It really was too nice a space for office use anyway

When I left Condon & Cook in 1998 to seek my fortune in the wider world, I wound up in Beverly with Mark Boyle, a classmate of mine from undergraduate days. Mark was kind enough to let me use a space on the second floor of the converted house on Walden Parkway where he kept his office and, from that second floor window, I had a wonderful view... of the trains pulling in and out of the 99th St. Metra Rock Island Station.

Mark knew I wanted to get back downtown as soon as possible. "As soon as possible" turned out to be two years -- but in 2000 Charles A. "Pat" Boyle (no relation to Mark) offered me the use of an unused office in his suite at 55 E. Monroe Street.

I was only there a year... but what a difficult year it was: I had to sit with my back to the windows at all times because that 45th floor office had the most magnificent view of Lake Michigan you can imagine.

I was afraid I'd look out the window in the morning... and keep looking until my wife called to inquire if I was ever coming home for dinner.

Thus, I can't say I was surprised to see that the upper floors of that building, including Pat Boyle's old office space, are being converted to condominiums:

The Park Monroe looks like it should be a fabulous place to live; that link will take you to the sales web site (from which the images used here are taken).

It looks like the developers are building little recessed terraces into the building; these might be a little scary at first, but at least you'd not be hanging out over the void.

And, of course, there's that view....

No, I can understand why the building owners might want to turn that office space into premium residences -- what I can't understand is what took them so long....