Is The $1.8 Million Single Family Home The New Norm In Lakeview? 1244 W. George

This 5-bedroom new construction single family home at 1244 W. George in Lakeview came on the market at the end of November 2012 (although it appears to have been temporarily removed from the MLS.)

Built on a 24x123x25x123 lot (per the prior listing), the house is in the contemporary style.

It has an open floor plan with a modern staircase.

The kitchen has luxury finishes such as SubZero and Wolf appliances.

There’s also a wine cellar and a roof deck along with 2 car parking.

While we’ve seen new construction homes in Lakeview listed for $1.799 million before, this house doesn’t appear to be in one of the “B” school districts (Burley, Blaine or Bell.)

Is the new entry point for a new single family home in Lakeview over $1.5 million?

Serigo & Banks has the listing. You can still see the pictures here (interiors are from a similar property since the house is still under construction.)

1244 W. George: 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, no square footage listed, 2 car garage

  • Previous building sold in August 2012 for $365,000
  • Originally listed in November 2012 for $1.799 million
  • Temporarily off the market
  • Taxes are “new”
  • Bedroom #1: 17×15 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #2: 13×12 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #3: 15×11 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #4: 13×10 (third floor)
  • Bedroom #5: 13×12 (fourth floor)

48 Responses to “Is The $1.8 Million Single Family Home The New Norm In Lakeview? 1244 W. George”

  1. I would say the “entry” point for new in LV is more like $1.3m (See 3040 N Seminary and 1306 W Nelson). These are more traditional frame homes. The starting point for the more contemporary Noah projects like this one does appear to be around $1.6m.

    http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3040-N-Seminary-Ave-60657/home/13365753

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  2. Noah is going upmarket and has been charging a premium for its LP and LV properties. Their new project in LP has been on the market for about 2 mos with 1 price cut.

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  3. just happy to see contemporary in LV

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  4. “I would say the “entry” point for new in LV is more like $1.3m (See 3040 N Seminary and 1306 W Nelson). These are more traditional frame homes.”

    I haven’t looked recently, but the ton of new v fancy but not truly luxe frame houses in coonley, for which lots were maybe around low $300s, were going for about $1.2. So $850 to $900 seems like the delta (incl a presumably more than comfortable profit margin) over lot cost for that kinda new construction.

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  5. Is that all a lot on the 1200 block of W. George gets in 2012? Seems low, and I can’t imagine the fact it tapers a foot (now that’s weird) hurts it too much.

    What a change from the days when this block was full of meatpacking plants and the street often had a river of blood flowing down the middle.

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  6. How many million dollar properties can Chicago support?

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  7. The million dollar homes are a sign of the disappearing middle class and the extreme concentration of wealth. The north side used to be working class and now it’s all upper class. The story of America in the 21st century. I was pleased to hear that burglaries in Lincoln park were up 23% over last year. It’s about time the masses take what’s rightfully theirs. And with obamas higher taxes, things are looking grim for the upper classes.

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  8. Pretty crazy, 1.8mm is no small chunk of change, not like a lot of even well off folks have the equity in their homes, or liquidity to pay for something like this. Maybe some Chinese asshole will buy it with his fraudulently made money

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  9. Some family will buy this house with 10% down And a private super jumbo loan. They’ll live there for 5 years and then sell. Homes like these are never paid off, they swim in a world of debt, and they only exist because of debt.

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  10. “Maybe some Chinese asshole will buy it with his fraudulently made money”

    Wow. Really?

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  11. “I was pleased to hear that burglaries in Lincoln park were up 23% over last year. It’s about time the masses take what’s rightfully theirs.”

    With that attitude, it looks like the upper class is taking what they see has rightfully theirs from your pocket. Ha.

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  12. “Maybe some Chinese asshole will buy it with his fraudulently made money”
    “Wow. Really?”

    Well, I can’t tell if sonies would view it as a good or bad thing for the alleged chinese assholes to be pumping their fraudulent money into the local economy, or if sonies is simply upset that he hasn’t been able to build that much wealth for his clients. I do suppose it tells us the range of his client base, something between D#2 and the buyer of the subject property.

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  13. I like everyone but the Chinese (from China)

    most American Chinese are fine folks

    They are not to be trusted, trust me!

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  14. There are only two things I can’t stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures… and the Dutch.

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  15. Is this place going to have the freaky-deaky open master bathroom, too? With the toilet just sitting there in the middle like that? That *sux*. Really, truly. Could see it is the toilet were in a ‘closet’; but this way? Just. No.

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  16. ” I was pleased to hear that burglaries in Lincoln park were up 23% over last year. ”

    WTF is wrong with you? No one should ever be pleased to hear any crime stat is up. Ever. You do realize a botched burglary could quickly morph into homicide and/or sexual assault right?

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  17. “I can’t imagine the fact it tapers a foot (now that’s weird) hurts it too much.”

