Has Lincoln Square Fallen Out of Favor? A 3-Bedroom at 2555 W. Leland
This 3-bedroom at 2555 W. Leland in the Ravenswood Gardens neighborhood of Lincoln Square came on the market at the end of June.
This is a 16-unit building that was built in 2004 when Lincoln Square was seeing a lot of development.
It has 11 foot ceilings, crown moldings and hardwood floors in the main living areas.
The kitchen has maple cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
The building is built on an angle property so the unit has some unique angles as well.
It shares a triangle patio with one other unit.
The unit has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and garage parking, which looks to be $10,000 extra.
The Rockwell brown line stop is just a half a block away. The restaurants of Lincoln Square are also just about 5 to 6 blocks to the east.
Lincoln Square was considered the hottest neighborhood in the city before the bust with home values up well over 100%.
A decade ago, it seemed that every 20-something was moving to Lincoln Square.
But since the bust, the energy, and new construction, has shifted to the West Town neighborhoods of Ukrainian Village, and Wicker Park, as well as to Logan Square.
Has Lincoln Square lost its edge?
Maximilian Ortega at Artizen Realty has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #207: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1450 square feet
- Sold in April 2004 for $395,500
- Sold in August 2007 for $455,000 (included the parking)
- Currently listed for $425,000 (plus $10,000 for the parking)
- Assessments of $289 a month (includes exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $5166
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 26×11
- Bedroom #2: 16×9
- Bedroom #3: 15×9
Completely disagree this was ever a destination hood for 20 simethings. It has always, and continues to, appeal to a more mature audience. For these people LS continues to hold its appeal, but they prefer single families.
this place shows terrible online.
This will sell relatively quickly at this price. 2007 / 2008 was peak pricing and this area and area’s west (especially west) are not even close to having recovered. Also, everything looks to be original to the unit and the new owner has a lot of custom paint to paint over.
I used to live one stop further on the brown line. This location is great…for families. Wells school district, Beans & Bagels across the street. Ruff Haus Pets. A bunch of cute restaurants and parks and the heart of Lincoln Square in walking distance. Also, believe it or not but three bed units are, relatively speaking, rare (especially west of here). One more stop on the brown line yields this level of space without parking for $100K less though. If you work in the loop it is a fairly long commute and driving anywhere outside of the wee hours of the AM takes FOREVER. For those last two reasons, pricing in this area should continue to trail other hoods with better access to the lake or interstate. FWIW, in this neighborhood but really the other side of the river (this side of the river does afford a price premium)- – there seems to be a glut of 2-bed one-bath units…that coupled with the huge amount of short sales and foreclosures in Albany Park (starts one brown line stop west), means pricing will be a little depressed here for some time.
BAND PRACTICE ON THE DECK!!!
This is right at the Ravenswood, er, scuse me, Brown line station. It’ll probably get a lot of interest for those who haven’t sussed out how slow the brown stain line runs.
I didn’t know Lincoln Square was ever “in favor”. It’s just one of many far north neighborhoods. Cousin to Roscoe Village. This unit will sell fine, and Matilda and her parents will happily move to Arlington Heights where they will soon welcome new sister, Agatha.
I remember when this condo project was one of several going on in Ravenswood Manor/Gardens. The developers were banking on the “charm” of the small parks and local businesses along the Brown Line stations and the upgrading of the river banks for recreational purposes. It was seen as the next trendy neighborhood for young couples and families. Unfortunately I believe that several units in this building were crash victims and ended up being short-saled or foreclosed upon.
Single family home inventory is on the rise there and now sitting above 6 months – similar to Lake View and Uptown. Condo inventory below 4 months. Market times for both though are well below 100 days. I wouldn’t say that it’s “out of favor” but it’s interesting that there’s this entire area up there (North Center also) where SFH inventory has been on the rise for a couple of years now. Is the upper middle class giving up on the city?
“Is the upper middle class giving up on the city?”
They are over building.
And is it really the “upper middle class” if the houses are $1.5 million to $2.5 million? These homes used to be around $1 million. THAT is doable for the upper middle class. But once you get up to $1.5 million+ (even with low mortgage rates), you’re really talking about the rich.
There are only so many rich people.
