Market Conditions: The Most Expensive Condo To Ever Sell In Chicago Just Closed
There’s hope for Vince Vaughn and his Palmolive penthouse which is listed at $16.75 million.
The penthouse in Park Tower at 800 N. Michigan just closed for $15 million.
I believe it’s the most expensive condominium to ever sell in the city of Chicago.
It “sold before print” which means it was never listed on the MLS until it closed. So a buyer was already precured ahead of time.
The full floor 3-bedroom unit had 7900 square feet with panoramic views of the city.
It had 16 foot ceilings and a 44×15 terrace.
3 car parking was also included.
This seller did very well holding this unit for the last 13 years.
Are we now seeing a bifurcated market- with the rich doing really, really well in Chicago real estate and the middle class set to struggle for years?
P.S. Bonus points for whomever figures out who bought this unit (as I have no idea- and it’s not public yet.)
Chezi Rafaeli at Coldwell Banker had the listing. There were no pictures listed. Ever.
See the sold listing here.
Unit #66PH: 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, 5 half baths, 7900 square feet, full floor penthouse, 3 car parking
- Sold in August 2000 for $3.316 million
- Sold in November 2012 for $15 million
- Assessments of $5372 a month (includes doormen and cable)
- Taxes of $109,373
- Central Air
- Terrace: 44×15
- Bedroom #1: 35×15
- Bedroom #2: 13×12
- Bedroom #3: 14×12
- Library: 23×12
how big is vince’s place?
wonder where k griffen is moving
oops. guess ken lives upstairs from this place
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/November-2012/Deal-Estate-Extra-Highest-Priced-Condo-Sale-in-Citys-History/
So do people in this bracket worry about getting their Earnest Money back if it fails inspection?
“This seller did very well holding this unit for the last 13 years.”
While it *is* unlikely that they spent $1500 psf building it out, it’s also not inconceivable.
Without knowing how much they spent to complete that raw space, we have don’t know if the seller “did well”, nevermind “very well”.
“P.S. Bonus points for whomever figures out who bought this unit ”
2-1 odds say it’s someone related to Joe Berrios.
Can that assessment be right? Sounds like a deal for 7900 sqft
I guess the buyer doesnt read cribchatter.
Also:
“The penthouse in Park Tower”
+
“ken lives upstairs from this place”
does not compute.
not that it’s too crucial here to quibble about a few hundred square feet one way or the other, but it seemed odd to me that the 10 rooms listed (which even includes the foyer, and excludes only closets, bathrooms & hallways) add up to only a bit over 4000 sq. ft. Even figuring a gargantuan master closet & huge master bath, I’d expect the room measurements to come to a lot more than 1/2 of the square footage. Is it possible they’d just use the entire footprint of the floor (including mechanicals, elevator shaft, etc._?
“Is it possible they’d just use the entire footprint of the floor (including mechanicals, elevator shaft, etc._?”
If the footprint of floor is over 7900, it is not by much. So, yeah, it could easily be just a BOMA measurement.
I have to say I enjoy both Cribchatter and Chicago.Curbed, but lately there has been a lot of overlap in articles (present property included). Who is copying who? Both sites have pro’s and con’s with respect to various property listings.
Yes, I believe we will see a “bifurcated” market here in Chicago, because we now have a similarly bifurcated economy nationwide, in which the super-rich will always do extremely well while the less well-off continue to struggle.. and continue to lose ground.
The 17% default/delinquency rates on FHA loans, which are now 25% of all loans up to $500K, are not encouraging. It’s interesting to consider just how long lenders can continue to hoard foreclosures while awaiting a better day when there is a fresh flood of them setting up.
Geez that is some return on investment (assuming they didn’t have to spend that much on renovations).
“assuming they didn’t have to spend that much on renovations”
It was completely raw space at purchase.
No photos in the listing – what a shame. I wanted to see the view.
Are sales listings differentiated if it’s an actual sale, and if it’s some sort of financial maneuvering like selling to a trust instead of holding in own name? Given the high price and lack of even being on the market, could the current owners simply be making tax-friendly maneuvers to offset upcoming tax changes? Not sure exactly how those 1% games work…
“The penthouse in Park Tower”
+
“ken lives upstairs from this place”
does not compute.
When the term penthouse was first coined in NYC, it had nothing to do with the top floor….it had to do with a larger more livable space often made of several original units and always of higher finish quality. I will agree that many associate the term with the top floor…but that is just so limiting from a sales point of view.
I agree. If a full floor unit with 16 foot ceilings and one of only a few private terraces in the building is only on the second highest floor, I think almost all of us would be willing to call it a penthouse.
gdr:
“When the term penthouse was first coined in NYC, it had nothing to do with the top floor….it had to do with a larger more livable space often made of several original units and always of higher finish quality. I will agree that many associate the term with the top floor…but that is just so limiting from a sales point of view.”
I wonder what the commission is for a $15 million dollar sale when you are both the listing agent and buyers agent….
“When the term penthouse was first coined in NYC, it had nothing to do with the top floor….it had to do with a larger more livable space often made of several original units and always of higher finish quality”
So, you can have a “penthouse” in the basement, if it’s big enough and nice enough. I’ll be watching the MLS for the first realtor with the arrogance to do so.
btw: word origin link: http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990602
And no, you’re wrong about the word origin. There is *NOTHING* to evidence that the original usage meant anything other than the actual top of the building. Nothing. Except, perhaps, realtors ebing realtors, even in the 20s, and bending language for their purposes. “It’s just a word/number/whatever”, so long as it helps close the sale.
