Has the Luxury Market Cooled? A 4-Bedroom in the Playboy Mansion at 1340 N. State Parkway
This 4-bedroom half-floor unit in the Playboy Mansion at 1340 N. State Parkway in the Gold Coast came on the market in early November 2015.
It was publicized all over the media because units rarely come on the market in this famed mansion.
According to Wikipedia, the 70-room French brick and limestone mansion was built in 1899 for Dr. George Swifth Isham.
Hugh Hefner moved in in 1959. Apparently the top two floors served as dorms for the bunnies.
Hefner moved to his California mansion full-time in 1974. The mansion was turned into 7 condos in 1994.
We chattered about this unit when everyone else was talking about it last fall. So the media blitz “worked” except that it didn’t find a buyer.
You can see our November 2015 chatter here.
If you recall, this unit has tall ceilings, 3 fireplaces and a foyer and is on the south, east and west corner.
It is all on one level and includes a 16×11 covered terrace.
The listing says it has had a recent renovation.
The all white custom kitchen has luxury stainless steel appliances.
There is a master suite and 2 en suite bedrooms.
It has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and 2 heated garage parking spaces.
The house is always a stop on walking and biking tours of the Gold Coast. It’s living in a Chicago landmark.
The last unit we chattered about in the Playboy Mansion, the “ballroom unit” because it was formally the house’s ballroom, sold in just 9 months for $5.2 million when the market was still awful, in May 2012.
But that was the “ballroom” unit, which was unique in its own way.
See our chatter about that unit here.
Eight months later, this 4-bedroom unit is still available and has been reduced $600,000 to $5.15 million.
Has the luxury market cooled over the last year? Or is this building and unit so unique that it can’t be put in the same category as all the luxury $5 million high rise condos?
Janet Owen at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3S: 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4300 square feet
- Sold in June 1994 for $535,000
- Sold in January 1998 for $1.475 million
- Sold in August 2004 for $1.575 million
- Sold in August 2008 for $3.275 million
- Was listed in November 2015 for $5.75 million
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $5.15 million
- Includes 2-car garage parking
- Assessments of $2847 a month (includes water, exterior maintenance, scavenger)
- Taxes of $48229
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- 3 fireplaces
- Bedroom #1: 18×18
- Bedroom #2: 15×13
- Bedroom #3: 14×12
- Bedroom #4: 13×12
- Family room: 25×17
- Office: 10×10
SO CUTE. I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A BUNNY!!!! LOLZ
WILL SING FOR FOOD!!!!
Tons of room for the price to come down on this one 🙂
Not my cup of tea but definitely exudes “success” which is good since it would cost a mere $28K a month to live here…..
Overpriced for a half floor. I would expected $4MM at most on this one.
I think people expect a doorman, views, gym/pool, for this kind of money. The exterior architecture of this building and location are top, but the inside is pretty vanilla, and having a small condo board/noisy neighbors can be a huge drawback. In this day and age, luxury is a way of living, not just the location/aesthetics of the property.
I would rather buy a row home in the same neighborhood for the same price.
Staging counts. All this personal crap all over is no way to sell a place. They didn’t even get rid of the plants in the kitchen.