Do Townhouses Have Enough Outdoor Space During the Pandemic? 171 W. Goethe in Old Town
This 3-bedroom townhouse at 171 W. Goethe in Old Town came on the market in April 2020.
Built in 1986, it has 5 units with attached single car garages.
The listing says this townhouse is 18 feet wide and has skylights.
It has a first floor family room with a wood burning fireplace. Is this really the third bedroom?
There’s also a 19×18 patio with brick walls on the main floor.
The kitchen, living and dining rooms are on the second floor.
The kitchen has wood cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances with a breakfast bar and a separate breakfast area.
There’s a second floor balcony off the kitchen and breakfast area which overlooks the lower level patio.
There are two bedrooms and 2 full baths on the third floor, including the master suite.
It has central air and a private attached garage.
Listed in April 2020 for $950,000, the listing was removed in May. It came back on the market this August for $899,000 but has quickly been reduced $20,000 to $879,000.
Is the patio and balcony enough outdoor space for buyers during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Leigh Marcus at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here (no floor plan).
Unit B: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2400 square feet, townhouse
- Sold in August 1991 for $336,000
- Sold in September 1999 for $530,000
- Sold in June 2004 for $613,000
- Sold in April 2015 for $815,000
- Originally listed in April 2020 for $950,000
- Removed in May 2020
- Re-listed in August 2020 for $899,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $879,000
- Assessments of $150 a month (includes exterior maintenance and scavenger)
- Taxes of $15,461
- Central Air
- 1 car attached garage
- Bedroom #1: 16×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 16×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #3: 18×16 (main floor)
- Living/dining room: 30×18 (second floor)
- Kitchen: 18×14 (second floor)
- Laundry room: 8×3 (main floor)
- Deck: 18×16 (second floor)
- Patio: 19×18 (main floor)
I’ve seen 1 bedroom apartments with more window square footage than this townhouse.
If the numbers were real, this is a terrible use of 2400sf. Nice that they’re including the garage in the sf
No bathroom on the kitchen/LR/DR level
This is really a 2 BR. @ 3BR, there’s zero living area and you access the patio thru the basement Br
LOL at the though of this being a $1MM property
With white collar office jobs going remote, it’s going to be harder to make a case for buying this property over a detached house with a real yard a little further north or west.
Didn’t realize that the corner of Wells and Goethe was the Gold Coast.
It’s a fine TH for a couple with perhaps college aged kids, or maybe a Payton student.
That part of OT is swimming in ~$900k options right now. Looks like ~12 within ~1 block between $800 and 1m, including a proper SFR that’s probably too close to Sedgwick: https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/333-W-Goethe-St-60610/home/14112924
I like it and the one across the street that was for sale earlier this year: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/164-W-Goethe-St-Chicago-IL-60610/2080587572_zpid/?mmlb=g,20
It’s really a one-bedroom plus office and gym.
“[164 Goethe]”
Redfin has it as just ‘no showings’, but still listed:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/164-W-Goethe-St-60610/unit-D/home/14113518
but that Zestimate…OUCH!
And 2300 sf is a bad joke–that may be about what the floorplates add up to, but that includes the garage and the atrium and the stairs eat up ~300 more. It’s about 1900 usable sf, on 3 levels.
Is that floor plan for real? No bathroom access for second bedroom and only other bathroom two floors down?
There’s room for two bathrooms up there too.
“No bathroom access for second bedroom and only other bathroom two floors down?”
Yes, bc they combine 2 small baths into one master. Here’s the end unit that just sold, sort of half thru a reno:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/170-W-Goethe-St-60610/unit-A/home/14112661
Can also find the last list for 162, which also showed 3 baths.
And 160, the other end unit, had a floorplan on its last list:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/160-W-Goethe-St-60610/unit-F/home/14112420
Looks like the 6 units have shared garbage right next to 160’s patio, making it even worse than typical for alley side THs.
Thanks, that makes more sense (there could also be a door not shown in the plan, but….).
How rough was Old Town/Gold Coast in 1979? There is razor wire above back fences.
“How rough was Old Town/Gold Coast in 1979? There is razor wire above back fences.”
This was basically 2 blocks from Cabrini, and they were shooting at police cars from the towers.
This: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uicdigital/6145037296 was basically across the street (behind the building fronting Wells) until 1994.
The razor wire was still a normal thing in the alleys around there into the late-90s, at least. Tower Olds had razor wire all around both of their lots.
One of my friends grew up in a six-flat built in 1906 and it was built with bars on the kitchen and pantry windows. And it was an upper end area when built.
“maybe a Payton student.”
Yeah, but your kid is at Payton at most 4 years and the earliest you possibly find out is April in 8th grade, so you what, move to something like this the summer before 9th on a 4 year plan?
750k if they are lucky. 879k seems absurd to me. This place is dated and lacks the wow factor of a 900k unit.
“Didn’t realize that the corner of Wells and Goethe was the Gold Coast.”
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It’s not. It’s Bucktown. Ask Sabrina.
“How rough was Old Town/Gold Coast in 1979? There is razor wire above back fences.”
Very. The entire city was very rough in 1979. It’s a whole different world in 2020.
“Yeah, but your kid is at Payton at most 4 years and the earliest you possibly find out is April in 8th grade, so you what, move to something like this the summer before 9th on a 4 year plan?”
And for the 4 years of college, for summers and holidays. Basically a 10 year plan, which is certainly a long enough time frame for it not to be intrinsically dumb (can still turn out dumb).
Would work well for empty nest couple afterward, too.
This place has no curb appeal. And that’s the positive part. It only gets worse when you go in or when you look at asking price.