In No Hurry to Sell in the Marina Towers: 300 N. State
Are the Marina Towers, the iconic corn cob buildings on the Chicago River at 300 N. State, “hot” now that Trump Tower is built nearly next door?
Some sellers in the building seem to think so. Take this 1-bedroom unit on the 31st floor.
It’s been listed since 2006 and hasn’t had a price reduction in almost a year.
Here’s the listing:
Redesigned condo has floor to ceiling windows, two huge private terraces and one common. Unchangeable lake and river views.
Chicago view kitchen has granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, washer, dryer and utility sink. 1.1 custom baths with soaking tub/shower. Ornately with mosaic tile and hardwood floors, wet bar, wine cooler, soundproof walls, surround sound. One of a kind air exchange.
A tipster familiar with the building told me that this was a 1-bedroom and studio combination (hence why it has 1.5 baths and the washer/dryer in the unit.)
Homeowners Advantage has the listing. See more pictures here.
Unit #3130: 1 bedroom, 1.5 baths, 725 square feet
- I don’t have the original sales price
- Originally listed in May 2006 for $490,000
- Withdrawn in September 2006 at $447,000
- Re-listed in June 2007 for $480,000
- Reduced
- Listed in December 2007 for $437,000
- Currently still listed at $437,000
- Assessment of $316 a month
- Taxes of $2610
- W/D in the unit
- Central air
Wow! 600 a sq ft and no place to eat, appears like it has no bathroom door, and the lake view? Reminds me of a property someone showed me on LSD that said Lake view. I walked around and asked “where do you see the lake from here??” Broker replied “If you stick your head out the window and look to the right”
It seems a little pricey, but what concerns me is the low assessment for such a large, old building. I wonder if they have just had a lot of work done or if you can expect a big “special” assessment soon…
The units in Marina City are some of my favorites, with their curved walls and archways. This unit is really cute, well designed, somewhat quirky. Definitely not to everyone’s taste. However, it’s really small and the location of that “kitchen” is quite odd.
The small assessment really surprises me – – have not seen them that low in many places. I don’t need much room to be comfortable -I’ll take this unit if they reduce the price by 200k!
At $602 per sqft, I would say this unit is not really for sale. The person probably figures that it does not cost anything to have the unit listed and if it sells great. If it does not sell, “I can still use it on weekends.”
My friend used to live in this building. Whenever I walked through the halls I felt like I was in the projects.
I own in the building… the assessments listed are not accurate. One bedroom assessments are $335 including cable TV. A combined studio / one bedroom would be around $550.
It is a great building & by far the best bang for the buck near the loop. The building is in good shape with no looming special assessments.
This unit has been completely reconfigured from the original layout…. Not sure why the felt the need to put the kitchen next to the window…. Seems like lots of wasted space in the entry area.
Oh, and the unit is 725sq, the balcony’s add an additional 240 sq ft (160 and 80).
I remember my father telling me that this buidlng was a victim of the first wave of “condomania” in the 1970’s. “investors” snapped up multiple units and many ended up losing them to foreclosure. Many of the other units were rented out, and the building becaame known as almost more of a rental buidling. Units were very cheap through the early 1990’s and finally started to spike with this most recent real estate cycle.
i suspect some recent condo developments will end up with flat values for a long time going forward, due to inflated initial purchase prices, numerous foreclosures and high percentage of renters (as many owners won’t want to sell at a less but will choose to rent instead).
How is this a 1 bedroom AND a studio combination for a total of 725 sqft? They have their head in the clouds, I’ve seen two (better) units go for 299 and 230. 299 was the higher floor facing south east and 230 facing north.
I live in the building and have actually seen this one in person. It is just a one bedroom that has been completely redone.
It is one unit and NOT a studio & one bedroom combined. The owner has had it listed for what seems like an eternity. JL was definetely right about the owner’s thought of “If it does not sell, “I can still use it on weekends.”
I live in the ’29’ tier right next door to the ’30’ tier unit. The ’30’ has no view whatsoever. It faces directly into the IBM tower. As was said in an earlier post, if you stick your head out and look to the right or to the left you have a decent view. But, there are much, much better view units at Marina Towers. The taxes & assessments are correct FOR A ONE BEDROOM. One of the great reasons to live here, lower cost of ownership…
The one bedroom is 725 sq ft plus 1.5 balconys
The studio is 485 sq ft, plus 1 full balcony
The balcony is 160 sq ft
If this truly is a combined Studio and one bedroom, then it would be just over 1200 sq ft plus 400 sq ft of outdoor space (on three balconys) Looking at the images, I don’t think that this is a combined unit, but is just a reconfigured one bedroom.
