Living in the “Other” Millennium Park: 195 N. Harbor Drive
Before there was the Lakeshore East development and Millennium Park, there were the high rises along Randolph Street and Harbor Drive.
The Park Shore, at 195 N. Harbor Drive, is a 482-unit high rise that was built along Lake Shore Drive and the Lake in 1991.
It is a full service building with a rooftop outdoor pool, tennis courts, a grocery store and a hair salon.
The building seemed to be ahead of its time as it boosts floor to ceiling windows. It also has the unit amenities of the newer Lakeshore East buildings such as central air, deeded parking and an in-unit washer/dryer.
This 2-bedroom with den on the 47th floor has some great views of Millennium Park and the city. The listing says it has updated kitchen and baths. It also has hardwood floors in the main living areas.
Someone commented recently that you seem to get more bang for your buck in this, and some of the other older, nearby buildings, than in Lakeshore East’s new construction.
Is this building an overlooked deal?
Sharon Sullivan at Koenig & Strey has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #4706: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, den, 1300 square feet
- Sold in October 1997 for $229,500
- Sold in March 2000 for $360,000
- Originally listed in June 2009 for $539,000
- Withdrawn
- Re-listed in August 2009 for $539,000
- Currently listed for $539,000 (parking included)
- Assessments of $706 a month (includes doorman, cable, heat, pool, tennis courts)
- Taxes of $5078
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 15×14
- Bedroom #2: 13×11
- Den: 14×11
- Living room: 18×13
- Dining room: 10×8
- Kitchen: 10×8
That baby has a pretty sweet view from his crib…
Nice amount of space, defitely more than you would get in LSE for the same amount. Taxes seems lower than they would be in new construction in LSE.
Do the ceilings seems low to anyone else?
I recently sold an 08 unit in the building. These are like the 06s but in the northwest corner of the building with a better view (for now) than the 06s. You get to see Navy Pier and the drive. Technically you see in all 4 directions from the units. At 1300 square feet they sell for about $350/sq ft, which is a better deal than a lot of the newer buildings.
I like outdoor pools much better than the indoor variety and this one is open year round (I’m not kidding). Being on that deck is like being on a cruise ship, floating high above the city and overlooking the lake.
A couple of flies in the ointment: 1) Someday the Lakeshore East development will significantly reduce the views of the 08s. For now, if you look down you see a big empty dirt lot. 2) Being in that area is very isolating. The only way to get out of there is to go down Randolph – quite a hike or you can take the elevator/stairs down to the rest of the LakeShore East development but then you’re stuck down there.
I have some additional information on the building here: http://blog.lucidrealty.com/parkshore-condo-building-information/
Nice looking condo and looks reasonably priced. I don’t think the area will EVER become neighborhoody, though. At most there’s room for 3 restaurants and about 3 bars. No easy el access. My dog DOES love the dog park there, since it’s about the fanciest one in the city (a “river” runs through it).
Awfully quiet out here this morning. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Case Shiller. It was up 2.7%. I am going on record that we’ve bottomed: http://blog.lucidrealty.com/chicago_real_estate_statistics/
Baby wants a yard and parents want outlandish appreciation to help pay for that yard. You know they want a yard because parents have an office in the ‘burbs. Wow that must be an annoying commute.
Gary, I’m disappointed you called a bottom so early in this bust. I think we’re only in the 5th of 9 innings. Alt-a’s and option arms will be reseting, recasting and defaulting in Chicago’s more upscale neighborhoods for at least a few more years.
“Awfully quiet out here this morning. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Case Shiller. It was up 2.7%. I am going on record that we’ve bottomed”
I’m not sure we’re not in for another drop, but one of the complicating factors is that if it is a bottom, it’s a bottom at something like 2002 or 2003 prices. As we see from the properties on here and listings generally, very few sellers are listing at 2003 or even 2004 prices. That’s why everything sits out there so long.
Well, I’m thinking that there are fundamental value issues. Personally, I think that Chicago is one hell of an expensive place to live. However, there is a really long trend line and we’re comfortably below that right now. There is also going to be a lot of pent up demand. Not to mention that the area employment levels are rising once again from very low levels.
“Baby wants a yard and parents want outlandish appreciation to help pay for that yard.”
i truely would love to hear these conversations. Husband; lets buy a 2/2 small condo in the xxxxxx. wife; yeah we can be uber urban and cool and our kids will be cool too.
flash 1-2 years later. wife; i am pregnant. husband; lets turn the guest room/office into a nursery.
flash another 1 year. Wife; what about grass for little xxx. husband; dont worry we will buy a house with a yard in the city cause we are uber urban cool with our 15% appreciation on a condo.
flash another 1-2 years. Wife; OMG CPS sucks!!!!! ahhhhhhhh, little xxxxx is all over the place the he/she need a yard! you need to do something and now or i am leaving you. Husband; honey umm how can i? this place is worth less than when we bought it? I am sorry our bad planning has us stuck here.
sorry had to cut my story short gotta run to a meeting. to be continued…..
“sorry had to cut my story short gotta run to a meeting. to be continued”
That story was annoying
Maybe we can take turns, each writing a three-sentence continuation of the story.
