Do Big Terraces Matter? A 2-Bedroom At 701 S. Wells In The South Loop
This 2-bedroom in Wells Street Tower at 701 S. Wells in the South Loop came on the market in June 2012.
At 1261 square feet, it appears to be a standard 2-bedroom newer construction unit but what sets it apart is a huge wrap-around patio measuring 1500 square feet.
It has a North-East exposure.
It also has a 1-extra large parking space where you can fit two cars side by side.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and a kitchen island.
Do big terraces that have no landscaping really matter to buyers?
Alejandro Guevara at Dream Town Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #801: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1261 square feet
- Sold in August 2002 for $368,500
- Sold in July 2004 for $415,000
- Originally listed in June 2012 for $359,000
- Re-listed in October 2012 for $369,900
- Currently listed at $374,900 (parking included)
- Assessments of $653 a month (includes cable, gas, doorman)
- Taxes of $4244
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Terrace of 1500 square feet
- Bedroom #1: 13×14
- Bedroom #2: 11×12
Well, I think it SHOULD matter. If was buying a condo, having adequate private outdoor space would be huge concern for me and that kind of terrace really kills it.
On the other hand, people who are buying condos in the South Loop probably aren’t interested of landscaping a huge terrace anyway. And the views are pretty pedestrian from that particular terrace.
This is a good location for walking to work in the Loop, but this area feels cut off from Printers Row proper by the Metra tracks. Speaking of which, the terrace faces those tracks, so you would get to listen to the loud hum of idling Metra trains for much of the day. Long-term exposure to exhaust from the trains would concern me. A west-facing unit in this building would actually be preferable.
Also, the interior pictures are confusing. Seems like half of them are of the common areas. Would rather see more pics of the actual unit. Most common areas look pretty much the same and no one really uses them all that much.
A nice terrace like this can be a great amenity, but you may need to spend like $20k to make this one look killer. That money more than pays for itself, I think. This seems decent to me at this price but I wouldn’t count on a sale with these pictures: building exterior – 4, big terrace looking pathetic and bare – 3, crappy common areas of building – 4, garage – 1, actual unit from weird angles of hallway and large area – 3, pictures of important parts of unit – 0.
Couple of things:
1) A friend of mine lives next door to here and another friend used to live at Burnham Point. The trains here are un-ignorable. You might be able to block some of the noise with good landscaping, but it will never at any point be quiet. And its constant because there is always a train idling at the station, 24/7/365. Its not like living near normal tracks were a train goes by occasionally, which is annoying but ignorable.
2) Is the master bedroom open to the rest of the place with no door whatsoever?! That’s WORSE than short walls that don’t reach the ceiling.
3) I agree that this is mostly no-mans land. There is nothing to the west, there is nothing to the north outside of business hours, there’s nothing other than the driving oriented movie theater to the south so that leaves just a hand full of places within walking distance to the east. There’s more restaurants and stuff once you hit state, but you are approaching cab distances at that point.
Between the above, even with the potentially spectacular terrace It would have to drop close to $300k before I was interested.
Man sucks about the tracks right there, and what a horribly confusing listing, not sure if that is the unit’s kitchen or common space, and I love the 2 futon staging in the living room… classy stuff right there
I seem to recall that there was a discussion a few years back about a similar unit (maybe in this building?) with a large terrace and there were many concerns expressed about people in higher units with balconies tossing their cigarette butts, empty cans, and other detritus onto your terrace.
Pardon my ignorance, but what does it mean to have building be “FHA approved?”
By the way, you can have too much of a good thing, and in this case, that applies to the over-sized terrace. What are you going to do with it? Throw huge parties every night? Play soccer? Not sure why you’d want all this concrete.
According to the listing, this place is “STEPS FROM EVERYTHING!” Honestly, my house in Cary is more pedestrian friendly than this place (although I don’t walk normally walk becuz I just use a Segway).
Honestly, can we start posting less properties in the South Loop? The South Loop isn’t the end of the world, but you can see it from there.
