Get a 2-Bedroom Townhouse for Under $500,000 in River North: 917 N. Kingsbury
This 2-bedroom townhouse in River Village at 917 N. Kingsbury in River North recently came on the market.
This complex has 119 townhomes and was built in 2004.
The first floor has 10 foot ceilings, cherry hardwood floors and a stone fireplace.
The kitchen has dark cabinets, granite counter tops and “brand new” stainless steel appliances.
The two bedrooms are on the second floor and have “brand new” carpet.
The master bedroom has an en suite bathroom while the second bedroom has 2-story vaulted ceilings and what looks like windows near the top of the walls near the ceilings.
It has two outdoor spaces, including a front brick paver patio that overlooks the street and a third floor top floor deck. The listing says its 18×11 but the floor plan says it’s 10×10.
All of the townhouses have connecting roof top decks.
It has central air and a “brand new” washer/dryer.
A heated garage space is available for $30,000.
At $474,900, is this a deal for a townhouse in this neighborhood?
Hillary Burich at Jameson Sotheby has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #917: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1300 square feet
- Sold in July 2004 for $347,500 (included the parking)
- Sold in June 2008 for $427,500 (included the parking)
- Sold in May 2013 for $395,000 (included the parking)
- Currently listed for $449,900 plus $30,000 for the parking = $474,900
- Assessments of $300 a month (includes exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $5869
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer
- Bedroom #1: 14×11
- Bedroom #2: 14×10
Price looks about right based on this place a couple doors down (that is contingent): https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/911-N-Kingsbury-St-60610/home/12592887
Is this area safe? If so, I am puzzled as to why these townhouses are so inexpensive relative to other townhouses in nice areas.
The area is relatively safe but not as safe as some areas in Lincoln Park. These townhouses are smaller than many so that is partly why the prices are less.
Jenny, the area is safe. They are right across the street from the Domain/Groupon condo building. I actually thought these would be more expensive. However, after seeing the pictures, they are a bit a dated and small. They do look larger though from the outside.
I think these are a decent condo alternative imho. Price seems reasonable. Some paint, Ikea kitchen/appliances, and light fixtures could make this a decent place for the money.
I’m tempted to get a better-paying job so that I can afford a place like this. I’m getting tired of living in a condo and would like a townhouse. This place is a tad out of reach for me though. However, I have begun searching for a new job, so maybe in the future I’ll be able to afford a townhouse.
This place is built on top of a shared parking garage, so there is no lower level. There’s a storage room down there, but size isn’t noted, so I’d guess it’s fairly small.
The floorplate is about 35×15 (being slightly generous), so 525 per floor, times two, equals 1050 of indoor space, not 1300. And that’s with no deduction for the stairs–this place would live like a ~950 sf single floor condo.
I frequent this area quite a bit, as I have a friend who lives in The Domain across the street. I’d say it’s very safe. There’s a lot of new construction going up around it. One thing I hate is going through the collection of hipster groupon employees that smoke in the designated smoking area on the sidewalk @ Kingsbury and Larrabee but that’s generally only during weekday rush hour time.
One thing I’ve always noticed about these townhomes is that you can see directly into the units’ living area from street/sidewalk level if the owners aren’t utilizing window shades… which very few seem to do for some reason.
Area is safe and relatively quiet compared to the rest of river north, they are so cheap because this place is pretty small and probably the shared garage compared to other townhouses that have an attached garage. Also its near the old cabrini rowhouses which are isolated from this location and not really an issue at all on this street. Definitely a nice little community in a pretty close to the loop area.
The old Cabrini rowhouses are somewhat isolated from this location because Chestnut and Locust don’t go through. But Oak does.
I think the area is sorta safe, but it’s really close to an area that is not safe. I doubt that too many people exit this area, going east, by driving on Oak street after dark. I know that I go south to Chicago before going east.
I wonder if the Cabrini rowhouse re-development will improve the area or not. The physical housing will improve, but the current resident will remain.
“I’m getting tired of living in a condo and would like a townhouse. ”
Can you elaborate? I live in a condo and fine with it, I have read in places that people prefer town home, but I don’t know the reason, can you provide some pros of town home vs. condo? Thanks!
” I doubt that too many people exit this area, going east, by driving on Oak street after dark.”
Well, the biggest problem is that you won’t be able to see the potholes east of Sedgwick.
“Well, the biggest problem is that you won’t be able to see the potholes east of Sedgwick.”
