A 1,000 Sq Ft Private Terrace Overlooking Lake Michigan: 3200 N. Lake Shore Drive
This 3-bedroom penthouse in Harbor House at 3200 N. Lake Shore Drive in East Lakeview came on the market in June 2022.
Harbor House was built in 1967 and has 178 units and attached garage parking.
It’s a full amenity building with 24-hour door staff, an exercise room and pool.
If it looks familiar, that’s because we actually chattered about it in 2016 before it went through it’s big renovation. Many of you thought it could be cool if renovated so now’s your chance to see it.
See our 2016 chatter here.
This unit was updated after the 2016 sale but was also updated again by the current owner.
The chef’s kitchen has white cabinets and Miele and Subzero appliances. It used to have an island open to the rest of the space, but there is now a dining banquette. (See the prior listing pictures.)
The living room is still sunken, as it was in 2016, and there’s a library with built-in bookcases, all with views of the Lake.
The listing says all the bathrooms have been updated with “high quality” fixtures and the unit has custom doors.
The unit has a den/office which opens directly onto the 1000 square foot private south facing rooftop terrace which has been landscaped with 18 large irrigated planters with lighting, a fire pit, a dining area and a hidden lounge for reading or napping.
The terrace has a granite outdoor kitchen with built-in grill.
It has views east over the park and Belmont Harbor, west for sunsets and south for the skyline.
There’s also a few unique features with this unit including a private elevator that opens directly into the foyer and a massive 33×11 storage unit on the same level. See the prior listing for the floor plan.
It has the features buyers look for including central air, washer/dryer in the unit and 2 garage parking spaces, but I believe parking is rental in the building.
It has listed at $1.395 million.
Is this unit the Chicago penthouse dream?
Brad Lippitz at Compass has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #2901: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, no square footage listed, penthouse
- Sold in August 2002 for $1.025 million
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in April 2010
- Bank owned in May 2013
- Originally listed in May 2015 for $1.1 million
- Reduced several times
- Sold in August 2016 for $700,000
- Sold in April 2017 for $1.03 million
- Sold in August 2019 for $1.075 million
- Currently listed at $1.395 million
- Assessments are now $2486 a month (they were $1923 a month in 2016) (includes heat, a/c, gas, doorman, cable, exercise room, indoor pool, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal, Internet)
- Taxes are now $11,168 (they were $8906 in 2016)
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- 2 car garage parking which is valet and rental in the building
- Bedroom #1: 16×15
- Bedroom #2: 13×11
- Bedroom #3: 12×11
- Living room: 16×15
- Dining room: 15×11
- Kitchen: 13×13
- Study: 16×10
- Foyer: 10×7
- Storage: 33×11
- Terrace: 45×21
The prior Chatter was pretty harsh. Might be priced a little high, but this place is awesome.
Terrace is superb, but that fire pit? Looks like they hit it with a rattle can
This place could rock a Mad Men vibe
2019 price sounds right
Assessor’s value, after appeal by the building: $637,400
Looking at the smaller units that are for sale, the 1 beds appear to be subsidizing all the bigger units. eg, this one, which is updated (I dislike the bath, but whatever):
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3200-N-Lake-Shore-Dr-60657/unit-2709/home/13375498
has a post appeal AMV of $215,100–slightly over asking.
but even a fairly dated 2/2 like…
this one:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3200-N-Lake-Shore-Dr-60657/unit-2102/home/13375504
is assessed at a meaningful discount below the $345k ask: $302,800
And the updated 2/2s asking $389 and $454,9 are also assessed at $302.
I like the unit and especially the views. The downside is paying so much money to live in a building that’s definitely not high-end. It’s likely to have maintenance issues, and was probably built cheaply in the first place (it’s from the era where everything was). Still, it’s hard to get a true penthouse with this much outdoor space for this kind of price, and the HOA seems low for what you get. Lakeview is also attractive now because although crime is up, it seems to be somewhat better than Streeterville/River North.
I’m wary in general about paying champagne prices for a unit in a beer building, and this may be the very definition of that.
I lived in the 28th floor apartment of the Wave Lakeview/ Bel Harbor building next door that looks into this unit for the last 3 years. I didn’t realize until just now it was a private terrace. I assumed it was an amenity for all the building tenants and always so confused why I never saw it used. Hopefully the new owners put it to use.
15+ years ago a friend lived here and I recollect that in the dead of winter there was a huge issue – – maybe some pipes burst and no one had water for a few days? or a small fire caused the building residents to have to leave temporarily? I cannot remember the details but it was on the news and it sounded REALLY inconvenient.
How that happens in a professionally managed building would be something I would investigate before buying into this building…which I have always thought was kind of “brutalist-goofy” looking anyways.