CHICAGO—Developers have recently created thousands of new luxury apartments in Chicago's downtown and its adjacent neighborhoods, but the suburbs are now getting their share. And developers like The Opus Group have found that suburban residents also want to live within or near a downtown, even if it's a suburban one, and have access to great transportation options that can connect them to Chicago.

Minneapolis-based Opus has just completed Uptown La Grange – a luxury apartment community located 17 miles west of downtown Chicago in the Village of La Grange. The five-story, 450,000-square-foot building sits on the former site of the Rich Port YMCA in downtown La Grange and has a total of 254 units with a variety of floor plans ranging from studios to three bedrooms as well as three walk-up units on the ground level.

“The suburban Chicago market has really taken off in the past couple of years, and there are now a number of really successful apartment communities,” Bryan Farquhar, senior manager, real estate development, Opus Development Co., LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. “There is a very strong market for what we call the urban-suburban demographic.”

These groups want downtown-type amenities, but prefer the suburbs, perhaps because they work in outlying areas. And if their luxury development sits near a train line, “they still have convenient access to downtown Chicago in order to enjoy what it has to offer on the weekends.”

La Grange was named the top transit-oriented suburb in the Chicago region by the Chaddick Institute in 2012. Uptown La Grange is just two blocks from the Metra Station and a 20-minute express train ride to downtown Chicago. And residents are within walking distance of a wide variety of retail and dining options in downtown La Grange. “This site fit perfectly into our strategy,” says Farquhar. “It checked all of the boxes.”

The community features a range of luxury amenities, including a rooftop terrace deck, dog run, fitness center, bike repair area, club room, full demonstration kitchen and outdoor grills for resident use. Other shared spaces include billiards, a poker lounge, a bar area featuring a built in kegerator, an outdoor pool and a bocce court. Additionally, each unit includes high-quality interior finishes such as quartz countertops, in-unit washers and dryers and walk-in closets in all bedrooms.

Opus broke ground on the project in November 2015, with the first wave of resident move-ins occurring this April. The company has been marketing the property to millennials, young professionals and empty-nesters. The last group has become increasingly important to the luxury market, both in the city and the suburbs. “They are not sacrificing anything in terms of finishes,” says Farquhar, and by dispensing with mortgages, property taxes, upkeep and all the other expenses associated with homeownership, “they free up their cash flow for other things,” such as travel.

“And most of the luxury product in the suburbs is ten to fifteen years old,” he adds. The recent suburban apartment boom has not yet bridged the gap between supply and demand, and that makes it a very promising landscape for developers like Opus. Uptown LaGrange, for example, is the first upscale rental option of its kind in the area.

Opus Development Co., LLC was the developer of this project, Opus Design Build, LLC was the design builder and Opus AE Group, LLC was the architect and structural engineer of record and the interior designer. Opus has retained Greystar to lease and manage the building.

Opus is still scoping out other sites for luxury apartments. In the fall, the firm will break ground on another development, this time 165 units in downtown Elmhurst.

Instant Insights /

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