A new apartment complex in Evanston is linking residents to a contemporary living experience.

The Link, located at 811 Emerson St., opened its doors to the public in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday night. The building has 241 units, with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Built by Focus Development, a Chicago-based construction group, and maintained by CA Ventures, the complex opened for residents on Sept. 20.

Josh Stark, the vice president of construction for Focus Development, said the construction team wanted to set the building apart from other Evanston apartments.

“We wanted to create something unique in the design and construction of the building,” Stark said. “We’ve done that with the amenities and the amount of parking that we have. We really looked at the building to try to put everything in one spot to make it good for the residents and so far, it’s turned out pretty well.”

The building includes a social lounge, a fitness center and a yoga studio with a dry sauna. The apartments are also located next to the new 7-Eleven, and one block away from the Davis Street Metra stop, which is incredibly convenient for residents, Stark said.

Furnishing the interior of the building was blocHaus, a design firm owned by Nick Bowers, furnished the interior of the building. Bowers, who also serves as the creative director for the firm, said he drew inspiration from the Evanston community to create a cohesive design narrative throughout the building.

“We wanted to create a space that was fun, playful, intellectual, mature and stimulating to the people who live here,” Bowers said. “We wanted it to be a place where people could come and spend time in — for example, the social lounge — and not have some random lounge with nothing in it, but something that really inspired them so that they would want to study and congregate there.”

The building is geared toward both families and students. The apartment’s proximity to Northwestern and downtown Evanston served as an important part of the marketing during the pre-leasing process.

Micah Walk, a leasing and marketing manager for CA Ventures, said before the building was built, potential residents were able to access renderings of rooms and facilities to see what the apartment would look like.

Walk said the planned amenities and unique design of the building drew many tenants during the pre-lease period. He added that the residents’ responses to the building have been generally positive since move-in.

“Evanston is a true multi-family market, so anyone that wanted to live in the area — that’s who we’re working towards,” Walk said. “It’s a really cool experience for the residents to live in such a close-knit community, which is something we really strive for as an apartment.”

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