusively by the view from Lake Shore.

They’ll have much more to peruse when One Museum Park is completed. The 62-story tower, designed by architects Pappageorge Haymes, curves and unfolds with the grace of a flower, form following function to a degree approaching brilliance.

The glass and steel of this phase contrast sharply with the clunky columns and concrete of the earlier buildings that awkwardly imitate the classical architecture of the Museum Campus.

New price point in South Loop

The tower, at 1215 S Prairie Ave will rise on the southern edge of Grant Park, along Lake Shore Drive. The building will have 289 units with one to three bedrooms and one to three baths. Penthouses will have up to six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms and push the South Loop to a new level of luxury.

In October 2007, the condos were priced from about $558 to $820 per square foot, a new high for the neighborhood. Units range from about 2,210 to 3,421 square feet, with prices from the $550s to $2.7 million in late 2007.

A private club

The One Museum Park Club, on the fifth floor of the building, will have a heated indoor lap pool, an outdoor swimming pool, a rooftop sundeck, a fitness center, an extra room for Pilates or yoga, a sauna and an Owners’ Club with an adjacent restaurant-quality kitchen. The building will also have 24-hour door staff, concierge services and heated indoor parking priced from $27,000 to $55,000 per spot.

Construction was scheduled to start in fall 2005. It will be built on a three-day pour cycle, according to Enterprise: concrete will be poured for another floor every three days. A temporary seal after the 36^th story will allow the Enterprise Companies to open the first half of the building for occupancy in late 2007 while continuing construction on the upper levels.

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