Chicago’s Industrial Past Is Now a Loft Mansion: 2118 W. Van Buren in the West Loop
This 7000 square foot loft mansion at 2118 W. Van Buren in the West Loop recently came on the market.
The listing says the building was formerly a print shop and statue factory.
It has been converted into a single family home with many of the industrial features preserved.
It has 14 foot timber ceilings, exposed brick and a wall of 8×6 arched windows.
The house has a 50 foot great room and a 40 foot studio.
Built on a 75×50 lot, it has a 4 car garage and the listing says it is zoned for 2 stories.
The kitchen has white cabinets and what looks like white and stainless appliances.
What’s the market for a lofty house in this industrial neighborhood?
Eugene Fu at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
2118 W. Van Buren: 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 7000 square feet, 4 car garage
- Sold in October 1996 for $125,000
- Sold in September 2005 for $650,000
- Currently listed for $850,000
- Taxes of $9213
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 25×18
- Bedroom #2: 15×12
- Bedroom #3: 18×15
perfect for the Islamic bulls fan who works at uic, rush or cc hospital and finds the sound of expressways soothing and churches chicken delish.
7,000 square feet, exposed brick, lots of glass, high ceilings. I am curious how much this would cost to heat?
BAD AZZZZZZZZZ, nuf said
Can someone explain Chicago property taxes to me? How is my dwelling less than half the size of this, yet I pay almost 6k more in property taxes than this place? Grrr
Pretty unique property, I honestly have no idea what it’s worth. Eyeballing it the neighborhood looks pretty crappy and the buildout is nothing to get too exited about.
However, this is pretty close to my person unicorn criteria for a property like this. The only thing that kills it is location, which it fails by a wide marginb. I could do marginally walkable, marginal neighborhood, but, from what I can see, this is not that.
However, this is a pretty good shell and the floors and exterior walls look pretty good.
“Can someone explain Chicago property taxes to me? How is my dwelling less than half the size of this, yet I pay almost 6k more in property taxes than this place? Grrr”
Wanna sell me your place for $850,000? Bet not.
Like everywhere, it’s based on some calculation of value, not size.
Wow, this place is a far better deal/price than the West Town (Kleiner) property. They should’ve had the wrap party for Don’t Mess with the Zohan here.
“7,000 square feet, exposed brick, lots of glass, high ceilings. I am curious how much this would cost to heat?”
I dunno (wild-ass guess: $800 / month in the winter if it’s an efficient system, the property relatively well-sealed and you can deal with it being slightly chilly, like 67 or so?), but a potential buyer could find out in about 10 minutes by calling the agent, telling him you’re considering an offer and asking for the utility, radon and any other disclosures.
I love this place, but I don’t believe it’s worth more now than it was in 2005.
And THEN there’s the neighborhood….
Nice, so much space they have a room devoted to displaying a tricycle. Sign me up.
“a room devoted to displaying a tricycle”
Ghost trike. Creepy.
people were talking about soylent green, someone could live here and pretend they were the Omega Man…..nighttime zombies on the roof, etc.
““a room devoted to displaying a tricycle”
Ghost trike. Creepy.”
only creepy if it is in a different spot each time your in that room. or if there is a net above the tricycle.
I love this place! I don’t know anything about the location though.
I much rather pay 800$ for heating here than 4K assessments for the ugly penthouse we were chattering about.
Maybe the Tri Lam’s from Malcolm X college could buy it as a fraternity house.
Where is the outdoor space?
Can one consider the 2100 block still in the West Loop? I thought Ashland Ave was the western border?
“only creepy if it is in a different spot each time your in that room. or if there is a net above the tricycle.”
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_bike
i’d like it actually if they would put up one of those sound barrier walls between the eisenhower and van buren
This must be so loud. I was wondering if you could build a yard on the roof but having to wear ear plugs while you play in the yard probably isn’t much fun.
“Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_bike”
oh shyte, if the reference is abt then sad. if not, really f’ing tasteless and creepy.
oh and I would certainly change a lot of the bathroom stuff but the rest looks pretty decent and tasteful (sorta)
come on you really think a kid died on his tricycle in this house?
Drool. I want this. It’s my dream home (except for the location).
I think this has (prrhaps newly signed) pro athlete written all over it. Someone who basically drives everywhere and doesn’t need walkability too.
holy shit you could party hard in that. (if that’s all you do, hood kinda sucks)
2118 W I-290.
Cool idea and layout, terrible fixtures and style. Sort of an urban louis the xiv.
