If You Love Open Spaces, This 3-Bedroom Penthouse Is For You: 1740 W. Belmont in Roscoe Village
This 3-bedroom penthouse at 1740 W. Belmont in Roscoe Village (or Lakeview- if you want to call it that too at this location) came on the market in July 2011.
It has loft-like features including exposed brick, columns and a wide open space encompassing the living/dining/kitchen.
The unit has 2-outdoor spaces including a large terrace that fronts the unit which has downtown views and a balcony off the master bedroom.
The kitchen has maple cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
This is an elevator building and the unit has 2-car garage, central air and in-unit washer/dryer.
It also has a rare 3 bathrooms (when usually 2 or 2.5 is the norm.)
The unit is listed $50,000 above the 2002 purchase price.
Is this a townhouse alternative in this neighborhood?
Susan Kanter at Dream Town has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #4: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, no square footage listed, 2 car parking
- Sold in September 2002 for $600,000
- Listed in July 2011 for $650,000
- Currently still listed at $650,000
- Assessments of $525 a month
- Taxes of $10614
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 16×16
- Bedroom #2: 13×10
- Bedroom #3: 13×10
lovely! Assessments are kind of high though for little they include.
What is this neighborhood like you Chicagoans?
nice neigborhood, but would prefer not to be right on Belmont. The kitchen and baths are subpar for the price.
Fabulous. Well excuted. Worth every penny. This was eitehr on curbed.com or chicago magazine.
NICE!
Do want!
Closes at $589k, give or take $10k.
I’d rather live here over a town home any day.
Love the layout but the finishes suck. I still think the pricing is pretty accurate though. Wonder what how many SF?
I do’t think the finishes are bad. I love the bathroom sink faucet. I’m going to put those in mine and take mine out and give to my rentals. However, I’d not want to live on Belmont. Agreed the assessment is a wee bit steep but elevators are always expensive.
Great neighborhood miumiu
This condo is owned by this blogger:
http://www.urbanophile.com/
Saw this on Curbed and fell in love. $10,614 in taxes–ouch!
“$10,614 in taxes–ouch!”
Right on the button for a place with an assessor’s market value of a little over $700k, and with the HO exemption.
I don’t get it. $650k for a condo? On Belmont?
Here’s a 2 flat bloacks away for $529k. Not an apples to apples comparison, I understand. For less than $100k, possibly convert it to a SFH.
Advantages:
-no assessments
-no annoying associations
-no annoying neighbors under your roof
-lower taxes
-a yard
-flexibility
-room to grow
-not on a major street
http://www.trulia.com/property/12558980-1753-W-School-St-Chicago-IL-60657
TB, the problem with the converting a 2flat is the cost. You’re going to need a couple hundred thousand cash besides your down payment.
Vlajos, I understand. I don’t it would take more than $100k to do a modest conversion. I’d hope a baller looking at a $650k residence could swing it. But maybe not.
Great looking place.
Even though neighborhood is great I would not want to be right on Belmont, for obvious reasons being so close to Scooters would not be a good thing either!
Price seemed about right but after seeing assessments and taxes I don’t see how it sells at ask.
TB — “I don’t get it. $650k for a condo? On Belmont?
Here’s a 2 flat bloacks away for $529k. Not an apples to apples comparison, I understand. For less than $100k, possibly convert it to a SFH.”
Yeah, but this two flat is vanilla bordering on ugly. The condo has much nicer finishes, better light, etc… Yes, two purses can be the same size and both made of leather but one costs twice as much to the market. Same with cars. You can by a camry or an audi…both drive, have wheels, and get the same gas mileage…but one has way more style and luxury than the other. Hence the price difference.
He musta ran outta money when he got to the kitchen. Other than that sweet crib. Seems pricey though for the location.
TB, I prefer this one too to your link, but I see your point that some might prefer the SFH over this.
TB, I’ve done that work you are speaking about. And alot of people just don’t want to do it. A friend of mine who travels alot due to work, told me he wouldnt ever consider anything but a condo because of maintenance let alone start a huge gut or rehab or conversion. It’s not for everybody.
There are some large nice units in the large building just east of here on the south side of Belmont, and their sale history suggests that the asking price is pretty realistic. I do agree that it seems high, but I think that this one is a realistic sale at right around $635k or so. This one is also attractive as a relatively big property for a family that doesn’t want a single family home but also doesn’t want (or can’t afford) to be in downtown/RV/GC. There aren’t as many nice big condos outside of those areas.