Speaking as someone in the SFH market in the exact areas you cite Gary i’d say the rising inventory is partly a function of rapidly rising prices, in most cases initial ask is well beyond peak and buyers are put off. It’s almost the norm it would seem to price a single family in the 1M range at 100K or more over what is reasonable and people must wait until the inevitable price cut (or two) to begin negotiations at a point they feel comfortable with not being taken for a sucker. Trepidation over tax increases likely also plays a part, until there is full visibility into pending increases and the impact can be assessed on the market it’s hard to commit for some. There also seems to be a lot of overpriced, questionably done gut rehabs done on spec in the area just sitting around, more than I can remember in past years.
“i’d say the rising inventory is partly a function of rapidly rising prices, in most cases initial ask is well beyond peak and buyers are put off”
I agree 100%. The number of houses that started at $1.9m+ and are now languishing at $1.6-1.7 is astounding. And they are all basically identical to ‘used’ houses that are asking $1.5m, except that the ‘used’ houses tend to have slightly better locations.
Also, Great if this unit is the one over the yoga studio, but if this unit has bedrooms over the parking garage I would investigate if there is any possibility of the floors being ice cold in the winter time. I had a bedroom over the entry in a small vintage walk-up and holy moly – – that floor was colder than cold in winter. Maybe there is enough insulation between the parking and the floor of this unit for it not to be an issue though.
“The number of houses that started at $1.9m+ and are now languishing at $1.6-1.7 is astounding.”
Must be anecdotal. The average Lake View home that closed in June closed at 97.2% of original (not the last) ask price. Granted, the ones languishing on the market don’t show up until they sell but looking at the trend I’ not seeing a declining trend. In fact, it’s going up.
crap, copy past fail, so two links. Trying again:
“Must be anecdotal.”
Of course it is.
“The average Lake View home that closed in June”
What’s the count on that? For SFHs, with an original list price of over $1.5m? I see 12.
“original (not the last) ask”
True original (at least for the new construction) or original for the then-current listing? I’m looking at places that I know the original listing price for, and then the actual sale price.
The best anecdata point is this one: http://cribchatter.com/?p=9426 that ended up closing after *5* years on and off the market for 44% off of original list.
But I see a significant number of houses that start out at $1.9 or higher (if new) or $1.5 or higher (used) and closing at 15% or more off that initial ask.
Your anecdata point is in North Center. I was reporting on Lake View. The count on that was 23 closings, of which 9 were below $1 MM. They all sold pretty close to original list with the exception of just a couple.
But, yeah, that’s the original list price for the last listing. So if they started out with a different listing at a much higher price that is not reflected in the data, which sucks. Looks like about 10 of those had previous listings.
“I was reporting on Lake View.”
And I was reporting on North Center, in agreement with Sid V who was talking about *some portion* of LV+NC+Uptown, which were all mentioned in your 10:32 pm comment.
“the original list price for the last listing”
3825 Claremont is another one that would be deceptive on that standard. From the last listing it would appear to have sold for 94.97%, with a 90 day market time–pretty good. But from original list, it sold for 85.21%, with a 365 day market time–and each time it delisted, it was relisted the same day.
Obviously, that one is an issue of a building overpricing at the start, but that’s pretty common over the past couple years, in my anecdata.
And, of course, there are a lot of other places doing better than those two did.
Anonemoose on July 11th, 2016 at 4:22 pm
This is right at the Ravenswood, er, scuse me, Brown line station. It’ll probably get a lot of interest for those who haven’t sussed out how slow the brown stain line runs.
It takes about 35 minutes from Rockwell to Downtown on the Brownline.
https://price-index.housingstudies.org/
Lincoln Square is one the strongest submarkets in the entire region.
“It takes about 35 minutes from Rockwell to Downtown”
To Wash-Wells, sure. And you can make the switch to the Red, and pick up a couple minutes to a State stop.
Issue *can* be frequency.
“the original list price for the last listing”
Another anecdata point:
3720 N Leavitt. Last list would show a 30 day active time, and 99.3% of list, when it’s really 14 months, and 87.6% of list from initial listing.
“To Wash-Wells, sure. And you can make the switch to the Red, and pick up a couple minutes to a State stop.
Issue *can* be frequency.”
Washington and Wells is downtown. Frequency is not an issue during rush hour.
“Washington and Wells is downtown.”
Yeah, but many people who say the brown is “so slow” are going to someplace east of Clark, and so count the walk, or the ride around the loop.
“Yeah, but many people who say the brown is “so slow” are going to someplace east of Clark, and so count the walk, or the ride around the loop.”
Your right, so many whiners.