    Not a fact. The plat map confirms the lots on that block are uniform at 25′ x 123′.

    “What a change from the days when this block was full of meatpacking plants and the street often had a river of blood flowing down the middle.”

    They tore down Wetterling Bacon Ham and Sausage to build this place. The assessor still has the old pic up:

    http://www.cookcountyassessor.com/Property_Search/Property_Large_Image.aspx?transfer_string1=http://www.cookcountyassessor.com/Property_Search/Property_Large_images_Output/14291230210000_AA.JPG

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  18. “Is this place going to have the freaky-deaky open master bathroom, too? With the toilet just sitting there in the middle like that? That *sux*. Really, truly. Could see it is the toilet were in a ‘closet’; but this way? Just. No.”

    THis one is worse, right?

    http://cribchatter.com/?p=15081

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  19. How the heck did I get dragged into this conversation, anyway?

    “I do suppose it tells us the range of his client base, something between D#2 and the buyer of the subject property.”

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  20. “THis one is worse, right?”

    That one was worse, but they had more space to fix the problem, iirc.

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  21. “How the heck did I get dragged into this conversation, anyway?”

    Well, first you’re on CC. Second, you expressed some interest in hiring sonies (I’m pretty sure jokingly, though sonies was at least hoping it wasn’t entirely unserious). Did you miss @fo’s analysis of your taxable portfolio?

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  22. “That one was worse, but they had more space to fix the problem, iirc.”

    Yes, though here hte fix would be to close off the bathroom.

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  23. More tasteless Eurotrash design, yay! For this kind of money I expect a cohesive material palette, great interior proportions and a simply detailed exterior… not flash and pomp.

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  24. I remember sonies joking about giving me financial advice, but I don’t remember anyone doing analysis of my portfolio, which isn’t much to speak of.

    “Well, first you’re on CC. Second, you expressed some interest in hiring sonies (I’m pretty sure jokingly, though sonies was at least hoping it wasn’t entirely unserious). Did you miss @fo’s analysis of your taxable portfolio?”

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  25. I don’t see what the big problem is with the toilet, but I guess living with toddlers has desensitized me to peeing with an audience.

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  26. “I don’t see what the big problem is with the toilet, but I guess living with toddlers has desensitized me to peeing with an audience.”

    I have no ‘audience’ issues, but (1) crappy location in the middle of the room, breaking up all flow–put it next to the shower in a niche, then I got no complaint on the toilet, and,

    as to the general, open to the bedroom thing: (2) *much* harder to contain aerosols and moisture, (3) even a super-quiet fan strong enough to deal with 2 would bother me in the next room, with no door, (4) I do NOT find a bathtub decorative, (5) light in the bedroom, bleeding into the bedroom, when either is using the bathroom? I don’t approve.

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  27. “Not a fact. The plat map confirms the lots on that block are uniform at 25? x 123?.”
    Thanks for the sluethery, I was going from the CC description, which seemed odd.

    “They tore down Wetterling Bacon Ham and Sausage to build this place.”

    I grabbed a few pix last year, I was surprised it hadn’t been developed before now. I think the places like Wettlering sold to meat markets like Paulina and so on, but the larger buildings (long gone) took whole cattle from, I assume, the stockyards. Pretty hard to forget the regular image of trucks unloading whole cattle which were hanging on hooks. Blech. But then again, my dog loved it.

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  28. “I have no ‘audience’ issues, but (1) crappy location in the middle of the room, breaking up all flow–put it next to the shower in a niche, then I got no complaint on the toilet”

    But you didn’t like the 5747 sheridan toilet, even though (I looked up redfin link, below) it’s in its own niche, does not seem to break up flow, not open to bedroom odorously. What’s the non-audience complaint? Toilet preferences seem inconsistent.

    http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/5747-N-Sheridan-Rd-60660/unit-H/home/13408662

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  29. I think the moisture issue is largely solved by the glass shower door, but I see your point on light / fan noise if you are a light sleeper.

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  30. “What’s the non-audience complaint?”

    Nos. 4 & 5. And, find a toilet *less* decoarate than a tub.

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  31. “Nos. 4 & 5. And, find a toilet *less* decoarate than a tub.”

    If you are now applying no. 5 to 5747 sheridan, it must be to teh bathroom as a whole, not just the toilet, since there would be light from the non-toilet parts of the bathroom, so that’s not much of a strike against the toilet. And if you are assessing the bathroom as a whole, no. 4 is not fully addressed by closing off toilet, as the non-decorative tub remains.

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  32. “So $850 to $900 seems like the delta (incl a presumably more than comfortable profit margin) over lot cost for that kinda new construction.”

