Forget the Loft Condo, Buy the Loft House Instead: 330 N. Ashland in the West Loop
We’ve chattered often about authentic loft condos but never before have we chattered about a loft single family home like this one at 330 N. Ashland in the West Loop.
Converted from a former industrial building, the building is now a 10,000 square foot single family home with exposed brick, beams and timber ceilings and an open living layout.
It has a massive master bathroom (check out the picture of the tub) as well as a “rooftop oasis.”
The listing says the basement is currently configured as a dream playroom (for kids, not adults).
Peter Angelo at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures and a virtual tour here.
330 N. Ashland: 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 10,000 square feet, 4 car garage
- Sold in July 2005 for $1.1 million
- Currently listed for $2.27 million
- Taxes of $8,338
- Central Air
Very interesting but definitely not for everyone. I think it would be like living in a cavern – or at least a former industrial building.
Off the top of my head, those taxes seem to indicate an assessed MV of around $650,000.
The new assessment should be arriving soon. Caveat emptor.
Is this Hugh Hefner Jr’s place?
The market for a place like this is vanishingly small.
good thing you have all that space because you wont want to leave the house in that neighborhood. And I use the term loosely. This is not a residential neighborhood. This is an industrial corridor and this property should never have been rezoned to residential.
I agree with Tom – whoever rezoned this to residential is an idiot. This area is completely industrial and noted by the enormous dump trunk passing this house in google street view.
Agree with Tom and Tony. I used to drive through here all of the time (and now just some of the time), and if you *had* to live in this area, *this place* is the only thing that would make it even close to tolerable. In fact, just a few blocks away on Damen and and Carroll is a giant overhead sign that proclaims the area to be the “Kinzie Industrial Corridor.” Guess that somebody just had to live there.
Super convenient to Cobra Lounge and Pitchfork Festival.
Re: the industrial nature of the area – I’m guessing anyone interested in this place isn’t looking for the sanitized white picket fence 1.5 kid experience.
They’re smoking crack on the price though. It should be under $200/sf at this size in this area.
This would be a great place for my Fight Club – er, wait, I wasn’t supposed to talk about that…
This property is within the Planned Manufacturing District 4 (PMD 4 on the zoning map). One would have to review the code/ordinance for what is allowed in this district. This property wasn’t rezoned, but it may have received a use variation – happens all the time.
umm….yeah…..ummm too many smart remarks jamming my brain all at once, i am at a loss here.
i what would be a comparable comp for this? who would be the target market/buyer for this?
does the pepsi machine come with it? i’m sold
I think the place is pretty cool but at the same time 10k sq ft seems like a headache to maintain, heat and clean. Kids or no kids, this area isn’t exactly enjoyable.
I love this place, but the heat bills must be shockers. Ideal for an artist’s commune, and given the industrial zoning, these are the only people for whom it’s suitable. You wouldn’t live in this area with kids.
Wish I could afford it.
I actually live around the corner, and know the folks who live there. They have several kids who play out back in the alley, and on the rooftop when the weather is nice. Lovely place, lovely people. Frankly, we like living in the neighborhood – 5 minutes to the office, easy access to anywhere we regularly go in the city – and the built in security of the factory round-the-clock shifts. That said, there is one HUGE problem with this place, literally connected to the building, right next door, is a metal finish factory. I never walk down the alley for fear of breathing the acid fumes that they vent out back (where the garage entrance to the listed home is located.) I don’t know if the EPA/OSHA monitors these guys, and the employees there do not wear masks – but I sure as heck dont want to breathe that stuff!!!
There’s a hefty mortgage on this place with a high LTV from the original price. This is a height of the bubble property. IIRC it’s like $1.35 or something ridiculous like that. If somebody posts the PIN I’ll look up the terms on my way back from court, and, the so called modification filed last Nov (which may turn out to be nothing…)
Party / rehearsal / crash pad for a successful Chicago based band? That’s about the only market I can think of.
