4,000 Sq Ft in the Sky with Lake Views for $750,000: 4950 S Chicago Beach in Hyde Park
This 4-bedroom in The Powhatan at 4950 S. Chicago Beach in Hyde Park came on the market in October 2021.
Built in 1927-29 at a cost of $2.5 million for the land and the building, The Powhatan was built as a luxury co-op and remains a co-op.
According to Chicago Apartments: A Century of Luxury, The Powhatan was the most luxurious of the Hyde Park/Kenwood vintage buildings. Both the inside and outside of the building have art deco finishes including the two elevator banks that are still served by elevator attendants.
The building has a legendary top floor ballroom with both north and south terraces.
It also has an indoor pool with mosaic panels.
There are just 40 apartments, full time door staff and valet parking. The assessments include the taxes.
This unit is 4,000 square feet and has north views of downtown and Navy Pier as well as lake views.
It has been fully renovated and appears to have only a few of its vintage features. One of the bathrooms, the one with the pink and green tiles, appears to be original as bright tiled bathrooms were an original feature of The Powhatan.
It has a wood burning fireplace.
The unit has wide plank white oak floors and reclaimed antique marble floors in the kitchen and laundry room.
It has refurbished windows and updated electrical and plumbing.
There are Lutron shades throughout, some are programmable.
3 of the 4 bedrooms have a full en suite bath. There’s also a powder room.
The primary suite has a walk-in closet, built-in bookshelves and an ensuite with walk-in shower and a Kohler cast iron tub with a custom teak surround.
The eat-in kitchen has white cabinets with Warham Quartzite kitchen countertops with a peninsula that seats 3 as well as space for a dining table. It also has Subzero, Bosch, LG and Miele appliances, which I think includes the side-by-side laundry.
It features Ann Sacks tile throughout.
The unit includes the features buyers look for including the w/d, space pak cooling and 1-car valet parking.
Originally listed at $995,000, this unit has been reduced $245,000 to $750,000.
At 4,000 square feet, it’s as big as many single family homes.
Is this co-op a deal?
Michael Fine at Fine & Company has the listing. See the pictures and 3D tour here.
Unit #12A: 4 bedrooms, 4 baths (but really 4.5?), 4000 square feet, co-op
- Sold in August 2016 for $200,000 (per Redfin, but the pictures seem like it’s the same unit)
- Originally listed in October 2021 for $995,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed at $750,000
- Assessments of $6658 a month (includes taxes, valet parking, uniformed elevator attendants, professional engineer and maintenance staff, heat, exercise room, indoor pool, ballroom, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes are in assessments
- 2 zone space pac cooling
- Wood burning fireplace
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Valet parking included
- Bedroom #1: 15×17
- Bedroom #2: 14×15
- Bedroom #3: 17×20
- Bedroom #4: 19×12
- Living room: 28×20
- Dining room: 21×12
- Kitchen: 18×16
- Gallery: 31×12
- Laundry: 7×17
- Family Room: 17×19
For $10k/mo you bet your ass the elevator operators are going to be in uniform
I can’t believe these folks don’t have a tv over the fireplace.
“I can’t believe these folks don’t have a tv over the fireplace.”
There’s a family room for the TV.
This apartment is HUGE.
“For $10k/mo you bet your ass the elevator operators are going to be in uniform”
3 bedroom apartments in NEMA rent for $10,000+ a month. I’d rather own this apartment which is double the size. It’s big enough to use one of the bedrooms as a work out room. The building is small enough that the indoor pool is probably basically your private pool when you want to use it.
It feels very luxurious because of the small size.
I love what they did with the primary bathroom. That soaking tub is beautiful. Love the wood finishes along with the sleek tiles.
“3 bedroom apartments in NEMA rent for $10,000+ a month. I’d rather own this apartment which is double the size. It’s big enough to use one of the bedrooms as a work out room. The building is small enough that the indoor pool is probably basically your private pool when you want to use it.”
Why lie?
3Br at NEAM are <$8k
The typical NEMA renter isnt cross shopping with the SP.
10k a month to live in Hyde park…. hahaha no
also that art (which I know doesn’t come with the home thankfully) is hideous and a huge distraction from an otherwise pretty attractive property
“Why lie?”
They used to charge $10k+ as we’ve discussed over the years on this very blog. Remember when Riz was going to rent there instead of buy next door?
Maybe they have had to lower their prices to compete or maybe the $10k units are all rented right now.
Either way, it’s pretty common to find 3 bedrooms that aren’t even half this size renting for $10k all over Chicago. Here’s an 1800 square foot 3 bedroom in One Bennett Park apartments (not the condo building).
https://www.relatedrentals.com/apartment-rentals/chicago/streeterville/one-bennett-park/corner-3-bedroom-25-bath-38447
And this is really a 5 bedroom with top of the line finishes.
This apartment is a deal.