WHO the hell would ever pay over 200k to live in this location?!! ARE YOU F’ing KIDDING ME? This is ridiculous. This place should be broken up into 7, 1000 square foot units and sold for 150k. Nobody who has 800k is going to choose this place (just for the location).
“Sort of an urban louis the xiv.”
Ha, good description.
After thinking about this one, I think with a million or a mill and a half in cash, an 80% LTV down payment at purchase price adjusted for current market conditions, and a stomach to spend the rest of your million and change to add a floor or two and carve some of the space up into some condos or rentals while you do a nice buildout for yourself, you can have a 6,000 sqft with some really great features and enough rental income (or $ from resales of the condos, if you want) to have some (maybe a lot?) left over after covering all your own costs. I’d have to run the numbers.
Seems really interesting, but the location kills it for me. The fact that you can add to it or carve it up really gives you a lot of options. I agree it seems like the right place for an athlete or someone in a similar situation, but I have known families who have lived in places like this and done something like that. You just have to have either some good money in the bank or a pretty well-paying job (HHI north of $500k, maybe) and the chops to make the right decisions and execute it. You could also just buy it and live in it as is for now or for a long time with updates and small reno.
Like I said, this place has the DNA of the JJJ unicorn. But, subject to some more scouting, seems to me the location is well below the bar.
“the location is well below the bar”
I also considered “is like realizing you’re kissing your sister in the dark makeout closet in 8th grade” and “is like realizing that the woman giving you eyes from across the bar has balls.”
What’s the difference if someone lives in 7,000 sf on some Oak Brook estate behind hedges? It’s not like those people/recluses see their neighbors on a daily basis with their free time. So, in either case, you just get into your car….when you’re at home in either place, Oak Brook or this place, you shut out the outside world.
Some who buys this could buy a small house in Oak Brook for their reverse pied-de-terre and go smell the grass on the weekends!
“WHO the hell would ever pay over 200k to live in this location?!! ARE YOU F’ing KIDDING ME? This is ridiculous. This place should be broken up into 7, 1000 square foot units and sold for 150k. Nobody who has 800k is going to choose this place (just for the location).”
The kitchen cabinets and the trim around the doorways belongs in a vintage home; they look jarring here. And that bathroom cabinet in photo 13 is the same one I have in my guest bathroom. I think I paid like $40 for it at Home Depot, so that makes me wonder about some of the other finishes.
Other than that (and the location), I really like it.
I like the dogie bathtub in #12.
This would make a sick office condo or a great restaurant space. Not sure how it was ever turned into a home. I think the place looks great on the inside. The exposed brick and wood, beautiful floors. I love the kitchen. I would eat this place up if it wasn’t for the location.
The pet shower is awesome, but most people with dogs are looking for a yard and a better neighborhood!
Wait a second. check out the pics of the master bed and bath with the archway into the bathroom… There doesn’t appear to be any privacy from the toilet to the bedroom… Can’t be right, can it?
“come on you really think a kid died on his tricycle in this house?”
Of course not, but it’s the first thing I thought of when I saw it: Ghost Trike.
Finally a real loft and not a McLoft. LOL at all the cribchatters drooling over the McLofts in the past which were a joke–this is a real loft.
“Wait a second. check out the pics of the master bed and bath with the archway into the bathroom… There doesn’t appear to be any privacy from the toilet to the bedroom… Can’t be right, can it?”
I’ll come over and put up the wire for the curtain, if that’s what it takes.
On second thought, that dogie wash is probably for the pet iguana.
“JJJ on March 30th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
“the location is well below the bar”
I also considered “is like realizing you’re kissing your sister in the dark makeout closet in 8th grade” and “is like realizing that the woman giving you eyes from across the bar has balls.”
Well said. No way on Earth would I live in this ‘hood, and calling it West Loop? Fail.
Speaking of huge mansions right off the xpressway, what is going on with that limestone monstrosity off of I90 in Independence Park?
Place is cool though. Even with the ghost trike.
Maybe with 10 simultaneously operating whole-home air filtration systems (security issues aside).
The United Center is in the West Loop? I had no idea. I sure would’ve gone to more Bulls games from my West Loop office had I known that the United Center was right there…LOL.
But good news..in an attempt to find out exactly what neighborhood this is in I found a new Chicago neighborhood map!
http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/doit/general/GIS/Chicago_Maps/Citywide_Maps/City_Neighborhoods_poster.pdf
This is Near West Side. It is certainly NOT West Loop.
“But good news..in an attempt to find out exactly what neighborhood this is in I found a new Chicago neighborhood map!”
Someone posts that frequently. Not that it calls everything W of Ashland to the River b/t Fullerton and Diversey “Lathrop Homes”, and that Lake View wraps around Roscoe Village and goes west to the river.
