What’s the Market for Luxury Loop Penthouses? A 3-Bedroom at 200 N. Dearborn
This 3-bedroom in 200 N. Dearborn in the Loop came on the market for the first time ever in January 2019.
If you recall, 200 N. Dearborn was previously apartments and was converted into condos at the height of the housing boom.
But the top floor was never actually built out. It was left as raw space at the time the building was constructed.
The raw space finally sold in early 2018.
Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s Chicago Business has the insider story:
When a Chicago magazine reporter toured the space in 2011, it was being used as an attic, piled with boxes of files belonging to the real estate firm that was selling the building’s former apartments as condos. A real estate executive who was trying to sell it then said turning it into living space would take “vision, money and time.”
One reason it took another seven years to sell is that finishing the space also required “some heavy lifting,” Taylor said. Opening the 47th floor to the rooftop meant cutting a hole in the building’s concrete top, and putting in utilities meant inconveniencing residents below, on the 46th floor, in order to bore through their ceilings to extend the building’s plumbing up from where it stopped.
It’s a private full floor unit with the elevator opening into the unit and has a 2350 square foot private rooftop terrace accessed from an interior staircase.
The unit has 10 foot ceilings and unique 12×9 arched windows with city views.
It has 7″ white natural oak floors.
The kitchen has white modern cabinets, marble counter tops and Wolf and Subzero appliances.
There’s a master suite with a walk-in-closet and a 17×14 master bath.
The third bedroom has no windows but is enclosed by clear glass walls which can be turned opaque with a flick of the switch.
The rooftop deck has views across the city. The pictures show it as a blank slate, with just a concrete slab, but the Crain’s article says the rooftop is still getting an outdoor kitchen and shade structures.
It has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and 2-car parking is included.
At $2.495 million, this would be the most expensive unit to ever sell in the building.
Will its uniqueness sell it quickly in 2019?
Sophia Klopas at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #4700: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2957 square feet
- First time on the market ever
- Listed in January 2019 for $2.495 million (includes 2 parking spaces)
- Assessments of $2067 a month (includes gas, doorman, cable, pool, exterior maintenance, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $15,302
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Private rooftop deck: 2350 square feet
- Bedroom #1: 32×13
- Bedroom #2: 17×13
- Bedroom #3: 15×9
- Walk-in-closet: 15×6
- Laundry room: 16×5
Nice roof top deck. The RTU and the exhaust fan should provide nice ambiance while you’re hanging out on the deck
The single frosted glass pane in the bathroom is a nice touch
The small vents trying to wash the windows likely wont be enough to stop frost from forming, especially with no radiant heat below
$1.5MM
Good luck finding window treatments for that arched bathroom window!
I seem to believe this building had fire issues in the past. Badly built. True?
“PRIVATE FLOOR”
Hmmm, why does the floorplan not show the whole floor, if it is private? Pretty sure that’s not the shape of the building, even accounting for the two stairways.
Does anyone really want to own the by-far most expensive house in an Invsco building?
This place would a be a pretty amazing 2BR, though second bedroom is small and third is really an office. Put 100K into the roof and it would be unbelievable.
Location is great for the loop in that its walkable to river north for entertainment and south to work. Living so far above you neighbors means though wouldn’t be great, though you are pretty isolated from the rest of the building and wouldn’t be affected by common areas much beyond the lobby and elevators. Compared to new construction, there is a lot of bang for your buck here and I don’t know where you could find a similar private roof top.
This definitely falls in the category of super cool unexpected units in the city. Not quite right for me with kids, but I’d be tempted to make it work.
Also, I’m sure the building is much more of a POS than it seems as American Invsco was involved.
Its a very slick looking place but the building doesn’t match the unit’s level of sophistication. That huge rooftop deck should help attract a buyer. With many other great options at 2.5 million I’m guessing this unit could see a 10-20% price reduction before its sold.
Nicely done. I had no idea there was a unit like this in such a mundane building, and the developers did excellent work making it so nice.
You would definitely want some window treatments, as unfortunately some of the views are right into other buildings. But the unit looks like it has a nice mix of open space and privacy, and from what I can tell the fixtures all look top-notch.
All kinds of possibilities for that roof deck – one of the best I’ve seen. I love that this is a genuine penthouse, too. So sick of hearing a unit called that just because it’s the top floor of a three-flat.
Price looks about right considering location and size.
“Hmmm, why does the floorplan not show the whole floor, if it is private? Pretty sure that’s not the shape of the building, even accounting for the two stairways.”
It’s possible they could not build out the other part of that floor for various reasons (given that they had to drill through the concrete just to get water up there, it’s not surprising.) It was never built out anon(tfo). It was a shell.
Pretty cool hidden gem. And could work well for the right buyer that values space and awe factor over prestige etc of living in an otherwise mundane building.
Agree that it is indeed a “true penthouse” however in my “dream oenthouse unit” the terrace comes directly off of the living room. Far easier for guests to use. And way cooler looking when you can see the terrace from the living spaces.
“It’s possible they could not build out the other part of that floor for various reasons”
So, there’s ~3000 SF of private storage? The building footprint is about 7200 SF; deduct for stairs, utility chase, elevators, etc., there should be at least 5000 sf and perhaps as much as 6000 sf of potentially “private” space on the 47th floor.