Can’t wait to find out what d-bag banks underwrote the mortgages..
..HSBC, WaMu, DoucheBank?
Bradford: “Re: the industrial nature of the area – I’m guessing anyone interested in this place isn’t looking for the sanitized white picket fence 1.5 kid experience.”
-that basement looks tailor-made for 1.5 kids. And the appropriate fence here is steel with razor-wire on top
That being said, a place like this is my dream place, almost. I am on a life-long mission to find a small building/warehouse to convert to SFH. Nowhere nearly this big and within an actual neighborhood, on a residential street. Probably not to likely. But I have seen one, not in the greatest neighborhood but not too bad and very close to some desireable areas.
Here it is: (still to big for me, but atleast near other humans)
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=qzp2467ps1pk&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=11370497&encType=1
Tom, take a look at Wells between Schiller and Division. On the east side of the street there are several light industrial buildings. I can tell that at least one has been converted to a single family. But I’ve lived there for years and I still have no idea what goes on in the other buildings. There are also quite a few building like this between Division and Chicago and Wells and Orleans. Not the best neighborhood, but definitely lots of people. Though I suspect buildings in either area would be very expensive.
This is the kind of place that appealed to me when I was in my early 20s. Now that I’m in my 30s with a kid, I can’t imagine actually living in this neighborhood, the loft, etc. Especially with the mortgage that would come along with this place…
As Ken said, the market for this place right now is vanishingly small…
MB financial IIRC
And they just took over Corus–oh the irony.
Tom,
I live a few houses down from that building. It use to be an old auto-body shop and when I moved into the hood in ’03 it still was. I’m 99% sure that the owner of the place is a talent agent who splits his time between LA and Chicago. They did a solid reno job on converting it and like you, I only wish I could have done the same.
“Party / rehearsal / crash pad for a successful Chicago based band? That’s about the only market I can think of.”
Bingo. How many chicago based bands are this successful of late? Where’s Urge Overkill when you need them.
Urge overkill are regualrly playing free shows at Cobra lounge, and one or two street festivals a summer đŸ™‚
http://www.ccrd.info/CCRD/controller?commandflag=searchByProperty&optflag=SearchCommandForIL&PIN_1=17&PIN_2=07&PIN_3=407&PIN_4=009&PIN_5=0000
Now I’m not certain about this, but, my research on the Googles show that someone in the household was involved in real estate development; and judging by the price/style of this property, they drank a little too much kool-aid, which seemed to happen often to those in the industry. There are significantly less people today in real estate development who can afford a $1,600,000 mortgage as compared to 2006 when this property was developed…even if the developer’s partner is a talent agent who splits time between LA and here; this is the definition of a bubble property, other than the Castle of course.
“#PDubbs on October 21st, 2009 at 9:13 am
Tom,
I live a few houses down from that building. It use to be an old auto-body shop and when I moved into the hood in ‘03 it still was. I’m 99% sure that the owner of the place is a talent agent who splits his time between LA and Chicago. They did a solid reno job on converting it and like you, I only wish I could have done the same.”
the area does sport other mix developments like office/condos, but warehouses(very light industry) do dominate the area, but it is also being modified, I can see it being mix.residential/commercial in the next decade.
“I can see it being mix.residential/commercial in the next decade.”
Well good. That’s about how long it should take to get all of the things out of this place. I never thought it would be possible to clutter 10,000 SF, but they managed… A random interior curtain here, a potrack, 1,000 hats on the bedroom wall, vase, curtain, easel, picture, footstool, other footstool, vase, vase, sculpture, vase, picture, lamp, lamp, ladder, another ladder, shoes… Seriously.
P Dubbs
“Tom, I live a few houses down from that building.”
-I’ve been interested in this area for the past few years. I live 3/4 mile from there ( in Logan Square) and used to live in roscoe Village so I’ve passed by/through/ driven around a lot. What do you call this area between the metra tracks and western/ Belmont to the expressway (to the south)?
