We Love Authentic Lofts Overlooking Michigan Avenue: 1442 S. Michigan in the South Loop

This 2-bedroom duplex loft at 1442 S. Michigan in the South Loop has been on the market for 21 months.

In that time, it has been reduced $85,000.

The loft is now listed for $170,000 under the 2006 purchase price.

If you’re a loft lover looking for unique features, look no further than this unit.

It has several walls of exposed brick both in the living/dining areas and the bedrooms.

It also has a wall of huge windows overlooking Michigan Avenue.

The listing says it has a private rooftop deck with views of Soldier Field.

The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.

There are also 2 heated garage parking spaces available for extra cost, the unit has central air and there is in-unit washer/dryer.

Is this a deal for the space?

Martha Jorden at Keller Williams Premiere Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #A: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, duplex, no square footage listed

  • Sold in February 2006 for $495,000
  • Was listed in February 2009 for $410,000
  • Reduced several times
  • Currently listed for $325,000 (2 parking spaces extra)
  • Assessments of $165 a month
  • Taxes of $7200
  • Central Air
  • Washer/Dryer in the unit
  • Bedroom #1: 14×12
  • Bedroom #2: 14×9

23 Responses to “We Love Authentic Lofts Overlooking Michigan Avenue: 1442 S. Michigan in the South Loop”

  1. Very cool space in my opinion – but don’t like the neighborhood. Still at this price I bet it sells soon.

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  2. I like it!

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  3. You know what really ‘grinds my gears’, is when people say parking is ‘extra’. So if someone wants to buy the house without the parking, what are you going to do, refuse the offer? What if they feel like renting from someone else in the building or don’t have a car? Are you really going to hold onto the parking and try to rent it yourself? Just include it in the price already.

    And that’s what really ‘grinds my gears’. Back to you Tom.

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  4. Also, how do you appeal your property taxes? Do you just need to file an appeal and donate to the re-election campaign of Joseph Berrios? These taxes on this place are way too high.

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  5. When the word “trendy” is used in a listing, I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Is it just me?

    I do like this place. They found a way to photograph and stage a loft w/ brick walls and make it feel warm and homey.

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  6. “They found a way to photograph and stage a loft w/ brick walls and make it feel warm and homey.”

    That’s what I thought too.

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  7. Regarding appealing your taxes, yes, you take your closing docs showing the lower price paid, and file an appeal. Usually not too difficult to do. There are also attorneys that specialized in this work.

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  8. Regarding appealing your taxes, yes, you take your closing docs showing the lower price paid, and file an appeal. Usually not too difficult to do. There are also attorneys that specialized in this work.

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  9. I must be strange. I find exposed brick to be inherently “warm and homey”. More so than drywall for sure. YMMV.

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  10. Seems like a really nice space.

    I used to live just off 13th and michigan at Museum Park , and decided to jet from the neighborhood to a ‘more happening’ locale. I’ve been living on Astor/Goethe in the gold coast since September and I have to say i sorely miss this neighborhood. Yes, there’s not a lot going on in this part of the south loop , the restaurant selection is sparce, the roosevelt red line is pretty awful, and it’s best to stay away from Wabash. ave altogether, but It’s tough to find a stretch of michigan avenue with such close proximity to the lake, the museum and planetarium, and the parks. There was rarely any traffic, getting to the highways was easy, and gold coast and river north were a 5-10 minute cab ride at any given time…When i look to buy I will strongly consider this area again…it’s a perfectly nice neighborhood as long as you stay north of 18th street..For 300ishk this place is a great deal.

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  11. To successfully appeal your taxes you must use a law firm connected to Madigan/Cullerton/Berrios. Otherwise you will lose. And a donation to Berrios’s campaign probably wouldn’t hurt either. God bless the sheeple of Crook County for installing yet another unaccountable and un-removable machine politician.

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  12. “They found a way to photograph and stage a loft w/ brick walls and make it feel warm and homey.”

