Does a Remodel Always Get a Higher Price? A Loft at 1735 W. Diversey in Lincoln Park
This 3-bedroom penthouse loft in the Regal Lofts at 1735 W. Diversey in Lincoln Park recently came on the market.
If it looks familiar, that’s because we last chattered about it in 2008-2011 time period when it was a foreclosure, became bank owned, and then came back on the market again.
You can see our 2008 chatter with the interior pictures before the remodel here.
The listing says it was redesigned 4 years ago.
This floor of the Regal Lofts was added in the conversion and doesn’t have exposed brick or timber ceilings. The ceilings, however, are 11 feet tall and the loft has exposed ductwork.
The loft has north, east and west exposures along with an 85 foot private terrace with gas and water lines.
The loft has walnut hardwood floors.
It also has a new kitchen with Archisesto modern white cabinetry, stainless steel appliances and quartz counter tops with a built-in island and custom backsplash.
The bathrooms have also been redone and have modern finishes.
The master bedroom has an en suite bath.
The loft has the features that buyers look for, including central air, side-by-side washer/dryer in the unit and parking is included (it doesn’t say if it’s outdoor or garage, however.)
Originally listed in June 2018 for $579,000 it has been reduced to $549,878.
This loft building was converted in 2000. The finishes are now 18 years old.
If you want to sell a condo for a gain in 2018, do you need to remodel?
Matt Laricy at Americorp has the listing. See the pictures here.
And you can see the old pictures at our 2008 chatter here.
Unit #615: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1700 square feet
- Sold in June 2000 for $368,000
- Sold in April 2002 for $395,000
- Sold in July 2006 for $492,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in September 2009
- Bank owned in September 2011
- Sold in March 2012 for $380,000
- Originally listed in June 2018 for $579,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $549,878 (includes parking)
- Assessments now $609 a month (they were $490 a month in 2008) (includes exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes now $7749 (they were $7215 in 2008)
- Central Air
- Side-by-side washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 14×17
- Bedroom #2: 12×13
- Bedroom #3: 12×13
- Balcony: 8×85
“walnut hardwood floors.”
looks more like oak stained with a walnut finish. big difference.
nice place, although personally I wouldn’t want to live way out in the boonies like this
I would bet it sells pretty quickly
I think this place is awesome, we live nearby although it is a bit West. it’ll sell ASAP.
I’ll never understand kitchens that provide absolutely no stove exhaust – particularly considering the overhead cabinets and this place is located on the top floor… so no excuses…
BTW, I checked the MLS, this does come with a garage space…
“I’ll never understand kitchens that provide absolutely no stove exhaust”
impossible to tell from the photos, but there could be a down draft.
You can tell from the 3D view… No downdraft either…
“You can tell from the 3D view… No downdraft either…”
Agree.
Totally absurd in this unit to not have exhaust.
Interesting place. Lots of books and a modern look. Love the size of the bedroom (and what looks to be a sharp BDI desk). Very long balcony, but very limited skyline views unfortunately. Finally, that gym has a squat rack and respectable free weights which is surprising
I agree this is the boonies. Can’t dig the location.
This is the haunted sausage factory, right?
“out in the boonies”
C’mon, this is EAST NoCoCo. Steps to East Lincoln Park!
If the boonies comment just means “ick, who would live that far north and west,” the answer is that clearly many people do and think it’s totally fine — neighborhoods to the north and west of this location are quite popular and places in them are selling fast.
But re this specific location — even though I live much more “in the boonies” (meaning farther west and east), and lived farther north (although a few blocks east) in Southport corridor for ages — I do think it’s more out of the way than say something a bit north and in North Center would be. It’s not convenient to an L stop, I don’t think there’s a whole lot right around there (although it’s right by my current vet).
On the other hand, the listing says it’s Lincoln Park HS, which I didn’t realize. I can’t really see living there with high school kids, but seems like that could be a selling point. My Southport location benefited a lot from being in Blaine, but also was in Lake View HS of course.
How is this considered “Lincoln Park”?
“How is this considered “Lincoln Park”?”
“Lincoln Park’s boundaries are precisely defined in the city’s list of official community areas. It is bordered on the north by Diversey Parkway, on the west by the Chicago River, on the south by North Avenue, and on the east by Lake Michigan.”
Being that this is on the south side of Diversey, and east of the River, it is in the Lincoln Park Community Area. There is zero reasonable dispute about that.
“I don’t think there’s a whole lot right around there”
Menard’s and Costco on one side and the wonders of North Ashland Avenue on the other.
