The Fairbanks at CityFront Plaza is the first phase of a mixed-use project set to replace R.M. Chin & Associates’ failed Grand Pier project, which halted a few years back after a string of environmental, contractor and financing problems.

Developer Raymond Chin only realized eight stories of his ambitious vision, leaving Centrum Properties with a large parking garage to work into its development. Centrum tried to turn that leftover structure into an asset for its planned 31-story condo tower, creating a large private landscaped plaza over a base of residential lofts and parking.

Among other things, this configuration allows for “terrace homes,” immediately above the base, with private outdoor gardens. These large units have 1,068 to 1,903 square feet and in July 2005, were priced from the $500s.

To facilitate construction of the Streeterville highrise over the existing garage, the Fairbanks was designed as a steel frame structure, according to Scott Sarver, of DeStefano & Partners, architects for the project.

“It’s a very unusual building because it’s steel,” Sarver said. “There are higher floor-to-floor heights.” Chicago’s residential towers tend to be concrete, but Sarver said steel construction would allow Centrum to build higher, maximize views and create soft curves on the north and south faces of the building.

Centrum bought the site, bounded by Saint Clair Street, Illinois Street, Fairbanks Court and Grand Avenue, in December of 2004, planning roughly 1,000 luxury condos in three phases. Phase II of CityFront Plaza calls for a 65-story tower with condominiums, a boutique hotel and a spa, and phase III will be a 40-story condo building.

The entire development is expected to be complete in four or five years, according to Nathalie Tourre, sales manager for the Fairbanks. The first of those phases, the Fairbanks, has 281 units with prices that ranged from the mid-$300s to more than $2 million as sales opened in June 2005.

The condos have one to three bedrooms, one to three baths and indoor parking spaces priced from about $40,000 to $60,000. Features include floor-to-ceiling windows, pre-wired media centers, marble tile bathrooms, Kohler and Grohe fixtures, granite countertops and built-in stainless steel appliances.

The building will have 24-hour door staff, a concierge, a garden terrace with an outdoor pool and fitness center, a clubroom with a pool table, a business center, a private theater, a media room and a bar. The Fairbanks at CityFront Plaza is slated to break ground during the first quarter of 2006, and a sales center opened on site, at 240 E Illinois St, in late June 2005.

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