Later that night, little triple-X awakes to a strange noise. It is the Ghost of Decisions past, rattling at Daddy’s window. If triple-X doesn’t do something fast, Daddy could be in danger! Quickly, our protagonist…
transient and disconnected group of folks who live here…? I never think of it as a neighborhood…
Although we are certainly below the tend line, I think the market is going to over correct before stabilizing. Cook County unemployment hit a bottom in October 2006 at 3.9%. The most recent unemployment rate (July 2009) is 11%, which is 50 bsp improvement over the prior month (http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&idim=county:CN170310&q=unemployment+rate+cook+county). Recall, however, that the unemployment rate does not count discouraged works who have stopped looking, or people that are underemployed. The real unemployment rate is much higher.
Additionally, consumer spending is down +33% since 2008 (http://www.gallup.com/poll/122546/boomers-spending-generations-down-sharply.aspx), and real median household incomes are down. I would expect a slow growth recovery in real estate, which won’t mirror the stock market rebound.
So, although we have seen several positive indicators that we are near the bottom, we clearly have a long way to go. We will know that the bottom is hit when inventories clear and developers start building again. Of course, by then, most of the best opportunities will be gone.
Buying a house is not a short term investment. Given the number of opportunities compared to historical prices, if you’re ready to own a house/condo (family, job security, down payment), there isn’t much reason to try and perfectly time the market.
“That story was annoying”
i agree, it is annoying to see over and over people planning to have kids pay over 500k on a 2/2 and then try to sell a few years later for 600k so they can flee to the burbs.
nice place though 🙂 would like to rent there for a year
I think this couple has 2 kids – they have crib and a bed in the kids room! I am surprised they haven’t moved earlier.
Nice flat and buiding, but location is so-so. May be someone who works at Prudential Plaza or AON Center will buy it?:)
“Nice flat and buiding, but location is so-so. May be someone who works at Prudential Plaza or AON Center will buy it?:)”
Or someone from Indiana looking for the in-town place, given it’s convenient location to the South Shore line.
(hehe)
I recently bought a unit in this building, exact same layout as this one but on the NW corner with sweeping view of Navy Pier, LSD and the river, for 450K. The ceiling is medium height, not much different than the newer bulidings on LSE though.
One thing I can say is that smaller units in the Chandler and Regatta and Lancasater with crappier views and worse layouts are asking at least 100k more, and in most cases way more than that. The angle of this bulding is pretty good because the view won’t be totally blocked by the new construction, which is the case for Lancaster, whose east facing units are smack right next to the new construction. And the pool on the roof is awesome. It is true thouht that it feels a bit isolated at night compared to areas north of the river, though probably a lot less isolated these days than it was, say, 10 years ago.
Thankfully in the elevator I saw lots of families with school aged children, so not everybody is fleeing for the suburbs, thank god.
“they have crib and a bed in the kids room”
we have a bed in our nursery, not for another kid, for those nights he is up every two hours 🙁 and she wont wake me up getting in and out of our bed.
“Or someone from Indiana looking for the in-town place”
i forget that lakeshore east is “in-town village” and my above rant may not apply to these sellers. it may be their second home. sorry my bad.
There’s more than corn in Indiana! There’s rich people just dying to scoop up lake shore east condos for weekend fun!
“There’s rich people just dying to scoop up lake shore east condos for weekend fun!”
But why would any of the uber-wealthy from NW Indiana want to stoop so low as to take up residence in Lakeshore East? ;D
Know this place well. My parents rented a 2/2 here back in the early 90’s. I think they paid like 1100-1200 a month. It went condo and they left.
The one bad thing I remember about the place was it seemed as though air circulated from unit to unit somehow. I had siblings who would stay off and on there and it seemed like everyone was sick all of the time. Everyone’s health improved when they left.
I was living in a basement elsewhere just scraping by but just as healthy as could be. 🙂 I would comment on them being sick all of the time and they would point to the vents.
‘The one bad thing I remember about the place was it seemed as though air circulated from unit to unit somehow’
how does that happen? any architect/engineer here can explain? or should I be stocking up on Tylenol/Advil in preparation for flu season?
I viewed an apartment in this building recently. Good building maintenance and awesome pool, deck, patio, and tennis court. If it wasn’t so far, I would have rented here. Great views
Um … 539K for a 2/2, and a POS at that, with $700 assessments?
What am I missing?
“Or someone from Indiana looking for the in-town place, given it’s convenient location to the South Shore line.”
I know someone who lives in NW IN (Gary, no less) with an in-town in LE. They don’t ride the South Shore, though.
It is more common for a Chicagoan to have a 2nd home in Gary, however.
“I know someone who lives in NW IN (Gary, no less) with an in-town in LE. They don’t ride the South Shore, though.”
As I suspect you know, the SS part was a joke.
Only slightly off-topic but sort of on the same tangent as the IN homes, etc..
Read the comments by Ann S about summer homes five hours away in Michigan listed in the millions upon millions of dollars…
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/real-homes-of-genius-when-a-127000-down-payment-evaporates-in-santa-monica-living-the-good-life-for-3-years-courtesy-of-easy-debt-in-the-westside/
I like this building and I have showed units in here to a few buyers, and for the most part, they enjoyed the views. In response to Garys comment: “I am going on record that we’ve bottomed” I would love to say I agree with you but I think we got a little ways to go until we hit bottom. We are still going through drastic price reductions and I guess you missed the last article in the Trib about condo sales down. Being an owner of a company in the business, I wish we were at bottom, but I am realistic.