Gold Coast Coach House With Parking Returns 20 Months Later: 20 E. Goethe
We first chattered about this 4-bedroom Gold Coast coach house at 20 E. Goethe 2 years ago, in January 2008.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
It’s a unique property because it is situated behind the mid-rise building of 20 E. Goethe and has alley access to the garage on its first floor.
The 4-level vintage property which was built in 1900, also has roof top access where the listing says there is a staircase and you can build your own deck.
It sold in April 2008 and has now come back on the market only $4,000 above its 2008 purchase price.
This time around we actually get to see pictures of the cool “home theater” on the lower level that has brick and stone walls.
The home has central air and doesn’t appear to have any assessment connected to the building that sits in front of it.
John Irwin at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
20 E. Goethe Coach House: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 1.5 car garage
- Sold in December 2004 for $773,000
- Was listed in January 2008 at $1.069 million
- Sold in April 2008 for $985,000
- Currently listed for $989,000
- No assessments
- Taxes of $10,125
- Bedroom #1: 16×15 (upper level)
- Bedroom #2: 13×11 (upper level)
- Bedroom #3: 11×10 (upper level)
- Bedroom #4: 18×13 (main level)
These relistings are almost comical at this point. The very definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing but expecting a different result..
Red knobs on the stove, that adds at least 100K of value. (I learned that on HGTV)
umm, is this bizarro world? can it be possible to buy in 2007 and 2008 then break even two years later without doing anything substantial?
its like Jared from subway gaining 40lbs and still trying to sell me $5 foot longs.
sorry about the jared comment, i better be careful cause the PC police are on patrol, many of my post have been magically disappearing lately, hmmmm?
Creepy basement. Its hard to tell what the layout of this place is without a floor plan.
Lot of older places have creepy 7 ft / 8 ft basements
“Lot of older places have creepy 7 ft / 8 ft basements”
Not for a million bucks they shouldn’t
Sure they will. You take some place that was built in the early 1900’s and put it in a location in GC / LP and the basement area is going to 7 / 8 ft. Its up to you if you repurpose it to be a batcave or media area.
Remember houses in the 70’s. And they had the crawl space. How many have a crawl space now?
Or how about the laundry chute in your walk in closet. And the dirty clothes would end up in the hamper in the basement where you kept the washer dryer. Now days the washer dryer is in the mud room on the primary floor.
So you take an old old place and that basement area is going to have a low ceiling and very well creepy.
lol, million dollars for a coach house
Four floors where the rooms listed total 1600 square feet? I am sure the place is more than that (baths, halls), but this is some serious VERTICAL LIVING. Add to that a fifth level for the “deck.” Wow. And I thought a townhouse was bad.
Seems like a cool unique place – $1 Milliom cool? I don’t think so, but it could be cool for ~$800K maybe.
And I think this building was a fancy coachhouse/stable for a big fancy mansion that the current multi-family on the street side replaced in about 1900. The developer of the MF building probably though it a waste to remove a perfectly fine existing building/revenue generator.
But that’s just conjecture.
I think it is nice! You get your own little house in the gold coast! People are paying 1 million for cookie cutter 2/2 and 3/2 condos.
“I think it is nice! You get your own little house in the gold coast!”
yep you get to pay 1mil to live in a gold coast ALLEY.
LOL at the price for a friggin coach house, but at least its a halfway decent attempt at a home theater (needs some acoustic panels to cover up that ugly brick), not some screen duct taped to the wall and calling it a theater like other realtards do.
As far as the rooftop deck goes, I wouldn’t get too excited about that… Looks like there is only one point of entry (and I think you need at least 2) and those 6″ walls would make for an interesting cocktail party…
I have a hard time assessing this without actually looking at it. Yes, of course, $800K (let alone $1MM) seems like a lot for a coach house on an alley. Land is obviously expensive around there. Question is how livable it is and whether it gives you enough of a SFH feel to compete against condos. I do think the alley is a big detriment. I remember a coach house on Chestnut that was mentioned here, smaller I think, priced less, that was on the street.
I’m not defending the list price, but wouldn’t dismiss an $800K price out of hand.
“Sure they will. You take some place that was built in the early 1900’s and put it in a location in GC / LP and the basement area is going to 7 / 8 ft. Its up to you if you repurpose it to be a batcave or media area.”
I wasn’t arguing that they will, I was saying that they shouldn’t. How impossible would it be to dig down a foot or two and clear some headroom?
Can I change the subject for a second? Just read local newscaster purchased 1,000 SF condo at One Museum Park for $1.225 million. Who pays $1,225 per square foot??? What am I missing?
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/January-2010/ABC-7-rsquos-Mark-Giangreco-Buys-in-Museum-Park/
Probably a typo, I think the 2+den/2 baths are minimum 1500 sqft?
” his list of walk-to restaurants includes The Gage”
That’s walkable for sure, but a heck of a walk.