    How much of this is profit? I thought labor, commodity, and materials costs have come down by as much as 40% during the recession? Plus, remember when GWB was taking up all the lumber supply for the Iraq War? and during 2007 there was a massive commodities price bubble? You’d think that low costs and labor would bring the price down. Wasn’t the assumption that a non-tricked out house, typically mcmansion was around $150 per sq. ft. hard cost? So, not including the basement shouldn’t these cost $600K to build, esp. if they are modernist minimal? Maybe there’s $250K+ of profit out there on these.

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  33. …very few things can ruin romance more than watching one’s partner poop.

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  34. “…very few things can ruin romance more than watching one’s partner poop.”

    try farting while getting a bj…

    “Maybe some Chinese asshole will buy it with his fraudulently made money”

    The Chinese work for their money, not like the Boca Raton or Russian-Israeli crowd. Get real. Maybe some Russian-Israeli asshole will buy it, it’s that kind of cold, ugly architecture.

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  35. “…very few things can ruin romance more than watching one’s partner poop.”

    I’m guessing Helmut and Bob might be into this sort of stuff.

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  36. olic: cut the crap….you know you’re a Fifty Shades of Grey reader….you probably never have sex with your husband.

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  37. “The million dollar homes are a sign of the disappearing middle class and the extreme concentration of wealth. The north side used to be working class and now it’s all upper class. The story of America in the 21st century.”

    I agree with you somewhat. A lot of it is also generational too. If you aren’t born into wealth, you have a really small chance of getting into a property like this one without taking on an enormous amount of debt. Then again, few people stay in these places for long, so owning is kind of getting more like “renting from the bank”, especially in an era with very little price appreciation. How would a potential buyer be truly satisfied the old meat packing plant was cleaned up? Or is that not an issue now with the passage of time?

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  38. I’m prolly in the minority but I liked it better as wetterling. that building was cool. would much rather live next to it than the fraudulent chinamen who will buy this new one.

    j/k. I picture chevy chase’s neighbors in christmas vacation living here.
    http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/BlueSteel/BluesteelJCimages/68XmasYuppie.jpg

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  39. “I’m prolly in the minority but I liked it better as wetterling. that building was cool.”

    Agree 100%. Would much rather have seen that reno’d (even if beyond a full gut) than this thing.

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  40. Uhhhhhhhh…Dannyhofer, turns out I’m all set on the driving lessons after all.
    Thanks anyway!

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  41. “I’m prolly in the minority but I liked it better as wetterling. that building was cool.”

    “Agree 100%. Would much rather have seen that reno’d (even if beyond a full gut) than this thing.”

    I agree 50%. I like it better as Wetterling, yes, but that was a tear down for sure. Too cramped when butted against the building to the West. It would suffer a similar problem that storefront building in Bucktown has…

    http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/2116-N-Leavitt-St-60647/home/13358225

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  42. Helmut after a couple chapters you wish you were my husband, oh what I do to him.
    Probably not……. as we all know your into men; nothing wrong with that of course.

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  43. This RD Precision-built home has several very unusual features, not the least of which is a handcrafted cedar fireplace surround. It’s very different from the one illustrated in the photos with the listing. The master bath is also very different from the one in the listing photos.

    I was at the home earlier today for a scheduled, sponsored video shoot with Izabela Sloma, the listing agent.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysq9eJVPAGk

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  44. “…very few things can ruin romance more than watching one’s partner poop.”

    Is that why your boyfriend left you?

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  45. Danny H. –
    In case I forget, remind me that with you, ’tis the season for receiving.
    Not giving!

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  46. “It’s very different from the one illustrated in the photos with the listing.”

    Then why a full set of pix? Doesn’t make sense–were I in the market, i would be so turned off by the bathroom to not bother even trying to work with the builder.

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  47. Interesting comments about the concentration of wealth and the idea of no one actually paying off $1.8m properties. If one could take an average of the GZ’ers who live in a house valued between $1.5-3m. What would you say their average and medium net worth is?

    I wonder would the average and median be higher or lower than the value of the house. While it’s true that many have mortgages, it’s also true that many wealthy only have mortgages not out of necessity, but because they were advised to do so, even if they would have rather just paid cash and be done with it.

    While its true that there are relatively few people walking around with $3m cash to put into a house, in the grand scheme of RE there are relatively few $3m houses.

    A friend of mine recently paid cash for a $3m house, and I figure he’s worth about $25 to $75m (he’s sort of secretive about it). I would think that the people in these houses skew the average NW way high. Especially now that many of the heavily leveraged up types have been shaken out.

    Interested in hearing the gallery’s comments.

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  48. I think around 25-30% of the people buying $1.5M to $3M houses have significant net worth much more than the purchase price (liquid wealth excluding retirement accounts). The rest are mainly aspiring to get to that point and many never will because the house they bought was a big stretch to begin with and they can’t save much as a result. In the end, these homes for many of these buyers become glorified rentals where the only people making money on their real estate is their realtor and mortgage broker.

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