Is Skrinechops still in business?
“Honestly, my house in Cary is more pedestrian friendly than this place”
I can’t imagine that to be true. You could certainly live here without a car just fine, its just that entertainment options are limited.
“Is Skrinechops still in business?”
Sure is.
Ultimately it’s not the size of your terrace, but how you use it.
The large terrace would be great for a dog to exercise. Depending on the building rules, maybe you could add a little grass or some stones as a potty area for the dog.
Gross.
“According to the listing, this place is “STEPS FROM EVERYTHING!” Honestly, my house in Cary is more pedestrian friendly than this place (although I don’t walk normally walk becuz I just use a Segway).”
I highly doubt you have more dining and entertainment options in a .5 mile radius than this location… And I don’t think you could live in Cary without a car…
I had a showing of this unit several months ago. The Metra noise isn’t that bad, but the lack of sight/noise privacy from the entire building above isn’t so comfortable. Plus, the living room for this unit can only fit a futon before intruding into the undersized kitchen island.
@Ryan,
The discussion you’re remembering was about a unit next door in Vetro – if we’re thinking of the same post. That unit was similar in terms of a low-floor terrace, but faced West. It was the one with ONLY an outdoor kitchen (at least at the time) and I remember a very odd bathroom that featured a mirrored wall next to the toilet.
@Jim. Nope. I toured this unit.
3 blocks from the loop proper.
Great location for a workaholic. Unless you’re a workaholic that needs to have no less than 8 brunch locations within 2 blocks, then this is “no man’s land”. Wait, I’ve never met a workaholic that gives a flying f about brunch. This is close to perfect for said person.
Still, you’re paying at least 350k to park your car and sleep here. And those train fumes are no fun.
There were two Ryans in this thread. Jim in Chicago was responding to the first.
“Ryan (January 7, 2013, 2:35 pm)
@Jim. Nope. I toured this unit.”
Um, I think he Jim was responding to this one:
“Ryan (January 7, 2013, 10:20 am)
I seem to recall that there was a discussion a few years back about a similar unit (maybe in this building?) with a large terrace and there were many concerns expressed about people in higher units with balconies tossing their cigarette butts, empty cans, and other detritus onto your terrace.”
or do we have two Ryans?
“I highly doubt you have more dining and entertainment options in a .5 mile radius than this location… And I don’t think you could live in Cary without a car…”
I didn’t say that I live without a car. Anyone that follows my posts here knows that I have 2 cars (his and hers PT Cruisers). I was just saying that there are lots of things within Segway distance of my house (Kojak’s, Galati’s, Generoso, and the Rosati’s isn’t far either). With pizza delivery charges getting so high, it’s nice that I can Segway over to the pizza parlors now instead of paying for delivery.
“it’s nice that I can Segway over to the pizza parlors”
made a quick call, none of the people i know have seen anyone running errands on a segway in Cary
“made a quick call, none of the people i know have seen anyone running errands on a segway in Cary”
I’d also think that tehLesko would live in a no-sidewalk area (keep out the riff-raff), and I don’t think Segways are street legal. Also, quite certain that you can still get arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence, so that’s strikes two and three for tehLesko’s Segway.
“I’d also think that tehLesko would live in a no-sidewalk area ”
Cary has two types of streets, the newer homes that have sidewalks, and the older ranch style homes that dont have sidewalks. thats the jist i get is only the newer built hoods have sidewalks.
they do have a wooden park that puts to shame oz park’s wooden playground
I mean, I guess technically it’s not a Segway. It’s some sort of knock off version that my wife ordered from Skymall as a gift to me for Christmas (so I haven’t had it long). I hadn’t heard that I can’t drive them on the street. No one has given me any trouble about it yet and as far as I’m concerned, no harm no foul! And no, there aren’t many sidewalks in my neighborhood. As someone indicated above, I am in an area with mostly ranches that was developed without building sidewalks.
It almost looks like this was planned to be the building’s party room and they are trying to sell it as a (poorly configured) unit instead.