“it’s Lincoln Park HS, which I didn’t realize”
LPHS attendance boundary goes as far south as Chicago Ave (bt the river and Cabrini THs; then Oak from Larrabee to the lake) and as far north as Belmont (from Halsted to Racine, for some reason). It’s *huuuge*.
Anon – thanks for the edification! Back when I first lived in Lincoln Park in the mid-80’s, people used to make fun of real estate listings that listed anything west of Sheffield as “Lincoln Park”! Anything west of Halsted, in fact, was referred to as the “DePaul” neighborhood – logical as that is exactly where DePaul U is located. I never heard the term “West Lincoln Park” used back in those days either.
vissi–it’s always a source of discussion, where there is a neighborhood that has the same name as a community area. Everyone will have a slightly different concept of what the LP “neighborhood” is, but the LP “community area” is fixed.
The Tribune has a map that they use for locating everything in their articles–it says this place is in the “Lathrop Homes” neighborhood. But their map has not-much relationship to reality, imo–to the east of “Lathrop Homes” is West Depaul, but that’s only north of Fullerton, and is west of Wrightwood Neighbors. DePaul itself is in Sheffield Neighbors.
The Lincoln Park neighborhood, according to the Tribune, is bounded by Halsted on the West, Fullerton on the north, the park from Fullerton to Armitage, the along Armitage to Lincoln, then on an imagined diagonal line SW to North and Larrabee, and along North to Halsted. They turned the Old Town Triangle into the Old Town Trapezoid for unknowable reasons.
Still, you can find it here: http://boundaries.tribapps.com/#
It’s Lincoln Park community area and should properly be listed that way (as it is).
It’s NOT Lincoln Park the neighborhood and the description in the listing just calling it Lincoln Park would be mocked by most people I know (including lots of people who would consider 2700 N Racine as obviously LP). I think of the north part of LP as being immediately below LV, and this far north I think that means Ashland is the western boundary, and would likely consider 2750 N. Greenview also LP. But as Clybourn moves in the border moves with it, and I’d further agree that the part of, say, Fullerton west of Southport doesn’t feel at all like LP, although south of Fullerton you don’t have to go much east of Clybourn for it to seem neighbory and like LP again — the area SW of the Armitage L to Clybourn would be LP in my mind, and I would consider St. Josaphat to be in Lincoln Park (and St. Al’s unquestionably in LV).
I always think of DePaul as a sub-neighborhood within LP, just as when I lived in Southport I considered the part I lived in as a sub-neighborhood within Lakeview. (And you still run into people who don’t know the term Southport Corridor but would understand “west Lakeview, near the Music Box” (or in some cases “just a few blocks west of Wrigley.”) East LP and east LV (which overlaps Boystown) are sub-neighborhoods too.
But this is just my impression from having lived in east LP in the late ’90s, east LV in the early ’00s, and west LV/Southport since then (until this year). I promise I won’t follow people around into threads on Sauganash or the like to insist on the point! General neighborhood boundaries aren’t that clearcut.
I hate “neighborhood” names as everyone seems to have their own definition. I much prefer the officially defined Community Area which no one can dispute. This is Lincoln Park.
For the official listing I think you HAVE TO use the official Community Area, don’t you? No one here is saying use the neighborhood instead for that.
With respect to how it’s described more broadly, maybe I’m weird, but I’m interested in how people define the neighborhoods, as those are simply not identical (many neighborhoods aren’t Community Areas), as anon(tfo) said. That’s why I opined about how I think it’s commonly seen (with the understanding that neighborhoods are somewhat subjective, and my perspective is probably biased from living way out west, at least in the views of some).
The notion of some huge evil of big bad RE agents mis-identifying neighborhoods is silly, though, in that you can look at the map and the Community Area is required. But that hasn’t come up here!
It’s true the listing only mentions “Lincoln Park” under the “Community” name. There is one mention in the description that is slightly misleading, but not inaccurate. It is the title of this post which actually announces this property as being in Lincoln Park. If the purpose of having names for locations is for functional purposes, the area described as the Lincoln Park “neighborhood” is way more useful than the huge area consisting of the Lincoln Park “community”. The only two reasons I can think of why people who live at 1735 W Diversey would call their area “Lincoln Park” is if they want to identify themselves as living in a more upscale neighborhood to people who are never going to visit them, or if they are selling/renting their place and want more online traffic by using the term for the benefit of people using it as a key word in search engines. Otherwise, all it would do is create possible confusion to tell people you live in Lincoln Park, and then have to go through elaborate explanations as to the actual location, and then claim you had the right to call it Lincoln Park because it’s technically part of the Lincoln Park “community”!
