You Can Have a Gold Coast Lake View For Under $200K: 1400 N. Lake Shore Drive
This 2-bedroom unit at 1400 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast has been on the market since February 2010.
It has been reduced $115,400 in that time.
The unit is now listed $140,500 under the 2007 purchase price.
The listing says it is NOT a short sale but simply a “really, really, really good deal.”
The listing also urges: “Make Us an Offer!”
The building was constructed in 1927 and has nearly 400 units. It used to be apartments but was converted to condos in 2007.
This unit has direct lake and Navy Pier views.
The listing says there are new floors and walls in the unit.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances but those are, I believe, the original cabinets.
There is no central air (only window units), no in-unit washer/dryer and no parking (it is leased nearby.)
It is also being sold furnished.
Is this a deal?
Tina Houpy at Baird and Warner has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #11G: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, about 704 square feet (per the 2007 listing)
- Sold in August 2007 for $325,000
- Originally listed in February 2010 for $299,900
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed for $184,500
- Listing says it is not a short sale
- Assessments of $391 a month
- Taxes of $4163
- No central air
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- No deeded parking- leased nearby
- Bedroom #1: 10×14
- Bedroom #2: 9×13
- Kitchen: 6×7
- Living room: 9×13
I love how the first picture is of the beautiful and decadent lobby. Can I sleep there instead the apartment?
704 square feet is small, very small. Its been a while since I’ve even been in a 700 sq ft 2 bedroom unit.
No central air, no in unit w/d, no parking and 700 square feet?!!! Are they kidding? They should have converted this to a hotel – they could have made a lot more money. I don’t know ANYONE that would buy here (even as an in-town at ANY price.
When this building was converted, they should have combined apartments to make decent sized 2 and 3 bedroom units (without gutting the vintage-y stuff).
Although, if the developer could get $325K for a tiny 2bd/1ba, then he/she/they “should have” done exactly what they did, eh?
Great view, nice vintage elements; but no parking, no AC and no W/D = not much of a deal.
had good friends who used to be in this building for a few years…before and after its conversion.
but they were there, quite wisely, renting. and have since moved on.
was a bigger 2 bedroom but still not much more than 1000 SF i’d guess.
same kitchen though…you don’t appreciate how small that kitchen is until you step inside it. you’re probably talking 40 square feet.
last, but not least…the view is one that can’t be appreciated unless you’re standing right in front of the windows. otherwise, you see sky. i don’t consider that much of a view.
all this being said…at some price soon this one sells. i’m not sure exactly what it rents for but it’s got to be getting attractive from that perspective at these prices.
I lived in a studio in this building for a summer. The studio was small but had a good layout, with a seperate (very small) galley kitchen, seperate dining alcove, and good closet space. The ceilings are low, which doesn’t help the cramped feeling. My unit faced west (into the neighborhood, at about the 4th floor), so while I didn’t have a lake view, I was also spared LSD noise (and this building doesn’t have the same quality windows/construction as some of the fancy joints along LSD).
The summer I lived there (2007), they had just finished a pretty decent fitness room. At least one of the elevators was typically broken or in the process of breaking down. The building staff was pretty friendly. The location is fantastic. The roofdeck is o.k., but the few times I went up there, it was dominated by a couple dozen 20-something party animals, most of whom didn’t live there (but knew residents of maybe one or two units). There’s seemed to be a fair number of Section 8 units in the building.
I think I paid about $725/mo for the summer, and I recall thinking it was a great deal . I would have gladly paid $1,000/mo, and perhaps as high as $1,200/mo (it was fully furnished). It was a great summer crash pad, but there is no way I would want to live there for a full year, let alone purchase a place there.
Maaaaybe, 125k. Like Clio said, No Central A/C, No Parking, No W/D, 700 sq ft (could be worse like 500-600) but still….
Rental? Maybe $700/mo?? per Anonny
capslock and exclamation points in a listing don’t make it
“JUST A REALLY, REALLY GOOD DEAL!!!!!!!!!! ”
I can’t believe anyone ever paid 325k for this place… just, wow!
You could have a gold coast closet
in a building that not very long ago was a roach infested – one step above SRO, before the renovation
I got claustrophobic just looking at the kitchen photos. No thanks! Had a girlfriend at 1350 for a short time. She had a nicer place than this one but it too suffered from strained viewing angles and window placements.
If I lived out in the burbs I’d much rather stay at a hotel two weekends a month than pay for this squeeze box all year long.
BAAAAHAAAAHAAAAHHAAA!
Would you be suspicious of the low assessments on this place?
“Sold in August 2007 for $325,000”
Man, for this place to ever sell for that much when it doesn’t even have parking …
barf
The listing would be more attractive if the pictures of the view were taken in summer. I think the lake has a stark beauty in winter, but looking at those pictures just makes me think of really, really cold wind gusts…
That kitchen reminds me of my first apartment in Chicago. It was a 395-sq ft studio. Only 1 person could fit in the kitchen at a time and you had to be careful of the size of your frozen pizza – too big and it didn’t fit in the freezer or the oven!
The crazy thing about that place is that I really liked it. A lot.
This place should rent for at least $1000. But taxes and assessments really eat up a lot of that. Not sure this can support that price as an investment.
