2-Bedroom Renovated By Renowned Designer Reduces $30K: 1660 N. LaSalle in Old Town
We’ve chattered about a lot of houses that have been renovated but the rehabbers are out doing the same in condo units like this 2-bedroom at 1660 N. LaSalle in Old Town.
The listing says it has been “renovated by the renowned designer David Yates.”
You can see pictures of what the unit looked like before here.
It now has hardwood floors throughout.
The kitchen has new cherry cabinets, granite counter tops, backsplash and stainless steel appliances along with modern light fixtures.
Both bathrooms have been renovated with granite and stone counter tops.
It has west views (NOT lake views.)
The unit also has central air but there is no in-unit washer/dryer.
There is rental parking in the building.
Bought in December 2010 for $239,000, it was originally listed at $499,000 before being reduced $30,000.
Given that the unit is, essentially, “new”- what price will it ultimately command?
Emelin Brown at Roman Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3408-10: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1600 square feet
- Sold before 1990
- Lis pendens filed in August 2008
- It appeared to be a foreclosure sale when it sold in December 2010 for $239,000
- Originally listed in August 2011 for $499,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $469,000
- Assessments of $843 a month (includes heat, water, pool, doorman, cable)
- Taxes of $3396
- Central Air
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- Parking is rental in the building for $100 to $181 a month
- Bedroom #1: 17×10
- Bedroom #2: 10×10
“renovated by the renowned designer David Yates.”
Unless you have some sort of obsession with or crush on David Yates, it doesn’t matter that he renovated this place. There’s hardly any design in this place. What? Did he design the drywall and then came up with some wood floors and outlet placement? Who cares. How fun to be on the 34th floor with no laundry.
Nice kitchen, but still, I could give a crap about who designed the place. Regardless of price, or condition of unit, I could still never live in one of these Soviet-style apartment highrises that look more like a prison. Just ugly. No laundry also sucks, but taxes/assessments seem reasonable.
David who? 250K is what will move it. Boring place.
Renowned? Those are Ikea Nexus Brown cabinets and floating Lumber Liquidator floors. This reno cost the flipper $50k, tops.
Given the (general) location and size, $320k seems reasonable.
I’m with PDubbs. The place does look nice though, but even an experienced Polish rehabber could’ve picked those same finishes they sell at Pulaski & Fullerton. I like the kitchen backsplash tile used in the shower, now that’s out of the box thinking. David who?
I thought David Yates is a director of some of HP movies?!
There’s a price premium to having a Wells address in Old Town…oh wait its on Lasalle 🙁
They are asking way too much for too little. If it had lake views, parking, laundry and slightly more reasonable assessments they just might get a half million dollars for it. Otherwise, no way. This is Lincoln Park, not Streeterville. They’d be lucky to get $400,000.
by the way, thanks for Old Town week – Sabrina
Nice but the name David Yates gets no mileage with 98% of the world. I think that the finishes are average at best and wonder about the taxes. If it is two combined units I would be shocked if they only listed one pin number and forgot the other one. Seems just a bit low for two 1 bedroom condos.
Also in mist buildings you are getting screwed on some of the association costs when buying a combined unit as they are adding two costs added to your total. The buildings often assign costs like cable TV or garbage collection by the number of units vs sq footage or ownership percentage. That means that you are actually paying double for that line item with two one bedroom units that were combined compared to a true two bedroom 1600 sq. ft unit that was originally built as a single unit.
This place looks SO much better than it did, but it still is far from amazing. It also is in an ugly building in a not so hot location (being on Lasalle).
I would think though with the renovations, and 1600 sq. ft. they should get $350+ for it though.
Have any of you actually looked at what other units in this building have been going for?
It’s 30 stories up, facing west, so it doesn’t matter that it’s right on LaSalle. The only major drawback about this place is the lack of in-unit laundry.
There simply aren’t that many full service condo buildings right off the park (especially in this price range), and few still that are also adjacent to OT (which distinguishes this building from, say, 2500, 2626 or 2650 N. Lakeview), something on which many young professionals place a premium (judging from the 10 – 30 residents of this building who cram onto my bus each morning, it’s a popular building).
