The Truly “Open” Bathroom Concept: 1000 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast
This 3-bedroom at 1000 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast recently came on the market.
It is bank owned.
It has some unique features including a large terrace and a bathroom which appears to have a shower curtain as the only thing separating the bathtub from the bedroom.
From the pictures, the kitchen appears intact with granite counter tops, white cabinets and white appliances.
It doesn’t have central air (wall units only) or in-unit washer/dryer.
But it is 1800 square feet with a terrace for under $300,000 in the Gold Coast.
Is this a deal?
Joseph Thouvenell at P.R.S. Associates has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #305: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 1800 square feet
- Sold in January 2002 for $390,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in August 2010
- Bank owned in December 2011
- Currently listed for $289,900
- Assessments of $1393 a month (includes heat, gas, cable)
- Taxes of $4779
- No central air- wall units only
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- Terrace
- Bedroom #1: 19×13
- Bedroom #2: 16×11
- Bedroom #3: 15×12
That bathroom is just weird. It’s basically a bathtub room. What were they thinking?
I guess they were trying to make a really dull apartment somehow interesting and “edgy” by opening the bath to the bedroom. This is a very ordinary apartment in a building that is subpar to the surrounding neighborhood.
I guess that’s what the tacky fake fireplace is all about, too.
There are good reasons for this place being so cheap.
Where is the sink in that bathroom or does the “master bath” lack a sink?
I could do a shower curtain being all that separates the bedroom and tub but not the bedroom and toilet. You’ll hear and smell more than you want to of your partner!
Luxury!
jk
what’s that old phrase about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear? Whatever effect they were going for with that tub room, they failed miserably. Actually, I think it’s more like they wanted that tub, but the only way to get it in there was to take down the wall, and the rest is history.
first thing I’d do would be restore that bath to normal.
“It’s basically a bathtub room. What were they thinking?”
apparently from the foreclosure, they were thinking ‘oh shyte we ran out of money but i already ordered a spa tub that is bigger than the bathroom.’
Seems like at that price, you could redo the entire place and still come out ahead. 1800 sq ft in the gold coast doesn’t come cheap, even in this market… Although the assessments would keep me away.
My recommendation: Remove the curtain & the toilet. Furnish the room with a massage table plus a few lounge chairs & heaps of plush towels. Then market the condo as a 2BR/2BA + spa suite.
My recommendation is: Tear down the building. It’s been an eyesore for way too many years. The low value of such a big apartment in such a great location says it all.
though it’s kind of odd, it is priced well
My wife and I stayed at a motel with an open jacuzzi on our honeymoon. I thought it was romantic!
So what exactly is the difference between 1000 N Lake shore drive, and 1000 N. lake shore plaza?
“So what exactly is the difference between 1000 N Lake shore drive, and 1000 N. lake shore plaza?”
Oak v. Bellevue?
I’ve stayed at a couple of hotels that had this “open bathroom” concept, with not just the tub but the toilet essentially open to the adjacent bedroom. It seems to be some kind of idiotic design fad. Who would want a bathroom to be not sound and odor isolated from the adjacent room, even on their honeymoon? Way to kill the magic fast….
The assessment on this place is higher than what the mortgage payment will be.
Nothankyou.
The open bath most reminds me of something like this. Have also seen variants in W hotels and similar, but they tend to at least have glass separation.
http://i0.bookcdn.com/data/Photos/LargePhoto2/81/8134/8134443/Country-Inn—Suites-By-Carlson–Valdosta–Ga-photos-Room-King-Jacuzzi-Suite.JPEG
Yuck. I think this is one of the most disgusting condos featured on Cribchatter. The entire place needs to be gutted and sterilized. A bathroom needs a wall, especially when a toilet is in that room. I could even deal with a true loft that had no walls, but even those have walls for the bathrooms!
This place isn’t even worth gutting consider the window units and lack of washer/dryer (unless the building allows for their installation).
“My wife and I stayed at a motel with an open jacuzzi on our honeymoon. I thought it was romantic!”
I’ve always found that water is bad for that.
How long before the HOA gets it together to do the special for new windows?
Could they have done a worse job of featuring the terrace? I know it’s REO, but seriously.
Dan #2, you are not the first person to recommend tearing down this building.
The other teardown is the green-brick 50s-vintage highrise a block away on Michigan, that has rust stains on it. I suspect that in the next wave of development, these two buildings will go. The green-brick was considered for redevelopment during the housing mania, which would have involved buying out the owners, tearing the place down and building a 60-story multiuse, from what I heard.
Laura,
What’s the address of the building on Michigan Ave. you’re referring to?
