New Construction Southport Mansion Returns Reduced Another $200K: 3804 N. Janssen

We last chattered about this new construction 6-bedroom mansion at 3804 N. Janssen in the Southport neighborhood of Lakeview in February 2010.

3804-n-janssen-approved.jpg

See our February 2010 chatter here.

At that time, it had been on the market for 5 months and had been reduced $300,000.

It was recently re-listed with another $200,000 reduction.

Built on an oversize 34×125 lot, the 7300 square foot house has a 3 car heated garage and 1700 square feet of outdoor space.

4 out of the 6 bedrooms are on the second floor with the 5th on the third floor and the 6th in the lower level.

There is also a third floor great room measuring 25×17.

The kitchen is described as a “chef’s kitchen” and there is a large custom staircase.

Last year, westloopelo thought this was one of the best houses featured on CribChatter and that it would sell withing $50k of the ask. Several other commenters also thought the finishes were very nice.

Will this new, lower list price finally get the job done on this house?

Marta Kazmierczak at Prudential Rubloff again has the listing. See the pictures here.

3804 N. Janssen: 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, 3 car garage, 7300 square feet

  • New Construction (paid $1.062 million for prior house/land in January 2006)
  • Originally listed in September 2009 for $3.895 million
  • Reduced
  • Was listed in February 2010 for $3.595 million
  • Reduced
  • Currently listed for $3.395 million
  • Taxes are $13,339
  • Central Air
  • Bedroom #1: 16×17 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #2: 13×11 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #3: 14×12 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #4: 14×12 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #5: 13×11 (third floor)
  • Bedroom #6: 14×12 (lower level)
  • Office: 16×14 (lower level)
  • Great room: 25×17 (third floor)

38 Responses to “New Construction Southport Mansion Returns Reduced Another $200K: 3804 N. Janssen”

  1. River North Lurker on March 11th, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    LOL at the westloopelo estimate. Another bull bites the dust.

    Bad buy above $2.6MM

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  2. formerroscoevillager on March 11th, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    preeeeeeety. Doesn’t stand out tooo far from the neighbors, there are several humongious homes around here. Love the staircase – that 6-flat conversion in northcenter should take note of how the high end should actually work out…

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  3. The northcenter conversion has more curb appeal though.

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  4. This is so out of our price range that I cannot make any comments about the price, but it is very beautiful interior at least in the few photos available. I think a house like this will benefit from staging.

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  5. formerroscoevillager on March 11th, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Uh, Dan to each his own but I prefer the setbacks and trim contrast here over the broad un-interesting limestone tundra

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  6. “The northcenter conversion has more curb appeal though.”

    because the front door is right on the curb?

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  7. I prefer this house of the north center house. North Center house is new money, trying too hard. I don’t usually like two tone kitchens but I like this one. (Even it it is a little yuppy, Tori Burch-like). Nice place. I’m not as familiar with its location. What is the location like? That will determine the price.

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  8. If I owned this place I’d sit on that balcony overlooking the sidewalk and laugh at all “the poors” that walk by

    Why didn’t they do an all marble slab master shower? The 1 slab+tile looks cheap

    I do like the rest of the finishes on the house but don’t really like the location that much (plus if I was spending this kind of money i’d buy the house with the basketball court on the roof on ravenswood

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  9. Money AND taste
    is an extinct combination indeed.

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  10. Taxes of appx. $13,000 are dirt cheap for a $3M property- should be at least $30,000 to be in line with taxes for other city properties.

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  11. This is on the NW corner of Janssen and Grace – I lived on the SW corner for 2 years and a block away on Greenview for 4 years — this is an excellent neighborhood. You’re a block from Southport, but on the northern end which is a bit less busy. The streets are one-ways, so you don’t get a lot of thru-traffic. It’s walking distance to Wrigley, but doesn’t suffer from game-day issues. Lots of young families and late-20s renters, not so much the college age kids who favor further east/south into LP.

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  12. “Taxes of appx. $13,000 are dirt cheap for a $3M property- should be at least $30,000 to be in line with taxes for other city properties.”

    Dirt cheap eh? What do you think happens when the sales price prints? You are looking at 40k+ in taxes if this sells anywhere near ask. Only a matter of a simple reassessment. Good luck appealing when your purchase price sets market value.

    Not sure there is a market for a 3.3M home right next to Blaine. Relics of a bygone era. Stick to ELP for those builds.

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  13. LOL!! You mean the sidewalk? From the “street” the northcenter place has great presence in a Palazzo Farnese kind of way. The Southport house looks like just a variation on the plethora of mccrapboxes you see in the 1200-1600 blocks of (new) Old Town over there by marshall field homes.

    “because the front door is right on the curb?”

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  14. “Taxes of appx. $13,000 are dirt cheap for a $3M property- should be at least $30,000 to be in line with taxes for other city properties.”

    Taxes for 2009 were based on the old structure’s AV.

