A Renovated 3-Bedroom With Classic Charm in East Lakeview: 3500 N. Lake Shore Drive
This 3-bedroom in the Cornelia Apartments at 3500 N. Lake Shore Drive in East Lakeview came on the market in June 2023.
Built in 1927, the Cornelia Apartments were designed by Robert DeGolyer and has just 64 units.
It’s a co-op.
The listing describes the building amenities as a “full-amenity Co-Op offering white-glove service with 24-hour door staff, on-site manager/maintenance, updated exercise room, hospitality room with catering kitchen, children’s playroom, bike rooms, and additional storage.”
This unit has been gut renovated in 2021. When it was on the market in 2020, the listing said:
CALLING ALL PROPERTY FLIPPERS AND INVESTORS!! INCREDIBLE REHAB AND RENOVATION OPPORTUNITY!! PRICED BELOW MARKET VALUE AT $59 PPSF! Bring your designers and architects to remodel this space – a complete renovation is required for all baths and kitchen.
You can see the “before” pictures of the unit on Redfin.
While the unit has remained a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, the prior layout had a formal dining room that has now apparently been removed.
The dark hardwood floors were refinished and it has custom millwork. There’s a fireplace in the living room with a matte black stone surround with a floating ledge wood mantel.
The big change came in the kitchen with herringbone porcelain tile floors, white soft close cabinetry, a subway tile backsplash, Bosch appliances including a 5-burner gas range, a massive quartz counter table with a solid wood base and seating for 4, and a built-in coffee bar.
The primary suite has 2 walk-in-closets, a built-in vanity, an ensuite bath with tiles and stone, a natural wood floating vanity and frameless glass rainfall shower.
The second bedroom has a walk-in-closet, a white en suite bathroom with rainfall shower/tub combo.
There’s also a third guest bath with a black framed glass stand-up shower.
The unit has some of the features buyers look for including a walk-in-closet/utility room, a Miele smart washer/dryer, and Space Pak cooling. Garage parking is available nearby for rent.
The unit has smart technology including a Ring alarm system and fingerprint door lock.
It’s near the shops and restaurants of East Lakeview as well as the lakefront trail and Lake Michigan. The listing says it’s in the Nettlehorst school district.
Bought in March 2020 for $100,000, it has come back on the market at $495,000.
Buyers love “new.”
Will this sell quickly even though it’s in a co-op?
Thomas Scherpenberg at @properties Christie’s has the listing. See the pictures here. (no floor plan)
Unit #2A: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2500 square feet, co-op
- Appears to have sold in March 2020 for $100,000 (per Redfin)
- Currently listed at $495,000
- Assessments of $2254 a month (includes heat, a/c, electricity, gas, doorman, cable, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal, Internet)
- Taxes of $8625 (listing doesn’t indicate that the monthly assessment includes the taxes)
- Space Pak
- In-unit washer/dryer
- No parking but available to lease in the neighborhood
- Gas fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 18×13
- Bedroom #2: 18×13
- Bedroom #3: 18×10
- Living/dining room combo: 25×18
- Kitchen: 22×16
- Gallery: 37×7
- Utility room: 6×4
- Walk-in-closet: 5×5
- Walk-in-closet: 7×4
Staging is really weird – I guess they’re marketing this to GenX who’s really into CB2/R&B with 2 small children and is a huge music fan but doesnt have a stereo
2500sf and the common space is tiny.
Odd that they kept the original toilet (looks cool tho)
Kitchen is nice sized, I think they would have been better served going with a small island and a real (Seats more that 4 DR table) and keeping the pantry
Probably is a better 2BR with the larger non-MBr turned into an entertainment room
Just really weird/bad design decisions across the board
Ha…@JohnnyU I had the exact same though in regards to the toilet!
A floor plan is really needed. Given no parking….lack of clarity around the property taxes…This wouldn’t be top on my list. Guessing the seller is a couple of years younger than me. I was in to all of those bands but I don’t recollect any of those “posters” as being official. I am weirded out by how new EVERYTHING looks…did these folks buy the place, renovate and buy all new furniture and wall “art” at the exact same time? It almost looks too contrived to me…cohesive, yes…but also “I am in witness protection” level contrived. Maybe that is why they are moving so soon…..
“I don’t recollect any of those “posters” as being official”
The one’s in the LR are defintely not official; “redesigned vintage punk, hardcore, new wave, and indie rock show flyers into international typographic style posters”:
https://swissted-staging.myshopify.com/
Hard to make out all the rest, but the Spoon poster is the official Lucifer on the Sofa Tour poster, and available currently from the poster artist at caseyburnscreative dot com.
place looks nice, at this vintage I would be surprised if the asm includes real estate taxes, that would make the asm $0.60/SF/month which feels too low for a building this age.
“A floor plan is really needed.”
Indeed. It was difficult figuring out what the layout is like and where the bathrooms are.