And Pete, you’re right: it’s not Streeterville, which (other than the northernmost section) is generally over-run with tourists, glutted with generic new buildings, profoundly lacking in places to eat/drink/shop (certainly compared to OT/LP), and somewhat challenged when it comes to public transportation. And, you’re right again: this thing should probably go for $400k (though perhaps $375, give or take $25k, given how little the flipper paid, how little they’ve put into it, and the facts that we’re going into winter and it’s vacant).
‘profoundly lacking in places to eat and shop’
you gotta be f’n kiddin me.
PDubbs, not sure when the last time you undertook a high-rise renovation, but I guarantee that even with these middle grade finishes, the cost was far MORE than $50K.
weekender,
most people on cc not only have NOT undertaken any renovation of any kind, but most are renters. They don’t have a clue about anything. Renovating a small kitchen in a house is very different than renovating a small kitchen in a high rise – you can expect to quadruple your costs and time line (at least).
This is off-topic:
But the Crib Chatter server was having troubles yesterday (as I’m sure many of you noticed.)
I couldn’t get into the site to do any posts for today until this morning. So there will only be one post this morning to chatter about. Sorry! We’ll be back to a regular schedule tomorrow (hopefully.)
“There simply aren’t that many full service condo buildings right off the park (especially in this price range), and few still that are also adjacent to OT (which distinguishes this building from, say, 2500, 2626 or 2650 N. Lakeview), something on which many young professionals place a premium (judging from the 10 – 30 residents of this building who cram onto my bus each morning, it’s a popular building).”
But anonny, why buy this when you can rent in that soon to be available full service (with a pool!) lovely NEW building that is going right on Wells? Even though I’m sure those units will be expensive (since they will be decked out)- they’ll have in-unit washer/dryer and parking available. What will the 2-bedrooms likely rent for? $2800 to $3600 or so?
Here, you have a $1000 a month assessment PLUS a $450,000 mortgage. I haven’t done the math, but that has to be much more than it will cost to simply rent a just as nice (if not nicer) west facing unit down the street on Wells. We can argue about the difference in location (yes- I know the new construction building is near Division and this one is near North Avenue and the Park)- but it’s still new construction and both will have access to Old Town restaurants/bars.
I like this building. It is a great location close to the park and Wells St. Yes it is on LaSalle, but IMO any high rise should be located on busy streets. Low rise and SFH’s are better suited to streets with less traffic.
I prefer the East facing units in this building. 2/2’s in this building almost never go for more than $400k. The investor would have been better suited to list at $399k, but in reality more like $349-375.
This location is better than the new building going up south on Wells. It’s closer to the park and closer to North Ave where you have more food establishments and shops for everyday needs.
Although the place has a LaSalle Address, the back of the exits out to a tiny parking lot and is very close. You have easy access to Treasure Island and Walgreens. It’s the best of both worlds with an easy to find address, bus stop in front and easy walkability out the back.
I agree, David who? Nice rehab and it should go above the other comps that have not been renovated or don’t look as good.
“We can argue about the difference in location (yes- I know the new construction building is near Division and this one is near North Avenue and the Park)”
Sabrina, while I would agree that a newer building with in-unit w/d’s would be superior, I’m afraid that the locations – “near Division” vs. “Near North Avenue and the Park” – really cannot be the subject of any sort of reasonable argument.
This is one of the best locations in city for grown up night life but I couldn’t deal with living in a building right on the park and the lake and facing the other way.
I think the updates are nicely done. The price is still ridiculous since it doesn’t have a lake view and doesn’t have a washer/dryer. I predict $325,000 at most.
“Clio and Weekender”
I just completed a 6-month full gut renovation in a high-rise in LP on LP. As the GC, I know exactly how much it cost. The finishes in my 3BR/2BA are insanely more high-end (my fridge alone cost more than these appliances combined). Plus we updated the electric systems, all plumbing risers and reconfigured the layout of the unit. All for $80k. Maybe I’m just that good.
anonny, while this is 30 stories up and facing west, I think the LaSalle location still matters. I would not want to walk out my front door into the chaos at this location of LaSalle. It is one of the most congested, obnoxious locations in the city I find. I’m surprised one of the cars rounding the curve onto LaSalle hasn’t driven into the lobby of this building. If in fact you can go out the back, that makes it a little better but I would much rather be slightly north on Clark or slightly south on LaSalle than right at THIS point.