“also that art (which I know doesn’t come with the home thankfully) is hideous and a huge distraction from an otherwise pretty attractive property”
It’s all in the beholder. I’m the opposite. I think they have an amazing collection, significant pieces and it helps make the place show even more spectacularly. But understood it may or may not help the sale. Great (IMO) art or not, I still wouldn’t live in HP.
I’ll go with NEMA or OBP. Not like you’re gonna get a return on the equity anyway. Nice reno though.
“ This apartment is a deal.”
In what regards? $/sf is cheap but the HOA fee is an absolute nut punch. Lack of future appreciation?
OBP & NEMA aren’t the same – might as well cross reference SFH in a Barrington & ELP
So cluttered! That many kitchen cabinets and they still have all their junk on the counter. Get rid of all the creepy art. They can keep up the work in 19. Store all the blankets and the books (clutter). I hate most of the art, but if there was not as much, it would not be as distracting.
Replant the orchid in picture 15 before they finally kill it.
Did 3A really sell for $265,000? https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/4950-S-Chicago-Beach-Dr-60615/unit-3A/home/177171210
Too bad there’s no picture of the vintage pool. This part of Hype Park is nice and Hype Park has significantly improved since I left in 2010.
re: “Why lie?”
I see on NEMAs ‘s website currently a 3/3 unit for $12,450 and 4/4 for 15,900 or 19,900. Similar units are priced like you said though.
Idk why you rag on everything Sabrina has to say but it’s become tiring reading the comments lately lol
Normally I’d lean towards a more modern high rise unit even if it’s a smaller home. But this unit in the Powhatan is particularly livable, has nice views, gawd that bathroom. I just can’t imagine assessments and taxes that high in perpetuity. Might as well rent the modern high rise apartment.
“Too bad there’s no picture of the vintage pool. This part of Hype Park is nice and Hype Park has significantly improved since I left in 2010.”
I think there was a picture in the prior listing on Redfin.
“ I see on NEMAs ‘s website currently a 3/3 unit for $12,450 and 4/4 for 15,900 or 19,900. Similar units are priced like you said though.
Idk why you rag on everything Sabrina has to say but it’s become tiring reading the comments lately lol”
I really hate when people use n=1 as proof of anything other than n=1. It’s completely dishonest.
Unit is decent, but with polarizing painting. Would never want to live in that area though, period.
HOA is absolute madness, even with taxes. My friends think I’m crazy paying 1/10th of that and my amenities are much nicer imo. It better include unlimited drugs or a money tree at that price range. Couldn’t care less about elevator attendants, that’s actually a negative imo.
Sabrina said: “I think there was a picture in the prior listing on Redfin.”
You shouldn’t have to look at previous listings or other unit listings for pool pictures or floor plans.
Anyway, I take it back. There is a picture of the pool that I missed yesterday. Sorry agent. I do wish there were pictures of the front door and facade details. It really is a pretty building.
I have been following this unit as well as a smaller 2400 sq ft 3 bed 3 bath unit, 16B, for as long as they’ve been on the market. And that’s a long time, about two years.
Units in this building tend to stand on the market for at least a year, and often 2 years or more, and sell far more cheaply than you’d think such beautiful and large old luxury apartments would, for obvious reasons. The huge HOA, about $1.66 a sq ft, is steep even for a luxury early 20th century high rise, and even though it includes a very high level of service, even most affluent people would settle for less (unnecessary) service for a more reasonable monthly cost.
It is moreover a cooperative, an ownership arrangement that most modern buyers fear and loathe, and which is very disadvantageous for non-rich buyers.
And why would they need elevator operators with modern elevators? I’m sure each elevator has a keyed stop, but in buildings that have these, the lone doorman on duty clears visitors and keys the stop for them.
I believe that this unit is going to have to be reduced a couple of hundred thousand dollars more to sell, despite the upgrades, some of which may or may not be to the taste of likely buyers, even though it sounds cheap at $187 per sq ft. Unit 16B, the smaller unit, only recently went pending after languishing for 2 years at $230,000, or $96 a square ft.
This might be my favorite building in Chicago. But alas, the monthly is way beyond my capacity. As it is for most. I hope buildings like this can survive in the long run. Not many people want to pay $6,000 a month to live on the South Side, I’m guessing.
“Not many people want to pay $6,000 a month to live on the South Side, I’m guessing.”
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No, the neighborhood changed. It is “Bucktown Sud” not “South Side.”
“Not many people want to pay $6,000 a month to live on the South Side, I’m guessing.”
Why would you say that Dan #2?
There are $1 million to $4 million homes in the Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods. Plenty of rich people living on the south side. There’s a major research university and hospital just blocks away. No rich doctors who want to stay in the neighborhood? No rich business school professors getting paid $500k to $1 million a year who also want to walk to work?
Just because the south side isn’t your preference, doesn’t mean it’s not others.
There’s a reason both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are now in this neighborhood.
“There’s a major research university and hospital just blocks away. No rich doctors who want to stay in the neighborhood? No rich business school professors getting paid $500k to $1 million a year who also want to walk to work?”
Why does it have to be someone associated with the University,
said someone around here not that long ago…