I’ve seen a few interesting reno and new contruction. There are still a few commercial/light industrial building there as well. The Green Exchange opening up should spur some developement there as well-if it ever happens.
if they plant a trees along the roads, it will feel more neiborhoody
Didn’t Hansel from Zoolander live here?
“Didn’t Hansel from Zoolander live here?”
you win best pop culture comment for the day đŸ™‚
this place is nice, but what i dont get is the kids play area, how are the kids going to play when there are no other kids in the area?
“I’m 99% sure that the owner of the place is a talent agent who splits his time between LA and Chicago.”
Based on HD’s link to recorded docs, I’m pretty sure this is wrong. Record owner is the wife, alone, husband is in high-end construction. Kid(s) go to catholic school.
“how are the kids going to play when there are no other kids in the area?”
Dude, 4+ car parking. Their moms drive over and they drink wine from the closet while the kiddos play–even after 4 or 5 bottles, they’ll still be able to find the closet, b/c it sez WINE on it.
anon(tfo) you and I found the exact same information!
And there is lots of wine in the closet. It’s not even a wine cellar or wine fridge; it’s a wine closet.
“anon(tfo) you and I found the exact same information!”
Looks like it. Not a lot to plow thru.
If you haven’t, you should check out the aerial–the roof has “grassy” area for the kids to play, too. And the 10,000 SF is legit, spread over the three levels–place is about 40×80-82.
Assessor thinks there’s a little extra land, saying 3649 land SF, but I don’t know where that’s hiding.
“Dude, 4+ car parking. Their moms drive over and they drink wine from the closet while the kiddos play–even after 4 or 5 bottles, they’ll still be able to find the closet, b/c it sez WINE on it.”
nothing sadder than a drunk stay at home soccer mom get together
it is a very unique place, huge, and very well done. but 2.2m is a rough price for a small target buyer.
taxes seem oddly low? i think G stated caveat emptor about that.
“taxes seem oddly low?”
The assessor still thinks it’s industrial property. With an ’08 assessment of 58,078. So, yeah, buyer beware.
“Bingo. How many chicago based bands are this successful of late? Where’s Urge Overkill when you need them.”
well, fallout boy comes to mind. although they are “based” more out of LA now than chicago, they do swing by often. (makes sense w/ angels and kings being owned by pete wentz. i think him & ashley have a kid, so maybe they should pick up this place.)
some other bands/artists that at least come from IL and some may still be based here; ok-go, kill hannah, smashing pumpkins (i swear they’re coming back), smoking popes, alkaline trio, kanye west, lupe fiasco, twista, r kelly, the acadamy is, plain white ts… etc, etc
“r kelly”
Another one the playroom makes sense for …
“The assessor still thinks it’s industrial property. With an ‘08 assessment of 58,078. So, yeah, buyer beware.”
LOL. That assessment equates to a market value of $161,328 for an industrial property. That might answer why the building classification hasn’t been changed yet.
I expect West Township industrials to see massive increases in the current reassessment. Residential or industrial, I don’t see how this avoids 2-3X the current taxes.
“I don’t see how this avoids 2-3X the current taxes.”
And, if it were to sell for ~$2mm, 3x current taxes would be about right.
The talent agent reference was to Tom’s link, not the subject property.
“some other bands/artists that at least come from IL and some may still be based here; ok-go, kill hannah, smashing pumpkins (i swear they’re coming back), smoking popes, alkaline trio, kanye west, lupe fiasco, twista, r kelly, the acadamy is, plain white ts… etc, etc”
smashing pumpkins-is from evanston and northshore which i think a few still own homes there
Twista-from what i remember moved from the west side long ago
lupe fiasco-from maywood is not even in illinois any more
plain white t’s or fall out boy- i read some where that one bought a house in glenview
common-south east side is in cally doin the movie career.
