The MILA, a bKL-designed 41-story apartment complex set to open this year on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, may not be open to rent quite yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a sneak peak into what’s inside. Curbed Chicago got an inside look at the new 402-unit over-sized baby of developer John Buck and reported on it in late December.
The article points out that the rental tower is positioned at a prime real estate location, right along what’s known as “The Cultural Mile.” The area has already seen a significant amount of new apartment projects, hotels, and residential properties go up in recent years, but the MILA might quickly become the landmark of the entire area.
The only major change from original design concepts had to do with tenant parking.
“The high-profile nature of the site forced a design feature which prevented the parking levels from being visible on the Michigan Avenue streetwall,” the article pointed out. “As such, passerbys may have noticed the gap in the structure on the podium levels. This space will be filled in with an artistic light display, rather than the Times Square-esque signs that some early concept renderings had shown.”
On the inside, the apartment tower contains studio, one, and two-bedroom apartments with a consistent floor plan on all residential levels of the building. It is designed with the intention of reaching a Silver rating on the federal government’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) scale.
This will be supported by the climate control heat pumps featured in each individual unit, which tap into an efficient centralized chiller system on the roof. All of the units are also hard wired with high speed-internet that utilizes CAT5 network connections; CAT5 cable has a maximum frequency of 100 MHz and can transmit up to 10/100/1000Mbps and is typically used for networks and mulit-line phone systems.
Oh, and if that weren’t enough, every apartment has its own in-unit laundry, too.
If all that doesn’t do it for you, the place also has some pretty spectacular views despite its urban setting.
