A Foreclosure Hits in 1717 S. Prairie in the South Loop
1717 S. Prairie is a 23 story, 171-unit building near the Prairie Historic District in the South Loop. It was built in 2004.
Recently, a foreclosure popped up in the building.
Unit #2201: (no details but #1801 is a 2/2 with about 1475 square feet)
- Sold in July 2006 for $667,000
- Foreclosure auction price of $565,352
Even more interesting is the listing for Unit #2301:
Spectacular 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom penthouse unit. Floor-to-ceiling lake, city and Navy Pier views. Diagonal mahogany floors. Walk-in wine cellar. Eat-in kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Separate dining room. Grand terrace. 5 deeded garage parking spaces.
Unit #2301: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 5 car parking
- Sold in December 2006 for $1.75 million
- Currently listed for $999,000
- Assessments of $1,240 a month
- Coldwell Banker has the listing
Unit 2301 certainly seems like a good deal. Unfortunately I’m a few dollars short of the million dollar condo market segment these days…
I can’t help but wonder about the history on 2301 (developer pricing & mortgage details). This is such a large cut..
5 parking spaces! I can understand having a car for each driver in the family, but even that is unneccsary in the city. Why would you own 5 depreciating assets?
How did you know they own 5 condos facing a $750,000 loss? Har!
C’mon Bob, I think you can guess about #2301.
5/10/05 sold by developer w/2 pkg spaces for $1,275,000
5/11/05 mortgage with Wells Fargo for $892,500
7/28/05 second mortgage with Chicago Comm Bk for $253,294
12/30/05 purchased 3 more pkg spaces from dev for $105,000
7/26/06 lien filed by condo assn for $8,000
12/18/06 sold for $1,750,000 with 5 pkg spaces
12/18/06 two mortgages for 100% financing ($1.3125M + .4375M)
No lis pendens has been filed to date. The asking price is obvioulsy intended to provoke overbids for approval as it is highly unlikely that the lender is going to approve a short sale of this magnitude. Not that they shouldn’t, but lenders have not been known for sound financial decisions in the mortgage field lately.
Now for #2201:
5/7/04 sold by developer w/pkg space for $572,000
5/7/04 mortgage from Private B&T for $920,000 (doesn’t make sense, but is only recorded on unit and pkg.)
5/26/06 sold w/pkg for $667,000
5/26/06 two mortgages from MRES for 100% financing ($533.6K + $133.4K)
10/4/07 lis pendens filed by Bank of NY.
I think a friend of mine lives in this building and said they’ve had major problems with water infiltration and a lawsuit against the developer that remains unresolved. She said she can’t sell because chances are there will be a huge special assessment to tear apart lots of walls and fix the leaky exterior bits plus all the water damaged interior stuff. My friend said the developer folded the LLC or whatever he used to do this building, but it’s the same person who built the chess lofts and is doing 9 west erie. I’m wondering if anyone has heard similar horror stories or knows anything about the developer.
There was an article in the Sun-Times (ineffectual link below) describing the difficulties the owners/assoc. was/were having with the developer and the problems with the building/construction.
Word on the street confirms big special assessments.
Consensus: Very bad. Very very bad.
http://www.suntimes.com/classifieds/homes/homelife/349614,HOF-News-prairiemain20.article
Clicking on the link NOW — annoyingly — only goes to the home search page on the Sun Times site. I’m trying to find a copy somewhere and will post if I do!
All,
The developer’s names are Bill Warman/William Barr, and do NOT purchase any units from companies owned by either. Make sure the company you are working with do not have either as the owner. They have a lot of law suits from buildings, and develop shotty quality construction. Some of their problem buildings include 1529 s. state, 41 e. 8th, 1717 prarie. I am not sure, but Astoria may be one of theirs also, along with Chess Lofts and 9 w erie in pre-construction right now.
They have a reputation for creating LLCs to develop these buildings, then folding them after complete. After which the associations have to sue them for shotty quality, and they know how to skirt the lawsuits. Given the LLC’s have “shut down”, it becomes difficult to get anything back.
STAY AWAY! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
[Editor’s Note: There have been media reports of various lawsuits against developers around the city. Always do your own investigation. The comments by this poster are his/her opinion.]
I have two close friends who live in this building and it the water problem is a huge mess and going to cost lots of $. A friend with a 3 bedroom is facing over $50,000 special assessment, while the condo assn. moves forward on fixing the building (removal of all windows; installing some insulation/waterproofing that was skirted in the building of the complex; and returning the windows to the facade). The condo assn. is trying to sue the developer; I believe they report it is an uphill battle as described above.
I owned in this building and sold my unit in 2006.Although I did not have water infiltration,many units did.I still have friends living there and they are stuck do to water and lawsuit issues.
The sale of 2301 by the developer was a total sham.They used a little known title company,the asociation had liens against the unit,there were no comps to support the price,yet this unit was still able to close.
There have been 3 or 4 sales in this building that were done the same way.I am sure we will be seeing more foreclosures in the future,basically due to fraud.
BTW,it is my 1st post,but I have been lurking for awhile.I love the site.
Enjoy the latest about 1717 S Prairie. You should go get the list of pending lawsuits that have been filed against the devleopers. Too many to list right now. I wonder how many people (besides the residents of 1717) they have sent into financial ruin (what happens when you have a $50,000 special assessment). Nice. They should be in jail. They also knowingly marketed this building without disclosing to new buyers about the water infiltration problem. Too bad. Beautiful people, but built by greedy developers willing to cut so many corners. They were lucky enough to stuff the pockets of the right people in this city to soldier on and keep scamming others.
Maidenberg, M. (2008, July 16). Big bills hit Prairie Avenue tower residents. http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=60&ArticleID=5416&TM=43189.16
Bianchi, L. (2008, July 28). Chicago Business News, Analysis & Articles | Costly repairs in South Loop | Crain’s. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?rssFeed=magazing&post_date=2008-07-26&article_id=30344
Guy, S. (2007, April 7). Condo board dukes it out with developers over work it claims is substandard . Chicago Sun-Times.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070518050722/http://www.suntimes.com/classifieds/homes/homelife/349614,HOF-News-prairiemain20.article
(this is the web archive version — wait for 1 minute to load than scroll to the bottom)
anyone know of updates regarding the tragedy of this building? any more assessments? any deals w/ the developer?
Hello,
would like to know the current status on the litigation on the building and what are the units that have still water inflitration or other problems. What were the special assessments in past ? How many short sales/foreclosures in the bldg. and if all the 24% of rental cap is filled?
Thnks
A potential buyer at 1717 S. Prairie