A Vintage 2-Bedroom with 3 Exposures for $440,000 in East Lakeview: 545 W. Roscoe
This 2-bedroom in 545 W. Roscoe in East Lakeview came on the market in February 2023.
Built in 1923, this courtyard building has 26 units. There’s no parking or elevator but the building has a common patio with furniture and a grill.
This unit is the only unit on its floor and has 3 exposures through vintage windows.
It has an arrival foyer and hardwood floors through the main living spaces.
Like many vintage units, it has a separate dining room.
The kitchen has white cabinets, stainless steel appliances including a newer double oven (2019) and dishwasher (2018) along with a checkerboard floor and backsplash.
The primary suite has an en suite bath which, in addition to the bathroom, has a dressing area, wall of closets and in-unit washer/dryer.
The second bedroom is currently being used as a den/office and has wraparound shelves.
The unit has a 6x7x10 storage space and the building has a bike room. There’s no parking but there are rental lots available in the neighborhood.
There’s no central air, but it has window units.
The listing says: “Building has recently updated the lobby and hallways, re-coated the roof, updated the boiler and water lines, landscaped common patio with furniture and grill. Healthy reserves of $128,646 as of 1/23/23.”
This building is near the shops, restaurants and grocery stores of East Lakeview and numerous bus lines and subway stops. It’s an easy walk to Wrigley Field and several movie theaters.
Listed in February 2023 at $460,000, it has been reduced $20,000 to $440,000.
Even with higher mortgage rates, is this a better deal than renting in the neighborhood?
Ann Carson and John Wyman at @properties Christie’s has the listing. See the pictures, floor plan and video tour here.
Unit #2: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1400 square feet
- Sold in May 1991 for $121,000
- Sold in June 1995 for $162,000
- Sold in August 1997 for $193,000
- Sold in February 1999 for $220,000
- Sold in June 2004 for $344,500
- Originally listed in February 2023 for $460,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $440,000
- Assessments of $640 a month (includes heat, gas, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $8508
- No central air. Window units only.
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- No parking but rental available in the neighborhood
- Bedroom #1: 13×12
- Bedroom #2: 12×12
- Dining room: 15×12
- Living room: 13×22
- Foyer: 5×8
- Kitchen: 10×12
Is it redundant so say “The primary suite has an en suite bath”? Doesn’t “suite” imply that the bath is attached/en suite?
The primary suite’s bathroom includes a dressing area, wall of closets and in-unit washer/dryer.
Sorry.
“Is it redundant so say “The primary suite has an en suite bath”? Doesn’t “suite” imply that the bath is attached/en suite?”
Not always Bluestreak. I have seen agents call it a “suite” when it has only had a walk-in-closet and not the bath.
Good question Bluestreak. What are the ingredients of a “suite”? I have thought it has to be all three things: bedroom, bathroom and walk-in-closet. Maybe a sitting area would qualify it too.
Are there two Sabrinas today??? Sure looks like it!
“Sabrina on March 8th, 2023 at 10:15 am
“Is it redundant so say “The primary suite has an en suite bath”? Doesn’t “suite” imply that the bath is attached/en suite?”
Not always Bluestreak. I have seen agents call it a “suite” when it has only had a walk-in-closet and not the bath.”
“Sabrina on March 8th, 2023 at 10:16 am
Good question Bluestreak. What are the ingredients of a “suite”? I have thought it has to be all three things: bedroom, bathroom and walk-in-closet. Maybe a sitting area would qualify it too.”
Drinking again…
“I have seen agents call it a “suite” when it has only had a walk-in-closet and not the bath.”
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/en-suite
Well it just goes to show that anything can mean anything these days.
I can hear the floors creak just by looking at the pics
I love vintage in Lakeview and this is quite lovely but has too many minuses. No central air, no parking, no private outdoor space, only one tub, relatively high property taxes, etc. I know many vintage units lack one or more of these things but this one lacks them all. Price probably needs to come down. Nice that it has in-unit W/D – I give it that.
Also it seems a bit of a stretch to talk about “3 exposures” when one of them appears to be to a brick wall.
“Also it seems a bit of a stretch to talk about “3 exposures” when one of them appears to be to a brick wall.”
A window is a window and you do get natural light coming in as you can see in the dining room picture. Bedrooms appear to overlook the courtyard.
“Are there two Sabrinas today??? Sure looks like it!”
I call the units what the agents do. Just like the neighborhoods the property is in. That doesn’t mean I know what the ingredients of a “suite” are. I’m not a real estate agent and it’s not my listing.
“”Are there two Sabrinas today??? Sure looks like it!”
I call the units what the agents do. Just like the neighborhoods the property is in. That doesn’t mean I know what the ingredients of a “suite” are. I’m not a real estate agent and it’s not my listing”
There’s either a glitch in the matrix or somebody’s on box #2
“I call the units what the agents do. Just like the neighborhoods the property is in. That doesn’t mean I know what the ingredients of a “suite” are. I’m not a real estate agent and it’s not my listing.”
Sabrina: I don’t think you need to defer to agents on listing terminology. You (from what I’ve gathered) attained a higher level of education, and have had a career that demands a higher level of sophistication, than the majority of agents. I was one. At 28, a washed-up snowboarder/ski bum hipster with who graduated from a rust belt high school in the late 80s with a C average, after failing to find a job in NYC despite pounding the pavement for two months and finally getting hired to stand outside of the “Sock Guy” store on St. Mark’s, I figured what the heck, I’ll take the real estate license class and exam – and good grief, compared to about half of the degenerates in that classroom I was functioning like I graduated concurrently from Harvard and MIT. This is not to say that there aren’t educated/sophisticated/professional/competent real estate agents out there (see, e.g., Gary), but they’re the exception. If a place has four bedrooms, three of which are en suite, that’s what they should say.
