Crib Chatter

This 3-bedroom penthouse in the Rowe Building at 714 S. Dearborn in Printers Row came on the market in September 2020.

The Rowe Building was built in 1891 and has 9 units. It’s a live/work building with no parking.

I still don’t have a good picture of this building in my collection but it’s the loft building on the far right of the picture of 720 S. Dearborn above.

The top floor penthouse unit is actually a 2-story single family home.

It has east, west and north exposures.

The unit also has 4 outdoor spaces including a 400 square foot terrace and 3 balconies.

If this looks familiar, that’s because we chattered about it in 2017, when it was last on the market for the first time in 16 years.

You can see our 2017 chatter here.

Back then, the unit had a wood deck with landscaping (see the 2017 listing pictures) which was accessed out the living room sliding doors, but the 2017 listing said the decking had been removed to replace the roof.

The current pictures don’t show any decking for the terrace. There’s also no landscaping anywhere.

Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s recently had the inside scoop about the story with this property over the last few years.

The couple bought the house for $875,000, more than they are asking for it now, when they moved to Chicago from San Francisco for Gass to become director of the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art. She left that post in September 2019 to return to California and is now director of a contemporary art museum in San Jose. 

They did not move in to the Printers Row house. They rented a home in Hyde Park while Hathaway, an architect, designed a rehab. His design included enlarging the windows on the north walls to enhance the interior’s views of the skyline.

“We were going to make it more contemporary,” Gass said, “and build out the roof decks,” which would make the outdoor spaces feel more like a yard than a rooftop.

He also talks about how the house got built on the roof, and who the architect is.

On the interior, the primary bedroom is on the main floor along with the living/dining and kitchen.

The second floor has the other two bedrooms and a family room along with several balconies.

There are skylights.

The kitchen has wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances.

The property has the features buyers look for including central air and washer/dryer in the unit. It doesn’t have parking but that’s available in the neighborhood to rent or to buy.

According to Rodkin, the house is accessed by taking the elevator up to the 8th floor of the building and then walking up a flight of stairs.

The current listing says it’s “waiting for your design ideas.”

It was listed in September 2020 for $850,000, which is $27,500 above the previous purchase price of $822,500.

Will they get the premium for this unique property 3 years later?

Bohdan Gorczynski at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #9-PH: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2533 square feet, duplex up

• Sold in June 1991 for $392,000
• Sold in October 2001 for $615,000
• Sold in November 2017 for $822,500
• Originally listed in September 2020 for $850,000
• Currently still listed for $850,000
• Assessments are now $959 a month (they were $950 a month in 2017) (includes exterior maintenance, scavenger, snow removal)
• Taxes are now $10,086 (they were $9500 in 2017)
• Central Air
• Washer/Dryer in the unit
• No parking
• Can rent it nearby for $210 a month or buy at 801 S. Plymouth for $35,000 to $70,000
• Bedroom #1: 15×14 (second floor)
• Bedroom #2: 19×14 (second floor)
• Bedroom #3: 22×13 (main floor)
• Living/dining room: 26×25 (main floor)
• Kitchen: 15×12 (main floor)
• Family room: 35×11 (second floor)
• Terrace: 23×22
• 3 balconies

 

 

 

 

The Rowe Building was built in 1891 and has 9 units.

While it is the top floor unit, it looks, and acts, more like a single family home as it was built on top of the existing brick loft building.

The 2-story unit has east, west and north exposures.

It has 4 outdoor spaces including a 400 square foot terrace. The listing says the decking has been removed to replace the roof.

The kitchen has wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances.

It has a second floor family room.

This duplex has central air and an in-unit washer/dryer (you can see it in the bedroom closet picture.)