Could just be me though….
“Maybe I’m just that good.”
More like, Clio is just always wrong.
Two units in this building were sold in the past 6 months. Both of them are 3 bedrooms (also combined units) with lakeview:
2511-12: $600k, renovated
2201-03: $468k, needs update
Also, another 2/2 combined unit (1307-08) at 1749 N Wells was recently sold for $524.9k. It’s also renovated and has lake view.
It sounds to me that this area still sells, but without a lake view, that’s another story. How much more are you willing to pay for the lake view?
gringo for the win.
Old_hick… I’m just upset and lashing out that Clio accurately pointed out that I am a lost ship without a sail.. It was childish of me.. today I have found a muse, one that will teach me to have goals in order to live a more fulfilling life.. Mister Pee Pee..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/mister-peepee-on-mission-_n_1035951.html
…and much like Clio.. Mister Pee Pee also sets his alarm clock for 4:30am in order to go work one out. To qoute clio directly “yeah, it DOES make me feel good”
Holy shit! We having end scene of Usual Suspects connect the dots flashbacks… Clio is Mister Pee Pee.
No lake view? No deal.
On another note, I haven’t been in this building since 1976, when I remember sticking my face in my friend’s birthday cake at his apartment there. I was an impulsive little kid.
If it had $500 assessments, parking, and laundry, I would say $400k. With these assessments, no laundry, no parking… I think it wont move for anything above $300K. Good luck to the seller.
Regarding this building vs. the full service apartment building going up on Wells.
Its all about trade-offs, right?
My feeling about OT/OTT and Wells is that North Ave is the dividing line in terms of feel.
South of North (between Division and North) definitely feels more industrial and commercial. Its where you have your Subway, no name Chinese restaurant, and larger restaurants and sports bars.
North of North (between North and Armitage), its more tree-lined, more residential, quieter, older – more monied.
—
@anonny. The building that Sabrina points out does have some nice open space right there a block away. Very green space and baseball diamond if you have a kid that wants to run around.
I used to have a place in this building on the 35th floor. Best thing about the place was the no weather access to Treasure Island and dry cleaners in the building.
Also, the building is just about it’s entire own precinct. When the bar across the alley got into the habit of dumping their empty bottles in the trash after closing time, the residents rounded up a petition to vote the precinct dry. That got the bar operator’s focused attention!
Bad thing about the building is the concrete exterior. It has to be periodically (every 8 years or so) and gone over for spalling and chipped out with a jack hammer. It made day time hours excruciatingly painful. No special assessment on that though…
i just don’t like high-rises. 99.9% are cookie cutter places. The only ones I like are Contemporaire (which is actually a mid rise). Also like the new lucien lagrange lincoln park 2520 (a little). Also like the modern place on Oak… I believe 30 Oak. Otherwise hi-rises are HORRIBLE, ugly cookie cutter as-someone-mentioned Soviet style living.
I dunno some highrises are nice looking. And you can do things inside some of them like workout, swim, some even have a laundromat on site like Mot said. Must be nice in February.
I do wonder though if the maintenance Mot talks about will be a problem with the highrises built in this boom 30 years from now. I can’t imagine concrete’s changed much in that span.
As for this units pricing no idea. It is an ugly building–doesn’t look like it aged well as it seems so gray.
Maintenance?!!! What about maintenance in walk ups? You guys have no clue – I owned a unit in a 6 flat and we had to have our roof replaced. It cost 100k – and the assoc only had 12k in reserves (because the other 5 owners wanted to keep assessments under 300/month). Guess what? – major disaster. We each got hit w a 15k special – and nobody could pay it!!! So I had to pay for the roof and get money back from the assoc over 5 years. Ridiculous.