Crib Chatter

  As the Spire dominates the Chicago housing market news, getting lost in the shuffle is the struggle other developers are having selling their top product. David Roeder, housing columnist for the Sun-Times,  wrote today about a lawsuit between Prism Development, developer of the Ritz-Carlton condos at 664 N. Michigan Avenue, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District over the use […]

    You rarely see large terraces downtown anymore- even on Penthouse units- as the new construction buildings are so tall and the price per square foot so high that developers would rather put more liveable space into a unit, then add on a large outdoor terrace. But they have it all wrong.  The very epitomy […]

  The Caravel at 635 N. Dearborn is a nondescript River North high rise that was built during the hey-day of the new condo mania (when buyers were waiting in lines to get new condos and they were selling out in only days.) One of the unique features is that all of the units in […]

I used to live in California and loved the Spanish style house architecture there.  When I moved to Chicago I thought my dream of owning my own spanish hacienda was dashed and I would have to buy a brick bungalow or a tudor. Much to my surprise, the 1930s spanish architecture (which was the peak […]

      Lots of people were excited about Case Study, an 11 unit boutique building at 156 W. Superior in River North that was finished in 2006. It was a completely modern building, with concrete floors and gray Italian kitchens.  It won accolades from various architecture firms and magazines.  The units sold out pretty […]

  After suffering through construction delays (it seems that the windows took forever to arrive), the St. Clair at 550 N. St. Clair in Streeterville is set to begin closings early in 2008. The flippers have started appearing on Craigslist – no shock there.  The building’s website says that it is only 80% sold.  In addition, this building […]

If you’re a developer and you’re about launch a new luxury building during what some would argue is the worst housing market in 20 years and into a Chicago market that is already saturated with that product, you’d think you’d have all of your ducks in a row. Right? You’d launch with an ad in the […]

      There comes a time in every condo building’s life when it is no longer the “new” kid on the block.  What once seemed like a “prestige” building in a “great” location, no longer is, once a newer,  even more prestigious building with even better views is built up the street from you. […]