“the north part of LP as being immediately below LV, and this far north I think that means Ashland is the western boundary”
Ravenswood is the Western boundary of LV, not Ashland.
“The only two reasons I can think of why people who live at 1735 W Diversey would call their area “Lincoln Park””
There is a 3d–this area has no ‘real’ neighborhood name. Lathrop is a farce; NoCoCo is a CC-only thing, and basically a joke; too far from Hamlin to claim that, too far north for West DePaul to make any sense, etc etc.
I was attempting to distinguish what is generally considered the casual neighborhood usage, anon (tfo), not the official community area, where of course you are correct. And I also admit that my general understanding is probably too far west for many, certainly on I find that commenters on the blog tend to have a more restrictive/east oriented definition than people I know in general. In other circles, I don’t find that many people think LP (the neighborhood) ends at Halsted or that they think DePaul is a totally different neighborhood than Lincoln Park, or even know all the names that are used by the Trib or on some of the maps you see, and I think they see DePaul as an area within LP.
But heck, I could be wrong. I haven’t lived in LP for ages and don’t much care. I think it’s weird I’m getting downvoted for saying what I understand the commonly accepted definition of the neighborhood (not the CA) of LP to be, when I just thought it was an interesting thing to share ideas on and agree 100% that for the listing system you have to use the CA it’s in (I think the “LP Penthouse” description is a little silly, although people can look at the map and draw their own conclusions so whatever).
Am I being too sensitive? Probably.
Personally, while I find the discussion of neighborhoods a little bit interesting, for RE purposes I don’t think sensible buyers care about the name of the neighborhood (or CA) so much as specific location.
For example, I looked at a place on Fullerton west of Southport, once upon a time, and didn’t like the location. Whether it was called LP or not didn’t matter. If I’m looking mostly in the northern bit of LP (which I think goes to Diversey) and want to be really close to the lake, I may well prefer the 400 block of Barry or Wellington (which is unquestionably LV) to 2650 N Greenview, even if the latter is LP. Winona near Clark is Uptown, but if I wanted Andersonville I’d consider it; it’s not the same as, I dunno, right by the Wilson stop. That both are Uptown doesn’t tell you enough.
Where it does becoming annoying when the use of an upscale neighborhood name is in too broad a fashion is when someone is trying to wrestle with finding property online on a site like Craig’s List. Of the thousands of listings that flood that website, if you try to narrow your search for a rental by choosing a neighborhood name like Lincoln Park or Gold Coast, you are quickly discouraged by the majority of the listings being nowhere near what you consider those areas. The people listing their places for rent deliberately check off those neighborhood names for their locations just to have them pop up, knowing more people target those areas.
This is unequivocally North Bucktown.
Am I blocked for some reason? I’ve now posted 2 times on separate occasions and they didn’t show up.
Why can’t I post?
There is no disputing that this is in Lincoln Park. It clearly is.
“Am I blocked for some reason? I’ve now posted 2 times on separate occasions and they didn’t show up.”
For some reason, even though I’ve approved your comments in the past, the website isn’t recognizing it. Even when I approve you again, it’s still not putting some of you through (Madeline and Jenny, in particular.)
Hopefully the new website will fix this. It’s coming soon!
Don’t go too crazy calling the 77 community areas “official”. The boundaries of those were set in the 1920s and have been unchanged since then with the exception of the annexation of land for O’Hare and Edgewater being split from Uptown. Neighborhoods and boundaries change over the course of a century. They’re used for things like the census now. Don’t give them more value than they’re due.
“Don’t go too crazy calling the 77 community areas “official”.”
Chicago Muni Code:
1-14-010 Designated – Naming and renaming.
The seventy-seven community area names and the one hundred seventy-eight neighborhoods named and outlined on the maps marked Exhibit A and Exhibit B, on file in the city clerk’s office and made a part hereof, are hereby designated as the official community areas and neighborhoods of the City of Chicago.
No person shall name or rename a community area or neighborhood without the passage of an ordinance authorizing such naming or renaming.
Had forgotten about *that* ‘hood map. See it here: https://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/doit/general/GIS/Chicago_Maps/Citywide_Maps/City_Neighborhoods_1978_11x17.pdf
of note: southern boundary of Bucktown is Armitage.
