Chicago High Rise Condo Amenities: The Shared Spaces of Aqua

On Aqua’s amenity deck, you’ll find two floors of indoor and outdoor features that residents are happy to share. From a fitness center with engaging group classes to a outdoor space equipped with features diverse enough to include a zen garden, there are various means for residents of Aqua to interact.

• Running Track – Many high rise condo buildings have indoor fitness centers. Usually, you’ll find an array of exercise machines and perhaps a pool and fitness class studio. Aqua has the additional fitness feature of an outdoor running track that circles the fourth floor of the building. For walkers or runners, the soft-surface track provides a low-impact place to run, instead of the concrete sidewalks of downtown Chicago. Plus, it weaves through the green lawns and gardens of the fourth floor amenity deck and provides panoramic views of downtown including Millennium Park, Lake Michigan and the Chicago River while you exercise. In cold weather, it is kept snow-free, so resident runners can brave the cold weather for a jog if they wish!
• Media Room – Aqua’s Media Room brings together residents to view big games, movies and other exciting televised events. The room seats around 30 people in comfortable leather chairs, arranged stadium-style so everyone has a great view of the large projection screen. For events like our weekly movie nights or the ongoing World Cup, residents are treated to use of the room free and provided with snacks. Residents can also rent out the Media Room for private events for a small fee.
• Outdoor Entertainment Space – Our outdoor amenity deck has all the anticipated features, like a pool, hot tub and sunbathing area. But Aqua’s outdoor entertainment spaces really bring residents and their friends together. Cabanas with seating and umbrellas provide a great setting for al fresco dining with friends. Fire pits make a cozy place to congregate as the weather cools down. And grills allow you to even do your cooking outdoors! Entertaining is easy when you can meet up with friends on the amenity deck, instead of preparing your own place to host guests.

Events for Our Residents

Throughout the year, our Community Relations Director and team plan exciting events to introduce our residents to each other and the city of Chicago. Here are a few of the successful events that have happened in the past year, many of which are scheduled again for this year!

• Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise – Over 150 residents were able to take advantage of the complimentary CAF River Cruise last September.
• Festival in The Park – Also in September, the Community Relations team plans a festival in the Park at Lakeshore East. This year’s 4th Annual Festival in The Park is scheduled for Saturday, September 18th. In years past, the festival has featured over 70 Magellan Reward Partners in the expo style event. Over 700 residents attended last year. Residents and visitors will enjoy food and wine samples, free massages and shopping incentives.
• Cuvee Ultra Lounge – Lakeshore East has hosted two very successful events with over 100 residents at the River North lounge. Residents get to take advantage of complimentary champagne and specialty cocktail drinks. The private event allows Lakeshore East dwellers to mingle in a swanky setting!
• Lakeshore East Young Professional Events – The resident-founded Young Professional Group at Lakeshore East hosts regular events for residents who are members or interesting in joining. A spring event at Sweetwater on Michigan Avenue drew over 150 residents and filled half of the newly-opened restaurant! Drink specials and complimentary appetizers are generally available, and residents can meet, mingle and network with others who live in Lakeshore East residential developments.
• Movies in The Park – Going into our second summer season, Lakeshore East hosts monthly movie nights in The Park for residents. This year’s movie evenings are sponsored by Fifth/Third Bank and will occur on the last Thursday of June, July and August. Over 200 residents participated in the voting for the movies to be shown! The Movies in The Park are great for families as well as single residents.

You can read more about the events planned for Lakeshore East on our Community Corner blog.

Shopping on Michigan Avenue

Michigan Avenue’s chief attraction, and the element that has made it a travel destination, is its shopping. The mile of Michigan Ave. noted as the “Magnificent Mile” is filled with stores ranging from huge bargain bazaars like Forever 21 and H&M, to new international chains like Zara, to the outposts of some of fashion’s biggest brands like Ralph Lauren, Ferragamo and Michael Kors. On the north end of the Mag Mile, you’ll find the 900 Shops, a shopping center with department store shopping and upscale boutiques. Similarly, Water Tower Place just a block away is packed with all of the offerings a traditional mall in the heart of the best shopping in town.

Making a trip to experience this kind of shopping is nice, but when you live near Michigan Avenue in a residential tower on the Near East Side, you can regularly frequent the best shopping around town.

