Channeling the Spirit of Mies Van der Rohe in this Renovated 1-Bedroom: 860 N. Lake Shore Drive in Streeterville
This large 1-bedroom in the Mies Van der Rohe co-op at 860 N. Lake Shore Drive in Streeterville just came on the market. (Is this the right Mies building in the picture? I always get the two mixed up. It might be the condo building next door.)
Built in 1951 with floor to ceiling windows, it has been renovated from a 2-bedroom into a 1-bedroom plus office.
But that’s not all.
It has a brand new kitchen with Subzero appliances, built-ins with a wine cooler, a Creston audio system, Lutron automated blinds and new baths.
All that seems to be missing is in-unit washer/dryer (which CAN be put in in this building.)
It has wall unit air conditioning and parking is available for $60,000 in the building.
The unit has north and west city and lake views.
Yes, the assessments are $1993 a month. It’s a co-op. Not sure if this includes the taxes (which aren’t listed.)
According to the listing, no pets are allowed in the building.
With buyers wanting “new” will this rehab sell quickly?
Ozgur Ozar at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #14J: 1 bedroom, 2 baths, 1600 square feet, co-op
- I don’t have a prior price because it’s a co-op
- Currently listed for $595,000
- Taxes are $0
- Assessments of $1993 a month (includes heat, electric, gas, doorman, taxes?)
- No central air- wall units
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- Parking is $60,000
- Bedroom #1: 11×17
- Office: 10×13
This really is a beautiful unit and it’s huge. The price does not seem out of line and is maybe even a bargain, and the co-op HOA is really in line with the size of the place and what it includes. Friends of mine have a much smaller one bed they expect to sell in the $300k range, in one of these Mies buildings, I forget which.
Interesting that this building is co-operative, while the buildings at 900 and 910 are condominium.
A very close friend of mine lives in this building. His place has nowhere near the upgrades of this unit. I love the huge windows. The assessments do include taxes.
My friend complains about the following issues:
-Heat is radiant through the floor. I think it feels great to walk around on the warm floor, but to fully heat the unit when it’s not sunny requires space heaters.
-The central air uses some sort of water cooled system that’s not allowed by code anymore. Fixing it is problematic because finding a technician who is willing to fix it is difficult.
My complaint with the building is that one of the valets harassed me in a very creepy way and I will no longer go into the parking lot without my friend escorting me. The building also doesn’t allow dogs.
The building has some nice amenities – such as garbage pick-up right as your unit, so you don’t have to walk down to a garbage chute. Also, the residents are generally quiet and friendly.
Unit 10J is pending for 299k and is a 3br converted to a 2br. Lacks the updates of this unit, but I think for 300k less, you’d live. Assessments are also $200 lower.
If I didn’t have a wife and kid, I’d buy this place, especially w the garbage valet. Does seem odd not to put in a washer/dryer as part of reno if it’s permitted. Even if you don’t value it much, for resale.
” Does seem odd not to put in a washer/dryer as part of reno if it’s permitted. Even if you don’t value it much, for resale.”
If I’m understanding the layout well enough, don’t see a good place to have put a laundry closet that would have ready access to a stack. Would have messed up the aesthetic.
I do want to understand the garbage situation better. From someone who said he was an owner on a prior thread:
http://cribchatter.com/?p=10793
“No—your garbage is not picked up at your door. You place it in trash bins located on your floor and it is subsequently picked up by maintenance staff.”
Perspective is everything. Coming from a suburban home where I had to walk down a football-field length driveway in the dead of winter to put my garbage in the detached garage, to now walking down the hall to drop it in the condo garbage shoot is practically a miracle.
This place is drop-dead gorgeous, but who would want to live with people who can’t accept pets?
How many people are looking for a $600,000 1 BR with $2,000 a month assessments, a $60,000 parking space and no W/D in unit? A short list, I’m sure.
There are little garbage closets at the end of each hall. There are 4 units per floor in 860 (except owners who combined units), so each owner has direct access to the garbage closet. There is a door to the garbage closet next to your kitchen. You place the garbage in that space and overnight someone picks it up. Each garbage closet it shared by two units. There is enough room in the closet to store things like brooms.
This situation might be different in the sister building, 880, since there are more units per floor.
This place was on curbed yesterday…
Love the building but damn if its not outrageously expensive
Major ikea hacker here. Good use of inexpensive wall panels and cabinetry. Really nice unit.
Seems to me that Mies could have placed the two buildings in a better way so that people in one wouldn’t be staring into the other and vice versa. It would drive me nuts living like that. I like my privacy.
“This place was on curbed yesterday…”
Has anyone ever seen Sabrina and Ian in the same room? Just sayin’…
Why is the tile so uneven? Is that on purpose?
Pretty sure Sabrina’s picture is 900 LSD.
One question why does jenney always attract the creepy guys?
“One question why does jenney always attract the creepy guys?”
That’s not nice to say about HD…
“Has anyone ever seen Sabrina and Ian in the same room? Just sayin’…”
Who’s Ian?
There are 10 properties a day in certain price ranges coming on the market in the GZ (sometimes less). If Curbed is covering it and so am I it’s because there’s literally nothing else to talk about.
