What a Million Dollar Condo Looks Like in the South Loop
A million dollars used to mean something in the Chicago condo market. It might not be huge, but at least that price point meant luxury finishes and amenities.
Not anymore- if you believe the asking prices on these condos in the South Loop.
Prairie Pointe at 1600 S. Prairie in the Central Station neighborhood of the South Loop has units ranging from 1 to 3 bedrooms. It was originally built as a mid-price point building. Two bedroom, two bath units are going for the mid-$400,000s today. (Although there are several 1 bedroom units at nearly $400,000 from the developer as well.)
The building started closings in 2006. The developer, Gammonley Group, still has 11 units remaining for sale.
Two units priced at nearly a million dollars are on the market.
Unit #2307: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2365 square feet
- Sold in October 2006 for $554,000 (listing states it’s a “combined unit” so this original sales price might not reflect both units)
- Currently listed at $999,900 (parking included)
- Assessment of $655 a month
- Has a 742 square foot outdoor terrace
- Baird and Warner has the listing
Unit #1702: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2231 square feet
- Sold in September 2006 for $775,000
- Currently listed at $949,000 (don’t know if this includes the parking)
- Assessments of $935 a month
- Chicago Exclusive Properties has the listing
Aren’t you at least supposed to get stainless steel for a million bucks? Or maybe subzero or viking appliances? Just wondering.
Prairie Pointe at Central Station [website]
Why does anyone think that they should make money on a flip in the current market? That second unit is listed at a price which, if paid today, would be about a 12% annual return after realtor commission. That’s nuts. If they actually want to sell it, listing it at $850 makes more sense–there’s still some room to negotiate the price without losing money.
The first one, there is no way that $554 is the price for all of that unit, unless there was a really dramatic pre-construction discount. Granted, 1702 has much nicer finishes, but were developers really charging $200k for those sorts of upgrades?
I cannot believe that these are priced at almost a million, the upgrades are non existent and the material is very cheap. Unless you’re looking at the lake (unobstructed) have serious stainless appliances like Viking or Bosch, have a better material than Granite, which you can basically find in section 8 these days! Don’t think about pricing your condo at a million. I am a SL owner, I have a one bedroom brand new condo facing the lake, I can see from Navy Pier all the way to Indiana it is breathtaking, I gutted out my whole condo and put upgrades that were custom that no one else in the building has, this is what upgrading means, not slapping on some ceramic tiles and putting in floating hardwood floors!