Matt Pritzker. Saw him standing outside the building a couple weeks ago…
“I wonder what the commission is for a $15 million dollar sale when you are both the listing agent and buyers agent….”
Interesting question. The co-op commission on this is listed as 2.5% – $250, which would be $375,000 if in fact it’s listed correctly. If it’s correct you can assume the sell side is the same. There is no way it’s worth that much money to put this deal together – even if it were 2 separate agents.
Lol! I found that same link.
Forget the basement penthouse, by GDR definition I’m thinking somebody needs to combine some double wides , add nicer finishes and market the fist trailer park version.
According the architect’s website – Lucien LaGrange – there are 6 penthouses at Park Tower.
http://www.lucienlagrange.com/portfolio/project/park_tower/
“I have to say I enjoy both Cribchatter and Chicago.Curbed, but lately there has been a lot of overlap in articles (present property included). Who is copying who? Both sites have pro’s and con’s with respect to various property listings.”
I never look at Curbed so I have no idea what they’re doing.
Okay- I just looked at it. They didn’t cover this property- Chicago Magazine did (which posted it about an hour before I did.) Dennis must get the MLS closings because a realtor sent me the closing on that unit (since I don’t have access to the MLS myself.) I do my posts the night before- so it is what it is. Dennis probably does too. We both would have seen it over the weekend.
I noticed that Curbed just covered a property that is being posted here tomorrow. But I’m posting on it anyway- since we’ve chattered about the complex before.
The problem is- there are literally 2 or 3 properties a day coming on the market in the GreenZone. That is it. Comparatively- when I started this blog in 2007 there were 200 properties coming on the MLS every day in the GZ. So what do you post on if you work at Curbed and you MUST put up 5 posts a day or lose your job? You post on all the new listings. But there aren’t any! So that’s the problem.
Stop reading both sites and your problem will be solved.
“Are we now seeing a bifurcated market- with the rich doing really, really well in Chicago real estate and the middle class set to struggle for years?
P.S. Bonus points for whomever figures out who bought this unit (as I have no idea- and it’s not public yet.)
Chezi Rafaeli at Coldwell Banker had the listing.”
It’s probably some international money. Mish just did a blog post about Chinese who are fleeing the country (based on Michael Pettis’ analysis), looking to park their cash in American real estate. Pettis believes that the slowdown in China (its stock market is way below the pre-crash highs unlike our S&P) is going to increase demand for trophy properties. Extrapolating this, and the fact that some Israeli had the listing, it’s likely the buyer is not some ham-sandwich-with-mayo eating Midwesterner who works for a living.
link says 8 penthouses
” jason_ocrl (November 19, 2012, 9:25 pm)
According the architect’s website – Lucien LaGrange – there are 6 penthouses at Park Tower.
http://www.lucienlagrange.com/portfolio/project/park_tower/
“
ANON apparently you didn’t read your own link…. ‘any specially designed apartment on an upper floor, esp. the top floor, of a building’ You wouldn’t consider this an ‘upper floor’? You must still be waiting for your penthouse at the Spire to close if you don’t.
Interesting, I always thought it came from a shortened version of penultimate house lol!
“apparently you didn’t read your own link”
Apparently you read selectively. You alleged that the *original* meaning in NYC had *nothing* to do with being on the top, which would require ignoring most of the info in the link.
Anyway, my nit was mainly with the use of the definitive (the) to describe this penthouse–it cannot be “the” (as in the singular) penthouse when there is *another* full floor unit above it.
I do agree. “The Penthouse” would indicate it was exclusive to the building. I thought you were making the pint that the penthouse above was somehow more a penthouse. I am biased because I live in “a” penthouse and yet i have an upstairs neighbor. I would however take my outdoor space over her higher floor. And it was not selective reading. It was the pertinent element of the definition that was not negated by the overall concept. Speaking of outdoor space….does the Penthouse above have any? I am looking at the building and not seeing how it would….unless it has a private rooftop deck.
“does the Penthouse above have any?”
It states that it has a 44’x15′ Terrace.
““does the Penthouse above have any?”
It states that it has a 44?x15? Terrace.”
Here is a pic of the top floor terrace via the CH link…
“http://www.lucienlagrange.com/images/uploads/ZI5V4290.jpg
My favorite, the penthouse shower with a view…
http://www.lucienlagrange.com/images/uploads/1ZI5V4731.jpg
“does the Penthouse above have any?”
It states that it has a 44?x15? Terrace.
No, the penthouse above. From looking across at the building I see where the outdorr area would be for this unit, but not for the top floor.
That looks like the terrace for this unit.
Here is a pic of the top floor terrace via the CH link…
“http://www.lucienlagrange.com/images/uploads/ZI5V4290.jpg
I like it. Similar showers usually have the shower head on an inside wall, the view would be more enjoyable this way.
My favorite, the penthouse shower with a view…
http://www.lucienlagrange.com/images/uploads/1ZI5V4731.jpg
I heard Ken Jennings bought this place.
The Tribune is reporting that the buyer of this unit was Ken Griffin of the Citadel.