    AV for 2010 was appealed and reduced b/c it’s vacant. They will be *lower* than the ’09 taxes; but the proposed AV would have lead to taxes (based on last years levy) of ~$33k.

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  15. I love this house but for 3 million you can live anywhere. Why would someone choose to live at Janssen & Grace for 3+ mil?

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  16. I really like the interior.

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  17. Link to NorthCenter house?

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  18. they could turn it, and the northcenter place, into individual condos like they did to Hef’s playboy mansion.

    “Not sure there is a market for a 3.3M home right next to Blaine. Relics of a bygone era.”

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  19. “plus if I was spending this kind of money i’d buy the house with the basketball court on the roof on ravenswood”

    sonies, your a man after my own heart!

    my ankle is bum for a few weeks but when it gets nice out after the tourney let go hit a outdoor court?

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  20. link to northcenter: http://cribchatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2216-w-grace-_2-approved.jpg

    http://cribchatter.com/?p=10004

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  21. “Link to NorthCenter house?”

    http://cribchatter.com/?p=10004#comments

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  22. “3-zone chef’s kitchen”

    I say nothing less than a 6-zone true chef’s kitchen will do for over $3mm.

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  23. “LOL!! You mean the sidewalk? From the “street” the northcenter place has great presence in a Palazzo Farnese kind of way. The Southport house looks like just a variation on the plethora of mccrapboxes you see in the 1200-1600 blocks of (new) Old Town over there by marshall field homes.”

    sidewalk-curb it doesnt matter you end up walking on the same ground as “the poors”.
    i agree at least the NC place has a presence and this one looks like somebody took three cinderblock condo buildings pushed them together and threw a porch on it

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  24. I am not sure what makes a developer choose to build a home that is at the top of the heap in sales price for a particular area. Ego is the only thing I can think of. There are actually quite a few homes in the $1.8-2.5M range in this area, I imagine targeting the $2.5M sale price would make more sense. Then again, they did close on the site in 2006.

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  25. I’m guessing greed and going for a large payday. Someone who builds a small suburban strip center or a NNN-lease build-to-suit that costs $2.5 million probably had a far less chance of selling it upon completion for a $1 million profit,than would a spec home builder (during the bubble). SO, rather than do the correct market comp analysis, I think they just focused on how to invest spend $2.5 million for the largest profit they could proforma.

    “I am not sure what makes a developer choose to build a home that is at the top of the heap in sales price for a particular area.”

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  26. gringozecarioca on March 11th, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    “Then again, they did close on the site in 2006.”

    I think that’s your answer.. Everything next to it was going to shortly be even bigger. ALWAYS a disaster to be the highest priced on your block unless it’s a hell of a block.

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  27. I mean, it’s like the choice between doing a spec home in Libertyville for sale price of $900K, or choosing instead to go down to the FL intracoastal and doing one for $3.8 million and where the profit is just flat out bigger. Bigger deal, bigger profit mentality.

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  28. sounds good groove!

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  29. The taxes kill me, you pay that for a 3/2 $300k ranch in Lake Bluff.

    Beautiful house, so far out of my league I may as well not even look. But how many people actually are in the market for a $3m plus 6 bed mansion this far north without any acreage?

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  30. Like the house, love the staircase and most of the main rooms, but would have done the kitchen differently. Too modern and not enough cabinet space.

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  31. Disagree — kitchen is transition, its not even modern. Love the modernness of it…hate traditional kitchens that all look alike.

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  32. Is the realtor related to the NIU shooter or is Kazmierczak a common name?

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  33. Just googled the name. What a terrible story. It is good that his poor mother had died and did not see what had become of her son.

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  34. This is gorgeous. Not really my style but definitely captivating in it’s own way. Remind me to buy this when I inherit an extra 3 million and for some reason need to fit 82948590489054 people in my kitchen.

    There are some other really big houses around the corner, so placement is not as obnoxious as it could be, but if I had 3 mil+ to spend I would opt for a different location.

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  35. “is Kazmierczak a common name”

    If you include the various Americanizations of the spelling, I think I’ve known three unrelated families with the name, so fairly common.

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  36. I’ve never really liked houses on corner, combined or otherwise irregular lots that use different frontage that the rest of the street, except when they are vintage.

    The market for top of the market mansions in Wrigleyille is not huge, but I can see this selling eventually (like maybe in the next year) for somewhere above $2.7 million.

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  37. I think it goes for around $2.5M. It’s a decent area, but given the one of a kind type of property, I don’t see it going for the $2.7 or whatever other people have said. Definitely a nice place.

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  38. i stand by what i said last year

    “#
    Groove77 on February 19th, 2010 at 10:15 am

    “bat caves are always game changers groove, everybody knows that”

    what field would they enter that into the MLS?

    I am surprised nobody is talking about how bland the structure looks. It looks like a CPS school for 3mil+ i would feel said when my personal driver dove me up to this place each day.

    What happened to architecture with soul and design, is it all about maximizing indoor square footage nowadays?

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