“relatively high property taxes”
That is what taxes should be on a property worth ~$425k.
If we’re at the point where “fairly assessed” = “too high”, we’re well and truly fucked.
several movie theaters? I’d usually put “easy walk” as under a mile and that includes Alamo and Century, not Music Box (which is almost a mile and a half). Am I missing one? Vic hasn’t shown movies (Brew n View) since covid.
“several movie theaters?”
May be splitting hairs and counting each screen?
Otherwise, after Music Box closest is Facets, and then Webster.
“May be splitting hairs and counting each screen?”
Alamo and Century are two major movie theaters with 10+ screens between them. I’d say that is “several” movie theaters you can walk to if you live here. And pretty easily so.
I guess I’m a real city girl because a mile walk is nothing to me and I routinely walk 2 to 3 miles to go to bookstores, specialty grocery stores etc. If you can’t walk more than a mile, there’s always the 22 bus that will take you directly to either one.
I actually forgot about the Music Box but I love it so you can include it too. 3 movie theaters is just tremendous. I’m so happy for Lakeview to have these options.
FYI, they are doing an entire month of Keanu at the Alamo right now. I love it.
Webster Place is likely to close, right? They have suddenly kicked out the Barnes & Noble after 26 years. No doubt that entire parcel is going to be redeveloped with condos/apartments, restaurants and other things. Big parcel and other development is going in right down the street.
Regal needs to move into Fulton Market. It’s in desperate need of a movie theater.
“I guess I’m a real city girl because a mile walk is nothing to me and I routinely walk 2 to 3 miles to go to bookstores, specialty grocery stores etc.”
Except at night?
Do you walk to Eataly? Those #10 cans of REAL San Maranzano Tomatoes must get heavy
“Do you walk to Eataly? Those #10 cans of REAL San Maranzano Tomatoes must get heavy.”
At night, that Alamo is about 3 blocks away. Yeah, I’d walk to that Alamo at night, especially during the summer when there are ball games and plenty of people around.
If you live in River North, I’m sure you walk to the Eataly. Again, people who don’t even live in Chicago talking about walking around and shopping is laughable. Yep- we walk to the store. Some will bus it though. How many of us have seen people get on the 22 or 36 with their bags from the Lakeview Trader Joe’s? Lol. All of us have.
Chicago has good public transportation. Subway is still a mess but the buses are mostly okay and are back to being crowded again. CTA is a mess though. Big campaign issue, as those who live in Chicago know.
It’s not 3 blocks to Alamo, it’s almost 6. And yes, that’s using 1/8 mile “long” blocks. It’s about 5 blocks west (545 to not quite 1100) and 1+ north, but you get a little of the angle of Clark, so it’s a little under 6.
It’s also not close to the 22 bus, that’s 1/2 mile away from this place down Roscoe, so that’s not helping you get to Alamo. By the time you’re at the bus you’re only a little over a block from the theater. 36 would get you easily to Century.
Yeah, Webster is likely dead. We’ve usually gone to the Regal on Western anyway. It’s not that much further from LV and we prefer the stadium seating to the cheapo recliners they put in at Webster. We’ll likely have Alamo as our first choice now though (have been once, need a few more times to cement it as top pick).
“It’s not 3 blocks to Alamo, it’s almost 6”
In a world where 2 = ‘several’, don’t you know it also wroks in reverse?
Go out the front door, walk to the west side of Broadway–that’s so short that it doesnt count!
Walk on Roscoe to Halsted, cross street = 1 block.
Continue on Roscoe, under the el and north on Clark, cross Newport/Sheffield = 2 blocks
Continue on Clark, and you’re at Alamo w/o crosssing another street = 3 blocks.
On the CC, if you want it to be close, you count street crossings, don’t count the first or last 1/2 block, and be sure to use the longest blocks possible.
If you want it to be far, walk on the side with alley entrances, and go nuts.
Google calls it ~3/4 mile, and provides two routes–one is the “3” blocks I suggest, and the other is (again, ignoring getting to Broadway, but then maximizing street crossings) “10” blocks, walking along Cornelia.
“ “I guess I’m a real city girl because a mile walk is nothing to me and I routinely walk 2 to 3 miles to go to bookstores, specialty grocery stores etc.”
Do you even live in Chicago?
@anon – just make sure to stay on the south side of Roscoe initially so you don’t have to count Elaine Place as a block (it’s a legit street, not an alley). Then cross diagonnally at Roscoe/Halsted so you can then be on the north side do to the Roscoe to Clark bit.
“Do you even live in Chicago?”
Yep. It’s what we do here. Sorry, you don’t have that option where you live JohnnyU. It’s pretty great.
“In a world where 2 = ‘several’, don’t you know it also wroks in reverse?”
My dictionary says “several: more than one.”
“Yep. It’s what we do here. Sorry, you don’t have that option where you live JohnnyU. It’s pretty great”
Change that to what you do there. Used to be people who lived in Chicago Knew where thing were located and wern’t afraid of walking at night.
It’s changed a lot
Though truth be told we don’t have an Eataly in Magnet Wire Capital of the World so I can’t get Real San Marzano tomatoes
It also says “more than two but fewer than many”