These days it’s not enough to have a slick brochure or strategically-placed billboards or windows covered with beautiful architecture pictures from Artefaqs. Today, every new building has to have a video. And today a little birdie hit our tip line to let us know that the latest Chicago building to get its just-under-five-minutes of fame is No. 9 Walton (9 West Walton Street).
Development company JDL has put together a wistful marketing piece explaining the building, from its mandatory ground-floor retail to its built-in outdoor heaters so you can sit on your balcony a few months longer each year than the ordinary folk.
More importantly, it has an all-star cast, including Mr. JDL himself, James Letchinger. Also making appearances are James Plunkard, of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture; interior architect Darcy Bonner, of Darcy Bonner and Associates; and Peter Harris, of O’Brien Harris Fine Fitted Furniture.
The show ends with a promise from Mr. Letchinger that everything in the building will be right because, “I am going to live there.” And if “I’m not only a spokesman, I’m also a client” can work for the Hair Club For Men, then why not for a condominium tower?
On the topic of promotional videos for new construction, our sister blog, The Los Angeles Architecture Blog, recently posted a video for the renovation of the Westfield Century City that is outstanding, and worth a look. Put on headphones and crank it to 11.