PDubbs: “The talent agent reference was to Tom’s link”
Nope. Advertising. Creative side.
Groove: “smashing pumpkins-is from evanston and northshore which i think a few still own homes there”
Dude, Billy’s the only one left. And they’re western Cook kids, wherever they live now.
I don’t think any current members of Alkaline Trio still reside in Illinois.
By the time the gossip made it to my end of the street it prob morph’ed from Advertising Exec to Talent Agent…
How do you figure this stuff out anyway? I’d love to be able to pull up that type of info on some stuff I’m looking at.
“How do you figure this stuff out anyway?”
Look up the owner on ccrd, spend 5 minutes googling and eliminating wrong alternatives. It’ll never work if the owners are John & Jane Smith (unless you know something else about them, or they run a business out of their home), but any not-too-common name is amenable to lotsa internet disclosure, especially if they are moderately well-to-do (the truly rich hide behind land trusts and/or keep their names out of circulation generally).
PDubbs:
I couldn’t figure out the talent agent or advert exec info, but,
I looked at the name on the deed, looked at the names on the wife’s previous deed, she shared with a husband, googled husband, found out they paid for a fundraiser at their children’s catholic school, googled address of school, close to their home, also googled husband and discovered he was a RE contractor/developer, he has a comment widely quoted in the web in relation to the Old Post Office building auction, reviewed the amounts on the deeds at ccrd.info, if i had the PIN at the time I passed the county building this morning I would have spent two minutes researching the mortgages this large are usually IO/ARMS/TOXIC or whatnot, i wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if this was a neg am, that’s why it’s listed sky high to cover the am, who knows, I actually have a job so I can’t waste too much of my life prying into the finances of the people who are fortunate enough to have their properties listed on cribchatter; maybe I”ll do it tomorrow, there’s no way a $1,650,000 in mortgages are 30 y fixed; in 2006 real estate only went up! back to work now deleveraging my client’s crushing debt loads…
Wow this is like my dream bachelor pad if I ever won the megamillions 10 years ago. Although the hood sucks, I hate Grand & Ashland, talk about a nasty intersection of grime and delapidaded storefronts! Cobra lounge is one of my favorite places to drink in Chicago though… so it has that going for it.
This place looks good for an Eyes Wide Shut sex party… oh wait, that was another place…
How can you guys name Chicago bands and forget Wilco?
They’re probably one of the only bands with the dough to buy this place, but they already have a loft. =)
“Tom on October 21st, 2009 at 8:30 am
-that basement looks tailor-made for 1.5 kids. And the appropriate fence here is steel with razor-wire on top”
Though the current owner might have kids and have created a space for them in this unit, I wouldn’t expect the same from the majority of prospective buyers of this type of property.
Re the razor wire: Industrial areas are actually quite safe compared to ghetto residential areas. They’re largely unpopulated after dark, and thus, criminals don’t go there to look for prey. The industrial areas work like buffer zones from the crappy areas to the South.
i forgot about wilco after they booted J Bennett. I bet tweedy keeps all the money.
Good riddance to Jay Bennett. Talented musician but seemed like he was an insufferable whiny bitch to be around.
Oops. I meant good riddance from the band, not the planet.
Don’t haunt me, Ghost of Jay Bennett!!!
“Oops. I meant good riddance from the band, not the planet.”
Talk about bad karma …
Tweedy lives in Old Irving.
http://ccrd.info/CCRD/controller?commandflag=searchByProperty&optflag=SearchCommandForIL&county=il031&userid=null&userCategory=7&nameid=-5150570&ptrno=410123738&instrumentnumber=0521441072&doctype=WARRANTY%20DEED&partytype=I&name=TWEEDY%2BJEFFREY%2BS&officeid=70&fromdate=01/01/1985&todate=10/09/2009&lastname=TWEEDY%20JEFFREY%20S&pin=13154010130000
I live in the west loop sixx blocks east and love the concept. I would kill to find a similar situation (though smaller) for my next buildout. At 2mil plus located off of Ashland it is going to be a long process to get this sold.