I want to know how they were able to get the refrigerator into the back of the kitchen!
I think this place would rent for 1400 easy (maybe even 1800), two college students will rent this and for 700 each and consider it a steal.
http://www.padmapper.com/ you can see in that area there isnt a 1k 2bdrm for miles.
And folks are paying $800 for a 225 sqft flat in the studio in the lofts over on lasalle and that doenst even have a view.
I really like it (based on the pictures and price). I can deal with the small kitchen, lack of washer/dryer. Who needs central A/C (or even a window unit) when you have lake breezes?
I just can’t get over the size of the haircut this owner is taking in just over 3 years. Ughh. Just horrible to think about.
Sabrina – see this was what I was talking about. Despite this being a ridiculously terrible unit (no A/C, no parking, no in-unit w/d, ext.small for a 2 bedroom, low ceilings, terrible layout, high taxes for what it is) many people on this post like the place. Why is that? Obviously it is the location. Had this place been in west lincoln park, old town, lakeview, or WP, BT, WT – people would be skewering it. Real estate really is about location, location, location.
IIRC, this building originally was supposed to be a hotel, but Mrs Palmer didn’t want that kind of activity next to her mansion. Building went up with the original plans but was made into rental instead. That’s why the lobby is so spectacular and the units so odd.
Here’s another small place, NY style:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/realestate/28habi.html?ref=realestate
you think that is small – look at this ingenius 24 room home in a 344 square foot place – I seriously want to market this in NY!!!
http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/v042810reutersroom/A75A85F1-F307-418B-B9B8-73929745E7B3?siteid=nwtpf#!A75A85F1-F307-418B-B9B8-73929745E7B3
Clio… that link was Far Out! I love reading about micro-homes, modular designs, and such.
My dream is to get a 1/2 acre plot of land just north of the cheddar curtain and install a modular home (eco design, composting toilet, etc). I’m talking high quality materials and modern design (not your grandma’s mobile home). I’d still keep a city place as I’m pretty attached to Chicago.
Danny: we all can dream, we all can dream. but then you’d also be a packers fan which is unfortunate. The invisible state line demarcates which football team you must root for.
NY 375 sq ft apartment: this article further confirms why I never had that urge, like so many unfortunate souls I know, to move to manhattan. $2,000 a month for a small apartment.
Clio: 375 sq ft for $2,000? What a steal!
“I think this place would rent for 1400 easy (maybe even 1800), two college students will rent this and for 700 each and consider it a steal.”
A bigger 2/2 in the building is listed for $1600 on Craigslist. Everything is negotiable, of course.
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/2088261703.html
I’ve been watching this place, too. I’d have to want to live downtown very badly to take this. It’s not the most beautiful vintage I’ve ever seen. It has been for sale at this price all through the summer selling season, which really rather surprises me since people will put up with ANYTHING to live downtown. I’ve seen much worse units sell down there for ludicrous prices.
The units in this building are small and feel cramped. Ceiling looks rather lower than 9′. The kitchen is very difficult to remodel, and the living-dining room is badly configured.
You could do something with the place- warmer colors on the walls and well-chosen furniture always help. But compared with beauties like 3300 N Lake Shore, or 421 Melrose, or about a dozen other old high rises, it’s a sow’s ear.
I saw that 24-in-1 place, Clio. It is incredibly ingenious. You don’t have to live in 344 sq ft to make use of some of the design ideas in that place to make better use of the space you have. Anybody with a family in 1400 sq ft could use help in utilizing space and making every space serve multiple purposes without feeling crowded and cluttered.
I’ve been in a two bedroom unit in this building, although I think it was larger than this one. The kitchens are TINY but there was something… Cozy about the whole place. Although it was obviously small, it didn’t really feel cramped, despite good sized furniture and low ceilings. I still wouldn’t want to live there, though.
I have been living up the street from this building for over 5 years now, and this building has been selling “condos” the entire time I’ve lived in the neighborhood. It was a very poor choice for a condo conversion (originally built to be a hotel). I think the building would do fine as luxury rentals, but I think you’d have to be out of your mind to buy here and pay the original high asking prices. The fact that this place struggled to sell anything even during the big boom says something.
LOL @ people’s ridiculous lowball rents. A 2 bedroom, even small and vintage, for under $1,000/mo, much less $1,000/mo being the ceiling?
The disconnect in the comments around here between market rentals and market ownership is staggering.
The massive downside to this unit is the size — nothing more, nothing less. Kitchen looks like anything I’d see in an ELP vintage rental one bedroom (and that floor! GAH!). I’m also guessing the small bedrooms have non-existent closet space.
You;d REALLY want to have to live in this location to buy this at that price. But as a rental? $1,600/mo easy.
“LOL @ people’s ridiculous lowball rents. A 2 bedroom, even small and vintage, for under $1,000/mo, much less $1,000/mo being the ceiling?”
This is a 700 square foot 2/1.
There are bigger 2/2s for rent in the building on Craigslist for $1600. That doesn’t mean they’re getting that though. No way this unit, which is much smaller, rents for $1600.
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/apa/2094046610.html
There is also a 3/2 shell for sale in this building – reduced from $239K to $199K so far. MLS 07651636.