Where to Eat on Michigan Avenue

All that shopping have you hungry? Well, Michigan Avenue is made to be convenient for tourists and luckily, that makes it a great place to live near, too. Eateries high and low line the avenue, not to mention the dining options of several famous hotels. The Drake, the W, the Peninsula, the Intercontinental, the Hard Rock Hotel and the Palmer House Hilton all sit on or near the Michigan Avenue, which is good for their guests but great for downtown residents who can frequent their award-winning restaurants and bars.

Also, on the avenue is President Obama’s favorite Chicago restaurant, where he and Michelle often had their date nights– Spiaggia. Chef Tony Mantuano serves up perfect, high end Italian fare at his restaurant and its little sister, Cafe Spiaggia. He’s also a James Beard award winner and finalist on the TV show Top Chef Masters. Nearby on the avenue is a local and tourist favorite, Grand Luxe Cafe– the upscale American restaurant is known for great desserts like its molten chocolate cake. Finally, for a truly Chicago dining experience, eat atop the John Hancock tower at the Signature Room. On the 95th floor, not only do you get a beautiful dining room, world class service and fabulous food, but also views of four states on a clear day.

In addition to its shopping and food, living close to Chicago’s Michigan Avenue gives you the convenience and added value built into its touristy amenities. It is easily accessible by many kinds of public transit, it has great seasonal happenings like the lighting and ice skating rink during the winter holidays, and it’s connected to all the sights of Chicago you might want to see, like the Art Institute, Millennium Park, the Water Tower building. It’s a quick trip from the Magnificent Mile to Navy Pier, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium, as well as Soldier Field and the Field Museum.

Visiting the area is fun vacation for many people across the nation, and living there is a vacation everyday. See the appeal of Michigan Avenue living for yourself by expanding your real estate search to this well known Chicago destination.

Gold Coast History and Architecture

The history of the Gold Coast area is integral to its exclusivity. It has been one of the select places to live in Chicago since the city’s origination. Now, the area is defined by its borders on North Avenue and Division Street on the north, Lake Michigan on the east, Chicago Avenue on the south and Clark and Franklin Streets on the west.

During the late 1800s and after the great Chicago fire, the area began to see the mansions of many wealthy Chicago families because of its proximity to Lake Shore Drive and the beach. A neighborhood of prominent families and recognizable homes made the area’s real estate highly valued. Potter Palmer and James Charnley, two of the richest men in the country in the late 1800s, built mansions in the area. The Charnley-Persky House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, still stands and you can tour the historic home.

While there are still some single-family homes in the area, the real estate in the neighborhood now consists mostly of luxury condos, high-rise developments and townhomes. One of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country, it is a very safe, beautiful and comfortable place to live in Chicago.

Gold Coast Attractions: Food, Shopping and Oak Street Beach

With affluent residents and highly-priced homes, you can expect that incredible shopping will follow. From luxury brand locations to upscale boutiques, the Gold Coast is a known shopping destination in Chicago. Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada, Gucci, Chanel and Harry Winston are just some of the recognizable names you’ll find in the Gold Coast.

For food, you can eat at Oprah’s favorite fine dining location, Table Fifty-Two. Chef Art Smith brings upscale class to Southern soul food in a perfect mix of taste and flavor. Tavern On Rush is another well-known name on the Chicago dining scene, located in the Gold Coast. Rated the best outdoor dining in Chicago, you can dine on traditional American and steakhouse-style cuisine in the famous eatery. Stop by Luxbar for a weekend brunch or after work– it’s known for amazing cocktails, an upscale atmosphere and the quality of service to go with it. While you’ll find mostly upscale dining in the Gold Coast area, you won’t find anything to complain about.

And finally, Oak Street Beach is wonderful in the spring and summer, but beach paths and public parks make it a great asset all year round. Whether you are a runner, biker or just an admirer of nature, immediate access to the beach and waterfront adds value to the real estate and lifestyle of the Gold Coast.

Luxury, prime location and a sense of cache means that the Gold Coast is a good place to live in or near. If you are seeking the luxury lifestyle in Chicago, you’ll want to have access to the famous neighborhood from your own condo or townhome.

Well, we’ve gathered some home projects that you can achieve in any Chicago condo that will update your interior while also staying conscious of the earth.

1. Start a small garden. This is the most fun project for this time of year. Planting a garden gets you back in touch with nature, lets you grow your own edibles and fills your home with pretty plant-life. And while you may be thinking you don’t have the space for it in your condo, there are some creative ways to incorporate a small garden into an urban condo.

