Restored Pre-War 4-Bedroom On The Park Is Still Available: 399 W. Fullerton Parkway in Lincoln Park
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom co-op at 399 W. Fullerton Parkway, across the street from Lincoln Park, in April 2012.
See our prior chatter here.
Previously listed for $1.5 million, it is still listed for that price.
Many of you put this building at the top of your list as a favorite in the city.
The co-op was built in 1927 and is on the National Historic Register.
There are 32 units with the elevator opening to two units per floor.
These are truly homes in the sky.
The building has two tiers of units, the East Tier and the West Tier- both have north and south facing views as well.
The East Tier is 300 square foot larger, with units at 3300 square feet. The West Tier units are 3000 square feet.
If you recall, this East Tier unit has been restored to its vintage glory with an attention to detail that includes antique doorknobs, built-ins, custom door hinges and marble window sills.
The kitchen has white cabinets and granite/wood counter tops with SubZero and Wolf appliances along with a butler’s pantry.
This unit actually has all the features buyers look for, which is rare for vintage of this era. There is one garage parking space, central air and laundry in the unit. According to the agent, there is also two car parking available to purchase across the street.
There is a $100,000 special assessment which the seller is giving a credit for at closing. I’ve been told it covers 6 years of building the reserves.
Even though there are signs of life in the housing market, do buyers still have the power in the upper bracket condo market?
Will this unit sell in 2012?
John Vossoughi at @Properties still has the listing. See more pictures here.
Unit #14E: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3300 square feet, 1 car parking
- I couldn’t find a prior sales price because it is a co-op
- Was listed in April 2012 at $1.5 million
- Still listed at $1.5 million
- $100,000 credit to the buyer to cover special assessment
- Assessment of $2610 a month (includes heat, a/c, doorman, cable)
- Taxes of $7950
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 12×19
- Bedroom #2: 12×13
- Bedroom #3: 9×14
- Bedroom #4: 12×18
- Family room: 12×18
- Laundry Room: 6×11
- Study: 12×14
Which war does Pre-war refer to?
FYI:
There’s only going to be 2 posts today as I was too busy to do a third last night. Actually, for the rest of the week I’m only going to do two posts a day. There’s just nothing going on and nothing to post on. It is dead out there. There is nothing in the inventory. And I’m tired of posting about newer construction 3-bedroom duplex downs.
wait wait wait?????
you pay $2,600 a month in special ass fee’s, yet your hit with a special? and $2,600 a month and there are NO RESERVES that a special ass fee is need on top of the $2,600 to make up for the fact you are pay $2,600 a month and none of it was going to reserve funds?
I would rather either live on East LSD or a similarly priced brownstone.
100k special assessment? ouch!
But damn if this isn’t what a million and a half dollar condo is supposed to look like… wow nice!
It’s beautiful and all, but that photo of the bathroom, with the toilet under a full height window is just too funny! I wonder what the “exposure” of that window is!
There’s only going to be 2 posts today as I was too busy to do a third last night. Actually, for the rest of the week I’m only going to do two posts a day. There’s just nothing going on and nothing to post on. It is dead out there. There is nothing in the inventory. And I’m tired of posting about newer construction 3-bedroom duplex downs.
You should do a special feature this week on teh burbs called Burbchatter. I guess it would be tough to drive out and take pics tho.
“But damn if this isn’t what a million and a half dollar condo is supposed to look like”
Spot on sonies, its a beautiful place and a nice location but seriously a $2,600 a month ass fee and none if was going to reserves?
Would much rather have this for about the same cost when considering assessment
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/345-W-Belden-Ave-60614/home/21870038
The vintage high rise is just risky to me when considering future building upkeep and repairs.
Groove, I doubt that none was going into reserves… just that their reserves obviously weren’t sufficient for the emergency repair (probably facade related, maybe failed a general inspection is my guess)
@Groove – don’t forget that it’s a coop, so the assessment covers the taxes, so it’s more like $2000 a month discounting that, but that’s still a lot to have no reserves.
Lovely. Lovely.
Super ouch on the special assessment on top of the monthly ouch, but at least the people in this building seem to have the ability to pay the special. Plenty of other buildings from the same era with the same brick & mortar problems.
“@Groove – don’t forget that it’s a coop,”
thanks noya, i missed that it was a co-op.
I have seen but dont have a link to properties that are co-ops that the realtor breaks out the tax portion on the ass fee and lists it that way. Dont know if this follows MLS rules but its not like agents follow MLS or any rules when it comes to listing parking
“Groove, I doubt that none was going into reserves… just that their reserves obviously weren’t sufficient for the emergency repair (probably facade related, maybe failed a general inspection is my guess)”
I would really like to know what is the cause for the reserves to need to be built up. I dont know too much about condo associations or reasons for certain ass fee’s so i will turn to you to school me on them.
“Would much rather have this for about the same cost when considering assessment”
IDK that floor plan is 100% horrible, we have chattered about it before.
plus the place you linked to is right in front of the entrance/exit of a parking lot/garage. With that floorplan and that location 1.7mil is too high
Good grief, we’ve been over the co-op assessment thing a million times. What are the fees on a 3,300 sq/ft *condo* unit on the park, with a door man, elevator and one garage spot? Look into it for five or ten minutes, then let me know whether $2,600/mo seems unreasonable for this place…which is, again, a co-op (i.e., I’m surprised that the fees arent’ higher). And if this were a condo, it would be listed at $2 mm.