It’s pretty safe to ignore much of that map.
Spectacular indeed.
even if its in the hood.
id take that place
It would work ok for someone with a business needs warehouse/soft loft space and is willing to live above the office. I would entertain this type of arrangement and actually had some fun when my office was one floor above my loft. My wife used to always cook extra food back then as she never knew who was ” coming down” for dinner.
Tough location for this place! I think that they should rename it West Bullhawk Park.
Beautiful place inside! I’d definitely rather live here than the condos next door. I’m surprised they aren’t advertising how easy it is to commute to Oak Brook/Schaumburg via the Eisenhower. “Just back out your garage right onto the Expressway!”
This would be a much cooler unit if it were ‘modern’ instead of ‘chandelier in every room’ urban louis the xiv style. Ug. Price seems appropriate for the size. Location leaves something to be desired.
I love love love the bars on the windows. classy.
I’ll second homedelete’s Ug, and ante it up to an Ugh.
Those railings everywhere remind me of all the porches I sat on as a kid, with exactly that style. I just really don’t get this place aesthetically or architecturally. Bungalow railings, chandeliers and moroccan tiles? I’m not seeing the potential either. I think it’s going to sit for a long time.
I’d love to point out that they are very post-apartheid South African-esque, but alot of urban palaces in Europe have them too at street level. It may be a matter of time before we see them on duplex-downs?
“I love love love the bars on the windows. classy.”
What a mess
a HOT mess at that.
I’d strip everything but the floors and start over.
“clio on March 30th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
WHO the hell would ever pay over 200k to live in this location?!! ARE YOU F’ing KIDDING ME? This is ridiculous. This place should be broken up into 7, 1000 square foot units and sold for 150k. Nobody who has 800k is going to choose this place (just for the location).”
Not everyone is afraid of their own shadown, Clio.
“logansquarean on March 30th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
I’m not seeing the potential either. I think it’s going to sit for a long time.”
Yeah, 7000 square feet and no worries about weight bearing walls. No potential at all.
lol
No professional athlete will live there either. Once they sign the big contract they are moving on up just like everyone else! Goodbye hood, hello upscale stable and safe environment!
“Yeah, 7000 square feet and no worries about weight bearing walls. No potential at all.”
LOL too,
i dont mind the area, as you have so much space and would drive everywhere anyways.
its just the exact local is on the expressway and the toxins being sucked in your lungs aint good.
this is still one bad azz place and for only 850k!
I predict that it sells in the 600’s in 2011. The buy will be a contractor type business owner who will use the first floor space as a storage/ warehouse facility, a 4 bay parking area for his trucks, the billing office and party space upstairs, and finally a small apartment for a key employee as part of their compensation. Having a tennant that they trust living there will also help serve as a built in 24 hour security guard.
There is slight long term potential for upside in the hood if you wait 20 years. long shot but not impossible. Should the area get better this could eventually serve as a commercial space for some neighborhood service.
what Jp3Chicago said.
that’s what I mean by me not seeing the potential here. I mean residential/livable potential. The location sucks, and yeah, it’s a lot of space, but space to make what, exactly? Not a home for a family with 2 kids and dogs and iguanas.
Yeah, a warehouse/showroom/gallery/factory, with some living space in some corner. Or a good spot for raves and private parties. But PUHLEEZE, let’s not stretch and call it a “mansion”.
Time will tell.
Could have a second life as a catering hall for offbeat weddings, etc.
“But PUHLEEZE, let’s not stretch and call it a “mansion”.”
Well, the listing does call it an “Enormous Live/Work Mansion” and 2 of the 3 are unassailably accurate.
One word – Cathouse.
“Could have a second life as a catering hall for offbeat weddings, etc”
Someone call Rick Baliss or Charlie Trotter! “The Fronterra Ghetto” or Trotters- Drive Thru. Convienently located right on the Eisenhower expressway”
Actually that idea is not that far off. As the mobile food businesses continue to grow that could be a creative use for this type of space. They would need to install a true commercial kitchen similar to Kitchen Chicago and an elevator to connect the two floors but with that interior garage and excellent access to the highway it is a fair option. The owner could charge rent for use of the space hourly for caterers etc. Apparently Kitchen Chicago is doing quite well.
“Actually that idea is not that far off. As the mobile food businesses continue to grow that could be a creative use for this type of space. They would need to install a true commercial kitchen similar to Kitchen Chicago and an elevator to connect the two floors but with that interior garage and excellent access to the highway it is a fair option. The owner could charge rent for use of the space hourly for caterers etc. Apparently Kitchen Chicago is doing quite well.”