Try a “mini-farm box” just outside one of your windows planted with tomato or pepper plants. Plant herbs in old soda bottles– just cut of the top of a plastic 20 oz. bottle and fill it with potting mix. You can group the bottles in a larger pot or planter, or hang them along a balcony railing. If you’re bad with remembering to water or pick your plants, try potting a few low-maintenance succulents. They can survive in many climates, indoors or outdoors.

Try a hanging planter indoors if you’re working with a small space. Hanging plants can add some green to your home and utilize some unused space in your condo.

2. Install a recycled light fixture. A great way to change the feel of your interior decor without actually making a huge change is to update your lighting. And surprisingly, there are a ton of green options on the light fixture market. Check out the ones below, made from recycled glass jars and milk bottles, and search out your own in Chicago. And make sure you fit them with energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs!

3. Support a green designer. When going green in the home, it doesn’t all have to be DIY! You can always support green, sustainable designers by buying their goods. Start with Plover for organic bedding, Graypants for recycled light fixtures and Revision Home for vintage furniture and recycled homestuffs.

4. Green up your office. There are lots of ways to make your home office more energy-efficient. Using power strips that you can turn off or unplugging appliances when they aren’t in use can prevent them from leaching small amounts of electricity while in their “off”  mode. Setting your computer to energy-saving power settings helps save electricity, too. You can buy recycled tech accessories, like these laptop sleeves, and you should always make sure you are recycling batteries, ink cartridges and other tech stuff properly.

5. Incorporate recycled materials. Whether you are incorporating recycled wood or stone into your floors, a piece of furniture or a kitchen backsplash, repurposing old construction materials into a new home makes a statement both about your style and your sustainability. If you are planning to undertake a remodeling project, consider using materials recycled from an old home or construction site.

6. Use green products and ideas in your entertaining. Spring and summertime bring outdoor barbecues, pool parties and lots of other entertaining opportunities. By using biodegradable dishware and decorations, serving local and organic food and making sure to recycle afterward, you can make your get-together a little greener. Try little things like reusing rubber bands to distinguish people’s beers, making tiki-torches from old wine bottles or encouraging guests to carpool.

7. Green your move. If you are moving into a Chicago condo, you can go green from the get-go by making your move as green as possible. Reassess what you really need– by selling or giving away stuff you don’t use or need, you can limit the number of trips you have to take to move your things. Pack old boxes instead of buying new ones. Trying using biodegradable packing materials instead of styrofoam peanuts or plastic bubble wrap. If you do have to use plastic bubble wrap, try one of these ways to reuse it after your move!

8. Update your decor with recycled stuff. Maybe spring cleaning has gotten you in the mood to update your decor. Instead of going out and buying new accessories for your home, shop flea markets, thrift stores and craft fairs to find cool stuff to refresh your home style. Old bottles, street signs, advertisements and china dishware can make for cool home accessories or art and don’t need much alteration to add flair to your existing furniture.

9. Get rid of some of your stuff, in a green way! Even if you aren’t planning a move, going through your belongings and seeing what you can toss is an exercise in green living. Give away old clothes to those who need them, recycle or give away old electronics that take up space and power in your condo, and recycle or find uses for those old grocery bags you’ve been saving. Not only will a de-cluttered pad give you some peace of mind, it can also help others and contribute to a green society.

10. Participate in Earth Hour. Finally, you might have participated in Earth Hour on March 29, 2010, but we suggest you take part in Earth Hour as often as you can. Setting aside an hour every weekend where you can shut off all your electric appliances and lights might be good for your soul as well as your utility bills!

This past week, temperatures soared to the mid-40s and 50s, which might not seem warm to some but for local Chicagoans, that kind of weather is a relief from winter winds and a sign of things to come! It got us thinking about getting our Chicago condos ready for spring weather. Besides the mandatory spring cleaning, what else can you to do liven up your downtown Chicago condo in anticipation for warmer days? Here are our tips for the season.

