Flipper Alert: Parkside of Old Town Midrises Closing this Summer
Here we go.
The flippers are turning up, where else, but on Craigslist for the midrise buildings at Parkside of Old Town, two new buildings at the intersection of Division with Clybourn. The Hudson is a nine story building. The Cambridge is the eight story building.
You will know The Hudson if you ride the Brown Line as it’s clearly visible on the western side of the El near the Dominicks on Division.
The flippers are putting up ads such as this one for an 1100 square foot 2 bedroom, 2 bath:
$410000 LUXURIOUS 2 BEDROOM 2 BATH CONDO NEVER LIVED IN AVAILABLE IN JULY
UPPER FLOOR CORNER UNIT WITH SOUTH EXPOSURE AND HUGE BALCONY. EXCELLENT AMENITIES NEVER LIVED IN.
I AM LIVING IN THE BURBS BUT BOUGHT THIS CONDO YEARS AGO BEFORE IT WAS BUILT. IT IS NOW READY FOR DELIVERY.
THIS UNIT IS IN THE BUILDING THAT IS THE FURTHEST EAST. BEST LOCATION! A SHORT WALK TO THE RED LINE AND ADJACENT TO THE GOLD COAST. PARKING SPOT AVAILABLE FOR 30,000 EXTRA.
Here is another seller who appears to be willing to negotiate:
$279500 PARKSIDE OF OLD TOWN – 1br + DEN! PRICE DROP!
I can no longer take this unit & must transfer the purchase contract to another buyer ASAP! My loss is your gain so take it my off my hands and get a STEAL!
The 1BR+ Den unit is in SOLD OUT tier of the Cambridge building at the new Parkside of Old Town development at Division and CLybourn! Be the first to live in this quiet, south facing unit that overlooks the park and has amazing city views. September delivery expected.
Unit & Building Features: 856 square foot 1BR+ Den, AMAZING VIEW, 10 foot ceilings, hardwood floors, SS appliances, thick granite countertops, flat panel maple cabs, kitchen island, undermount sink, garbage disposal, dishwasher, washer/dryer hookup, high-end bath finishes, extra large balcony, extra storage lockers, dog/pet friendly, FITNESS center, business lounge, garage parking $30k.
NO AGENT commission can be paid. $1000 CASH to anyone that brings me a buyer!
I purchased this unit at for $279,500 plus $30,000 for parking but am moving out of state and must reassign it ASAP. These units have already been appreciating since 2006 and this building is sold out. This contract will be reassigned to you and you will close on the unit.
The developer is also still trying to sell units in both buildings.
The Hudson Building, Unit #803
Nine Story Building with secured entry, fitness center and business center with on-site management.
2 Bedroom 2 Bath, located on the 8th Floor with North Exposure. This home is 1,182 sq. ft. with an open layout. This home looks over Lincoln Park all from the front windows of the home and has a spacious balcony which can be accessed from every room of the home.
This home is priced at $389,900. Parking is an additional purchase if needed of $30,000 or $35,000 for a Deeded Parking Space.
One of the developers of Parkside, Kimball Hill Homes, just filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on April 24. However, in their filing, the company said it will continue its normal business operations, including finishing construction on buildings and homes. From the Chicago Tribune:
“Our issues are financial, not operational,” said President and Chief Executive Ken Love. “The next step in our restructuring is to strengthen our capital structure and position our company to weather the current storm that has hit the housing and capital markets.”
At the time of the filing, Kimball said, it had about $60 million in cash, which it said will “provide the company with more than ample liquidity to fund daily operations,” including making payments to contractors and suppliers, and to meet its obligations to customers and employees during the restructuring.
Parkside of Old Town [website]
“This home looks over Lincoln Park all from the front windows of the home”
Seriously? Was that ad written by someone who has never set foot in Chicago? Or, for that matter, spoken English?
Anon,
If you pour over the RE records at Tribune’s website you will see that an awful lot of the flippers for new developments are more than likely foreign nationals (judging by their full names alone).
Yeah, but that one appears to be from the developer, as Sabrina noted.
I once saw an ad for a flip in the loop that said it was near “two subway lines” with a NYC phone number.
You can usually tell when the seller is from out of town.
Another classic symptom of speculation….not sticking to your own knitting.
I’m a NY-resident and want to get in on the any-idiot-can-make-money condo boom….I can’t afford to flip the run-of-the-mill $1MM condos in Manhattan, so I look for “investment opportunities” in markets where I can afford to speculate–LV, PHX, FL, Inland Empire, etc.
Is this building worth buying? Is the area good?
Another thread is discussing the area: http://cribchatter.com/?p=3167
Basically, this was Cabrini-Green and the neighborhood hasn’t gentrified yet. Personally, I feel that if you can avoid going south or west of the complex, you’ll be okay. I’m leery of walking Orleans south of Division after dark, but I bike that route regularly. The area north of Division and east of Clyburn/Orleans seems fine.