I think that there are better examples of this style. Google 210 N. Morgan St. and look at that project. It was an interesting reuse of a industrial building and the result was amazing. They left the outer brick walls and then created a wall of glass set back 20 feet from the outer wall. This provided a front courtyard area with trees and grass. Absolutely beautiful. He was renting it out last year and had a website up that has since expired. That place could easily break 2 million even in todays market. I’m not sure about this one.
Jay was a mad scientist musician – and a mind-blowingly talented one at that -ut a tremendously loving and giving friend.
When you say what he “seemed like,” it’s pretty clear you mean you watched a documentary and decided that was sufficient to form an opinion. Shame on you. Jay could make you want to pull your hair out with his single-minded devotion to music, but I can’t imagine anyone who came within 10 feet of him ever describing him as you did. Why don’t you stick to houses.
he was the heart of that band. they’ve gone limp without him.
Google says: ” Results 1 – 10 of about 9,860 for jay bennett whiny. (0.37 seconds) ”
Clearly I’m not alone.
I didn’t know the guy personally, but no, I didn’t glean my impression solely from the documentary.
Like the residence but, as with much real estate these days, there is too much competition to support this price. I did a search on realtor.com for homes in chicago for sale between 1 mil and 3 mil. This search returned 1,097 properties. Scanning the first few pages, they were all described as “unique”, “special”, “magnificent” etc and they were all in better neighborhoods. Even for someone who sees it and really likes the space, the negatives versus everything else out there will make this a hard sell.
My guesstimate is a selling price between 1.25 and 1.5 mil.
“I did a search on realtor.com for homes in chicago for sale between 1 mil and 3 mil”
There is a HUGE difference in the size of the market for $1mm homes versus $3mm homes. If you search 2-3mm, it’s “only” 243, and if you search 1.75-2.5mm (the most direct competition), it’s still “only” 275–and if you take out condos, it’s down to 126.
Yes, all those numbers mean that that a fairly small pool of potential buyers is spoiled for choice, but it’s not relly 1100 alternatives.
“Yes, all those numbers mean that that a fairly small pool of potential buyers is spoiled for choice, but it’s not relly 1100 alternatives.”
Looking at luxury properties in this market, you would be foolish to restrict your search to a smaller subset. With current pricing all over the map, a 1.25 million dollar property that someone is desperate to sell may be much nicer than a 2 million dollar property where someone is testing the real eastate waters. Buyers know that a 2.75 million dollar property may drop to 2.2 million in 3 months and make offers accordingly.
“Looking at luxury properties in this market, you would be foolish to restrict your search to a smaller subset.”
Well, then why not $750k to no max? Because there might be a desperate seller listing at $750k a place nicer than a $1.5mm testing the market, and you might find a $5mm listed property that ends up 50% off. There’s no limit to the expansion of the search if you use that as the basis for not narrowing.
‘Well, then why not $750k to no max?”
Hmmm…..why not! The point is that the current market is upending the traditional rules of real estate. Real Estate agents and their “comps” used to rule the market. As prices spiral downward and sellers get desperate, more and more real bargains are going to emerge. The damage will be greatest at the upper end of the market for a number of reasons that have been discussed on CC ad infinitum. I think any savvy buyer will cast a wide net. How wide….that is a debatable point!
I’d like to see a follow-up on the last Sundays Trib article in 6 months. I’ll bet the high-end sellers will be singing a different tune.
I live 1 block south and feel right at home…steps from the green line, union park, and lake street is really turning around. however, i agree the pricing is a bit high.
Huge price cut! Lower than some of the predictions.
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/330-N-Ashland-Ave-60607/home/12939869
And whadya know, it’s a short sale. They did manage to move everything out, save the magnum bottles of wine on the counter.
Also, 48X30 L/D room?!