Living large

It’s been a few years since South Loop real estate exploded, so it makes sense that the growth spurt would expand north. But why live amid office buildings and restaurants that close early? Read on and find out from five folks who moved into the Loop and never looked back.

Brant Taylor, 36, cellist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (pictured, left) and Roderick Branch, 30, lawyer (pictured, right)
They’ve lived at Washington and Wells Streets since September 2005.

What brought you to the Loop?
Roderick BranchWe both work here—I work in the Sears Tower, a four-block walk, and Brant works at Orchestra Hall, which is a nine-block walk from our apartment.

Brant TaylorWe didn’t like the idea of wasting time on a long commute to work.

Do you miss trees and a neighborhoody feeling?
BTI can’t say it feels like a neighborhood, with trees and people walking dogs. But I like to jog, so I’ll run over to the water and run along the lake. When the weather is nice, it’s a quick walk to Millennium Park.
RBIt’s changing, though. In New York, office buildings are mixed up with residential buildings…I think that’s what the Loop will become.

Do friends ever visit you in no-man’s land?
BTYes, we have friends over a lot!
RB People enjoy coming over because it’s so convenient to where they work…. Or after a concert, when it’s like, Where do we go next? Instead of heading to Andersonville or another part of town, it’s so easy for people to come back to our apartment.

Alexander Gail Sherman, 31, management consultant
He’s lived at Van Buren and Dearborn Streets for five years.

Where do you go for coffee or breakfast?
I’m still looking for a great bakery. But Intelligentsia opened a new coffee shop by the Cultural Center that’s open on weekends and not just weekdays.

What do you do for groceries?
There’s a 7-Eleven in my lobby. There’s a Jewel on Roosevelt Road…. For dinner out I like to go to Greektown or River North.

What else is good about living in the Loop?
It’s beautiful and inspiring. Sometimes, it’s the way the setting sun comes over the smoke over the Sears Tower. Or it’s the way reflections play off the buildings, or when I see random groups of people—from students to workers to tourists—sharing the same streets. I even like stuff I used to think was cheesy, like the buildings lighting up with messages at night.

Rosanna Velat, 35, graduate student
She’s lived with her husband, Paul, at Washington and Wells Streets since September 2001.

What brought you to the Loop?
I had just gotten a job in the Loop after working in the suburbs. I was walking back to the train station one day, and I saw a sign for condos…. At the time, we were looking at condos in the suburbs, and it was a lot cheaper to buy this one.

What’s it like at night and on the weekends?
It’s pretty empty and quiet. We used to get up early on Sunday mornings to head to the suburbs because Paul directs a church choir in Hillside. It felt like a ghost town…like there could be a tumbleweed going down the middle of Washington. It doesn’t feel so much like that nowadays.

Does it ever feel like a neighborhood?
It has a different feel on the weekends than it does during the week, but [since Millennium Park was completed] it feels like it is more a touristy thing. But with all the people here now, there are a whole bunch of dogs that make it more familiar—I can usually recognize the dogs first and then get to know which human belongs to them later. That is kind of neighborhoodlike, but you could be really anonymous here if you wanted to be.