From the other units in the building, and assuming that this is a full floor of the same footprint (which is might not be), this should be about 2700 sqft. The kitchen looks high quality but small to me, with just an oven/stove and no console oven and separate range as is popular at this price point. It’s light wood but looks nice to me. Obviously nicely done, and this is a nice neighborhood, and in Burley. I love the mix of brick and modern finishes. I’ve never seen brick like this in a new building.
Really nice property overall.
If it’s in Burley, that’s a huge plus!
Ah, the irony the urbanophile owns this.
I am the biggest Belmont booster you’re going to find, so while I think this place is definitely sweet (I’d prefer a SFH, but I’m married with a kid), the fact they put an all-residential development on this major commercial arterial is a major urban planning screw-up.
This is really only relevant for a potential buyer if they are hoping the nightlife further west and east fills in this gap, but the bigger picture ties into whether you really could ever consider this Roscoe Village – I’d say no, Ravenswood is a pretty generous eastern boundary for RV. We always called this just regular old Lake View, although it’s probably now claimed by West Lakeview.
If folks haven’t seen this group they might be interested, btw:
http://www.lakeviewcitizens.org/
My god, the inherent inconsistencies of compass directions make my head explode.
Say what?
OK, now I’m seeing how the problem evolved quite clearly – the old established parts of Lake View (East Lake View, South East Lake View and Central Lake View) clearly contrast with the young upstarts with identity issues like awkward teenagers (South Lakeview Neighbors, West Lakeview Neighbors).
I grew up in this slice – Central Lake View, represent!
http://www.clvn.org/
Ah, the irony the urbanophile owns this.
I am the biggest Belmont booster you’re going to find, so while I think this place is definitely sweet (I’d prefer a SFH, but I’m married with a kid), the fact they put an all-residential development on this major commercial arterial is a major urban planning screw-up.
This is really only relevant for a potential buyer if they are hoping the nightlife further west and east fills in this gap, but the bigger picture ties into whether you really could ever consider this Roscoe Village – I’d say no, Ravenswood is a pretty generous eastern boundary for RV. We always called this just regular old Lake View, although it’s probably now claimed by West Lakeview.
If folks haven’t seen this group they might be interested, btw:
http://www.lakeviewcitizens.org/
My god, the inherent inconsistencies of compass directions make my head explode.
Say what?
OK, now I’m seeing how the problem evolved quite clearly – the old established parts of Lake View (East Lake View, South East Lake View and Central Lake View) clearly contrast with the young upstarts with identity issues like awkward teenagers (South Lakeview Neighbors, West Lakeview Neighbors).
Central Lake View, represent!
“I don’t it would take more than $100k to do a modest conversion. I’d hope a baller looking at a $650k residence could swing it.”
Both of these are wrong. Also, that property’s in Jahn.
I expect some pretty extensive layout changes, moving joists and loads around, etc., would be required, and that gets expensive pretty fast. A project like this also needs to be planned, permitted, etc. I think that even $200k would be a pretty modest conversion for a property like this, unless you want it to be a crappy job, which doesn’t really make sense for the amount of hassle it would be. Honestly, with an old property like this, I don’t even know if you could do it at all well for that. A two-flat like this is far better off as two rental units.
As demonstrated through the discussion yesterday, you don’t really have to be a real baller to spend something like $650 on a property. It’s totally doable for a couple each making $100k or so. But buying a property like this and doing a full de-conversion is a different animal. First, you have to buy the property and put 20% down (probably), then you have to come up with the construction costs mostly or all from cash. I imagine that getting a construction loan is prohibitively expensive if you can even get one. So, you basically need at least $275k in your scenario instead of $125k or so, and that’s assuming only $150k for the work. Then you have to live somewhere else while the construction is going on. Then the project takes longer and is more expensive than you thought. It’s one thing if the market is hot and you own a two-flat and want to de-convert it to live in, but it’s just a totally unrealistic project in this market, I think.
If a deconversion were cost-effective or easy to do, it would be done, not listed in the description by some clueless agent.
“If it’s in Burley, that’s a huge plus!”
It is, and it’s a very short walk to it as well.
As for the actual name of the neighborhood, it doesn’t really matter, although I agree that I wouldn’t consider this Roscoe Village. I will say that I think that the “Oh my GOD, think of the children, I could never live on or near a major street” is just about the dumbest Cribchatterism of many, many of them. I live very close to a major street, but on a block that doesn’t go through, and it’s very quiet, but it’s nice to be able to drive around so easily. There are also a ton of businesses and retail within a half block. I also lived for years right on another major street in a mid-rise condo, and didn’t mind that either. There was always a convenient bus right outside my door, there was a lot of stuff to do and parking was pretty easy. Traffic on Belmont never gets that fast, and it’s often stopped so crossing is easy. It’s one thing to say that YOU don’t like living on a major street, but I do not at all agree that this is a common perception or that it’s reflected in lower prices.