If they could work the kitchen into the lower level, they could convert the upper to an event space (with catering) for the part of the year when a food truck biz is less robust, perhaps.
Spectacular space! (minus stupid kitch details, but who cares)
love the idea but would you book your event in the West Bullhawk Park neighborhood?
Maybe we need a more catchy name for that hood to help turn it around so that the eventual buyer makes huge profits off of this building.
How about:
Jordan kane Park
Reinsdorf Ridge
Eisenhower Estates
or my personal favorite. Drum roll please……
Wirtzville
“love the idea but would you book your event in the West Bullhawk Park neighborhood?”
True enough. Tho it has excellent proximity for holiday parties for the Illinois Medical District.
Call it MedDistNorth. Or NoMeDis. Or something.
DisMeNot?
“DisMeNot?”
I like it!
Dis Me Not Estates is catchy!
“Dis Me Not Estates is catchy!”
Me Dis Not Estates, preserving a sensible order of the incoherent abbreviations of the words.
We have So No how about So Mad?
You could call it “Near So Bad”
Perfect! Still implies that living here is better than at least one other place.
I’m not familiar with that area, what’s so bad about it?
LOL
you f’ers start drinking early or something?
Groove – Hope springs eternal today as next year is finally here….at least for the day.
Gone are the days of being at YakZies for the XRT morning show. Instead I will happily plan to be there for a noon tip off of a cold pint of beer. This is the first year I am not planning on attending the game or a rooftop in over a decade but i WILL be in the hood getting my Cubs “groove” on. If you are up there look for me at YakZies as I’ll be guy wearing the blue Cubs shirt.
jp3 – hah awesome. Now do you have a jersey that says jp3chicago on the back?
jp3,
i will have to decline, as i avoid addison and clark like the plague and careless about the cubs or sox (i do hope they do well this year). not a baseball fan anymore. i refuse to go to a cubs game, would rather not tarnish the memory of cutting school and going to a game on a whim.
i wish you the best of fun today! and will be rooting for your cubs to score a touchdown.
Groove – the good news is that I am also indifferent on the success of the Cubs in 2011. Sure I would like there to be energy in Wrigley late into the season but it just does not matter anymore. Win or lose my opening day tradition is just a check mark of time passing. It is a sign of winter turning into something better, something warmer, and the upside of summer in Chicago being just over the horizon.
My memories are from cutting out of school and heading over to the park where the Andy Frain ushers actually let us in for FREE after the 7th inning stretch. Those indeed were the days.
“and will be rooting for your cubs to score a touchdown”
Uh oh,,,, did they forget to take down the football field from that Northwestern game back in January?
“My memories are from cutting out of school and heading over to the park where the Andy Frain ushers actually let us in for FREE after the 7th inning stretch. Those indeed were the days”
i could just smell the summer air and hotdogs like it was last summer 🙂
whats the smell like now? beer, over perfumed/cologned 20 year olds?
LOL groove
Groove – I still lubs da Cubs, so I am taking a half-day off to check out the action on TV. But NOT at Yak-Zies – not until they remove the sign with that horrible way they spell “pizza.” Makes me cringe with memories of all those awful urban legends about how the kitchen personnel would “alter” the ingredients of various foodstuffs…Ugh! No Thanks!
“I still lubs da Cubs”
never cared for watching baseball, played it since a yute, even mens leagues on the south side but didnt get into the watching of it.
but i dang sure loved the ambiance of going to cubs game way back before the ambiance was jacked up. had a family member still in her 80’s a few years back before she passed that would still take a bus to games a few times a month!
to me that was lub.
What position, batting average, etc?
Love how CC threads get “hijacked!”
“What position, batting average, etc?”
pitcher, bat av. not good enough to mention (except pee wee, i killed at thillens), did hit a homer in HS against lane at their field and hit a triple to tie at taft’s field.
the mens league, i was just there for my arm, never practiced enough on my hitting and it showed at that level.
BTW, hijaking CC posts is why i love this place 🙂
Wow, that is a hot mess.
All I can say is “wait till next year”
I did think it was funny when Robert Redford shook off Kerry Wood for the autographed ball after throwing out the firs pitch. The joke was that Wood actually wanted Redfords autograph. Funny stuff!
Hmm, like the space but not a fan of the traditional fixtures in the bathroom and interior wrought iron. They could have done a better job choosing vintage brick for the exterior facade; the new brick makes it look like new construction from the exterior. Horrible choice in windows (the traditional square panes kill it for me). Looks like the security bars are a must in this neighborhood.
didn’t know Tony Soprano’s kid had enrolled at SAIC