Downtown living has never been more popular in Chicago, but a move to the metropolis often means high-rises so close you can watch your neighbors’ TV. MCL Companies’ ParkView is an attempt to address this problem. The 268-condo 47-story high-rise has a central downtown location, at 505 N McClurg Ct, but with a new 70,000-square-foot park next door, residents should have some room to breathe.

“The big draw is we’re close to Michigan Avenue, we’re close to the lake and Navy Pier, but we have this huge park which allows a lot of green space,” said Michael Maier, vice president of sales and marketing for MCL. “A lot of other buildings are clustered on top of each other. No matter what building is built next to (ParkView), this building is guaranteed this park and green space.”

Park influenced design

The park was as crucial to the building’s designers as to its marketers. Using glass and copper, the architects created a building that will “sweep you into the park,” according to Devon Patterson, vice president of architecture firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates.

ParkView will sit on the western edge of the site, with the new park stretching east toward the lake, below the tower’s floor-to-ceiling windows. And the park isn’t the only unusual feature.

“(This will be) an elegant building with a very exciting palate of materials that will age as the building ages,” Patterson said. “That’s the unique thing about copper…it will continually improve.”

Heavy copper

The use of copper has been “unseen in the city of Chicago at this high of a level,” according to Patterson. New copper is the shiny auburn color many associate with the material and gradually ages to a green patina as it oxidizes.

The copper will accent a façade notable for its sharp lines and strong vertical emphasis, created in partly by columns of balconies that draw the eye upward.

The homes have one to three bedrooms and one to 2.5 baths, with prices that ranged from the $380s to more than $1 million for remaining units in August of ‘05. Features include nine-foot ceiling heights, hardwood floors, walk-in closets, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and Whirlpool tubs, panoramic views and private balconies. Sales started in April 2005, and by August, 60 units had been sold.

River East

ParkView is part of River East, a 13-acre master-planned community roughly bounded by the Chicago River, Grand Avenue, Columbus Drive and Lake Shore Drive. The community will include up to 2,500 residences, as well as hotels, restaurants and retailers when complete.

There are plans for a second 25-story tower adjacent to ParkView but designs have not been finalized, according to Patterson. Undeveloped parcels at River East include the site where the Fordham Company hopes to build its proposed Fordham Spire, and a parcel owned by LR Development next to Lake Shore Drive.

Construction on ParkView is scheduled to begin in December 2005, with first slated from fall 2007 to spring 2008. A sales center for ParkView is located at 445 E Illinois St, suite 450 .