Can the Water Tower Residences Compete With New Construction? 180 E. Pearson in Streeterville

This 3-bedroom in the Water Tower Residences at 180 E. Pearson in Streeterville came on the market in May 2016.

The Water Tower was built in 1975 and has 260 units along with the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the parking garage.

For decades, it was considered one of the premier condo buildings in the city.

Oprah Winfrey owned two huge units in the building before she moved out of Chicago.

This unit on the 55th floor has had an “exquisite renovation.”

It is south facing with views of the south city skyline, including the Aon Center, Navy Pier, the lake and west to the sunsets.

There are 3 en suite bedrooms.

The listing says there is a “spa like master bath” (are those his and her walk-in showers???)

It has a custom kitchen with luxury appliances.

The unit has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and parking is monthly in the building, but it’s valet.

All the amenities of the Ritz are available to home owners including things like room service.

With all the new luxury high rises in the city, including One Bennett Place and the Vista, just to name two, along with the Trump Tower, Park Tower, the Palmolive and No. 9 Walton, to name just a few others that are already completed, does the Water Tower still have the same prestige it used to?

Debra Dobbs at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #5505: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2975 square feet

  • Owner going back to the 1980s
  • Sold in June 2015 for $1,225,000
  • Originally listed after the renovation in May 2016 (I couldn’t find a price)
  • Under contract once
  • Returned to the market
  • Currently listed for $2.95 million
  • Assessments of $2889 a month (includes doorman, cable, exterior maintenance, lawn care, snow removal, scavenger)
  • Taxes of $23,038
  • Central Air
  • Washer/dryer in the unit
  • Parking is rental in the building from $375 to $525 a month
  • Bedroom #1: 16×16
  • Bedroom #2: 16×14
  • Bedroom #3: 16×15
  • Walk-in-closet: 8×12
  • Walk-in-closet: 6×10
  • Utility room: 8×13
  • Laundry room: 6×7

17 Responses to “Can the Water Tower Residences Compete With New Construction? 180 E. Pearson in Streeterville”

  1. Looks like the May 2016 price was also $2,950,000. Seems crazy to me for what it is.

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  2. I think they did a nice job renovating, I was expecting another 80’s style turd for 3 million bucks… everything seems nice and modern

    This building is full of weird rich old people, not a chance I’d live there even if I won the lottery

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  3. Sonies, whats the demographic, what makes them weirder than other rich people? You got me curious

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  4. just anecdata, I know a few different families that live in this place and they are all weird!

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  5. Is this a flip? Because the finishes look a lot more expensive than is typical in the new ultra luxury high-rises. When you do a renovation at this level, it’s not had to spend an obscene amount of money. Definitely a show stopper unit. Not sure about the value proposition as it will likely depreciate severely as finishes age and more so than they would in a new building.

    Cool counterpoint to new construction.

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  6. A childhood friend of mine lived in this building. I loved going to her home. It always seemed so quiet being up so high and away from everything.

    She was an olnly child and there was a family business worth a ton of money. Both parents were always working. Her family didn’t seem particularly weird.

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  7. This is staged right? This looks like a corporate rental what with the wall art matching the finishes.

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  8. what do HOA assessments at comparable newer buildings look like?

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  9. Wow. $4,000 a month in taxes/assessment/parking fees. That should keep the riff-raff away. I guess that’s the idea.

    Always like the condos here, though I hate the exterior. And this one has preferred south view, not the north view directly into the Hancock. I think this building is one that will remain exclusive and sought after despite being old.

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  10. “what do HOA assessments at comparable newer buildings look like?”

    One Bennett Park is nearing completion in Streeterville.

    This 3/3.5 unit on the 46th floor is 3,080 square feet. It lists the HOAs as $2223 a month.

    https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/451-E-Grand-Ave-60611/unit-4601/home/121384403

    And that’s new construction. It’s only going to go up. Developers always list them as artificially low out of the gate (after all, what will you need to repair or fix in the beginning?)

    This building only has 69 units as the rest of the building is apartments.

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  11. “This building is full of weird rich old people, not a chance I’d live there even if I won the lottery”

    The older downtown high rises have a lot of residents who have lived there for 30+ years. They aged in place and many are now passing on.

    You see a lot of unrenovated units in these buildings, as a result (because they’re estate sales.)

    But the question is, will GenX and Millennials want to buy in these buildings? Or will they prefer only the newer buildings?

    What will that do to the value of these older buildings as prices fall?

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  12. for $3MM, this place is completely underwhelming.

    The “Modern” look also has to be on its way out by now, We’ve been seeing the same look since ’10

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  13. Sabrina asks if Gen X and millennials will one day want to buy places like this. And I ask, will these generations ever be able to afford places like this? Saddled by education debt and with economic gains increasingly going to the very top strata, it’s questionable if these generations will want to or be able to spend $4,000 a month on housing expenses (besides the mortgage!)

    There’s always going to be some exceptions, of course. But my guess is most apartments like this will have to either start going down in asking price so people can afford the crazy monthly payments, or else owners are going to have to hope they can find Saudi or Chinese millionaires who want trophy units. In a building like this, that might not be far-fetched. Owners of expensive units in buildings away from the Magnificent Mile might not be so lucky.

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  14. Anyone buying into this building should be prepared to pay for an astronomical special assessment to replace the failing marble veneer over the entirety of the structure…

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  15. “Anyone buying into this building should be prepared to pay for an astronomical special assessment to replace the failing marble veneer over the entirety of the structure…”

    The Condominium unit owners will be sharing that cost with the mall, rental units and hotel, unless there is some weird ownership or financial responsibility agreement. And hopefully some of the assessment is going into a reserve fund for just eventuality that already (unless you have insider information).

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  16. “The “Modern” look also has to be on its way out by now, We’ve been seeing the same look since ’10”

    Nope. Going really strong. Nearly all the new luxury high rises are going with the modern interior.

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  17. “And I ask, will these generations ever be able to afford places like this? Saddled by education debt and with economic gains increasingly going to the very top strata, it’s questionable if these generations will want to or be able to spend $4,000 a month on housing expenses (besides the mortgage!)”

    How old do you think Gen X is?

    They range in age from 38 to 53. That generation isn’t much saddled with education debt. And many have bought homes years ago and have benefitted from the bubble. On the older end of the range, they also probably have pretty extensive stock portfolios.

    For the Millennials, many of them have been working in one of the best economies in the last 20 years. Plenty of them are lawyers or working in high tech jobs at places like Google, Facebook (which is hiring another 200 people here), Groupon, GrubHub etc. Chicago is also headquarters to many prominent financial firms like Morningstar, the CBOE, the CME not to mention the Citadel and banks like Northern Trust. They all pay well.

    Some of those 35 year old Millennials are likely working at these places.

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