Speaking of $2 mm condos on the park, I’m wondering whether many prospective buyers of this unit are also looking at the PH at 2600 N. Lakeview (last listed around $2 mm). While the latter has the benefit of being top floor and a full floor (and what I would argue is a better view, with better neighboring buildings), as discussed, it doesn’t have parking (nor does it have a doorman). I would think that this unit would move at $1.4(ish), even with the higher down payment requirement, long befor 2600 moves. Perhaps there’s some downsides as to this building on Fullerton that aren’t readily apparent from the listing…
Lovely place. I’d buy it if I could.
Anonny,
I never lived in this building (399 Fullerton), but I spent a lot of time in it because of having friends there, and if there are downsides, I never saw them. The lobby is lovely; the doorman takes you up in the elevator (not sure they still do this); there’s garage parking on site (not always available in a vintage co-op), the assessments aren’t horrible, the apartments are like someone else here said – exactly what you’d expect to get for $1.5 mln, with wonderful floor plans and large rooms, and the entire atmosphere is one of elegance. Plus, the location is far better than for co-ops farther north like 3500 LSD or 3750 LSD.
Only downside compared to those is lack of a direct lake view, but you do get nice park views in front and a city view in back.
If I had the dough to buy this place and send my kids to Parker or Latin, it would be a no brainer.
Anonny,
I never lived in this building (399 Fullerton), but I spent a lot of time in it because of having friends there, and if there are downsides, I never saw them. The lobby is lovely; the doorman takes you up in the elevator (not sure they still do this); there’s garage parking on site (not always available in a vintage co-op), the assessments aren’t horrible, the apartments are like someone else here said – exactly what you’d expect to get for $1.5 mln, with wonderful floor plans and large rooms, and the entire atmosphere is one of elegance. Plus, the location is far better than for co-ops farther north like 3500 LSD or 3750 LSD.
Only downside compared to those is lack of a direct lake view, but you do get nice park views in front and a city view in back.
If I had the dough to buy this place and send my kids to Parker or Latin, it would be a no brainer.
“Good grief, we’ve been over the co-op assessment thing a million times. What are the fees on a 3,300 sq/ft *condo* unit on the park, with a door man, elevator and one garage spot?”
please understand the argument is not about the $2,600 ass fee’s (which was made before knowing its co-op) its about having a $2,600 ass fee that IS NOT GOING TO THE RESERVE
“its about having a $2,600 ass fee that IS NOT GOING TO THE RESERVE”
Not going *enough* to reserve. Prob covering expected maintenance, but then a big one hit–whether it’s major facade repair, elevator replacement, hvac replacement, windows, or a combination. $3mm doesn’t pay for *that* much union-rate repair/replacement on a vintage hi-rise.
“$3mm doesn’t pay for *that* much union-rate repair/replacement on a vintage hi-rise”
agreed, but I would not feel comfortable paying that much in ass fee’s knowing that the reserves are not funded enough to cover 80% the extremes that can happen.
Question for condo owners, do the owners collect any of the interest on their reserve portion? or when you sell do you collect any interest on your reserve portion?
Groove, there are management companies and firms that do “reserve studies” to determing how much everyone in your association should be contributing to reserves in order to avoid most “special” assessments.
Also you can vote to not take $$$ from reserves for special repairs. Thats what we did when we had some minor spalling issues. It was a $900 special so we said screw it and just paid it out of pocket instead of dipping into our reserves (which were plentiful to cover it at the time)
“Question for condo owners, do the owners collect any of the interest on their reserve portion? or when you sell do you collect any interest on your reserve portion?”
As my condo assoc makes the kids from Lord of the Flies look like mature civilized adults, I cannot speak of how it should be done.
“Groove, there are management companies and firms”
“As my condo assoc makes the kids from Lord of the Flies look like mature civilized adults”
my question is when you sell do you get any interest back that was earned on your portion of the reserve?
also when you sell do you get any portion of the reserve back?
@Groove, my understanding is that you do not. The only thing you get back is any association fees you might have paid in advance.
“The only thing you get back is any association fees you might have paid in advance”
nice nothing like throwing money away 😉
so i paid into future repairs on a building I no longer live so others can be covered if something goes wrong or something major is needed?
and how is this not a scam?
“so i paid into future repairs on a building I no longer live so others can be covered if something goes wrong or something major is needed? ”
it’s really no different than the portion of property tax that goes to a school you don’t use if you’re childless or a park you don’t use if you’re a hermit. Also remember, your condo assessment covers a variety of things, the reserve potion is a small percentage.
I have heard stories of condo buildings that have built up a big enough reserve that they use a portion of it — with owner approval of course — to install a rooftop deck or make some other improvement that brings value to the building which would translate into better resale value.
“translate into better resale value”
If you have educated buyers (yeahyeahyeah), there should be better resale value based on sufficient reserves v. insufficient reserves. At a minimum, you should be able to sell faster in a building that hhas good reserves v one that relies on specials, but the reality is that many/most people look at the lower assessments and prefer that, even with the (implied) risk of a special.
“it’s really no different than the portion of property tax that goes to a school you don’t use”
IDK it is different, one is government regulated taxes and the other is a small group acting like a Communist non official sub-government.
As you can tell i would be the worst person to have on your HOA. Condo “ownership” is a scam in my eyes, would rather rent or have my own home.
Building reserves are well over a million now, so the building is healthy. At the time the work was done (around 8 years ago), the reserve was low which is why this huge special assessment came up.
Great area/location. Too expensive and ugly/horrible decor. That can be replaced, but all those vintahe built ins and molding would take forever to replace.
Pete,
Why in the world would you want to strip out the vintage moldings and built-ins? If that’s your attitude, you’re better off buying a 1990s 2/2 in Lakeview. Or in a 4 plus one.
“but all those vintahe built ins and molding would take forever to replace.”
Treacherous. Simply treacherous. This kind of doubleplusungood thinking should be banned!!!