Spring Cleaning in Your Chicago Condo

Obviously, we can’t spruce up a Chicago condo without doing the spring cleaning first. But it sure is easier to get through the cleaning if you have a great reason for doing it! Think of spring cleaning as preparation for all the spring spirit you’ll bring into your place with some updated, seasonal decor. Here are some starting points for your transition to spring:

• Wash your windows inside and out. With the winter comes snow and ice, and those can certainly leave a mess on your windows. In preparation for spring weather, wash your windows on the inside and outside, where you can, so the spring light can stream in! Plus, when the sun does emerge, it won’t illuminate all the smudges and handprints that might be going unnoticed on your windows.

• Deep clean all your flooring. During the winter, snows boots are necessary to protect your feet from snow, puddles, slush and other winter-related mess. However, those same boots can track all kinds of water, dirt and mud into your apartment. In anticipation for spring, deep clean your hardwood floor and your carpet. You can get rid of the signs of winter weather, starting from the floor up.

• Change your AC filters. Shifting from winter to spring weather most likely means you’ll switch from heat to air conditioning in your Chicago condo. Prepare for the switch by cleaning or changing your AC filters. It will help keep your circulated air clean, and if you have spring-related allergies, new filters can help alleviate those, too!

• Air out bedding and pillows. If you have linens, pillows or other spring decor that’s been stored in a closet for the past 6 months, it’s time to get it out! By allowing it to air out, or fluffing it in the dryer, you can eliminate any mustiness that it might have picked up from your closet.

Decorating for Spring in Downtown Chicago Condos

Once your cleaning is done, you can start updating your decor for the new season. Whether it’s getting out spring-y things you already own or buying new accessories for your home, a little injection of spring into your decor can make your luxury Chicago condo feel ready for the season of renewal. Here are some of the places we think you should start to add a little spring to your condo’s decor:

• Bring home some local flowers. Or, since nothing in Chicago is blooming just yet, bring home some flowers from your local florist’s shop! Not only does it give you an excuse to slip into the florist when you don’t usually have an occasion to, it will also give you natural decorations to brighten up your pad. You’ll get the floral motif, bright colors and fresh scents of spring all at once by placing some flowers about the house!

• Get your balcony or porch ready! You never know when the first truly warm day in Chicago will be. So be prepared! If you have your balcony or porch cleaned thoroughly and your patio furniture ready for you use, you can have an impromptu gathering of friends as soon as spring weather appears.

• Update your tablescape for the season. Usually, winter holidays dictate formal table settings, heavy dishware and classic colors. You can get a little more creative for spring! Try delicate shades and fabrics, mix-and-match china patterns and natural motifs in your tablescape to capture the season. And of course, fresh flowers — just make sure they aren’t more fragrant than your food!

• For allergy-sufferers, decorate with flower alternatives. If flowers make your allergies act up, use fruit or candles for a spring centerpiece. Citrus fruit can be as colorful and fragrant as flowers, and instead of the formal candlesticks you might use in winter, try small and colorful votive candles.

• Finally, let the light stream in! As the winter gray moves away and days are longer and sunnier, you can incorporate lighter, airy window treatments to let the light in. Not only will this brighten up your condo for spring, it will allow you to use less energy to light your home. Use the available, natural light of the spring season to lower your electricity bill and lighten your living space.

Enjoying preparing your Chicago condo for spring! Sometimes just the anticipation of spring is enough to make the winter weather a little more enjoyable while it lasts.

Celebrating in Chicago Condos: St. Patrick’s Day

If you’re planning on having a few people over on Wednesday the 17th to celebrate the actual St. Patrick’s Day, you might want to decorate with something other than green beer, four leaf clovers and leprechauns. Here are some of our ideas for upscale Irish decor.

Green Accents: You can sneak a little green into your luxury Chicago condo in all kinds of ways.

• Throw some green pillows or a blanket on the couch.
• Buy some green coasters for holiday-themed drinks.
• Incorporate a little green through other home accessories that can be redistributed or put away after the holiday.

Your guests will notice and appreciate hints of green without being overwhelmed by the St. Patty’s spirit.

Real Greenery: Bring the green into your home in the best way– real, live greenery. While you would normally go out and buy flowers for a centerpiece, buy strictly the greens this time. A florist can make you an equally beautiful piece with just greenery, or if you’re ambitious, you can buy or plant a few potted plants for the occasion.

Green Linens: Finally, incorporate a little green in your table settings. Green napkins could be either paper or cloth, depending on the formality of your St. Patty’s get-together. Green tablecloths, napkin rings, or candles on your table can bring some green without screaming St. Patrick’s Day, too. You can reuse the pieces you buy individually, adding a green accent to spring decor after your St. Patrick’s Day spread is over.