Ask and ye shall receive (at least an original floor plan):
https://ssl.cdn-redfin.com/photo/68/bigphoto/057/11694057_27_0.jpg
Looks like the classic diningroomectomy was applied here.
“classic diningroomectomy”
Yup. Only thing I can’t see now is where the laundry went.
Powder was expanded into #23 bath, 3d bedroom is the west ~10′ of the former DR, with closet into the other half of the former laundry.
Foyer narrowed north of entry closet (is that where laundry went?) with the built-ins to lessen the visual effect of the DR-BR conversion.
Walls arounf bulter’s pantry removed, all else basically the same.
Can someone explain the lip and height change in the transition from the main flooring to the kitchen flooring? It’s in the before renovation photos as well. I’m assuming the elevated floor has a function (plumbing or gas lines or something underneath) but have never really seen it be such a slight height change before.
re: Toilets, we had toilets like that in a 60s highrise we lived at in the gold coast. Not sure why they kept them but if they’re like the ones we had the flush was powered by a jet engine!
re: comments about the renovation and cohesiveness of it and being contrived, I agree. Something about how it all comes together is too much, like everything is cranked up to 11.
I’m unclear why this is the case with 3500, but it is: The D and C units have far more vintage charm, including vaulted front hall ceilings, and the B and A units are pretty bland. If anyone here knows why, please share.
Anyway, I suppose if you don’t mind being on the second floor of a high rise with almost no chance for natural light due to buildings blocking every window, this could be a good deal.
The $2,000+ HOA doesn’t include parking, of course, which is to be expected in buildings of this vintage. Parking is probably easy to get in newer high rises nearby. But there’s nothing particularly charming or memorable about this place to merit the high monthly cost. Great building and location, but is that enough?
Dan #2, the bible on vintage buildings, Chicago Apartments: A Century of Lakefront Luxury, does not indicate that there was any difference in the units.
It was built before the Great Depression so it couldn’t be that they ran out of money. (ha ha)
My guess would be that the D and C units face Lake Michigan and were therefore more desirable so they made them fancier and charged more to rent one of those. The A and B units overlook the side street so they didn’t make them as luxurious.
“Can someone explain the lip and height change in the transition from the main flooring to the kitchen flooring? It’s in the before renovation photos as well. I’m assuming the elevated floor has a function (plumbing or gas lines or something underneath) but have never really seen it be such a slight height change before.”
Guessing the height change is due to adding underlayment (Based on the height – Plywood) and Ceramic Tile
Lip is a transition strip to minimize tripping/stubbing your toe
Sabrina, I have the same book (it was updated recently, I believe), and agree there’s no explanation in there but your explanation is probably correct. I’ve been in C and D units and been very impressed with the vintage charm. I’ve never been in an A or B but they seem pretty vanilla by comparison and in my opinion should be discounted (also for only having sideways views of the lake and for facing Temple Sholem, which is kind of an eyesore IMO.
I can’t remember if 3500 was built as a co-op or rental, but I know that a lot of 20’s built-as-cooperatives often were presold and customized depending on the purchaser. Relatives live in a building where the differences in original finishes and ‘options’ in the same tier are extensive – i.e. bare bones wood picture rail vs extensive plaster moldings, faux fireplaces, vaulted ceilings and even arched entry doors with stained glass as well as having one bedroom more or less (might also depend on what purchasers in the adjacent tier did on that one).
At least facing Cornelia you get lots of light on that side.
Thanks, FG. That’s interesting and I didn’t know it. Maybe I just happened to be in two particularly nice customized units at 3500.
3500 was built as a co-op, btw, if I’m not mistaken. Never a rental, always a very luxurious building (though I know there were luxurious rental high rises built at the time as well).
“3500 was built as a co-op, btw, if I’m not mistaken.”
The Chicago Apartments book doesn’t say in the description of the building if it was a co-op or a rental. But nearly all the buildings on this stretch of the north side were built as rentals. They were, basically, the original ONEChicago, or luxury rental buildings, in the city. Complete with all the amenities and luxury features.
For instance, 3400 N LSD, next door, was designed to appeal to the very wealthiest families. Early tenants apparently paid in advance. The leases were 5 or 10 years. Many of the residents of that building, because they were so wealthy, spent a lot of money creating their own custom interiors with even more luxury.
Our concept of condos, or even co-op ownership, was not a thing a 100 years ago.
“I can’t remember if 3500 was built as a co-op or rental, but I know that a lot of 20’s built-as-cooperatives often were presold and customized depending on the purchaser.”
The rental buildings were too, FG, at least according to the Chicago Apartments book. Tenants definitely customized the units to their specifications.
By the way, before you all start bullying me about co-ops from 100 years ago, yes, I know some of these buildings were structured that way. Many of them failed in the Great Depression and reverted to apartments. But some of them made it through. Perhaps 3500 N LSD was one of them.