Is the Ugliest Condo Building in Lincoln Park Going to be Torn Down? 2518 N. Lincoln
We’ve chattered in the past about this condo building at 2518-2540 N. Lincoln in Lincoln Park.
According to DNA Info, the rumors about it being torn down and replaced with a new apartment building are true.
Demolition on the condo building on Lincoln Avenue just southeast of Sheffield Avenue will begin in March to make way for a 107-foot-tall apartment building dubbed Lincoln Centre, according to developer Warren Baker.
Baker’s latest plans to build a transit-oriented development at 2518-2540 N. Lincoln Ave. — complete with 200 residential units and ground-floor retail — were approved by the city’s zoning board of appeals and the full city council in late July.
The building will have a three-story parking garage with 138 parking spaces, which will be split between residents of the building and commercial businesses along Lincoln Avenue.
Studio apartments will start at about $1,600 per month and the penthouse will rent for about $6,000 per month, Baker said.
Original plans called for a courtyard that faced the “L” tracks, but Baker changed it so the courtyard now faces Lincoln Avenue, thanks to a suggestion from Smith.
“We hit it out of the park when it came to coming up with tremendous improvements over the previous plans,” Baker said.
Condo owners are apparently already starting to move out of the building.
The new building will rise just to the east of these El tracks.
Will this be the revitalization needed to jump start retail and restaurants in this part of Lincoln Park?
And will anyone else be sad to see the tennis courts on the back of the building go?
Construction on Lincoln Centre project will begin in March, developer says [DNA Info, Mina Bloom, August 19, 2015]
I hates that building the first time I saw it. Thus development will be a huge improvement. 3
Lincoln Park is losing its luster simply because the local NIMBYS shoot down every proposal that would block a view, increase neighbors, or increase traffic. Soon, Lincoln Park will only consist of million dollar homes built on double wide lots. This is a terrible waste of city resources since it has 3 L lines running through it. TOD should allow massive increases in density that the neighborhood has lost in the last 2 decades due to conversions of 3 apartments into single family homes. See the dumbing down of the Children’s Hospital project for proof.
I know the July sales numbers are out today but given my schedule, I won’t have a post on it until tomorrow. I’m sure you can all wait. 🙂
Definitely an eyesore. Glad to see it go. Looked like it had been overtaken by The tennis courts facing the el tracks look like they were overtaken by a mexican garage sale. I wonder if the owners got a decent buy-out price?
“Original plans called for a courtyard that faced the “L” tracks, but Baker changed it so the courtyard now faces Lincoln Avenue, thanks to a suggestion from Smith.”
*Thanks to*? Seriously? I’m sure the unit owners on that side will love that.
Ate at that sushi place more times than I would like to admit… most of the time too drunk to notce or care how fugly that building is, even from the EL it looks horrible, good riddance I say!
There’s a lot of reasons LP has lost its luster, not just NIMBYs….extremely expensive, transient, frat boys/sorority girls from Michigan everywhere, crowded, teardowns become multi million dollar homes overnight, more chain stores than woodfield mall, etc. I’m glad the hipsters turned to Logan Sq. after college. LP is the playground for the 1%ers
“the unit owners on that side”
It’s being built as rentals. Obv, might get converted in the future, tho.
Used to see those tennis courts from the el but never recall anyone actually playing on them?
How much premium did a developer have to pay to get all owners to sell their units? Pretty amazing deal.
“Ate at that sushi place more times than I would like to admit”
No idea what that sushi place is. I’d go to del seoul and the dragon shaved ice place.
I’d like to know what defines residential density these days. The word is thrown around willy-nilly, yet no one puts a definition behind it. Is it a few hundred people in a building? A thousand? More? Less?
It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out with all of the rental properties going up with plans to charge mortgage-like rents for studio apartments.
Kyoto Sushi… I can’t believe its 4 stars on yelp… would give 2 stars maybe
“It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out with all of the rental properties going up with plans to charge mortgage-like rents for studio apartments.”
There was an article the other day that overall there isn’t much difference between the total cost of building luxury apartments vs standard apartments. Nearly all the cost to build an apartment comes from land and labor; the finishes to make it ‘luxury’ is just a line item, and from an investment standpoint, the higher rents alone justify the investment in the higher finishes. And this makes sense too if you think about it….laminate vs. real wood floors, granite vs. laminate counters, home depot fixtures vs higher end, the higher rents easily justify the extra $1,000 it costs for the counter top or wood floors.
The other good thing is that quite frankly the Chicago rental market needs some upgrades, the vast oversupply of vintage units at sky high prices is ridiculous. Granite countertops will last for ever, while the laminate countertops on top of MDF start peeling after 20 years…
$0.50 per sf in higher rent, equals an extra $6 psf annually. Cap that 5% and the extra “luxury” rent achieved adds $120 sf of value. If the avg. unit size is 750 sf, that equals $90,000 of value created by achieving that $0.50 per sf increment. So if they upgrade the unit by even $30,000 of high end finishes, they are netting $60,000 of profit in value. (this math is correct, right?)
I do like how nobody is arguing with sabrina about the title of “ugliest condo building in lincoln park”
Is it the ugliest condo building in the entire green zone?
This condo building gives the one featured here a run for its money: http://www.2625clarkstreet.com/page/24292~445742/About-Clark-Place-Private-Residences
As soon as you said “ugliest building in LP” I knew exactly which one you were referring to.
For some reason those tennis courts just bug me.
Tennis courts are extremely annoying because people play tennis on those courts and make various awful sounds.
Damn it. If you can’t play tennis without making “effort” sounds, then you probably should play some other sport!
Also, the sound of the balls hitting the rackets and ground is irritating. I could never live near tennis courts.
They should turn tennis courts into dog parks. Barking is much more appealing that grunting.
Jenny, my problem with dogs is that they smell like crap, shit anywhere they like, and are generally filthy. Otherwise they’re great.
Hilarious. I knew which building Sabrina was referring to before even seeing the pictures. That building is just down right depressing.
Even tennis pros make “effort noises.” If you don’t, it means you’re not really pushing yourself to play your best and win.
I always loved the crazy quasi-semi-brutalist retail interior, but where will the flotation tank place go? I’m surprised that enough owners (unless there were mostly investors owning the units) were able to agree to sell as a block.