Lots of good Pakistani restaurants in the area, but not much for yuppies.
Last night on some late night TV show they were hawking these condos pitching discounts of up to 15k and a tax credit of 8k for a total savings of up to 23k. It wasn’t an infomercial or developer sponsored it seems either it was one of those inside Chicago shows.
IMO since they didn’t have a disclaimer about who sponsored them they should be civilly liable for any RE capital losses a buyer might incur beyond the 23k in savings. 150k for a studio in Cabrini Green? LOL.
Who the hell would pay $400 a sqft for a view of the Cabrini high rises? And if you don’t have a view, well you get the opportunity of sharing the same hood as you are basically surrounded by public housing projects on 3 sides. I mean seriously… what the hell were these developers thinking?
A few months ago the developer announced they are shutting down after current under construction homes are completed. If theres any quality issues with your unit you’ll have no entity to go after for recourse.
http://www.builderonline.com/business/breaking-news-kimball-hill-homes-will-shut-down.aspx
These buildings are going to be a ghetto in a few years, just like the CHA high and mid-rises they replaced.
Also although one of the last three red mid-rises is now vacant (the one on Chicago) and awaiting demolition, there are still two red mid-rises left and three white high-rises and it will take years to demolish them it seems. Those five will remain until 2012 under the CHA’s current plan for transformation. This is in addition to the eight rows of low rises that are expected to remain in place indefinitely.
Whomever speculated here is going to lose big time.
Word to the wise: ignore anything shown on these Inside Chicago type TV shows. Probably bait to get more out of staters to speculate here.
Kimball Hill built my parents home in the 50’s. They went BK last year. It’s sort of sad to see them go; they’ve been around a long time and it took just a few months of this bust to put them under.
I reread my comment: KH went BK, not my parents.
I know there are people that work for developers and builders and I do feel for them, but new home sales are down 77% from their peak in March, the industry cannot survive. I think it would be better for the overall economy if all new builders and developers just went away.
Ignore the mainstream media’s reports that new home sales post “surprising rebound”, going from 23k to 27k, thats just last November levels, its no real rebound and they’re expected to fall again in March.
We can’t find a bottom in housing until we absorb all this excess inventory. Currently 1 in 9 homes in the U.S. sit empty and yet we have a sizeable homeless population. The quicker the supply of new homes goes to zero that will help the situation even if only slightly.
peak in March 2005 that is.
According to USAToday, Illinois is not expected to bottom before 2012:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-04-09-vacanthomes_N.htm
And despite only 23k new homes sold in February and 27k in March, developers are building out at a rate of 700k homes per year, 3x current sales volume. Their industry is less sustainable than the auto industry.
“building out at a rate of 700k homes per year”
Housing starts in March were at a 510k annual rate and permits at 513k. Those are both “seasonally-adjusted” and include rental units (about 150k of the starts). And the 23k in Feb, 27j in March are not seasonally-adjusted. It’s like comparing dollars to euros w/o noting the exchange rate.
Still too many new houses, the market still sux, but–because of that–there’s no reason to use garbage numbers to prove the point.
As to the Cabrini high-rises, if the federal litigation ever goes away, the buildings are going away–they’ve been on the CHA’s demo list for several years, but the consent decree stands in the way.
I’m probably more gleeful than most at the prospect of lower housing prices because that’s is a major component of what’s needed (among other things) to restore some balance to the economy. But it’s still sad to know that we’re in a real estate depression. I have family members in the trades and they are royally screwed at the moment. One family member was telling me that he was making $32.00 an hour during the bubble as an independent contractor; now the only jobs are paying $15.00 and the competition is fierce. It’s messed up out there, it really is.
“One family member was telling me that he was making $32.00 an hour during the bubble as an independent contractor; now the only jobs are paying $15.00 and the competition is fierce.”
And that labor inflation was the most significant change in input costs for construction. Materials may have gone up 25%, but labor doubling–that pushes up prices or pushes down quality–most likely some of both.
I am considering buying in this complex…my understanding is that it is now run by the developer, NOT CHA. Any feedback?? The location is idea and the area is bound to come around. Seems to be a good investment. Let’s here what you think.
YES! this area is bound to come around.. I’ll give it 4 years.. this area is now going to be an extension of the Goldcoast.. there’s tons of shopping, cafe’s, night clubs/lounges, a 10-15min walk to the magnificent mile and state st.. this is an swesome buy, I recently purchased a 2bdr townhome here.. my first place.. I’m a 26yo RN in the city, my hospital is not too far so this is great for me, the area is perfect.. and for the record, Lassalle and Chicago ave, which is one block south of Larabee and Chicago ave (Cabrini green) was once nothing but a big project in the 80’s, not it’s prime area, everyone wants to be in the area..