Developer Optima broke ground for its six-story, 100-unit Optima Verdana apartment building at the corner of Central Avenue and Green Bay Road in downtown Wilmette on Chicago’s North Shore. The development is the firm’s second new Chicago-area retail and apartment building to break ground in the last year. Optima plans to complete the 198-unit Optima Lakeview in spring 2022, then welcome Optima Verdana’s first residents in spring 2023. Optima Verdana will mark the Chicagoland debut of the firm’s vertical landscaping system, which will allow all of Verdana’s private resident terraces to stay green year-round, as well as reduce dust and smog levels and decrease ambient noise.

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WILMETTE — Design-driven real estate development firm Optima, Inc. announced its own construction team broke ground on the six-story, 100-unit Optima Verdana luxury apartment building in downtown Wilmette. The development is the firm’s second new Chicago-area retail and luxury apartment building to break ground in the last year — the 198-unit Optima Lakeview is scheduled for completion in spring 2022. Optima Verdana plans to welcome its first residents in spring 2023.

Located at the corner of Central Avenue and Green Bay Road, Optima Verdana will bring a new level of rental luxury to the North Shore. Featuring one-, two- and three-bedroom residences with an average size of 1,507 square feet, the boutique building will also feature 8,000 square feet of street-level retail.

Optima Inc. has received approval from the village of Wilmette to develop its latest mixed-use project on Chicago’s North Side.

The company plans to develop 109 luxury apartments along with more than 8,000 square feet of street-level retail at 1210 Central Ave., across the street from the Metra station at Green Bay Road. The project is slated to break ground in late 2021.

Optima, is known for its residential developments around the Chicago and Phoenix areas. The company in particular has targeted the North Shore, where it has developed 20 projects including the 660-unit Optima Old Orchard Woods condominium development in Skokie.

The company also started construction last month on Optima Lakeview, a mixed-use, transit-oriented development located at 3460 N. Broadway in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. The project has been designed to include 198 apartments and street-level retail, and is slated to open in 2022.

Optima’s new project in Wilmette has been drawn up to include one-, two- and three-bedroom units to go along with 28 street parking spaces for public use. It is also set to feature Optima’s vertical landscaping system that includes self-containing irrigation and drainage for specially chosen plants that will stay green through cold Chicago winters.

Planned amenities at the project include a rooftop pool and sky deck access, electric vehicle charging stations, 173 parking spaces and access to a residential courtyard. An 8-foot tall sculpture, to be created by David Hovey, the building’s designer, will be situated near the building’s entry along with benches for the public to enjoy the view.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2023, and Optima aims to earn Green Globes Certification for the building.

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The north suburban village of Wilmette gave final approval on Optima’s plans for a mixed-use development of 109 apartments and street-level retail at 1210 Central Ave. Optima plans to break ground in late 2021 at the site, which is occupied by a bank and is across the street from the Metra commuter train station at Green Bay Road.

Optima has offices in nearby Glencoe and a long history of developing North Shore projects. In 2010, it completed the 660-unit Optima Old Orchard Woods condominium building in Skokie, one of 20 North Shore projects by the company. According to Optima officials, their new Wilmette project will include environmentally friendly features and design elements that help it blend with the rest of downtown.

“As with each project we design and build, we’re very careful to ensure the buildings respect their environment and have a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood,” Optima CEO David Hovey said in a press release. “This development will be no different, as not only will it deliver the size of homes and amenities residents in Wilmette want, but the exterior design will feature our signature vertical landscaping system and public art component that will enhance the downtown community’s energy and aesthetic.”

Hovey designed the new Wilmette development, which will have one-, two- and three-bedroom rental units and more than 8K SF of street-level commercial space. Floors one through three will use bird-friendly glass, and the 173 parking spaces will include some electric vehicle charging stations.

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Construction sites across the Chicago region hummed with activity throughout the coronavirus pandemic, largely thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s determination that such projects were key to sustaining the economy and his decision to not issue any orders stopping construction.

The bet paid off by keeping thousands of workers employed, but these projects, including the 101-story Vista Tower, the 55-story Bank of America Tower at 110 North Wacker Drive, JDL Development’s 76-story One Chicago Square in River North and Sterling Bay’s 47-story mixed-use tower at 300 North Michigan Ave., all had financing in place, and developers were completing well-advanced plans.

Launching new projects in the midst of the pandemic and subsequent steep job losses is another level of risk, and many developers and lenders decided to hold off.

Construction starts in the Chicago metro area totaled $8.9B in the first 10 months of 2020, a 23% decline from the $11.6B recorded in the same time period last year, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The decline was especially steep for residential construction, which totaled $3.4B so far in 2020, compared to $4.7B over the same time in 2019, a 28% drop.

The recession has hit service and hospitality workers the hardest, while work-from-home technology sustains millions of well-paid office jobs. That has given other builders the confidence to keep breaking ground on some office and residential towers, especially ones outside the largely empty Loop, activity that will help sustain the region’s construction industry until COVID-19 vaccines put an end to the pandemic.

Below are six new projects going forward next year and one honorable mention.

Optima Wilmette

As the downtown residential market suffers, many renters have started considering the suburbs, and developers are ready to seize that advantage. Optima has completed nearly two dozen developments in Chicago’s North Shore suburbs and in 2021 will break ground on a mixed-use development of 109 apartments and street-level retail at 1210 Central Ave. in north suburban Wilmette. Optima CEO David Hovey designed the building, which he said would satisfy the demand not just for suburban living but, with its bird-friendly glass and electric vehicle charging stations, for apartment buildings that include environmentally friendly features.

“As with each project we design and build, we’re very careful to ensure the buildings respect their environment and have a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood,” Hovey said in a press release.

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