In the entry area you can see where they had to bump out the wall a bit (note the ledge), that is to re-route the plumbing for the kitchen that was moved over by the window. Not sure how they got that kind of drastic change by the board. Moving an entire kitchen a dozen feet in a concrete highrise isn’t an easy thing to do.
It seems like maybe they’re just pulling standard data for sq. ft./ assessments, etc. based on the unit tier and not the specific combined unit itself? Is the confusion casued by more lazy work by brokers, who can’t take an extra 5 minutes to verify info for a listing that’ll bring them $1000’s in commissions?
yeah, units were dirt cheap here 10 years ago. I had a couple buddies with a 2 bedroom. they said they could have bought it for 100k or less..I think. but the building was in disarray.
I always wondered what was in the HOB part before HOB.
per Wikipedia (which matches my recollection):
“The House of Blues concert hall was built in the shell of the complex’s long-disused movie theater; similarly, the hotel was built in what was once the Marina City office building. In order to accommodate Smith and Wollensky, the former skating rink was demolished and pedestrian and vehicular access to the residential towers and the raised common plaza were redesigned”
Here is what I think is the best resource for info on Marina City. Including original floor plans and history.
I knew somebody that lived there for several years, and I have spent much time exploring different aspects of the building. One of the best perks for residents is that the rooftops of both towers are accessible (but not for the public). I have spent hours on those rooftops admiring the city, taking pictures, watching fireworks, etc…
Oops, I forgot the link:
http://www.marinacityonline.com/
I imagine it has great views, BUT it’s Marina City. This is not the market to be overly aggressive with pricing. The listing time speaks for itself. Good luck.
I agree with JL. This person is not trying to sell the unit. If so, it would be priced much, much lower. On the other hand, I’m not sure why brokers take on such units. It’s really just a waste of time.
trader,
Its my guess brokers have a lot of free time these days. Even if the chance of a sale is infinitesimal, when you’re in the office playing solitaire much of the day listings like this can at least break the monotony.
I’m sure the large balconys are nice, however I’d imagine they block a lot of the natural light from coming into the unit. Does anyone know how much natural light these units actually get (obviously it will vary by orientation, but I’m thinking generally).
The amount of natural light these units get generally varies by orientation.
That is one hell of a fugly renovation. It seems entirely out of whack with the modernist architecture of the building itself. Check out the book “High-Rise Living” for a great example of a more appropriate renovation in Marina City (the book also includes a number of modern condos in other iconic Chicago high-rise buildings).
I have no idea why someone would move into Marina City and then cover the place in beige travertine and granite and generic cabinets that would fit right in at some generic subdivision sales center. If you want bland, dated, and beige, why move into a building that is an icon of great modernist design?
I rented in the building for two years, and actually loved it. I had a larger 1 bedroom with two full decks. Closet space was weak, and natural light is completely dependent on your view. I looked east and didn’t have as much light. I lived on the decks though – and one upside of the covered deck is that you can still use it even when raining. Building is extremely quiet – the walls are plaster with wire mesh, and floors are solid.
One thing about the roof decks – when I was there absolutely no one goes up there except for July 3rd. I could have groups of 100 up on the roof with no issues.
Unimpressive. Too expensive. Weird layout. Knock off $150,000 and it might sell.
Living in a pie shaped floorplan must be interesting. These buildings are kind of the blemish of our newer river skyline. In 2012 they will be more of an open wound. Does concrete decompose over time?
“Does concrete decompose over time?”
Yes. Concrete tends to chip and break. They try to reinforce the concrete by filling it with steel reinforcing bars. Look at the concrete barriers along any of the interstates and you’ll see exposed steel within the concrete. A few months ago I saw an enormous piece of concrete in the middle of Pulaski Ave; I looked up and low and behold and large chunk (probably 2 feet by 2 feet) had chipped off the side of the overpass.
g_rant wrote:
“Living in a pie shaped floorplan must be interesting. These buildings are kind of the blemish of our newer river skyline. In 2012 they will be more of an open wound. Does concrete decompose over time?”
Man, I couldn’t disagree more. These are just about the only post-1965 buildings on the river that I actually like. They’re a memento of a time when modernism meant more than boring walls of glass and architectural elements assembled like a tossed salad.
This particular apartment, on the other hand, is crap.
If you take away all the old buildings you lose so much character. These buildings are really nice, might not like the apartment inside but the outsides are very cool.