Barry:
“I wasn’t arguing that they will, I was saying that they shouldn’t. How impossible would it be to dig down a foot or two and clear some headroom?”
I don’t know. I thought it had something to do with the foundation and typically people don’t do that. But I’m not a hardhat so maybe it is a easy thing to do.
” his list of walk-to restaurants includes The Gage”
That’s walkable for sure, but a heck of a walk.”
And, by that standard, The Gage counts for half of S’ville, too.
“I wasn’t arguing that they will, I was saying that they shouldn’t. How impossible would it be to dig down a foot or two and clear some headroom?”
I have heard of it being done, but that was for a home that sold for 1.8 mil after renovation at the top of the market. No clue how expensive that is. And given the alley location, how much do you really want to add to the price?
Yeah this is purely academic, I just don’t necessarily equate $1mil houses with the basement being such an afterthought. Heck, I was in a $250k duplex down conversion the other day that they dug about two feet down and it worked well. The bottom floor was very livable.
I’m going to check this out this weekend.
A 4BR/3BA with a garage for $1M and no assessments. That’s a steal for our neighborhood. We’ve looked at plenty of crappy generic 3BR condos in near north for more than a million.
You jokers laughing about it couldn’t afford a 1BR here.
“Yeah this is purely academic, I just don’t necessarily equate $1mil houses with the basement being such an afterthought. Heck, I was in a $250k duplex down conversion the other day that they dug about two feet down and it worked well. The bottom floor was very livable.”
It really appears that there is *not* a basement, unless it was excavated in the reno. The “four levels” seems to include the not-ready-for-use “roofdeck”. Assessor has the place as 3 levels, on a slab. There’s the garage on the main level–I think it would be prohibitively expensive to excavate down and then replace the floor with sufficient strength to accomodate parking.
I’d bet the theatre room is adjacent to the parking, on the ground level.
The structure measures about 28×31, on a 1,035 SF lot–the excess land is on the eastside, behind teh houses that front on Astor.
The house does have three exposures (two permanent), due to being located on an alley corner, but up against the front house.
anon, I’m sure you’re correct, good eyes. Which raises the question – why would you build such a (seemingly) stubby first floor?
“anon, I’m sure you’re correct, good eyes. Which raises the question – why would you build such a (seemingly) stubby first floor?”
Because, when it was built, it was there largely to keep the apartments separate from the rats in the alleys? It wasn’t originally intended to be living space.
Also, counting brick courses above the recliners, and estimating the recliner height from a few samples, I put the ceiling at ~7’8″ (lower at the beam, obviously).
Back to the potential of a roof deck and the requirement to have 2 access points. I imagine that it is not actually possible to create a second access point? Otherwise, wouldn’t one of the recent owners (who purchased this for a substantial amount of money at 770k and close to a mil) already have put one up? Then why does this agent (and the previous agent) list the potential for a roof deck?
“Then why does this agent (and the previous agent) list the potential for a roof deck?”
Because realtors can be quite shameless in telling you what you *could* do in order to sell their properties. Now, my guess is that if you go to look at this place, everyone will plead ignorance as to whether a roofdeck is within the realm of possibilities. So then why mention it? You might be able to add another point of egress (not being familiar with the layout, I have no idea – a fire escape maybe?). I’d be equally concerned with the height of the walls.
Digging out a basement is almost always possible – it just cost money. The big issue is pipes underneath the floor that need to be moved etc. But once you get going it costs about the same to dig out 6″ as it does to dig out 18″. Then there’s the added cost of pouring in the new concrete. It’s expensive enough that I’d be surprised to see it in a $600k house, and maybe not even this one (given the other minuses, I don’t think there’d be a ROI) but I think a lot of SFHs in the city over $1 mill have had their basements dug out (or should have).
“But once you get going it costs about the same to dig out 6? as it does to dig out 18?.”
Well, not quite. 6″ *might* not require extensive new foundational underpinning; 18″ certainly would. Course, if you have a frame house, you’re better off just jacking the place up and pouring a whole new foundation any way, and then it’s all about the same.
“But once you get going it costs about the same to dig out 6? as it does to dig out 18?.”
Well, not quite. 6″ *might* not require extensive new foundational underpinning; 18″ certainly would. Course, if you have a frame house, you’re better off just jacking the place up and pouring a whole new foundation any way, and then it’s all about the same.
Why the quick flip???
“I wasn’t arguing that they will, I was saying that they shouldn’t. How impossible would it be to dig down a foot or two and clear some headroom?”
Um, part of the footings that support the house are below the basement. It’s not so easy to make a basement deeper. It is expensive and messy.
Dig it out or not it is still a basement. Thats where you send the kids to play and do your laundry. Unless you turn it into the media room it is still a basement. I would never put much value into that type of space.
Giangrecco probabally got a great deal. He is a TV sportscaster so he has to be smart right!