“If a deconversion were cost-effective or easy to do, it would be done, not listed in the description by some clueless agent”
A little harsh, but that property aint the one to argue the point on. The first and second floors are apaprrently about 850 SF–which isnt exactly prime conversion size unless you build an addition. There arent enough bathrooms, the nicer kitchen is the one you’d completely rip out, the basement is very low and/or short, meaning it doesnt become useful space without a veryblarge expense.
Decent place if you want a two flat, and dont need more than a 2/1.5 for the owner unit.
Wonder what they were asking in ’07 when they first listed it–prolly $829 or something crazy.
Also, JJJ, the south side of School, east of R’wood, is in Burley, not Jahn, and the North side of School is in Hamilton.
“south side of School, east of R’wood, is in Burley, not Jahn, and the North side of School is in Hamilton”
Fair enough – I didn’t check and missed that the prominence of Jahn in that listing was for “Nearby school” and not the applicable attendance-area school. Certainly, others might do the same, and that reveals that agent’s incompetence, but I should have checked a little closer.
I am not sure on the price being jsutified however I do think that the bathroom tiles and kitchen layout and cabinets are underwhelming. They missed an opportunity to do something really cool with the space. Even the kitchen in Woodlawn presented nicer than this place.
We looked at this and there was a LOT we really liked about it. The main open room is an AMAZING space, there’s a sort of living room/media room, and the master bedroom is spacious.
But for all the space we did question some of the finishes. The master bathroom had a very small shower and an enormous tub that seemed out of whack. The kitchen and bathroom(s) would have needed to be updated, and the kitchen seemed ill defined – I would have tried in some way to extend it by 12-18 inches along the wall and make better use of space.
The open space is a bit puzzling as to how to utilize – a wall of books are there, but those shelves are a bit cheap looking.
For SQF alone, and the general beauty of the space and the deck, I think this will probably close in the low 6’s – maybe 610-615. We saw too much we wanted to change and since our bid was going to be 10% or more under list we figured it wasn’t a good match.
PS: This was indeed on Curbed….and also, it is half a block from the Metra tracks. Not sure how loud that would be – we only heard one train while we were there and we were in front of the building at the time.
Construction loans are not that hard to get. You need 20% down of the fianl amount, good credit and the income to support it. My preapproval is good through the end off the year.
The finishes are just fine on this place. Its only 650k and for this much raw space, what do you expect? This is most definitely NOT for family living, its for high rollers.
HD: I know it is wrong to tout suburban relo here and iirc you and your wife had differing needs re work commute but if you are ready for new construction I suggest Highland Park. You can buy a lot for about $150K (about 1/3 of sellers cost & then they paid for demo.) Then $200/ft for quality builder to build your home!
Please tell me this isn’t one of those Matanky/Barry Krisler monstrosities, if it is, it’s probably going to fall apart due to shoddy work. They were the only developer who built new soft lofts using brick for interior walls. That whole concept/idea is weird. It’s either a loft, or it isn’t.
When the Wiebolt’s Building was re-developed into Tower Lofts, the area was called ‘Lincoln-Belmost-Ashland’ by the developers. But it is not ‘Roscoe Village, which is a small strip of from Ravenswood to Western. It’s western part of LV.
the $650 price tag for this area is unrealistic given the assessment amount, which really makes it a plus $700k property as a payment. when this building was developed the area was exploding. this buyer should be looking at single families…that’s where you will find value in this hood.
It’s a fantastic area for many, and yes, lincoln-Belmont-Ashland is the best moniker, this was the busiest shopping district back in it’s day. Which is why I pointed out the ongoing problem here of commercial to residential. And if they ever decide to get that giant conversion back on track in the old bank the demo and construction is going to be a 2 year nightmare. Otoh, walking distance to cody’s is worth 10k, easy. Urbanophile, you turkey. I will never take your ivory tower views of cities seriously again. He should be blogging on bringing back Belmont’s vitality be bringing back the electric cable cars that used to run right down the middle of the street. Sorry for typos and multiple post, still getting the hang of this iPad thingee.
Not that I don’t like the place, but the price leaves me asking why.
It is in a marginal part of a good neighborhood, on a major thoroughfare, has subpar finishes and high assessments. Add all of those up and I don’t see how this commands a premium over the 2002 price. Sub 600k will get this done.