    It’s not the photography – it is because the bricks are an earthtone color (not dark red) – it is amazing how many people don’t realize this.

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  13. Great place + Great price = quick sell

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  14. “To successfully appeal your taxes you must use a law firm connected to Madigan/Cullerton/Berrios. Otherwise you will lose. And a donation to Berrios’s campaign probably wouldn’t hurt either. God bless the sheeple of Crook County for installing yet another unaccountable and un-removable machine politician.”

    I appealed my assessment a number of months ago using the on-line format. I didn’t do a very good job in retrospect,but my taxes were lowered. Not only didn’t I use the proper law firm, I’m not even registered to vote in Illinois.

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  15. I’ve seen plenty of exposed brick lofts that look cold and uninviting; Let me see if i can find some to cite…
    Again, there is something different about this place that makes me like it, even though I really dislike exposed brick.

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  16. Being a walker, I’ve never been a big fan of the Sloop, but this place is appealing. And if the building is financially sound, those assesments are CHEAP. You can appeal taxes, but you’re always going to be stuck w/high assesments.

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  17. It looks like 1450sf from previous sale listing, which seems alright, but I don’t see the square footage anywhere. How big is the LR from loft overhang to windows? 2nd BR looks like a hallway leading to the back door.

    $225/sf seems in line with what people WANT to sell for in the sloop, but it’s going to get increasingly difficult, especially from 1200-1800 s. michigan. it’s going to be tough for even nice, unique units in well-run buildings to weather the storm if and when neighboring buildings start a death spiral downward.

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  18. Chimaki, there is a huge difference betwen 1200 and 1800 michigan…The real estate in the 1600-1800 block is typically priced much more aggressively…as you work your way north the prices stabilize a bit as the locale improves…

    HOWEVER, this area does have it’s problems. I will concede that there was a shooting at the shoe store across the street from here not that long ago..and that nasty incident with the man smashing the woman’s skull in the Jewel parking lot..and probably 2-3 literally empty / boarded up buildings sitting put on this block right now. It’s sad as the museum park development on indiana and prairie is quite pretty, and has held it’s value pretty well. don’t know what went wrong on michigan….i’ll also add that every since the subway sandwich shop went in at the roosevelt/michigan intersection there has been increased, ahem, ‘peddling’ going on on that corner.

    but again, 300kish is a good deal for this amount of well layed out space in a relatively nice hood.

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  19. 7K in taxes. Seriously what is the logic here. Property taxes are so ridiculous in Chicago. I just do not understand how this one is so high.

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  20. I get the difference right now Riz, but at the end of the day you’re talking about a 6 block stretch of land and valuations will not be dramatically different from one end to the other when everything settles. $25/sf is possible, but the stretch is when you get to expectations that $50/sf or more differences can persist.

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  21. Riz: I gather that your reference to “peddling” by the Subway means something other than Jared hawking sandwiches.

    If it’s what I think you mean, well, from what I’ve heard over the last few decades the “yuppies” and “artists” who move into “trendy” nabes like the “Sloop” sometimes like to partake of a “toke” or “sniff” from time to time. So the local entrepreneurs are providing a “market” for the “stuff.”

    As the venerable Marshall Field once put it, “Give the Lady What She Wants.”

    American captalism at its finest…or not.

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  22. ChitownGal,

    I know where you’re coming from. But a busy street corner in a neighborhood with kids, schools, and families is not the place..I think people in the sloop have worked hard to make it a safer and more desirable neighborhood, so it sucks that you’ve still got characters like that popping up.

    Also, i’d say the south loop is far from trendy, haha.

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  23. Funnily enough, my wife and I just saw this place a week ago. We also thought it looked great! Well, the pictures told a story very different from the what it really felt like inside. Very cheaply rehabbed, so the interior feels really shoddy. Creaky floors and “private rooftop deck” isn’t anything you’d want to spend much time on. More like someone threw down some a few boards on top of an industrial rooftop.

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