An 1885 mansion just east of North Michigan Avenue is getting a new life as a jewelry flagship. Local Eclectic, the women-owned jewelry brand, opens its first-ever brick-and-mortar store on Thursday inside a landmarked Streeterville building at 212 East Ontario Street that spent two years being reimagined from the inside out.
Founder Alexis Nido-Russo purchased the 13,000-square-foot property in June 2024 for $3.3 million, establishing it as both the brand's flagship retail space and its new corporate headquarters, according to Preservation Chicago. The building previously served as a live/work space before its conversion to commercial use, and Nido-Russo joined Fox 32 Chicago to discuss the opening of her company's first flagship store in the city.
A Mansion With Presidential Ties
The Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival home was designed by Chicago architecture firm Burling & Whitehouse on land that once belonged to William B. Ogden, the city's first mayor, per Preservation Chicago's account of the property's history. It rose during the rebuilding of the Near North Side after the Great Chicago Fire, and the address carries another notable resident in its past: 19th-century portrait artist George Peter Alexander Healy, whose presidential portraits hang in the Smithsonian, once lived there. That history inspired Local Eclectic to display an original Healy painting inside the store alongside a newly commissioned response piece by Chicago artist Sébastien Johnson, the same account notes.
The building's exterior couldn't be touched during the overhaul. In May 2020, Chicago's City Council designated 212 East Ontario Street an official Chicago Landmark as part of the Near North Side Multiple Property District, a move that legally protects the facades of 15 post-fire residential structures in the district, according to the City of Chicago. That protection is why the two-year renovation Nido-Russo described to Fox 32 was confined strictly to the building's interior.
Velvet Rooms and a Twirling Ballerina
Inside, the transformation was handled by New York architecture firm BoND Design, marking the studio's first permanent Chicago project. Their multi-floor redesign includes a velvet-lined jewelry box room featuring a twirling ballerina sculpture, per reporting from Chicago YIMBY. The upper floors now house office space for Local Eclectic's 21 employees, consolidating operations that were previously based in the West Loop into the same building as the retail floor.
The flagship will eventually pair its shopping floor with food and drink. An on-site cafe serving a proprietary coffee blend made in partnership with local roaster Metric Coffee is set to open this fall, according to Secret Chicago, though the outlet notes the full food and beverage menu will roll out progressively in the months after the store's launch. The cafe adds an experiential layer to a business that spent 13 years selling almost exclusively online.
From Online Marketplace to Storefront
Before opening this physical location, Local Eclectic built its retail presence through wholesale partnerships with national chains including Nordstrom, Anthropologie, and Free People, a job listing for the flagship's cafe staff indicates. The brand has positioned itself as a showcase for independent and women-owned jewelry designers, and the Streeterville store represents its first attempt at a direct-to-consumer flagship after more than a decade of e-commerce and wholesale distribution.
The project also fits into a wider pattern taking shape near the Magnificent Mile. Hoodline previously reported on an Oak Street rebuild tied to a similar shift, in which historic properties and multi-tenant sites across the Near North Side are being converted into single-tenant retail flagships. Similar redevelopment activity has also occurred on nearby Oak Street, part of a broader trend of luxury and lifestyle brands claiming standalone historic footprints in the corridor.
For now, shoppers can walk into the mansion daily. The Streeterville flagship, positioned one block east of North Michigan Avenue near major medical and retail foot-traffic hubs, will operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to WhatNow Chicago.
