Love Vintage? A Top Floor 3-Bedroom in the Old Town Triangle: 1814 N. Lincoln Park West
This top floor 3-bedroom at 1814 N. Lincoln Park West in the Old Town Triangle just came on the market.
If the building looks familiar, it’s because we’ve chattered about several units in this building over the years.
Built in 1890, it has 4 units and assigned outdoor parking.
It has some of its vintage features including crown moldings and ceiling medallions as well as a gas fireplace.
The kitchen has what looks like light gray cabinets, a new Subzero refrigerator and wine captain, a new Miele dishwasher, and new quartz counter tops. It has a white subway tile backsplash and a new sink and faucet.
One of the baths has been upgraded with a Restoration Hardware vanity, sink and mirror.
In addition to a formal dining room, it has a family room off the kitchen.
The unit also has a private covered back deck.
Even though it is vintage, it has the features buyers look for including an assigned outdoor parking space, a new GE washer/dryer in the unit and spacepak cooling.
This property last sold just 19 months ago, in February 2018, for $790,000.
It has come on the market for $60,000 more, or $850,000, but now includes all the “new” features that are listed in the listing.
Will it get the premium?
Victoria Amoroso at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #4: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed, top floor
- Sold in July 1996 for $328,000
- Sold in November 2000 for $595,000
- Sold in October 2004 for $710,000
- Sold in October 2008 for $715,500
- Sold in February 2018 for $790,000
- Currently listed at $850,000
- Assessments of $350 a month (includes heat, exterior maintenance, scavenger)
- Taxes of $14,324
- Space Pak cooling
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Assigned outdoor parking space included
- Gas fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 11×13
- Bedroom #2: 9×10
- Bedroom #3: 9×10
- Living room: 14×21
- Family room: 11×13
- Dining room: 17×15
- Kitchen: 13×12
- Walk-in-closet: 6×7
- Deck: 29×11
A lot nicer than I thought it would be.
Looks very nice–but where it the 3d bedroom?
Also, feels like a lot for a place with a 11×13 master, a … compact 2d (and 3d?) bedroom, and almost certainly tiny closets.
Really nice, and great that there’s nobody stomping overhead, but I imagine there’s a price max for stair climbing, I’d venture that $850k is beyond that max.
Good-looking unit, but with no elevator (I don’t think) it’s a lot of tramping up and down stairs. Would definitely not want to live here with a baby or toddler, or as an older person. That makes its potential buyer list a bit thin.
I like it, but would need to see it, since the pictures feel incomplete and I’m not seeing all the claimed bedrooms, as anon(tfo) noted.
The price is likely right given the location (and I like 3-4 floor walkups, lived in a 4th floor walkup for ages (in Southport) and sold it for a price that was not discounted for that) — lots of people like top floors and older buildings don’t have elevators which would seem weird to me in a 4 storey building anyway.
I wouldn’t pay $850K for a condo, but I’m not the target as I’d prefer a house in a less expensive neighborhood. It is an area I like, though.
I actually wasn’t going to even bother looking until I read the comments, cuter than I thought it would be too. If No elevator & no Trash Chute, I’m out.
Here is the listing from when it sold 19 months ago:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1814-N-Lincoln-Park-W-60614/unit-W4/home/13345763
It had nice white marble kitchen counters and backsplash. I wonder why new owners felt need to change to white quartz1
nice that it has parking
I looked at this property… functionally this is a 1BR with two little offices. Deck is nice, but this price is insane. You can get comparable vintage for much less than this.
“It had nice white marble kitchen counters and backsplash. I wonder why new owners felt need to change to white quartz'”
looked better before. the only thing I can see is that they changed the sink and faucet which would cause them to modify the counter top.
How would you compare to this
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1541-N-North-Park-Ave-60610/unit-3S/home/12739542
larger space?
with garage parking
with 6 units
but
south of North Ave
Cut face block
@chichow – if you have a family, and want to send your kids to public school, there’s no comparison. This one is in a school district which is solid and safe. You could always go private, but that would cost you at least $300k to send one kid to K-8.
“if you have a family … there’s no comparison.”
Yeah, unless you’re already going to send kids to CC or Latin *anyway*, one is a far better choice. And then, you have to consider who will buy when you sell. 15 years ago, there was hope that Marshall Field would go market by now, but now the reality is its remaining section 8 til 2045.
I went to the open house for this. Despite the little 2nd and 3rd bedrooms, it was a very nice place. The deal-breaker for me was the entry to the building and the stairway going up to the unit. Never mind that it is a 3 story climb. I could have dealt with that. But it was old and decrepit. The ubiquitous 20 layers of gunky paint slopped on all the railings and banisters and old tired “oriental rug” runners. What’s the use of having a nicely renovated unit when every time you enter the building (and every time your guests enter), your first two minutes are spent going through space that looks the same as that of a tenement housing building? The agent tried point out that two other units had sold recently, so new owners might be motivated to collect money to renovate hallway. But one of the units is on the 1st floor and would never have to access the staircase area, so why should they pay? Besides, every single condo building I have lived in was a pain in the neck in terms of getting the other owners to agree to spend a penny for updating common areas. I just don’t get it. They spend tens of thousands in the interior or their units, but refuse to cough up $100 for a mirror or a flower arrangement in the common hallways and entries that are the first impression guests will have of their habitat. Sabrina should do a thread on this topic. I have resorted to just buying decorative items on my own and putting them in my lobby or hall in several buildings I have lived in because not enough people in the condo association could be persuaded to take it out of the general budget. In this particular building however, it’s not just a matter of putting up a picture or changing the stair runner. It would cost a fortune to have all the paint stripped from all the woodwork and turned railings and banisters and have it stained to the way it would have been when the buliding was first built. I personally would be willing to pay my share for it if I owned the unit for sale, but would have zero confidence that others in the building would agree to it.
“pay my share”
As you note, 1st floor thinks their share is zero.
2d floor probably think’s theirs is 1/3 of 1/3 (stairs to #2)
3d floor probably think’s theirs is 1/3 of 1/3 (stairs to #2) and 1/2 of 1/3 (stairs to #3)
Leaving 4th floor responsible for over 60% of the total cost, in the eyes of the others.
having lived in a 3 unit building, I find that one unit owner can have so much power and the costs are very concentrated
and then the top unit cares when the roof leaks but no one else does and so on.
for myself I restrict any buys to at least 6 or 8 unit buildings so we can spread the cost of waterproofing / roof replacement / gardens etc over more units. And these 6 or 8 unit and above unit buildings generally have at least two units on each floor split by a stairwell so at least you have two units that might be in favor of an update and then a better chance of more neighborly other owners
“having lived in a 3 unit building, I find that one unit owner can have so much power and the costs are very concentrated”
I would never live in a 3-unit building for this reason chichow. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. People move into them when they are “new” construction, not thinking about what happens 10 years later when the brick needs to be tuckpointed or whatnot.