If I remember correctly, the building just south of the one featured here is 1000 LSD Plaza, which, although it’s 1950s and green, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. It’s 50 stories, which would be a pretty big tear down, and as far as I can tell, it’s in good shape. The condos there have pretty decent values, with some selling for over $1 million.
Going south from there down Michigan, on the west side of the street, is One Magnificent Mile, and then Bloomingdales, I believe. Am I missing something?
That’s the building I’m talking about, Dan. I think the proposed deal never happened because, as you point out, the building is huge and the demolition costs would be prohibitive, and it was too close to the end of the housing mania.
Personally, I think it’s a terrifically ugly building with ugly apartments. But reasonable places in that area are very hard to find, so there will always be buyers for marginal buildings around there.
OH and while I like 50’s and 60’s modern buildings usually, this place is a terrible eyesore that reminds me of chinese apartment housing like this
http://www.fastcompany.com/1718369/the-silver-lining-to-chinas-cloud-of-smog
” I think the proposed deal never happened because, as you point out, the building is huge and the demolition costs would be prohibitive”
Nevermind the acquisition costs; the units in Plaza seem to trade mostly north of $700k (yes, with some under $500k, but also some over $1m), and with 130 units, you could easily be looking at $80m+ (and, quite possibly, $100m+) for a *teardown*.
So, I think the prohibitive cost was/is the acquisition, not the demo.
I know buildings get replaced with something nicer all the time in cities like NYC but how often does that happen in Chicago? And if 1000 N Lake Shore were to be torn down and rebuilt, would the price point be appealing to an “affluent” LSD buyer?
Is this building *SO* bad that you couldn’t buy it at this price, gut it to the shared walls, put $150k into it and not end up ahead? It’s mind bending to believe that there is a 3bd, in any shape, in this location for less than a half mill.
Here’s what used to be at this address:
http://calumet412.tumblr.com/post/16587655879/the-rockefeller-mccormick-mansion-that-stood-at
I’m confused. This place has a terrible layout and you guys all hate it. But pretty much all lofts have terrible layouts, and you guys love em! Make up your minds already!
I’ve seen these “open bathrooms” in ostensibly “upscale” houses and townhomes too. In fact there was one in a townhouse by Clark/Goethe. It was a turnoff to my otherwise-interested buyers.
“Honeymoon hotels” in the Pocono Mountains and “Romance hotels” like Sybarus have advertised “in-room tubs” as part of the atmosphere. However, the “business” aspect of the bathroom is well-concealed.
Fred,
You have a point; however, to me the building is so damn ugly it’s embarrassing, and I can’t imagine putting good money into a place here, however great a deal it may sound like on paper.
For the life of me, I cannot understand the wanton ignorance and most uncouth replies with regard to this listing.
1000 N. Lake Shore Drive is a true mid-century marvel, almost joining the crux of North and East Lake Shore drives, towering above as a pinnacle of 1950s architectural achievement and grandeur — a time when Chicago was truly beginning to solidify its reputation as a world-class city in the sky. During a time when there was a demand for modern, luxurious skyhomes with well-designed floorplates and even more spectacular units, this rare gem of a listing surely connects timely with timeLESS.
It is equipped with air conditioning — a luxury any true midwesterner would die for during our hot Chicago summers — a marvelous chef’s kitchen (with granite countertops so you can live out your stone-age paleo-nu-urban lifestyle!), fireplaces (see: paleo-nu-urban), and replete with lovely maple herringbone parquet floors, you get to experience not only the best in modern amenities, live in ancestral reverence, and also enjoy the charm of vintage styles that went out-of-vogue during the mid-century race to the sky.
Also, with all of the tsk-tsking of the spa master bath, you elite members of the sardonic commentariat fail to realize that this space is truly forward-thinking in design and appointment; after all, in the latest Architectural Digest one can peruse a myriad of luxurious master suites — this one simply wishes to take advantage of the listed “Lake/Water” views as you soak from a relaxing hard day’s labor: well, on the third floor “water view” may mean leaking coolant fluid on Chicago’s grand lakeshore expressway, but que sera sera! This space is magnifique!
I really think you all should re-evaluate your boorish notions of what this space truly means, and instead reconsider it in all of its resplendent glory.
lol jk this is horrid
“1000 N. Lake Shore Drive is a true mid-century marvel,”
No it was a marvel in the decade it was built and like most mid-century architectural style hasn’t aged very well. Looks like a housing project.
3rd floor unit is going to have lots of LSD traffic noise. Note: trucks are prohibited on LSD.
Looks like someone was hoping to go Andaz with the bathroom but instead went Country Inn; there are better ways they could’ve achieved a separate shower/tub in that space.