Printers Row apartment tower opens, aims to draw students, traveling professionals

Residents are now moving into Straits Row, a new residential tower in Printers Row that transformed a vacant lot into an 18-story apartment building.The property is more than 4% leased, with its first tenants having moved in around early March. The 132-unit building is preleased about an extra 5% for fall move-ins.Located near the Illinois Medical District and several of the city’s largest universities, its owners are hoping the building will attract more students, along with medical interns, residents and other assignment-based professionals.Straits Row’s offerings span from studios to convertible units to four-bedroom apartments. The most popular units so far have been convertibles and two-bedrooms, according to property manager Madison Kerrigan.“The vision of Straits Row was to create a vibrant community that meets the needs of Chicago’s diverse workforce and student populations by offering modern, furnished and amenity-rich apartments ... for Chicagoans who are often priced out of other luxury developments,” Nick Melrose, founder and chief executive officer of Melrose Ascension Capital, said in a news release.Straits Row makes up almost half of the new Class A apartments that will be added to the city’s stock this year, according to appraisal and consulting firm Integra Realty Resources. Class A means the apartments are newer builds featuring top-of-the-line finishes and amenities. FitzGerald was the architect for the 175,000-square-foot project.The apartment tower (center) called Straits Row.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-TimesStraits Row was developed by Chicago real estate firm Melrose Ascension Capital and Singapore-based Q Investment Partners. Straits Row is Q Investment’s first residential development in the U.S. James Coppack, Q Investment’s head of development, said current market conditions pushed the team to create something “truly different” in downtown Chicago. The building includes a rooftop pool deck, co-working lounge and fitness center. The co-working lounge has private study rooms and will have a cold brew tap and outdoor lounge.The building is also a co-living community, a model Q Investment has found successful in the U.K.Residents can live in a traditional apartment or rent an individual bedroom in a unit. Each bedroom has its own private bathroom and keypad entrance.The co-living units target students, a population that’s often priced out of some of Chicago’s newer and more modern apartment buildings. It also helps address the on-campus housing shortage that some universities in the city are facing, Kerrigan said.Units come prefurnished with stainless steel appliances and in-unit laundry, features that can be important for students, Kerrigan said.“Straits Row is really filling a gap where there’s demand and not enough supply,” Kerrigan said.Kerrigan said leasing is starting to take off as the summer internship season approaches. More leases are also being signed well-ahead of fall move-ins and the start of the next academic year.Though Straits Row is targeting students and other young professionals, Kerrigan said anyone who qualifies can move in. There are no formal partnerships with nearby universities, like Columbia College, University of Illinois Chicago and DePaul University, but those paths are being explored.