East of Hudson…
BOOM I CAUGHT ANON SAYING SOMETHING WRONG OMG +1 THIS COMMENT
“Can you elaborate? I live in a condo and fine with it, I have read in places that people prefer town home, but I don’t know the reason, can you provide some pros of town home vs. condo? Thanks!”
Some things I like –
*Less walls/floors/ceilings shared
*You get your own entryway – ground floor
*No shared garage
*Lower assessments due to less amenities, you aren’t wrapped up into a bulk cable package or paying for amenities you don’t use
*Less rowdy neighbors – less young renters basically
“Can you elaborate? I live in a condo and fine with it, I have read in places that people prefer town home, but I don’t know the reason, can you provide some pros of town home vs. condo? Thanks!”
I want my own private entrance. I like my privacy. I’m tired of chatting with neighbors in the elevator. I’m tired of having a shared hallway that has various odors. I’m tired of never being able to open my balcony windows or really even go out on it because someone somewhere is always grilling or smoking.
I’m also house breaking a puppy right now and it’s proving very difficult. I can’t just pick up my puppy and take her outside immediately when she starts to pee in the house.
There are pluses to condo living. I love my view and that someone signs for my packages and stores them in a secure room. I feel as though it’s also safer in terms of burglaries.
Prices are reasonable, and area is great, so close to everything. One of the reasons why prices are not higher is probably a strong CHA presence, as
River Village North, River Village South and River Village Pointe (glass mid-rise at 845 N. Kingsbury) were built as mixed income communities. They had to allocate some units as affordable and sell a portion to CHA. http://www.metroplanning.org/news/3209/Mixed-Income-Communities-in-Chicago-New-Attractive-Housing-in-Great-Locations
Some larger townhomes in River Village, the corner ones, are still owned by CHA and are a 3 flats, where each floor is a separate unit, rented to CHA voucher holders. 25 townhomes out of 180 are owned by CHA, rented to voucher recipients.
River Village Pointe, 845 N. Kingsbury, has 12 CHA owned condos.
lhttps://www.cityofchicago.org/…/city/…/T_030_RiverVillagetownHomesLoftsCOC.pd…
“East of Hudson…”
Has it gotten really bad bt Hudson and Sedgwick? Last time I was thru there, that ‘block’ (yeah, sedgwick doesn’t actually intersect) wasn’t that bad. not good, but not that bad.
“why prices are not higher”
$500 per usable interior square foot is plenty high for a non-lux unit, wherever it is.
This development has a fantastic shared interior courtyard. If you can get your hands on an inward-facing unit and you have kids, you can basically open the door and let them run amuck and keep an eye on them.
The 2-bed units here are definitely small but the bed with the high ceilings and clerestory windows has some lofting opportunity – – in fact I toured a 3-bed unit recently where they had done just that. However access to the water heater and furnace is via an awkward high door in the “two story” bedroom. Sucks for whomever is sleeping in there if they don’t enjoy the white noise of a furnace kicking on.
I actually think this unit is overpriced relative to the one that Jon posted. They both have similarly dated finishes and listing agents who think that replacing carpet and a washer / dryer counts as a rehab….and as was pointed out, much less actual living space than advertised. The three-bed I toured was nice – – they made it into a two-bed with a family room by removing a wall. As a three bed the third bed would be pretty small.
Cons for me are the shared roof and shared garage but then again if I lived here I wouldn’t be driving all that much. Probably just on weekends and the occasional weekday errand. I think the shared roof deck is a safety issue if a neighboring unit gets broken into, suddenly your unit is a whole lot easier to break into…These roof decks likely don’t get used much since access is via multiple carpeted stairs. Grilling up there would be a PITA…which is true for most Chicago townhomes. They are more for relaxing with a glass of wine.
-I lived in a townhome and actually very much disliked it. We did not a Zone HVAC and the top floor was always hot in the summer and the bottom floor was always freezing in the winter.
-We could hear our neighbors through the walls-thankfully most were quiet, but it would have been a pain if not. I rented in a highrise and never heard my neighbors, and I now live in a vintage condo…yes, I hear people above me, but much prefer the charm of a vintage condo.
-Our townhome was “fee simple”…great in theory, but crappy if your neighbors though that townhome living was the same as a condo. Issues with their roofs can affect yours and vice versa…but with “fee simple” you may be responsible for your own roof maintenance
-A good chunk of real estate/townhomes that were built in the 90’s and 2000’s were constructed like crap….good luck with that…random leaks that are hard to diagnose….