The $2.2 Million New Construction East Lakeview Condo: 434 W. Melrose
This 4-bedroom new construction condo in Melrose at the Lake at 434 W. Melrose in East Lakeview recently came on the market.
This is a completely new building with 17 luxury units and a parking garage.
5 years ago, it was apparently going to be luxury apartments but it’s now going to be condos instead.
The building is being constructed by Summit Design + Build.
There will be private wine storage, a fitness room, bike storage and 2 high speed elevators.
The building’s website doesn’t say there will be a doorman.
The units will have 10 foot ceilings with concrete between the floors.
The floors will be 4″ white oak flooring and have radiant heating.
You can see more details about the building as well as floor plans on the building’s website here.
This 4-bedroom unit is one of 9 currently listed on the MLS.
It has 3,000 square feet and private outdoor space.
The unit also has 4 bathrooms.
Garage parking is extra at $50,000.
The listing says that move-ins are likely as of September 1, 2017.
At a price of $2,205,000, this condo is $735 a square foot.
Is this price point the new reality at the luxury level in East Lakeview?
Aaron Share at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff is handling the listings. See the pictures here.
Unit #601: 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3000 square feet
- New construction
- Currently listed for $2,205,000
- Parking is $50,000 (not sure if that’s for 1 spot or 2 spots)
- Assessments of $1295 a month (includes heat, gas, exercise room, exterior maintenance, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes are “new”
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 14×12
- Bedroom #2: 13×12
- Bedroom #3: 14×10
- Bedroom #4: 12×11
- Laundry room: 6×4
- Recreation Room: 24×11
Outdoor spaces are accessed thru the bedrooms. Master bedrooms are small at this price point.
Not sure who this is marketed to, but it looks like a whole lot of fail
The number of 1.5 million dollar properties that I would take straight up over this is mind-boggling. I don’t see the appeal at this price point, at all.
welcome to the bubble zone
only $750/sqft to live on a street full of 4+1’s? where do I sign up!
JAN TERRI WON’T FIT. LOLZ!!!
GO CUBBIES!!!!!
That column right near the kitchen island is annoying the crap out of me.
“Not sure who this is marketed to, but it looks like a whole lot of fail”
totally agree. who ever digitally staged those interior renderings did an awful job.
At that price, I was expecting it to be a full floor unit.
Nice shot of Burnham Harbor in the listing.
I looked at the floor plans…The master bedroom is by the front door. Why? Does anyone think that is a good design?
Most condos seem to have the front door by the living room, by the kitchen, or by the dining room. This is the first I’ve seen the master bedroom right by the front door. Makes no sense to me.
“I looked at the floor plans…The master bedroom is by the front door.”
That’s the *other* ‘front door’. So, the side or back door.
Still weird-ish, but not totally bananas.
i live in the area. it is amazing how many luxury properties are being built. on my block alone there are 4 projects underway. hopefully it is bullish for the ELV market in general!
“i live in the area. it is amazing how many luxury properties are being built. on my block alone there are 4 projects underway. hopefully it is bullish for the ELV market in general!”
the rich got richer under obama; and, as they say, it’s expensive to be rich. and land: they aren’t making any more of it.
What a waste, these will never appreciate. I don’t know how anyone could be comfortable buying at these price points unless their assets total greater than 20m.
The dangling sword over every Chicago homeowners head is whether or not CPS will miss a debt payment which automatically triggers property tax increases. Chicagos property taxes will come in parity with the burbs within 5 years and these places will see 50k a year taxes. It’s like you aren’t even owning a property it’s just another apartment with a monthly bill like that.
Anon: “That’s the *other* ‘front door’. So, the side or back door.”
I only see one entry door, by the master bed room…
http://www.melroseatthelake.com/floorplans2-3/
Same with the other floor plan for 4-8. Only the penthouse has two entry doors.
“Chicagos property taxes will come in parity with the burbs”
CPS’s deficit is ~$800m. The CPS levy is ~$2.4B. So, closing the deficit (which is a bit overstated for political purposes) means a 1/3 increase in 1/2 of the Chicago tax bill–that is, ~17%. That would put Chicago at ~8% of EAV, which is still 20% lower than North Suburban Cook average, and 40% lower than South Suburban Cook average.
Yeahyeahyeah, the City needs to raise taxes by about the same amount, too, to pay for the pension costs and that *would* put Chicago at North Cook average.
Maybe Rahm will actually “get tough” with the new union contracts.
“It’s like you aren’t even owning a property it’s just another apartment with a monthly bill like that.”
At least those soaring taxes would be tax deductible (for now anyways). Tax and interest costs (passed along to renters by an owner) aren’t.