“of note: southern boundary of Bucktown is Armitage.”
To note as well – Halsted is the western boundary of Lincoln Park. Just as I said it was considered when I first lived in LP in the ’80’s – before realtors started moving the boundaries farther and farther west in describing their listings as “Lincoln Park”.
Weird placement of Andersonville, unless I’m misreading it. Seems to be in the cemetery.
“Weird placement of Andersonville”
Foster to Bryn Mawr, Clark to Ravenswood is semi-reasonable, except the fact that the east side of Clark is clearly A’ville, but not per the map.
Looks to me like the placement is right on top of Bowmanville, with the boundaries Western on the west, Ravenswood on the east, and Bowmanville (the street) on the south. So the cemetery! And definitely too far west.
Note: accidentally used the wrong email before, and it got blocked. No need to release it, automatic fill error.
“the placement is right on top of Bowmanville”
the line to the SE is intended as an arrow. Compare the three hoods to the east, with their names in the lake.
Oh, I see. Makes more sense.
Stephanie,
I think your tiff with this not being “neighborhood” LP vs LP community area a bit reflects your age. There has been crazy mad gentrification past Ashland to Damen over the past 15 years or so. The only difference between the parts east of Ashland for LP & LV and west is there is comparatively less retail/commercial. It basically goes from Ashland to Damen for retail or Clybourn (and chains/big box) before it. In fact these areas are blowing up more quickly because they’re also closer to Wicker Park/Bucktown and those scenes. So these parts are getting more gentrified from two sides and many younger people don’t see LP as the end-all-be-all but see North/Damen/Milwaukee as ground zero for that.
“many younger people don’t see LP as the end-all-be-all”
If that is the case, more the reason they should stop applying the “Lincoln Park” label to areas outside the LP “neighborhood” just as a lure. Location names should be for informational value, and using the the LP “community” definition covers such a large area it is useless for this purpose.
“using the the LP “community” definition covers such a large area it is useless for this purpose.”
But at least everyone knows what it is. The LP “neighborhood” means 15 different things to every 10 people.
Anon – I thought the “hood” map you sent the link of shows clear boundaries of the neighborhoods? On the map itself is the statement “passed by City Council 1993” and has the seal of the City of Chicago on it.
Sure, but that map has the Lathrop Homes “neighborhood” not including *any* of the Lathrop Homes buildings, the Sedgwick Brown Line stop in “Goose Island” and many other absurdities.
So that map is crap, too. It’s one of those 15 concepts of what is “real” LP, but it is not anything like the only one with validity.
“I think your tiff with this not being “neighborhood” LP vs LP community area a bit reflects your age.”
I don’t have a “tiff” with it. I just don’t think it’s thought of that way. If the definition has morphed so that it now is, I wouldn’t have a problem with it, as neighborhood definitions change and it’s public opinion that rules. People I interact with and talk to about it (not all of whom are as old as me!) also don’t tend to think of that area as part of the same area (but none of them see it as ending at Halsted either, as apparently was one definition, before my time).
I totally know the area has been gentrified (but lots of gentrified areas aren’t LP). I lived in Southport until very recently and spent a decent amount of time in North Center (which is north of Diversey and west of Ravenswood — I think Ashland feels like a more natural break, but the CA boundaries say otherwise, and it’s only 2 blocks so whatever).
“The only difference between the parts east of Ashland for LP & LV and west is there is comparatively less retail/commercial. It basically goes from Ashland to Damen for retail or Clybourn (and chains/big box) before it.”
Yes, but that aspect of Clybourn is actually why it feels like a distinct neighborhood to me. The more neighborhoody bits immediately east of Clybourn just south of Armitage feel like LP, by contrast.
But I really don’t care since I don’t live in LP and don’t want to. (There are parts of LP I might live in if I could afford the kind of place I’d want, but they are specific to particular locations and property types, not the neighborhood label.)
“So these parts are getting more gentrified from two sides and many younger people don’t see LP as the end-all-be-all but see North/Damen/Milwaukee as ground zero for that.”
I don’t see LP as the end-all-be-all either, and that’s not just something kids today are realizing. If you were reading my posts to say otherwise, I wasn’t communicating well.
“The more neighborhoody bits immediately east of Clybourn just south of Armitage feel like LP”
I’d say at least up to Webster feels like LP, when you are a block off of Clybourn.
Totally agree, now that you mention it. I just cut through that other area going to the L recently so it was in my mind. Didn’t mean to exclude the other.