A Renovated River North 1-Bedroom in the Cathedral District: 25 E. Superior
This 1-bedroom in The Fordham at 25 E. Superior in River North came on the market in July 2020.
The Fordham was built in 2003 and has 244 units. It’s a full amenity luxury building with doormen, a pool, an exercise room and attached garage parking.
It is considered to be in the Cathedral District as Holy Name Cathedral and St. James Cathedral are nearby anchors.
This unit is among the smallest floor plans in the building at 855 square feet.
The listing says it has been “newly renovated.”
It has 9 foot ceilings and crown molding along with hardwood floors.
The kitchen has white cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
The bedroom suite has a walk-in-closet and bathroom with a double vanity.
It has washer/dryer in the unit and central air but there’s no deeded parking with the unit. You can rent it in the building or nearby buildings.
This is one of the few floor plans in the The Fordham without a balcony.
It appears to have northern exposures, overlooking Holy Name Cathedral.
The building is in the heart of the Cathedral District with Whole Foods, Trader Joes, the El and the Mag Mile just steps away.
This unit is one of 3 “02” units that are currently on the market.
It is listed at the cheapest price at $360,000.
The other two are:
- Unit #702: listed at $364,500
- Unit #902: listed at $389,747 (recently renovated with a new white kitchen and new bathroom with a Fresca Manchester vanity. Parking for $30,000 available)
You can see those units here and here.
In the past, these one-bedrooms have been marketed as investment units but with COVID and the protests of 2020 along with falling luxury apartment rents, what price will it take to sell?
Carrie McCormick and Ann Caron at @Properties have the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #1002: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 855 square feet
- Sold in January 2003 for $289,500
- Sold in February 2007 for $385,000
- Sold in April 2013 for $330,000
- Originally listed in July 2020 for $385,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed at $360,000
- Assessments of $597 a month (includes heat, a/c, gas, doorman, cable, exercise room, pool, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $6647
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- No parking. Available to rent for $250 to $300 a month
- Bedroom: 12×14
- Living room: 13×13
- Dining room: 13×9
- Kitchen: 8×10
- Walk-in-closet: 5×6
With continued COVID uncertainties, recent looting sprees, and imminent tax hikes, a small downtown cookie cutter apartment with no outdoor space has to be one of the most uncertain real estate investments one could purchase at this time.
In this economy, Locking up 80k then facing a $2500/mo nut + $200-$300 for parking is a hefty price to pay for having less than 900sqft and only one toilet.
These look like a nice extended stay hotel
Wouldn’t staying that the 4s every other weekend cost less than this?
Steveo’s napkin, modified:
$3psf*855= $2565 rent less 597 ass = $1968 = 23616 less 6647 tax =
$16,969 imputable gross rental income.
at a 5 cap, Sorta reasonable if you’re living in it, it’s $339k.
at a 6.5 cap, to account for maintenance, vacancy etc. of a LL, it’s $261k.
C’mon!
btw, *love* the closet fixtures. Nothing says luxury condo like the cheapest grade of Closetmaid shelving. It does force you to not overfill the closet, tho!
Four small windows facing North = Always Dark. The Fordham had a fairly large special assessment in the 2009 ish time frame. Apparently, there was either tuck pointing issues or windows becoming loose, etc.
Does anyone know the full story of the Special Assessment? If I recall, the amount owed per unit was fairly significant.
I have to admire the listing agent for 702. Of the 29 pictures, only 15 were of the actual unit. Hell, they even put in two pictures of the beach in summer before you ever saw the unit. Way to work with what you got!
Smallest unit on one of the lowest floors? How exciting!
Not as bad inside as I’d suspected, but still not worth the money.
“The Fordham had a fairly large special assessment in the 2009 ish time frame. Apparently, there was either tuck pointing issues or windows becoming loose, etc.”
11 years ago?
Really JJ?
Really?
EVERY building has maintenance issues. Every one. The building is now nearly 20 years old. The board should have a good idea of what is going on with it. Every buyer should always request the board minutes and inquire as to specials and reserves as well as what has been done recently.
Each building has the same issues:
1. Windows (most costly)
2. Elevators (second most costly)
3. Hallway renovations
4. Lobby renovations
5. Pool/exercise room renovations
6. Balcony renovations if they hang off the side of the building
Could also have parking garage renovations as well as elevators for that, depending on the building.
It’s a lot of work maintaining a high rise.
“The Fordham had a fairly large special assessment in the 2009 ish time frame. Apparently, there was either tuck pointing issues or windows becoming loose, etc.”
11 years ago?
Really JJ?
Really?”
Noteworthy: The special assessment was when the building was ~ 10 years old and was significant. 2/2 were assessed ~ $25,000 – $35,000. I can’t imagine what the larger units were assessed. Sabrina, maybe you love paying HOAs and don’t mind getting pinged with an additional $25,000 assessment. I don’t.
“Sabrina, maybe you love paying HOAs and don’t mind getting pinged with an additional $25,000 assessment. I don’t.”
Excuse me. Again, it was a decade ago. Why would YOU get “pinged” with an additional assessment? They handled it…10 years ago.
Once again, if you’re buying in ANY big high rise building, even new ones, there’s always the possibility of specials and maintenance. You can do additional research before buying. But every building has had to do things. Just like a house or townhouse. Or any property.