Chicago Bars to Visit on St. Patty’s

Finally, after you do a little in home celebrating, you might want to head out. What are the best bars in downtown to continue a St. Patrick’s celebration? We’d recommend:

Butch McGuire’s – Butch’s has been around since the ’70s and is always a reliable go-to bar in the downtown area. With a crowd that ranges from recent graduates to regulars, you’ll definitely be among peers. On Rush and Division, it’s right in the middle of the downtown nightlife scene and you can bar-hop the Gold Coast with ease.

The Galway Arms – AOL City Search designated this as the best Irish bar in Chicago in 2007, 2008 and 2009. A little Ireland in the heart of Lincoln Park, you can always catch great traditional Irish music there, and it’s sure to be a festive setting any time around St. Patrick’s Day. Plus, should it be warm enough in Chicago in March, it has a great patio!

Fado – On the Near North Side you’ll find Fado, a slightly pricier but still welcoming Irish pub and restaurant. With huge wooden bars and two floors of seating, there will definitely be room for you and your friends to order a last St. Patty’s Day brew. A Yelp reviewer even claimed, “I will be here on St. Pat’s regardless of what comes, sleet, hail, snow, rain, hurricane, earthquake!”

So inside your luxury Chicago condo and out, you can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day right. Be festive, because don’t forget, if you live in Chicago you might not be Irish but you’re definitely Chi-rish!

Events
If you live in a Chicago condo, there’s a large chance that you are also a Chicago Cubs fan (Sox fans, just skip to the next event!). Just a week or two before Spring Training begins, start getting into the Cubs’ spirit with an event at Rockit Bar & Grill in Wrigleyville! Local sports expert David Kaplan of WGN 720-AM, ChicagoNow.com, and the Chicago Tribune hosts Cubs-Aholics Anonymous, where you can connect with other fans and sports media. It happens every Thursday, and it sounds like a great way to start the weekend early to us!

If an artistic endeavor is more likely to interest you than an athletic one, stop by the Museum of Contemporary Art sometime this weekend. Friday is, of course, First Friday, where you can get museum admission, live entertainment, and complimentary Wolfgang Puck hors d’oeuvres for $16. Saturday, show up at 10 a.m. for Coffee and Art, an art history class like you never had in college. For $18 for nonmembers and $15 for MCA members, you can enjoy coffee and conversation led by an art expert. Also at the MCA on Saturday, join Chicago Public Radio for the Third Coast Festival– an audio festival celebrating storytelling, sound and the art of listening from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Ticket information here.

Restaurants
Take a look at a few pictures of the newly-opened Gilt Bar, courtesy of Metromix. And if you like what you see, give the new River North eatery a try. “No white tablecloths, no snooty staff and no dish topping $18–just simple comforts in the form of unfussy eats and classic cocktails.” Sounds like a perfectly relaxed evening!

Gilt Bar, a new restaurant in River North, is a great option for dinner or drinks this weekend.

See inside Gilt Bar and consider stepping out of your Chicago condo for a visit to the new eatery!

And for a pre-Oscar brunch, try a pancake joint new to the neighborhood- Elly’s Pancake House. On the border of Old Town and the Gold Coast, it’s a great brunch location for Near North Siders, Lincoln Park residents and downtown condo owners alike. You can eat your fill of pancakes and other classic greasy spoon grub, and you’ll definitely be back in the comfort of your own Chicago condo in time to see the celebs walk the Oscar red carpet!

Movies
And finally, what movies should you watch on Hollywood’s biggest weekend? Well, we’d recommend you check out some of the films nominated for Best Picture. Luckily, Chicago is one of the cities where you can watch all 10 nominated movies in a 24 hour marathon this Saturday! The Best Picture Showcase takes place at AMC River East, starts at midnight on Friday and runs until midnight on Saturday. What a way to spend a day!

However, if you’d like to check out just one or two of the honored movies from the comfort of your own Chicago condo, the nominees are:

• Avatar
• A Serious Man
• Up
• District 9
• Inglourious Basterds
• The Blind Side
• An Education
• Precious
• Up in the Air
• The Hurt Locker

No matter how you plan to celebrate the Oscars and this weekend, we hope you have a great time!

