Live in the Heart of it All in a Brick and Timber Loft: 1701 N. Damen in Bucktown
This top-floor 2-bedroom corner loft in the Bucktown Gardens at 1701 N. Damen in Bucktown came on the market in May 2018.
Bucktown Gardens is an authentic loft building with 26 units and parking.
This is a duplex up loft with exposed brick and timber ceilings.
The kitchen has dark cabinets, stainless steel appliances and stone counter tops, including on the island.
It has a wood burning fireplace.
There’s one bedroom on the main level and it doesn’t have full walls but it does have windows.
The master bedroom appears to be on the half – second floor, accessed by a spiral staircase (in between the main and second floors.)
There’s also an open lofted office/media room space on the second floor which leads to the private rooftop deck with city views.
The loft has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and 1 car parking. The listing says a “space.” Is that indoor or outdoor?
This building is located right in the heart of the Bucktown shopping and restaurant scene and is just a block from the Damen blue line stop.
Originally listed at $649,900 in May, it has been reduced $89,900 to $560,000 which is $10,000 under the 2014 selling price.
If inventory is so tight, how could this loft be sitting on the market for 6 months?
Kevin Hinton at Keller Williams has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #305: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1800 square feet
- Sold in May 1993 for $244,000
- Sold in December 1994 for $345,000
- Sold in April 1999 for $330,000
- Sold in April 2006 for $450,000
- Sold in June 2010 for $476,000
- Sold in June 2014 for $570,000
- Originally listed in May 2018 for $649,900
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $560,000 (includes 1 parking space)
- Assessments of $531 a month (includes exterior maintenance and scavenger)
- Taxes of $10,770
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Wood burning fireplace
- Private rooftop deck: 24×18
- Bedroom #1: 21×13 (1.5 floor?)
- Bedroom #2: 15×11 (main level)
- Loft: 21×11 (second floor)
What the hell were they thinking at 649K?
….wait for it…
Probably thinking that the 2014 sale was $570K, and that’s about an increase of 3.5% a year, which some places were getting in that period. I actually think the 2010 and 2014 sales were pretty high for a 2006 sales price of $450K. The sellers in 2010 managed to sell for above 2006 prices ($476K), and then in 2014 the sellers sold for way above both at $570K.
Current listing seems much more reasonable and in line with 2006 — not a huge increase (a bit less than 25% over more than 12 years, so under inflation), but I don’t think current prices in general are that much above top of the market pre crash unless the neighborhood has changed or the place was significantly reno’d.
For the place itself, I find lofts hard to judge since I’m not really a loft person. My impression is that the first floor is pretty small (which makes sense in that it’s on three floors) — the living area looks tight. I hate the open second bedroom on the first floor, but that’s a loft issue so if you wanted a loft it should be expected. For a guest room or office, perhaps, who cares. I also wouldn’t like that type of stairs, but they are common in lofts with stairs.
It says the master is not open (hard to tell from the photos, or how that would work with the stairs, but okay — that’s a plus). The top room is nice, but limited in use if only accessible through the bedroom (as a master sitting room). Do you also have to go through the master to get to the roof deck? If there was a floorplan, I could tell.
It’s a weird mishmash of townhouse (except townhouses work better for kids and this wouldn’t) and loft that you’d need to find the right buyer for.
I would have probably loved the place in my younger years as a single guy. It probably isn’t moving because you have to go through master to get to the den and roof deck.
“It probably isn’t moving because you have to go through master to get to the den and roof deck.”
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Yeah, Wicker Park houses are like that, and this is a “meh” Wicker Park house.
“Sold in December 1994 for $345,000”
Pretty sure that is wrong. From the deed, it looks like the actual price was $230k. Which makes a lot more sense. $345k would have been kookoo.
“Sold in April 1999 for $330,000
…
listed at $560,000”
that would be CPI + 58 bps, which is just a little ahead of very long term average (which would indicate ~$550k).
damn this dude has more shoes than his girl does…
So have we hit the proverbial top? Seems like we are seeing some pull back this fall even in some “white hot” places like Fulton Market.
Is the bubble about to burst? Or is the election the bellwether of another two years of growth vs impending gridlock in Washington leading to a slowdown in the economy.
Not my kind of place, but for a loft lover, it seems to have a lot going for it. Also not sure I’d want to be right on Damen.
If you’re hosting people, imagine all of them tramping through your bedroom to get to the roof deck. I guess there was no other way to design it, but that’s unfortunate.
“So have we hit the proverbial top? Seems like we are seeing some pull back this fall even in some “white hot” places like Fulton Market.”
In my opinion, Fulton Market was a hot bed of speculation on the demand that would be there after McDonald’s opened. It has now been 6 months. Are the McDonald’s employees buying up the neighborhood? No. So some of the speculation that had happened has died down.
It’s still one of the hottest neighborhoods, however.
speculation in fulton market started because of the meat storage conversion to the google office, my friend used to live right there at morgan and fulton and his kick ass loft he was renting for like 1900 bucks, during a period of 2 years during the construction of it they jacked it up to over 3200!