I need to go to the outer neighborhoods. Curbed never covers those because, well, no one important lives out there. (jk)
“Seems to me that Mies could have placed the two buildings in a better way so that people in one wouldn’t be staring into the other and vice versa. It would drive me nuts living like that. I like my privacy.”
Mies is not for you. But don’t live in buildings overlooking the Mies buildings either. A friend lived in one of those and all we saw were naked people walking around at all times of the day and night (I’m not kidding.) It gets old real fast.
Gorgeous unit. Unfortunately, no in unit laundry = no go for most
The photo is of 900 Lake Shore Dr. The Mies ghetto consists of 860, 880, 900, and 910 LSD. 860 and 880 are co-ops while 900 and 910 are condos. 860/880 were built in 1951. 900/910 were built in 1956. Condos were not in existence prior to about 1965, hence the co-op status for 860/880. 900/910 was rental until condo conversion in 1979. I don’t know why 860/880 doesn’t just change ownership status to condos.
I own in 880. The heated floors are wonderful. There are supplemental heating elements at the base of every window. The water cooled a/c is not in every unit. Rumor has it that the Board wants these systems removed. Washers and dryers are allowed only in combination units where one of the 2 kitchens can be converted to a laundry space with a laundry tub in place of the sink. There are many combination units. I have lived here 9 years and have never seen naked people in their units — darn.
For more info, pictures, floor plans, history, etc. on 860/880 visit 860880lakeshoredrive.com.
“The building has some nice amenities – such as garbage pick-up right as your unit, so you don’t have to walk down to a garbage chute. Also, the residents are generally quiet and friendly.”
There is a great Mies story that explains all this. I knew a woman who was the assistant to Robert McCormick who was the developer of the building. This was the first hi-rise residential building Mies designed and apparently he failed to put garbage chutes into the plans. Hence when the building was completed and everyone realized what had happened, McCormick set up a company to address the problem by offering a service to pick up the garbage from every unit. He also had a separate company to address the anodizing that occurred almost immediately on the aluminum window frames. According to her, he just looked at these things as opportunities to make more money. I presume the 900/910 buildings built later had garbage chutes.
This is the definition of a Stabbin’ Cabin. Over priced though it is, you could probably look like Quasimodo and get laid in this place!
Not surprised at all to hear that Mies forgot to put in garbage chutes. In all of his buildings, he seemed to care more about how they’d look from a mile away than how they’d actually function for the people within. See my earlier comment about the way 860 and 880 look right into each other, affording no privacy for residents. Same is true with 330-340 W. Diversey, another of his two-building complexes where many of the views are ruined because of the way he placed the structures. Must have looked great on his drawing board, though.
I have read that Mies thought that trash chutes were unsanitary. Chutes were installed in 900/910, but, yes, those chutes are definitely unsanitary!
I don’t understand all the commotion about the lack of garbage chutes. Mies did not forget to include them. May pre-war better high rise buildings do not have chutes. Instead, the trash cans are kept in a service hall, usually accessed from a door in the kitchen. The service area includes a freight elevator and stairwell. Staff collect the trash nightly, just as they do at 860. While 860-880 is a post-war building, it was planned in the 1940s and so some pre-war conventions are maintained, such as the lack of trash chutes. At 860, as some have noted, two apartments each share a service area that houses trash cans for each apartment. The staff collect the trash from this room nightly. At 880, residents take their trash to a trashcan located in a stairwell, where staff collect it, also nightly.
And 860-880 were not MIes’s first high rise buildings. That honor goes to the Promontory Apartments in Hyde Park.
Well plastic garbage bags weren’t invented to around 1950 or so, so I can imagine garbage chutes before that would probably get caked full of garbage
Actually, plastic garbage bags weren’t invented till the 70s, and in the high rise my grandfather lived in circa 1960, the chutes did indeed get crusted with garbage. They were disgusting. The buildings burned their garbage back in those days, too, and the smell was awful. I’m glad it was outlawed and the chutes are no longer in use.
However, because there’s at least one inconsiderate moron who is incapable of civil behavior in every large building, the chute openings should be bricked in so there is no access. Back in the 90s, I knew several people who rented in Marina City. One friend and all her neighbors had to be evacuated one weekend because somebody or the other had been grilling on his balcony and disposed of still-smoldering coals by dropping them down the old chute. My friend and her husband had to walk down from the 47th floor to evacuate. The funny thing is, I believe I know who put those coals down the chute, even though I can’t be absolutely certain, because we had a guy in our office who lived there at the time and was the kind of obnoxious boor who was absolutely capable of doing a thing like that.
This is one of the best buildings I have ever lived in. The building is kept spotless and this unit is a STEAL! Try doing a rehab as nice as this and your costs will be in the $300K range easily. You have no idea how nice it is to have a crestron audio system and lutron automated blinds. As far as the heating goes I can say that even with the current temperatures the floors stay super nice and overall warmth is maintained. If you priced it out you would find that similar square footage in buildings of the same caliber in river north would be similar in cost (dues, taxes, utilities,mortgage payment) each month to this place but would not include full service , lake views and landmark building status. This building and unit are for a very particular taste and not everyone can appreciate what it is and that’s fine but make no mistake that this place is definitely something special.
X