2-Years Later, Mies Van Der Rohe 1-Bedroom Sells: 880 N. Lake Shore Drive
We last chattered about this renovated 1-bedroom unit in the Mies Van Der Rohe designed 880 N. Lake Shore Drive two years ago- in October 2007.
See the pictures in our October 2007 chatter here.
Back then, it was just about to be featured on HGTV’s “Small Space, Big Style”.
The unit has Brazilian slate floors throughout and a renovated kitchen and bathroom in keeping with the Mies style.
It has finally sold two years later for $47,500 under the October 2007 listing price.
880 N. Lake Shore Drive is one of the co-op buildings of the 4 Mies buildings on the Drive.
The unit does not have central air and there is no in-unit laundry. The building has valet garage parking available.
Unit #20G: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 785 square feet
- I don’t know the prior sales price
- Was listed in October 2007 for $285,000
- Reduced to $259,000
- Sold in October 2009 for $237,500
- Assessments were $572 a month in October 2007
- Current assessments of $916 a month (includes taxes, heat, electric and cable)
- Parking $250 a month extra
- Taxes of $1869
- No washer/dryer in the unit
- No central air- window units
With the increased assessment, $237k now is about the same as $285k with the lower assessment.
Nope, not the same for the flipper.
It does underscore the unique risk in buying a condo/coop. That same math will be working against all the new bldgs sold with the developer’s rosy initial assessments.
Same goes for the govt’s current rosy interest rates. Think about how many bought with low assmts and low rates at peak prices. We have years to go…
“not the same for the flipper”
Well, if the assessments went up immediately after original list (bad assumption, i know), seller spent $25k+ just on taxes and assessments. And (probably) another $24k+ on interest on the $237,500 they got last week. So, pretty close to the same, looked at a different way.
The current assessment is incorrect. Assessments at 860-880 saw a large jump from 2007 to 2008 to fund a very large capital improvement project. But because the buildings are historic landmarks, the repairs qualified for property tax relief, which began in 2009. As a result, the board reduced assessments in 2009.
when property taxes are rolled into assessments how do you deduct them on your taxes?
The board provides a statement of pro rata taxes paid every year at tax time. Same for any interest paid on a mortgage held by the coop itself, as often coops will take out a mortgage to fund capital repairs in lieu of levying a special assessment. That way you can deduct the mortgage interest as well.
Super cool place, but I couldn’t live there unless it had a washer/dryer 🙁 Oh and another bedroom and bathroom.
DC, the co-op association sends you a statement for your share of taxes paid and interest expense. Your share of the interest paid on any underlying mortgages by the association is also deductible.
Dear Mies Van Der Rohe, I love you. Will you please resurrect and design more beautiful buildings?
It is my understanding that the single glazed windows in the Mies buildings on LSD cannot be upgraded to thermal pane windows because the steel spandrels are not strong enough to support the added weight of more energy efficient glazing.
Those of you more familiar with the buildings…..still true?
Odd that they would increase assessments so dramatically to fund a near term capital improvement project. The natural question I’d get from my association is “why not a special?” or if not “what happens after the project to assessments?”… Also strange that reserves for such a large building did not cover whatever they were doing.
@Dan Cullen: I don’t believe it is a question of being able to handle the weight of thermal windows. The steel spandrels don’t support the glass. The glass is held in place by aluminum window frames. I don’t see why they couldn’t support the weight of the glass but I don’t know if there is enough dimension to handle the thickness. Also, the facades are landmarked so even if thermal windows can be installed, the glass must remain clear.
@JMM: The project cost almost $10 million so expecting it to be funded entirely out of reserves is unrealistic. I don’t know any building that holds that much in reserve. The building took out a mortgage and increased assessments to cover payments on the loan, which is typical of a coop, but not a condo. Owners were given the opportunity to pre-pay their share of the loan and avoid the assessment increase if they so desired, which is effectively an optional special assessment. But unless you have the cash on hand to pay the entire special, why do it? Why take out your own financing when you can avail yourself of the building’s financing. This way, if you sell, you no longer continue to pay off the loan. If you take out your own loan to pay the special, you’re stuck with it even after you sell, so your sales price better cover the loan payoff as well as your first mortgage.
is the pink bathroom apart of the masterpiece?
“is the pink bathroom apart of the masterpiece?”
I’m assuming the pink bathroom is the before. It’s only a 1 BA unit. There is picture of the renovated bathroom.
ok thanks!
Mies didn’t design apartment interiors; they were done by architect-of-record at developer’s direction. Don’t blame Mies for pink pallette. There are also original gray tile bathrooms w/white fixtures.
900-910 LSD, also Mies designed, also has units designed by architect-of-record. Those original bathrooms had sand-colored fixtures.
They’re not that tough to copy.
“Dear Mies Van Der Rohe, I love you. Will you please resurrect and design more beautiful buildings?”
Judging by the quality of the buildings done in this style that Mies did not do, they are very hard to copy well.
My understanding of the assessments was that they would go up to pay for the restoration work but property taxes would go down due to historical restoration, and be a wash. Is this what happened?
Developers and corporate CEOs loved Miesian/modernist buildings because they were cheap to construct. There’s a good book about it, from Tom Wolfe, called “From Bauhaus to Our House”, which explains just how funny it is that steel and concrete boxes became synonymous with “luxury”.
@dd: Yes. That’s exactly what happened.