Another Empty Mansion Waiting for a Buyer: 3757 N. Keeler
How are 10,000-square foot new construction mansions selling in Old Irving Park?
We’re about to find out as this new mansion at 3757 N. Keeler just came on the market.
Here’s the listing:
NOTHING IN CHICAGO COMPARES TO THIS SPECTACULAR HOME ON CORNER 60X171 LOT IN OLD IRVING. UPSCALE W/CLASSIC DESIGN & ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. 10,000SF OF GREAT DESIGNED SPACE. DRAMATIC 24FT FOYER.
DESIGNERS TILE SELECTION & LIGHTING, MODERN FAUCETS, METRIC CUSTOM CABINETS, ELEVATOR, HOME THEATER, EXERCISE & NAT WINE ROOM, 5 FRPL, 1000SF+SHOWCASE MASTER SUITE, W/CUSTOM BUILT IN CLOSET. STEPS FROM NEW DISNEY ELEM SCHOOL
@Properties has the listing. See more pictures here.
3757 N. Keeler: 7 bedrooms, 5 baths, 2 half baths, 10,000 square feet, 3 car garage
- Currently listed for $2,499,900
- Taxes are “new”
What were these people smoking, that they thought that Old Irving Park was the place to set down a 10,000 sq ft mansion? The only places in the city where you can seriously expect to sell something like this is the near north side, Lincoln Park, Sauganash (spelling?) Park.
How many people in this city can afford to buy all the mansions that have been built here over the past 6 years?
I see this house on a regular basis and it sucks. It’s enormous and it takes up almost the entire lot with the garage. My bedroom is larger than the backyard. The style is completely different from everything else in the neighborhood. It doesn’t fit in at all. It looks like a $30k million dollar mansion. I hate it. They’ve been working on this slow, albeit slowly, for well over a year now. There are a handful of developers who still think that OIP is a great place for multi-million dollar spec houses. These developers are smoking crack. One of the same group of spec developers are in the process of tearing down a foreclosure on Kedvale to build another huge but similar crappy house. There are enough lots and new houses already on the market – I don’t understand why they’ll building more. Actually, I do understand. Builders build. That’s what they do. They build until they can’t and the only way they stop building is when they die.
I am big on the cooking thing and nothing I love more than having the fridge, sink and stove as far away from one another as possible. Even better is putting a large island between the cooktop and the fridge. Oh wait there is no stove and fridge.
I don’t get the generally traditional finished with very modern lighting.
This is on the west side of the Kennedy – just across from the Rudy Acosta castle that’s near Independence Park. Leave it to the alderman who sells out his district with zoning variances that allow these monstrosities. What a travesity for the neighborhood!
I think this place is awesome but then again I don’t have 2.5MM and probably never will.
I love it! 7 bedrooms and no yard, that makes a lot of sense…
put it on 20+ acres and then it will begin to look remotely normal.
The cool thing about OIP is the medium to large sized houses on deep, large lots. Some homes have yards that are literally sprawling with small (manmade) ponds, gazebos and garages. These bozos built the first 10,000 sq ft behemoth of a house in all of OIP and built on the entire lot. It looks like it belongs in Barrington on 20 acres, not on a 60×171 foot lot.
interior designer was a bit off on this one!! (assuming there even was one). I don’t picture someone selecting those kitchen cabinets also selecting the same light fixtures. sort of looks like a hodge podge (sp.)
ok HD, we are on the same page in addition to being in the same neighborhood 🙂 scary!
When I lived in Vancouver, BC, these “Monster Homes, Boxes on Steriods, ect” were everywhere. Most were purchased and lived in by families that had fled the Communist takeover of Hong Kong. Lots were small and you had to fit three generations into one home. No need for this in OIP.
I used to live in that hood and couldn’t agree more about the monstrosities they’ve been constructing over there. Some developers have done a good job of rehabbing vintage mansions, but the tear-down, full-lot new construction has got to stop.
And I don’t think George Nelson was thinking of pseudo-medieval McMansions when he designed his Bubble Lamps…
I just have to say that this is the ugliest thing I’ve seen on this site thus far. What were they thinking!
This house screams “Break in and steal my stuff.”
Funny you mentioned multi-generational housing. OIP had a sort of similar situation. During and after the great depression many of the large houses in OIP were turned into boarding houses and SRO’s. One particular house (recently deconverted) had been a boarding house from 1950 until 2004. Check out the link below to see the owner’s website of his renovation. I saw the home on the housewalk this year. It’s beautiful. He and his wife did a wonderful job.
http://chicagomoneypit.com/
“Joe on November 12th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
When I lived in Vancouver, BC, these “Monster Homes, Boxes on Steriods, ect” were everywhere. Most were purchased and lived in by families that had fled the Communist takeover of Hong Kong. Lots were small and you had to fit three generations into one home. No need for this in OIP.”
Give someone a computer and all of a sudden they think they’re a graphic designer. Give someone easy access to cash and they think they can become a developer.
It make sad.
forrealestate welcome back old chap! One of the RE bulls we thought you were a casualty of the great market collapse!
Is now a good time to buy real estate?