Events

Ever seen a rock opera? Well, this weekend you should check out the Apollo Theater and see Baby Wants Candy. The best part is that the script is partially based on audience suggestion, so you never know exactly what will happen during the show!  Tickets are $15, get the details here.

Bring the kids this weekend and have Snow Much Fun at the Children’s Museum at Navy Pier. Children can build fabric snowmen, have pom-pom snowball fights, and skate in your socks on a slippery linoleum rink.

Get in shape, learn the Tango, and have fun while doing it! Tango Chicago is offering 6 classes at various levels for $300.00. Each class is 3 hours and in each class you will learn rhythm, posture and partner communication. Sounds like fun!

Restaurants

Restaurant Week 2010 is not over yet! Save cooking at your luxury condo for another time and choose from more than 165 restaurants are offering three course lunches and dinner menus starting at just $22. Want to see if your favorite restaurant or one you have wanted to try made the list? Check here.

Rockin’ Taco just opened in Lakeview and not only is this restaurant fast but the cooks are using made-from-scratch marinades to prepare the steak and chipotle garlic chicken. Want something to do while you wait? Pick up an electric guitar, bongos or one of the other instruments hanging on the wall and rock out.

Movies

Are you feeling comedy or thriller this weekend? Well, we have both!

If you are looking for something funny, check out Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. With these two, it has to be a good laugh.

As for horror, The Crazies opens this weekend. Here’s the synopsis of the movie: “Unknown toxin turns the peaceful citizens of Ogden Marsh into bloodthirsty lunatics.” Need we say more?

Whatever you decide to do have a fabulous and fun weekend!

Obviously, when it’s cold out in Chicago, our condos are a great place to congregate, warm up and reboot before you have to trek outside again. But snow adds a-whole-nother element to home ownership, and when the snow starts falling, you really begin to appreciate owning a Chicago condo.

Your Top 10 Reasons to Own Chicago Condos in a Blizzard

Downtown Chicago condos have their perks, and there are some definite ones when it comes to dealing with snow. Inspired by this article about Baltimore condos, we are thinking of the top 10 reasons it’s so great to live in luxury condos while snow coats Chicago.

10. Shoveling snow. The most obvious benefit is that you don’t have to do it! Or, if you wouldn’t have done it at your own home anyway, you don’t have to feel guilty when a neighbor tromps down your unshoveled sidewalk. Your total snow removal job is to brush off the patio railing.

9. Garages. No sitting in a cold car, digging out or ice scraping for you. Walk to your spot and hop in your car. You don’t even have to change your routine when it snows!

8. Avoiding repairs. Roof leaks and burst pipes probably aren’t going to be problem in your unit of your Chicago high rise condo building, even if they do occur. Since they are part of your communal space, your building’s maintenance or association should take care of them.

7. Help with repairs. If some damage does occur in your building, you’ll have plenty of help to fix it. Your association and the maintenance for your building will either help you with repairs to your unit or will handle them completely.

6. Great stuff nearby. On a lighter note, downtown Chicago condos are nothing if not in the middle of it all! If you DO have to head outside into the snow squall, you know you can get to what you need quickly, because it’s close to your Chicago condo.

5. Best views of the snowfall. In a Chicago high rise condo, especially in one of our Lakeshore East developments, you’ll find the best views of Chicago made even more beautiful by drifting snow. You can experience the beauty of the blizzard without being in it!

4. Snow drifts are unlikely to cover your windows. Yeah, you might get some snow on your balcony, but your windows are probably not going to be darkened by gathering snow.

3. Doors will still open. Even if the city gets three and a half feet of snow, your front door will still open! Along with not having to shovel your sidewalk or dig your car out, you won’t get stuck inside if the snow starts to stack up.

2. Cleaning up tracked in snow. Let’s keep talking about that front door… If you have people over to your home and they wear their snow boots over, there is no way that some of that snow isn’t coming in with them. But in a luxury condo, there’s a foyer, elevator and hallway between your pristine floors and the snowy outdoors. High rise condos keep you from having to mop anytime you or your guests come in from outside!

And the number one reason to live in a Chicago high rise building during a blizzard is:

1. There’s probably a party going on somewhere in your building! If everyone gets trapped indoors during heavy snowfall, you can imagine that you might get bored. And what better time is there to get to know your neighbors than when you can’t get away from them? You can bet on the fact that someone close by is having people over for warm drinks and good company when it’s wintry outside. Or you can invite over your floormates and be the host!

