Foreclosure Alert: River North Duplex Penthouse at 635 N. Dearborn

This 2-bedroom duplex penthouse at The Caravel at 635 N. Dearborn in River North just came on the market. It is already bank-owned.

It is listed for $136,100 less than the 2005 purchase price.

At 2300 square feet, it also has a second floor den with a 500-square foot sun deck.

Is this a “deal”?

Robert Shutay at Realty Executives Ambassador has the listing. See the interior pictures and listing here.

Unit #2804: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2300 square feet

  • Sold in January 2005 for $850,000
  • Bank-owned
  • Currently listed for $713,900 (looks like one parking space is included)
  • Assessments of $1695 a month
  • Taxes of $13,000
  • Den is 29×12

25 Responses to “Foreclosure Alert: River North Duplex Penthouse at 635 N. Dearborn”

  1. logansquarean on April 8th, 2009 at 6:36 am

    What’s with all the fresh naked drywall? Did anyone actually live there yet?

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  2. You have got to be kidding me with the $1700/month assessment.

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  3. I see where the owners/flippers were going with this and I like it. However, the unit seems to be about 50% done and the bank’s price should reflect that.

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  4. association fee + taxes = oof!

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  5. “association fee + taxes = oof!”

    No kidding. That is unreal.

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  6. Stainless Steel Refrigerator: Check
    Stainless Steel Range: Check
    Stainless Steel dishwasher: Check
    Whirlpool bath: Check
    Washer and Dryer: Check
    Paint on the walls… not so much.

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  7. $2,778 payment not including the mortgage or insurance: check.

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  8. With assessments and taxes like that the bank will have to practically give it away.

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  9. The listing says $738,900.

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  10. Yeowch those assessments are unreal!

    Why is the neighbor #2803’s listed for ($1 million even) assessments so much less?

    Assessments
    • 1291

    Assessment Includes
    • Heat
    • Air Conditioning
    • Water
    • Gas
    • Common Insurance
    • Doorman
    • TV/Cable
    • Exercise Facilities
    • Scavenger

    Taxes
    • 12304.97

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  11. Frank Costanza on April 8th, 2009 at 8:36 am

    A pipe burst in the unit and flooded it with 6 ft. of standing water. Completely destroyed the floor and association had to pull it out to fix the damage. The water broke through and damaged some of the other units in the building as well. This unit is in BAD shape. The “stainless steel kitchen” has cracked cabinets and needs to be completely redone. The bathrooms need to be gutted. Re-development at $700k with 2 bedrooms? No thanks.

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  12. This was probably a combined unit, they probably took two 2 bedroom units that were on top of each other and combined them so the assessments are basically what they would be for 2 2 bedroom units, whereas the 2803 unit is not combined. That would also explain why the unit looks unfinished. They probably started the project and ran out of money to finish it.

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  13. 2803 is a duplex up though…

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  14. I take it the percentage allocation for the assessment is basically set in stone? No way to get that adjusted?

    What about taxes? If say you paid $650K for the unit, can you successfully appeal on the basis that some other unit in the building that sells around the same price has half your taxes?

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  15. take at least 200K off the price. it is large, and to go with that you get a large financial blackhole.

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  16. The combined unit thing was just a theory, sometimes explains abnormally high assessments that don’t make sense. Did some more digging and all the other 28th floor duplexes have similar taxes and assessments to this foreclosed unit, and were listed in the mid 900s and on up. Not sure why the assessments on 2803 are listed as being lower than the others by around $400 since the sq ftgs are the same. Most likely the agent for 2803 has the wrong amount, perhaps they copied an old listing sheet and didn’t bother to verify that the info was correct.

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  17. Is this a condo or coop?

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  18. condo and I like it!

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  19. I dont know what type of price you guys expect for a unit like this. First off lets address the assesments. They cover: Heat, Air Conditioning, Water, Gas, Parking, Common Insurance, Security, Doorman, TV/Cable, Exercise Facilities, Exterior Maintenance, Scavenger, Snow Removal. So your only bills is your upgraded cable. 2300 sq ft. I am not saying 1600+ is cheap a month, but for that much square foot in a high rise is not all that uncommon. Addressing the tax issue. Where do you guys see taxes around Chicago for cheap? Please someone tell me on that type of square footage. I have seen much, much, higher taxes on places with smaller square footage. Taxes keep going up, and real estate prices keep going down. This is a major issue right now. And dont forget, these taxes reflect no excemptions.

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  20. steele:

    And non-HVAC electric, in addition to upgraded cable, no? And, if you’re assuming upgraded cable as a “must”, then phone and internet, too, right?

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  21. anon (tfo)
    I completely agree with you. All I am saying is people are acting like this is unheard of for assesments to be this high. Would I pay it, no. Is it really far off similiar size units in downtown. Nope.

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  22. The assessment is within normal limits for a unit this size.

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  23. Lived in this building. Frank Costanza’s comment above is exactly correct on what happened in this unit. The best part is that the reason the pipe burst is because the heat was left off in the unit….and the heat is included in the assessment!!! LOL.

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  24. Frank Costanzo – How do you know what happened?
    JFYI – Just an FYI to you, it was a sprinkler pipe that froze and broke because the developer didn’t insulate the pipe against an outside wall. The heat wasn’t off, it could have been 90 in the unit and it still would have broke. The owner was out of the country and the building management screwed up royally.

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