Remember forrealestate.. there is nothing shameful with having been wrong, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I am half the time.
Wrong about what?
About now being a good time to buy?
Are you serious???
It is one of the greatest times to buy *ever* – if one has money for a downpayment, solid credit, and some balls, one can practically steal properties in many areas! Worried sellers and large supply, small demand = huge bargaining power for smart, qualified buyers.
Still, don’t buy this godforsaken behemoth. Heck no. There is simply never a good time for that! ha!
And I’m no casualty. Just don’t have much time to play on the net when working all the time. Heh. I was home sick today. Boo!;)
I *am* looking forward to the market scaring off some of the cr*ppy, incompetents out there, tho – a sentiment, no doubt, shared by other hard working types.
Good evening!
Forrealestate. Thought you came back because we were going thru the perfect time to buy comments you made in April for the Printers Row loft. I was wrong I guess and just a coincidence. Had this argument already with people when Nasdaq was at 3,000 coming from 5,000 and on way to 1,000. Not worth having. When the market approaches prices where a lawyer and his wife making 150k a year feel comfortable buying in just about any neighborhood I will agree.
There is always a good time to buy, with that I agree. But it is not always a good time to buy. There is a difference.
Funny thing is I have always liked playing the contrarian side but cycles have that fear, panic, capitulation, depression, hope thing and I still don’t see the panic yet in RE. Equities I thought I saw it but then T2 pointed out so well. All the pundits got bullish. So I was wrong again. I spend lots of time stoned figuring out why people are so married to opinions… funny human foible about feeling self diminished by whether they are correct or not, creates a huge level of dissonance for many, I guess. Oddest part is I really like being wrong, it is when I learn stuff or get to practice what I learned (like when I bought a couple of places in sept 06, I got to practice getting the hell out) 🙂
Btw.. hope you feel better, I got sick last year for first time in about 15 years and wow did it suck.
Not only is there almost no panic, fear is only just beginning to take hold. We are nowhere near capitulation in my opinion, outside of a few case-by-case situations which remain difficult to find. It is only a good time to buy if you can find one of those.
Don’t worry though, the Olympics are coming!!!
John
I don’t think this house will ever sell. Developer’s price has no relation to the neighborhood. Maybe an extended family will purchase house for communal living once the price drops to $850,000.
There’s never been $2,000,000 SFH sale in Old Irving. $1.3 was the highest ever I think. $850k is a much more realistic price range.
“There’s never been $2,000,000 SFH sale in Old Irving. $1.3 was the highest ever I think. $850k is a much more realistic price range.”
So, this being (more than) twice the size of typical OIP homes, it might (emph, *might*) be worth 50% more than typical, right? So, but for the credit freeze (yeah, big but for), this might be “reasonable” at half it’s current ask. $125/ft and free land. Sounds kina okay to me.
OIP is nice but it’s not a neighborhood that’s going to support $2,000,000+ houses no matter how big or nice. It’s sort of like on the NW side when you go through a neighborhood of small ranches will full basements and the out of nowhere is the huge two story house that takes up the full lots? Yeah it might be worth more but proportionately it’s worth less because the comps are all for lower priced homes. It is so out of place and character that its desirabiilty is reduced. If this house were in inverness on 15 acres( and not a big rectangle box with a roof) it might be worth 2.0 but not here. Again, what was this guy thinking?
You’ll know it’s really the time to buy when parents start telling their kids to never buy real estate and “conventional” wisdom is that real estate is a bad investment. People will treat you like you’re stupid if you even hint at buying a house. This will mean the time to buy has arrived, as capitulation will be at its max (and prices at rock bottom). Don’t think this can’t happen; it has happened before.
FYI, the house on the n.e. corner a block south is a 5 BR asking $1.5, another ‘brilliant’ speculator just demoed a house 1/2blk away and the house next door to 3757 is for sale(soon to be another demo). these are going to sit empty until the real estate market recovers…..many years from now.
Basic rule of investing in realestate. Never buy the most expensive property in an area. In this market, this person is toast.
“OIP is nice but it’s not a neighborhood that’s going to support $2,000,000+ houses no matter how big or nice.”
WTH, HD? You’re repeating yourself, and apparently disagreeing with someone who’s saying much the same thing as you.
I said $1.25mm sounds kinda okay, in the context of OIP. Twice the sq ft for 50% more *IS* “proportionately it’s worth less”–$125/ft probably doesn’t cover the actual cost of construction, and they must have suck $500k into the lot, no? So, at $1.25, I’m suggesting that it’s worth 30%+ **less** than the developer has into the place, or about what they have into the place **after** writing off the land cost. And all of that **only** if it were possible to borrow against the damn thing.
* the moneypit website is very interesting! thanks for sharing!
* “When the market approaches prices where a lawyer and his wife [lawyer and HIS wife? tsk tsk! he he] making 150k a year feel comfortable buying in just about any neighborhood I will agree.” this IS the case. if the lawyer and HIS wife save appropriately for downpayment and budget and pick a reasonably sized place. 🙂 there is NO entitlement here in the U.S., tho. just cause you’re a lawyer (and i was/am a lawyer too – i know that culture!) doesn’t mean you get a mansion in the gold coast. (please adjust tone as i am in a hurry and don’t mean to be snotty here while putting across a point)
* thank you! i am feeling much better today!