But you can warm up and enjoy some time outside of your condo with a comforting meal, especially if you live downtown! What could be better on a cold winter day than gathering with a buddy or two, sitting around a table for a long lunch or dinner and filling yourself with hot, hearty grub? Chicago has a blossoming, cutting edge culinary scene, but that scene was built on what Chicago does best– comfort food. After all, isn’t the Midwest known for good ol’ meat and potatoes?

Here are our favorite places to pick up warm comfort food near downtown Chicago condos:

Heaven on 7: Are you a displaced Southerner, or simply someone who appreciates soul food, sweet tea and “yes ma’ams”? Either way, you should give Heaven on 7 a try on a cold winter day. The southern style fare, heavily influenced by the Cajun cuisine of Louisiana, features gumbo, red beans and rice and jambalaya. The jalapeno corn muffin will warm you up with its spicy flavor, and the variety of Southern-fried dishes will leave any Chicagoan fully satiated.

With a location in the Loop and the Near North Side, there’s plenty of access to warm food and good service for owners of downtown Chicago condos. Heaven on 7 will leave you thinking about rocking chairs on the front porch and a warm Southern breeze… not the wind chill factor!

Pastoral: For the francophile in us all, this European-style deli right off of Michigan Avenue at Lake Street has the very best of gourmet cheese, bread, wine and charcuterie. You can eat in or carry out a fresh sandwich or salad with the best ingredients. The Bocadillo De La Mancha, with serrano ham, manchego cheese and quince, is a delicious play on savory and sweet for any sandwich lover.

Or pick out a variety of your favorite cheese, bread, tapenade, olives and charcuterie (all of which you can sample in the store!), select a bottle of wine or champagne (the staff will help you with pairings!), and take it all back to your Chicago condo. Camp out on the floor in front of your favorite movie and enjoy an indoor picnic. It can take you away to a less snowy zone for a few of your weekend afternoon hours!

The Publican: This award winning West Loop restaurant is particularly geared toward comfort food and creating an inclusive dining experience for its patrons. It has been described as a place where you “just sit back and let the food come to you,” and here, comfort food and drink are king. The menu features “beer cuisine” consisting of oysters, seafood, and pork. The seasonal, American menu is highlighted by the 12 draughts and 75 bottles offered.

This is the kind of restaurant where you won’t be hurried out– so take a few hours, eat casually, drink slowly, and enjoy meeting the people around you in the family-style seating. The Sunday brunches and Sunday dinners are a special event every week and will fill you with a warm, welcoming feeling on the coldest of days.

Perry’s Deli – Perry’s Deli on Franklin Street in the Loop is “the home of delicious sandwiches as big as your head.” Every day of the week has its own special sammy, and each one will leave you feeling as full as Thanksgiving dinner. With a dedicated 3 person staff, there will always be a friendly face serving you, and the signature decor and menu have been the same for over a decade! You always know what you are going to get at Perry’s (a great sandwich!) and you can get it in your most casual attire. So throw on some sweats and walk over to Perry’s from your downtown Chicago condo. Consistency and comfort is the name of the game!

Russian Tea Time – Right across from the Art Institute, slip under the red awning of Russian Tea Time for an old country delight. You can escape winter chills in their large and richly appointed dining room during their afternoon tea service, a traditional high tea with pots of fine tea, scones and sweet and savory small dishes.

Russian Tea Time in Downtown Chicago

Or go for a long lunch or dinner, and order from the menu of hearty and comforting “Russian, Slavic and Jewish classics complemented by upscale dishes of Imperial Russian Courts.” The potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce are a great place to start!

But what will really cure you of the winter chills? Drams of Russian Tea Time’s house-infused vodkas. They’ll teach you how to drink it the Russian way, and even if you aren’t a vodka enthusiast, you’ll have fun learning the Russian tradition that is specifically meant to warm you up but not get you drunk. Their explicit advice: “Repeat the round in 15-20 minutes; slow down when you feel fuzzy, warm, comfortable and your attention span is not at 100%.” Leave it to the Russians to know how to relax on cold day!

So if just thinking about heading outside of your Chicago condo gives you a shiver, use this surefire way to warm up: EAT. Good company, good food and good drink will fill you with warmth during the winter. And you might discover a part of downtown Chicago that you’ve never experienced before!