Love Vintage Built-in Bookshelves? A 2-Bedroom in 3520 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview
This vintage 2-bedroom at 3520 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview came on the market in July 2015.
3520 was built in 1924 and has 166 units.
This corner unit is on the third floor with views of the trees and the Lake beyond.
It has its original moldings and the high ceilings and big room sizes that were common in the 1920s.
It even has a separate dining room, complete with a wall of built-in bookshelves.
The kitchen is “newer” with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
The bathroom is a Jack-n-Jill and the listing says its been updated.
This unit has a washer/dryer in the unit but there’s no central air or parking.
It has already been under contract once and was recently reduced $5,000.
Will this go under contract again quickly?
Crystal Riley at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3N: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1400 square feet
- Sold in November 1991 for $127,500
- Sold in August 1995 for $125,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed
- Distress sale in May 2012 for $121,000
- Sold in May 2013 for $245,000
- Originally listed in July 2015 for $280,000
- Was under contract
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $275,000
- Assessments of $645 a month (includes heat, cable, gas)
- Taxes of $3714
- No central air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- No parking
- Bedroom #1: 14×12
- Bedroom #2: 14×11
- Living room: 23×14
- Dining room: 14×13
- Kitchen: 15×9
Lovely unit for the vintage lover
I love these classic buildings right on the lake front. Just fabulous. This will sell soon and someone will be very happy.
Beautiful unit in great building. The HOA is very reasonable relative to most older high rises, which is no doubt thanks to the size of the association.
Wish I could be the happy buyer. I suspect it will go very fast at this price, given the high-quality upgrades and overall excellent appearance of the unit- I just LOVE that all the old millwork is intact, and the place hasn’t been clean-walled to death.
I used to live in this building, and miss it. I don’t miss the high assessments though. Unlike other places with high assessments, there is no doorman.
“I don’t miss the high assessments ”
How does this:
“$645 a month (includes heat, cable, gas)”
constitute ‘high’ for a 1400 sf place?? With also an onsite manager/engineer, and a gym (even if not great). Or is the listing incorrect about what is included?
Most of the assessments for units this size in vintage elevator buildings are substantially higher. For “D” units at 3300 LSD, which also has no doorman, they run about $745, and around $700 for larger 3-2 units at 6334 N Sheridan. They are stratospheric for vintage high rises with doormen, such as 421 W Melrose, ranging from $945 to $1300 for 2 bed apartments, depending on the square footage.
Figure that the heat and most other utilities are included in these fees and, of course, all maintenance of and repairs to the structure, a pretty large item. I forget whether or not stove gas is included at 3520. The electricity is not included, but that does not run most people much.
If you compare the cost of ownership of this apartment, to that of a small bungalow with comparable square footage, you will see that you get off much more cheaply in this apartment, in greater comfort and much greater security. If this place needs a roof tear-off, the cost is divided between 166 units, which would break down to less than $10,000 a unit, most likely, while doing the same job on a comparable 1400 sq ft bungalow would run $15,000-$20,000. Same with any other major capital improvement or replacement.
The important thing is to make sure you know how the building’s finances are managed, and what % of your HOA goes to the repair reserve. You also want to know that maintenance has not been deferred to the point where there are so many major jobs that urgently need to be done, that you need to levy a special. THAT hurts.
I think the assessment is somewhat on the low side considering they are doing fairly extensive masonry work (the entry photo shows it, I think they may have wrapped up) and it makes me think they fund that stuff with special assessments rather than higher regular assessments. Which way that goes really depends upon the board/management.
Assuming steam heat, those “European” flat-pabel radiators probably don’t work well (my neighbors unit has them, abandoned, behind a replacement cast iron radiator, from a renovation – they don’t do well with steam but people still install them – there are Runtals for steam, but they aren’t flat panel).
It’s true, all that is included. I’m just saying it felt high to me. For an extra $150/month, I moved to a place that included all that minus the heat & plus a doorman and pool and find that a better deal.
The door staff was important to me because at 3520, there is a lot of in/out traffic and yet residents themselves are expected to deny admission to strangers. Most of the time they don’t, so strangers are free to walk the building. Once, one of those strangers gave me a hard time when I tried to stop him and it almost came to blows. After that, I decided the lack of a doorman was a major deficit to this building.
I do miss the vintage beauty though.
PANEL not pabel….
Oh yeah, and I also got tired of special assessments. During the 11 years I lived there (1993-2004), we had 2 or 3.
The heat worked pretty good for me. I was on a middle floor. Units on the top floors tended to be overheated, and lower floors tended to be cold. Mine was such that I kept the heater in the bedroom turned off.
I don’t see any excuse for repeated specials,which indicate bad planning IMO. It is better to keep the assessment a little higher in order to maintain a large reserve. You can figure that some jobs will have to be done on a regular schedule- new hot water heater every 15 years or so, roof replacement every 20, and plan accordingly… instead of having to scramble to get a loan to do stuff like the roof or boiler replacement because your reserve is far too low to cover a major job, and hitting owners with a big, nasty surprise.
I talk to a lot of other condo owners in other buildings, and once discussed this with the woman who was then the President of the Board at the beautiful Casa Bonita on Ridge, which is covered with really intricate, detailed white terra cotta embellishment, and also has an indoor pool. The terra cotta requires constant maintenance and replacement, and only 2 companies in the country make it. This woman said, we keep the assessments high here because most of the people who own here are moderate income people who cannot afford “assessment shock” from a special assessment- they plan on a given amount of money for housing each month.
I feel that it is a better policy to keep the assessments at the level necessary to make large contributions to the reserve, than it is to keep it low, then be blindsided by massive specials when 3 decades of deferred maintenance come due. This happened at a certain famous co-op in Edgwater back in the late 90s, where 40 years of can-kicking caught up with the place, with the average special being about $40,000 per unit. Many people in the building were forced to sell at prices steeply underneath the normal market price because they simply could not absorb such a massive, sudden hit
Very pretty and it could function as a 2BR if needed.
“This happened at a certain famous co-op in Edgwater back in the late 90s, where 40 years of can-kicking caught up with the place, with the average special being about $40,000 per unit. Many people in the building were forced to sell at prices steeply underneath the normal market price because they simply could not absorb such a massive, sudden hit”
I know a building this is happening to on the north side right now (but won’t name it because I feel badly for all of the owners there.) For the last decade they have kept the assessments artificially low even though the building was built in the 1920s (and is a mid-rise.) On a 2/2 unit they were only about $450 a month. They did this so that owners would be able to sell more easily.
And it worked- for a while.
But in the last few years, the city has instituted new regulations about fire safety (sprinklers etc.) and these older buildings have had to do massive upgrades to get compliant.
They have almost no reserves so in the last five years they’ve had an $8,000 special and recently just had a $24,000 special. Yes, a dozen or more people in the building have simply let the unit go into foreclosure because they can’t pay it.
Until the work is done in the building, no one can actually sell because the banks won’t loan in a building which isn’t yet compliant with all the city codes. So everyone else is trapped in it.
High assessments aren’t necessarily a bad thing on these old buildings- as you said Laura. It’s really a sign of good management.
Whenever I see a building, even a 3-unit newer construction building that is self-managed, and they only have assessments of $100 a month I think, “what happens when they have to do tuck-pointing or get that cinder block waxed or whatever it is you’re supposed to do to it every 5 years?” A special assessment for it?
Good luck.