“I only see one entry door”
Wrong floors–that’s the 2 & 3 floorplan. Definitely 2 Entries on 4-8, tho the FP for 401 only labels one of them.
http://www.melroseatthelake.com/floorplans4-8/
Looking at it again, the door by the MBR *is* located to be the “front” door, and the other one to be the kids’ escape door/”mud room”. No coat closet by the “front” door, and the other door is really the ‘maids’ entrance’.
Really inexcusably poor layout, at this price point. The sort of thing that *might* be tolerated when carving up a huge mansion.
Anon – You’re right, that was not the correct floor plan, but even the correct floor plan has the same issue.
There is one entry door by “master bedroom 1” and another entry door by “master bedroom 2”. That’s just a weird design. Imagine walking into a SFH on the second floor, where the bedrooms are located.
Also, that column in the kitchen is really badly placed, as Liz pointed out.
I don’t see why anyone would pick this over SFH, FAIL.
Perfect for rich, single bachelor or bachelorette who made his millions in a tech start up and now wants to not just live near the nightlife, but wants to *be* the nightlife with his deluxe, intimate yet 3,000 sq ft open floor plan condo with views of da Lake. Don’t underestimate the willingness of a man or woman to spend the money for what they really want. This unit proclaims to the world ‘I’ve made it in the big city of Chicago’! Impressive unit to impress friends, clients, snapchat and instagram followers and the society pages. Surely not my world, at this point in life, I’d have 4 acres in Port Barrington on a private lake stocked with walleye and bass; but 15 years ago? Sure, impressive unit for the upwardly mobile.
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Barrington/27920-W-River-Trl-60010/home/17663580
I know it’s not a private lake, but rather, private river access, but regardless, its like being up north south of the border. And much cheaper than this melrose unit too. Of note, I’ve spoken with the realtor, and I’ve been assured that the fixture in picture 24 comes with the property; but the personal property in picture 17 do not.
“Perfect for rich, single bachelor or bachelorette who made his millions in a tech start up and now wants to not just live near the nightlife, but wants to *be* the nightlife with his deluxe, intimate yet 3,000 sq ft open floor plan condo with views of da Lake”
Understandable HD, but we live in chicago, not Palo Alto – there aren’t very many of these. And in the current chicago culture, that bachelor or bachelorette is pretty statistically going to buy a place in river north, gold coast, west loop, or streeterville.
If they are a little older they are going to lincoln park or maybe a nicer block in bucktown. If they’ve got a family they are looking at the mini mansions in southport corridor.
I understand we’re in something of a bubble and anything can happen – my problem with this place is that for 2 million – you can buy a pretty awesome HOUSE with your own rooftop in lakeview. Why buy this condo? And if you’re spending 2 mil, why not head over to lincoln park and buy a place in a *True* luxury building in location and get a place at 2550 lincoln park?
I think the young rich people would much rather be closer to the action, the older ones will want a real house – I know I did. ( not saying I could afford this place, but had the option of bigger trendy condo vs SFH and it was a no brainer for me. )
“https://www.redfin.com/IL/Barrington/27920-W-River-Trl-60010/home/17663580”
Diagonal knotty pine on the walls = Fail
PS HD,
Aside from the sweet river / lake access…that place is notttttt great for 1.5 in the suburbs in the current market.
“intimate yet 3,000 sq ft open floor plan condo with views of da Lake”
What views of the Lake?
There’s no lake views here. There are big vintage co-ops and condo buildings along the lake front that block anything east of this building.
“the rich got richer under Obama”
No. The stock market went up. The “rich” had it made from 1982-2000 too.
Most middle class Americans don’t own stocks. They don’t benefit.
Also- if you have a college degree, your unemployment rate is about 3% in Chicago. The highly educated are doing really well in this economy.
Riz,
your comments remind me of the line from Only Yesterday, Since Yesterday from Frederick Lewis Allen, when speaking of the 1920’s boom, he said:
“And exactly as the developers of the tropical wonderlands of Florida had learned that there were more land-speculators able and willing to gamble in houses intended for the polo-playing class than there were members of this class, so also those who carved out playgrounds for the rich in North Carolina or elsewhere learned to their ultimate sorrow that the rich could not play everywhere at once. And once more the downfall of their bright hopes had financial repercussions, as bankrupt developments led to the closing of bank after bank.”
There are certainly more developers willing to build 2.2 million dollar condos in Lakeview for rich, eligible bachelors than there are rich eligible, bachelors, and unfortunately, they can’t all live everywhere at once…
And yes, JohnnyU, it’s not just the diagonal knotty pine that’s a fail, it’s entire place is fail. It’s a few thousand feet too big and a few hundred miles too far south. And the Fox River is not Eagle River, no matter how hard you try. This house isn’t even in Barrington, it’s Port Barrington…
This is all going to crash again, but not likely before the next presidential election. Trump as old as he is, may outlive this crash, but it’s coming again in our lifetime..
