Is This the Coolest High Rise Penthouse in the City? 500 W. Superior in River North
This 4-bedroom duplex penthouse in The Montgomery at 500 W. Superior in River North came on the market in February 2019.
The Montgomery was an office building that was converted into condos at the height of the boom in 2007.
Built in 1972 as part of the corporate headquarters of Montgomery Ward, its architect was Minoru Yamasaki who also designed the New York City’s World Trade Center at the same time.
It has 245 units and garage parking.
This unit is one of the south facing penthouses with views of the entire downtown skyline.
It has 4800 square footage of living space on two floors and 1000 square feet in an outdoor rooftop deck which has a built-in bar/grill and professional landscaping with irrigation.
The unit has been completely renovated and reconfigured from the 2017 sale. If you have a Redfin account, I encourage you to look at the “before” pictures.
It’s now a smart home with contemporary finishes such as a custom built central kitchen with dark modern cabinets along with Wolf and Subzero appliances.
The unit also has a unique feature which is a full second kitchen which is a “prep” kitchen. This is a common feature in homes of the wealthy who would likely have staff to prepare for dinner parties, events etc.
The master suite has two huge walk-in closets including a 400 square foot “hers” closet, with vanity and sitting area, and a 250 square foot “his” closet.
There are two other bedrooms on the main floor, with one that is an interior room which doesn’t have a window.
There’s also a 600+ wine cellar.
The second floor has a separate guest suite with its own kitchen and full bath which leads out to the terrace.
The unit has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and 2 side-by-side heated garage spaces.
Originally listed for $4.995 million, it has been reduced to $4.75 million.
Is this the coolest high rise penthouse on the market right now?
Mary Hanburger at Jameson Sotheby’s has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #2801: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4800 square feet, penthouse
- Sold in January 2007 for $2,645,000
- Sold in September 2017 for $2,667,500
- Originally listed in February 2019 for $4,995,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $4,750,000
- Assessments of $3515 a month (includes heat, a/c, gas, doorman, cable, Internet, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $41,357
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 18×23 (main level)
- Bedroom #2: 17×14 (main level)
- Bedroom #3: 11×13 (main level)
- Bedroom #4: 12×28 (second floor)
- 2nd kitchen: 18×8
- Laundry room: 7×8
- Terrace: 31×35
Lots of eye appeal here. It’s a dramatic unit with dramatic outdoor space and killer views. I’m no judge of interior finishings/kitchens, but all look up to par for a place of this price.
The only thing I’m wondering about is building/location. Is this really the type of building you’d pay $5 million to live in? I don’t think the other units are anywhere near this level, but maybe I’m wrong.
I also dislike the streetscape coming out of here onto Chicago Avenue. It’s pretty ugly and deserted, surprisingly considering how many people live and work right around there. I don’t know why this is the case, but maybe if they tear down the last Cabrini row houses things will improve. Obviously the area immediately south of here is tremendously changed over the last 20 years and in a good way.
A couple other things: The building used to be an office building and still looks like one, no matter what they tried to do to make it look nicer. That’s a big knock against it.
Also, the unit only looks in one direction; a corner would be more dramatic and interesting.
Also, one of the bedrooms is interior, not my favorite arrangement.
I’m guessing they’ll have to take the price down a bit more.
If my wife ever saw pictures of that closet, she’d pass out in a fit of ecstasy.
No
As one of the downtrodden
Needs a Lake view
Approx 30% of the space allocated to the MBR?
Don’t understand the 2 kitchens
Also not a fan of the stairs transitioning to a spiral stair case to access the deck.
The mudroom before you enter the MBR?
Never felt the need to have a sitting area inside my WIC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
The views are great, everything is extremely high end and the design is very cohesive. It leaves me cold, though. Very impersonal and hotel-like.
I would kill for that closet, though.
The front kitchen makes me think of Windy City rehab.
Sid:
Wanna talk about greedy? At this sort of ask-“appreciation”, it’ll be worth $50m sometime around 2025.
[yeah yeah, totally re-did it; it’s pretty darn specific renovation tho, so luck is the only route to realizing on your costs]
The timing of the rehab raises an interesting question. Since they listed it 17 months after the purchase, which a reno like this could easily take, did they do all this on spec or is this someone’s dream place who got transferred?
If I wanted and could afford a penthouse, this would not be a location that I would choose.
Can anyone name a nearby amenity or lifestyle feature that anyone buying this unit would want?
“a nearby amenity or lifestyle feature that anyone buying this unit would want?”
EBC is a mere warm up jog away.
I agree the location doesn’t match the price. However, the river is getting pretty nice over here and it’s pretty much right out your door.
@Dan – The closest point “right outside your door” is the One River Place Condos. The riverwalk there is not so great.
I was introduced to the concept of “wet” and “dry” kitchens by an episode of House Hunters. That’s basically what this can be. The “dry” kitchen is the showy open one, you’d use it for warming and serving at a party. The “wet” kitchen is used for anything greasy/smelly, especially frying things. google sez it’s Malaysian in origin. As Sabrina noted, the closed off one could also easily be used by staff or a catering company.
Anyway, on this episode, the wife had seen that somewhere in Asia (not sure if it was Malaysia specifically) and wanted that, so kept being disappointed that the houses the realtor was showing her didn’t have 2 kitchens. Since seeing that episode, I’ve seen 2-3 Chicago listings (including this one) that have 2 kitchens and would fit the concept. Always very expensive listings, of course. Where was this person looking that she expected to find multiple listings with such a setup? NYC? LA? SF? Nope! Cape Girardeau, Mo. I’m like, yeah right, you can barely find such a setup in Chicago, there’s no way you’re finding that in freaking Cape Girardeau. Needless to say, none of the listings had it. No clue why they even brought it up.
I think I prefer this one in this price range, which also has a Wards connection.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/chicago.curbed.com/platform/amp/2017/9/25/16360788/celebrity-real-estate-brandon-marshall-condo
Sure there’s a few things it could use to make the outdoor space fitting of the price, but the vintage building and lake view is much more to my tastes.
my house has 2 kitchens 🙂
but I only use one of them!
Like that “2” kitchen set up. One to do the heavy “lifting” and leave the mess out for a bit longer, or for that kinda bread have the maid take care of it the next day. Unit is very well appointed. Area will only move on “up”.
Can’t determine if priced right, but do like the unit quite a lot.
I guess the 2nd kitchen is cool if you’re hosting catered parties and such, or if you don’t want a bunch of dirty dishes on display during a dinner party.
Or you could, and I’m just spitballing here, not have an “open concept” kitchen. Like, you could have a kitchen that is a totally separate room from your dining room and living room (which could also be 2 separate rooms).
Man, I gotta go patent this genius idea!
I know why they’re selling. They really need bigger closets.
Some people have Kosher Kitchen, a second kitchenthat does not mingle meat and dairy, I believe.
Sold. 4,200,000
“Sold. 4,200,000”
Thanks for the update David.
Wow- another over $4 million sale. Even with COVID and the looting. Will this be the best year for the luxury market in the last decade?