Who’s using it? If it is *anyone* else (including the association), then it isn’t a “private floor”; yes, it would still be the ‘only unit on the floor’, but words have meaning.
Anyone thinking the roof deck is remotely useable is deluding themselves
The RTU is going to produce a lot of noise, and being this is an AI building I’m pretty confident they didn’t spring for the noise dampening option.
The unit is also going to reject a bunch of heat in the summer making anywhere down wind unpleasant
“It’s possible they could not build out the other part of that floor for various reasons (given that they had to drill through the concrete just to get water up there, it’s not surprising.) It was never built out anon(tfo). It was a shell”
Not sure why a 3″ core for a waterline would cause a loss of sf.
From the aerial photo there’s a finfan or cooling tower at the same elevation of the floor taking up the missing sf. Great so now you get more noise and reject heat.
The Deck is a glorified smokers pit
Dropping my value to $1.1
Think my response was eaten
‘It’s possible they could not build out the other part of that floor for various reasons (given that they had to drill through the concrete just to get water up there, it’s not surprising.) It was never built out anon(tfo). It was a shell.”
a 3″ core for a waterline isn’t going to take that much space
If you look at the aerial of the building you can see the missing sf is due to a finfan or cooling tower at the same elevation as the unit
Anyone thinking the rooftop deck is anything more than a glorified smokers pit is delusional. You’ve you noise from a large RTU/AHU and finfan/colling tower (Pumps/compresors/fans etc) and I’m guessing with AI’s track record they didn’t spring for the sound attenuation. Additionally, you get to deal with a lot of reject heat.
They’ll probably find some sucker to buys this at $1.5 but they’ll will be highly disappointed if they figured on throwing lavish rooftop parties
Dropping my estimate to $1.1MM
“If you look at the aerial of the building you can see the missing sf is due to a finfan or cooling tower at the same elevation as the unit”
I misread the pic–now I see the shadows of the window frames.
Still ~6000 sf on the 47th floor. minus ~900 for the space under the elevator hut. Who is using the other 2000 sf that isn’t part of this unit??
I see shade pockets above most of the windows – of course they are up for the photos…
” but words have meaning.”
———————-
Not on Crib Chatter they don’t. Borders, facts, and now words, are fluid. Just ask Gary about borders.
“I see shade pockets above most of the windows – of course they are up for the photos…”
just based on pic 10 where you can see into the pocket, it looks like there are no shades installed. i like the idea of installing the pockets. wonder why they couldn’t install one in the master bathroom and move the vent slightly inward into the room. not sure what the other white box is in the ceiling next to the vent.
“Still ~6000 sf on the 47th floor. minus ~900 for the space under the elevator hut. Who is using the other 2000 sf that isn’t part of this unit??”
No one. The elevator opens directly into this unit. You don’t know what other mechanicals are up there anon(tfo).
“If it is *anyone* else (including the association)”
Evidently you didn’t read the Crain’s article which discusses where this square footage came from and how it was sold.
“You don’t know what other mechanicals are up there”
Nor do you.
“Evidently you didn’t read the Crain’s article which discusses where this square footage came from”
I did. It incorrectly sez that it is a “full-floor penthouse”. It’s a less than half the floor penthouse.
Going off google aerial view (and using 3d/rotation features)—it looks like the structure doesn’t fill all of the 47th floor. The southeast corner has A/C equipment or other equipment (and the arched windows at that corner of the building aren’t actually windows, but just decorative.
I used to live in this building. There was a way to break into the 47th floor. I used to go up there often. The penthouse is the front half of the top floor. From the north side of the building all the way to the south side of the building.
The back half of the penthouse is maintenance/janitor “offices” and worker locker rooms etc.
It was so nice to sit up there late at night and watch the city go by. Sometimes I miss that building. Definitely do not miss American Invsco. They were idiots of the century.
The “nice” thing about living in the higher floors is that the lower floors heat will essentially make it so you never have to turn your heat on. In the winter I would often have to open the window/balcony door a smidge just to regulate the temperature.
“Going off google aerial view (and using 3d/rotation features)—it looks like the structure doesn’t fill all of the 47th floor’
Yes, I did that calculation upthread. There is ~2000 sf unaccounted for by (1) ac rtus, (2) the elevator core, (3) the second stairs, and (4) the 2900 sf unit. Tell me its 1500 sf, fine. But a significant chunk of teh 47th floor is unaccounted for, while belies the assertion of “Private Floor”.
Private floor in this case means elevator opens into unit, no shared hall, no neighbors…you are the only resident of the floor. Many building mechanical need to be on the roof or top floor, so some loss of space is unavoidable. You only pay for the space you get. It seems anon is taking issue with Crain’s and the listing agents choice of word. I don’t see the problem.
“Private floor in this case means elevator opens into unit, no shared hall, no neighbors”
Except, apparently, the building staff.
Crain’s phrasing is demonstrably inaccurate–it is *certainly* not a “full-floor” penthouse. If you are fine with that, then I guess anything can be described as “full floor”.
I am probably being pedantic about “private floor”, but at $2.5m in a B-minus building, I’d expect a truly private floor, and would be disappointed by the reality.