But Sabrina, the 8th picture of is of the harbor, and it’s not digitally rendered either…
“But Sabrina, the 8th picture of is of the harbor, and it’s not digitally rendered either…”
Must be what you’ll see as you walk down there.
By the way, and this is a totally serious question:
What happens to all the packages that are delivered at a building like this?
There’s no staff there to get them. There’s no doorman. No maintenance guy. There are 17 units. There could easily be a couple dozen packages coming per week.
I feel like package delivery is a key reason you would live in a larger condo building but the ones without a doorman don’t give you an advantage of a typical larger building. So why live there?
“This is all going to crash again, but not likely before the next presidential election. Trump as old as he is, may outlive this crash, but it’s coming again in our lifetime.”
“in our lifetime”?
That could be 50 years from now.
A housing “crash” has only happened twice in US history in the last 100 years. And it took massive speculation to get there and what is basically a depression.
We’re nowhere close to a depression right now. Recessions/depressions are caused by excesses in the system. Where is the excess when you’re growing GDP around 2%? Even wages are barely rising because there’s little excess.
A housing slowdown (or even a flat market) is a lot different than a “crash.”
It’s crazy that none of you seem to remember just 10 years ago when I started this blog. There literally were thousands of condos on the market in a single neighborhood like Lakeview. Nothing of the sort is happening today.
Are prices rising? Yes. Does that make it a bubble when we have near record low mortgage rates? No.
Could it become a bubble at some point in the future?
Sure.
But as the 1990s and Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement show- it can take years for the blow off top to happen. Anyone thinking housing is going to “crash” in the near term, is likely in for a disappointment.
They dont have a picture of the view, just a straight shot of a boat. At this price, that boat better be included.
I see a lot of arguments for “why wouldn’t you buy a SFH” for this kind of money. You’re thinking in the mindset of someone who works 9-5 and pays a mortgage for a single “nice place to live.” When you have several homes, in several locations, sometimes you want to be able to close the door and be gone for a few weeks or months at a time. It’s a heck of a lot easier to do that with a condo than a SFH.
Picture of a harbor is of Burnham Harbor in South Loop, with Museum Park buildings in the back, miles away from Belmont Harbor…
“There’s no staff there to get them. There’s no doorman. No maintenance guy. There are 17 units. There could easily be a couple dozen packages coming per week. ”
Key fob locked package room with a camera, I lived in a 100+ unit building and they had a package room and it wasn’t an issue at all
“Key fob locked package room with a camera”
curious, how did ups, fedex, amazon, etc get the packages into the room? or did tenants just collect them and put them in there?
They had a fob, maybe… sometimes packages would be put in front of the mailboxes and people would volunteer to put them on the proper floor’s shelf
we had pretty regular mail people and UPS delivery persons FedEx was the worst out of the delivery services
This all feels like 2007 redux absent the rampant fraud. But rising prices, unaffordability, marginal buyers…there will be pain. Be careful folks.
“Where is the excess when you’re growing GDP around 2%”? Just google “adjusted monetary base” and you will find your excess, this is the best economy we can do with a 400% increase in the money supply. Shit’s gonna get very real very soon because rates are going to have to much higher or people will simply stop buying bonds and then it all collapses, not just RE.
No lake views in Lakeview? 2.2 million dollar condo FAIL
I recently moved from directly across the street from this property. There are no lake views. Surrounded by almost all rentals, which means the 1st and 15th of every month one-way Melrose is jammed with moving trucks. In one the worst areas for parking, better buy that $50,000 parking space on top of the $2.2 price tag. Don’t forget $1,200+ monthly HOA. So many better options in Lake View and all over the city. I miss when this property was an empty gravel lot for the past 5+ years.
Across the street, 4 bedroom units in a new construction 3-flat with underground parking took forever to sell, finally did after price cuts. Sold around $1.5 million. Are prices overly inflated during construction, so when they’re lowered it looks like a “steal”?
with the posting from barrington and this one – I figured why not show a 20 acre property out west.
yes I know not enough bathrooms for Jenny.
https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/az/concho/669-county-road-8235-stanford/pid_18337473/
I want to drop acid in that house
yikes, are they raising some serial killers in that house or what
“If not bring your sandblaster!”
Best listing comment ever!
At least the agent has a sense of humor. Now, if only Sabrina could find something similar in Chicago for us to discuss….