Gold Coast 2/2 With Lake Views Now 38% Off: 1400 N. Lake Shore Drive
This 2-bedroom at 1400 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast has been on the market 14 months.
We’ve chattered about this building several times.
It was converted from apartments to condos in 2007 but it was already past the peak of the condo market.
You could buy a unit as-is or you could have gotten the upgrade package which included new baths and kitchen.
This unit is one of the larger units, with a separate dining room.
It has lake views.
The listing says the bathrooms are new and the kitchen has cherry cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
There is no washer/dryer in the unit, no central air and no parking.
The unit is now listed about 38% off the 2007 purchase price at just $210,000.
Is this a deal?
Brent Rosenbower at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #11H: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in August 2007 for $344,000
- Originally listed in January 2010
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $210,000
- Assessments of $585 a month (includes doorman)
- Taxes of $3770
- No central air
- No washer/dryer in the unit
- No parking
- Bedroom #1: 12×17
- Bedroom #2: 10×13
- Kitchen: 7×7
You can see how small the place is just from the scale of the furniture. Yet this could be an attractive apartment, with a few improvements and good decorating.
Something strange about the listing photos- I see photos of two different kitchens and three baths, one of which is one of the original baths, which makes me wish this seller had just left the baths alone because I hate the way they were renovated. Which belong to this apt.?
I don’t like to make catty remarks about the decor, but it would help if the place were a little better staged, and the refrigerator cleared of the magnets and photos and other trash pasted on the door.
This building offers one the chance to live right on the lakefront, backing up to the nicest few blocks in the entire city. It’s got a nice fitness room as well. Having lived there for a summer (in a furnished alcove studio), I will say that the doorman was not only a nice convenience (for packages, etc.), but a security necessity, as the building tends to have some semi rowdy/edgy residents (who have even more rowdy/edgy guests). The roof deck seemed to be the source of the wild twenty-something party types, and the mixed Sec. 8 situation seemed to be the source of other issues. The elevators were also frequently out of order, and I’d bet there’s lots of problems with the association.
That said, for the right price, a single young professsional could do worse than to score one of these units for cheap, live in it for a year or two, then keep it has an investment.
Awkward layouts. Window units. Reminds me of weird university housing. No deal.
There are pix of 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and 3 kitchens. If they are all included for $210k, I say deal!
Yeah, that^^^. Pics say “bathroom 1, bathroom 2, bathroom 3, bathroom 4” It doesn’t make any sense. That roof deck looks lovely though, it’s a pity if this (“The roof deck seemed to be the source of the wild twenty-something party types, and the mixed Sec. 8 situation seemed to be the source of other issues.”) is true.
Ditto anon. BTW, what views? with windows that small you have to be glued to them to see anything outside. My expectation of view is that you can see it if you are walking around, seating on your couch and so on.
Tiny apartments and lots of foreclosures in the building. IIRC, rental percentage is rather high and the developer still holds a number of unsold units.
how many kitchens do you get?
“Pics say “bathroom 1, bathroom 2, bathroom 3, bathroom 4? It doesn’t make any sense.”
i’m guessing the photographer mixed up his photos and the realtor didn’t proofread the listing before it went on the MLS and doesn’t know how to correct it now.
Wow – the news keeps getting more bleak for housing. I bet prices are going to continue to drop and drop and drop with all of this awful awful news……
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/unemployment-rates-fell-45-states-172423735.html
I wonder if the photos are supposed to be before/after photos if the rehab was very recent?
great location but those units are awful.
i agree with clio…seasonal adjustments and a plunging participation rate are doing wonders for unemployment in this country!
pop the champagne! keep the band playing!
“just 7 percent of those who lost jobs after the financial crisis have returned to or exceeded their previous financial position and maintained their lifestyles.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/business/for-jobless-little-hope-of-full-recovery-study-says.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
These probably should have stayed apartments. As such, they would be a good choice for grad students in the area. Buying a place for 3 years of law school doesn’t seem like a very good idea anymore.
Terrible, terrible unit. I agree with everyone else, these should have stayed apartments.
This is the best example I’ve ever seen of a building that would be great as rentals but awful as condos. Worst conversion ever. That being said, the neighborhood is great and no other condos in the area are priced this low.
ah the war cry of the cribarati
” these should have stayed apartments.”
I believe that this building will gradually fill with owner occupants who will improve the place. Over time, it will have fewer and fewer rentals and more committed resident owners. This is just too good a location and the building itself is reasonably attractive and on a great block. There are just too few inexpensive apartments in this super-prime neighborhood. While the units are small, they have vintage details and the building has a great roof deck. It’s too bad the conversion was so untimely and badly done, else this building would have sold out quickly.
I’m personally very, very interested at these kinds of prices. I wonder which of baths actually belong to the featured unit. A pie in the face of the agent for crummy marketing.
The prices will go up if committed resident owners start moving in.
Is that electric baseboard heat? Good god, that’ll be expensive.
Resident owners will come and go as the units are too small. They will rent or sell after 5 years of living there. Very predictable. That and the fact that they are moderate cost units mean that most buyers will not have additional capital to fund expensive upgrades to the building. Unfortunately it will be cool place in a great location but never luxurious.
Yeah, now I notice that it looks like there are baseboard heaters. That is a BIG minus. I had a brief but absolutely brutal experience with baseboard heat. This was 25 years ago in a city with cheaper electricity than Chicago, and it cost me $250 to heat a smallish 5 room apartment in a relatively warm winter month (average temp for the month was 38 degrees, I recall). I’ll never get over the shock when I got my electric bill.
I wonder if it would be possible to install a small boiler in the unit and alter the old heat pipes. Would be a largish up-front cost but would pay back many times over in reasonable heat bills