* the thing about this house (back to the blog at hand!) is that i HOPE it sells. i hope that someone sees it and thinks “my dream house! oh, yay, honey! thank god we can afford this ginormous house with no yard in the city! i hate yards! and i never would want to pick my own finishes or design my own home for this amt of money! i hate choice! we will send johnny and jane to private school at the waldorf because lord knows we don’t want our children in public schools! but it will be so nice to live among ‘the real people,’ like Nelson Algren said! thank god we heard about him on NPR when we were riding in your friend’s car!” but i don’t think so. also, if this was MY price point, this is NOT what i’d want and i just can’t conceive of “the people” who would want it.
* what if they’d built two 4bed/3 bath greystone new construction, high end homes, with yards and 2-car garages, emulating the local housing aesthetics . . . so many ifs, but wouldn’t that have been a better idea . . . ?
* like i said so articulately (cough, cough cough – i’m often in a hurry! i’m sorry!) in my first comment, here – [this house] make[s] [me] sad! for everyone. sad for the builders, designers, and the neighbors. oh, and the realtors! heh. . . . such a “sign of the times” – and what has gone wrong in the Chicago market.
anon (tfo), I’m just preaching to the choir.
You’re talking about me! I don’t in any sense of the word feel entitled to buy in any neighborhood. I’m not a top lawyer in my industry but I’m nowhere near the bottom rung like SH suggests. But when I look around at the pos crapbox disaster condo conversions availble for 2x or 2.5x my income I knew that things were out of whack. I could fathom paying $400,000 for a condo conversion duplex like some idiots did during the boom. Imagine the SO and I working a 12 hour day and coming home to a flooded, small, cramped converted duplex down. I’d rather kill myself.
“When the market approaches prices where a lawyer and his wife making 150k a year feel comfortable buying in just about any neighborhood I will agree. “
forrealestate. I sincerely apologize. Bad frame of reference I guess. I am old school in many ways. I told my wife it was my very strong preference that she not work. My bad!
“I could fathom ” should be “I COULDN’T fathom” typo
This house would make a wonderful homeless shelter. Perhaps it will suffer the same fate as the grand old mansions of the near South Side? People might scoff at the very idea, but then again…
I live near another house that this developer built. Someone bought it for $1+M and thought it was their dream house. When we looked at it before they bought it, we noticed that the wood floors were very wavy, and sure enough, after it was bought they got worse and the developer had to move them out, pay for them to live elsewhere and had to redo all of the floors. Seems that he had not let the wood settle long enough before installing it. Wonderful quality for million plus homes!!
I was looking at ChicagoMag Deal Estate and this was posted Jan 15. Per that post, the agent claimed that a nearby house sold for over $2.85mm, so this wouldn’t be the most expensive house in the area.
I don’t know what house the agent is talking about.
Claimed “a block away” (quoting the post, which did not quote teh agent).
HD–What’s with the giant pool at the other end of the block? Looking at aerials.
I don’t think that house sold recently for $2.85 – I don’t have access to the MLS but I do follow the ‘hood as closely as I can. If something sold for 2.85 at the peak then it’s not worth that anymore.
Wow the house near it recently sold for $2.85!! WOW!
Hey guess what the girl who lives _next to_ my girlfriend is a PH pet of the month! WOW! Yeah all the guys at the bar think I’m so lucky that my gal resides in such close proximity to this gal let me tell ya.
LMAO the dumb realtor tricks are over. A house near it selling for 2.85MM means nothing because 1) its not this house and 2) it could be a fraudulent transaction.
New construction at 3713 N Tripp closed 12/5/08 for $2,948,750 per MLS. Contract was signed 5/9/08 (listed for $2,849,000) and listing says “42′ WIDE 6BD/4.2 BA 7300 SQFT HOME ON 50×156 LOT.” The teardown sold 8/6/07 for $560,000.
“I don’t think that house sold recently for $2.85”
I didn’t figure teh pool house was the one–I just was wondering what was the deal with it–that’s a big pool for the city and the layout w/r/t the two houses is weird.
Thanks G. No wonder I missed the sale; It happened in December probably didn’t hit the web (zillow etc) until late december or Jan
and I’ve been so f’in busy at work I have little freetime since January 5 to cruise the new listings and sales like I used too.
Relisted at $2,199,000
Buy now or be priced out FOREVER!!!!
Saw this house today and am a fan at the right price. Don’t know what all the haters are thinking. Beautiful home with every amenity. You might do a few things differently if you were building it yourself, but otherwise, a very cool crib.
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/homeward-bound-chicago/2010/10/at-2m-this-home-stands-alone-in-the-northwest-side-market.html
Most expensive house within the city limits west of Western Ave.
I’ve passed this house many times, and it detracts from the neighborhood. OIP is (or maybe was) one of the last nice neighborhoods that are convenient yet still affordable and not overrun with new money trash.
Good day!
I got really interested in this house. Please tell me, is it still available? and is it located in Chicago?
If so, what’s its price for January 2013?
Thanks!