Looking For 8 Bedrooms and 7 Baths With Lake Views? 3400 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview
This 7000 square foot unit in 3400 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview came on the market in April 2012.
It looks to be 3 separate units that are being sold as one large unit. The listing says: “Combine three contiguous apartments into the original fabulous floorplan or redesign according to your personal needs and tastes.”
Combined- it has 8 bedrooms and 7 baths.
The unit also has lake views with french outdoor balconies.
It has the high ceilings and vintage detailing that was common in 1922.
But it also has modern amenities of central air, washer/dryer in the unit and 3 car parking.
What kind of buyer would be interested in a unit of this size and location?
Would the seller be better off just selling it as three different units?
Bard Lippitz at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #1ABC: 8 bedrooms, 7 baths, 7000 square feet, 3 car parking
- Unit #1A last sold in March 2011 for $507,000
- Unit #1B last sold in September 1997 for $427,000
- Unit #1C last sold in July 2004 for $569,000
- Originally listed in April 2012 for $1.795 million
- Currently still listed at $1.795 million
- Assessments of $5583 a month (includes heat, doorman, cable)
- Taxes of $37,475
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer
Great view of LSD.
I love this place. These are beautiful apartments, but I think the seller will have to sell them separately. It would take a massive amount of money in architect’s fees and construction to make these work really well as one unit. You might have to spend another $1.7 M to do it well. That means $3.4 million, for a neighborhood that, while it is a great nabe, is not quite as prime as downtown or the near north side, or Lincoln Park. If someone is going to spend this kind of money, it will more likely be in those neighborhoods.
It reads like two of these units have three beds and three baths, and one has two beds and one bath. Or maybe there’s a 3/2, a 3/3, and a 2/2. I’m only guessing. I don’t think even a 3/3 would sell for over $500K, given how other large vintages in this area are selling. But it would be easier, I’d think, to find buyers for those units than for all three that will need so much work to become one unit.
Given the bath that Oprah is taking on her place at 199 N Lakeshore, which she spent $5.6 M on and is offering for less than $2M, I think it’s unlikely that anyone is going to want to spend either $1.7M for all three of these units together, or $500-$600K for them separately.
Interesting post.
Excuse me… I meant to say that Oprah’s place is on the market for less than THREE million. She went down to $3.4 M and then to $2.9 M, sorry.
man oh man (OH MAN!) is that a monster assessment.
$100K/year in assessments and taxes for a first floor place on 3400 N LakeShore?
i don’t even know how to respond.
this listing is eff’d.
This listing would be a lot more interesting if the units were already combined. I don’t think the sum of these units is worth more than the individual units. If we assume each one is worth about 500k individually, then at nearly 1.8mil this place is over priced by about $300k. Then, you’d have to spent a huge amount of money to actually convert these units into one large condo. I just don’t think this neighborhood supports this caliber of unit, with its carrying costs. Perhaps ESLD, but not here.
maybe they’ll get lucky and find: a New Yorker, with a lot of kids, who wants to be close to the Lake but near the kids’ school in Lakeview, but wants the “security” of a larger building (rather than a house), likes vintage charm, and doesn’t want to be higher than the first floor, and who can afford the $100K annual maint & tax, prefers to spec their own renovation, etc. (call this a “unicorn buyer”). Hey–it only takes 1 buyer! (no, I don’t really think they will find such a person)
This has always been my fantasy building – but WOW on those assessments. I want some idiot with money to burn to buy this, do the renovations, and then do a magazine spread so I can see how it turns out.
“maybe they’ll get lucky and find: a New Yorker, with a lot of kids, who wants to be close to the Lake but near the kids’ school in Lakeview, but wants the “security” of a larger building (rather than a house), likes vintage charm, and doesn’t want to be higher than the first floor, and who can afford the $100K annual maint & tax, prefers to spec their own renovation, etc. (call this a “unicorn buyer”). Hey–it only takes 1 buyer! (no, I don’t really think they will find such a person)”
JAH – if it were two floors up, it would be perfect for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie!
This is a listing looking for the nearly-nonexistent “black swan” – did I get that expression right?
stunning apartments, but yeah, way too rich for my blood re: the assessments and taxes. for that much cash I want a live-in butler, not a doorman.
The problem is actually having enough money left over after the down payment to be able to afford the renovations. I can imagine how nice a place would look “if only” I could afford to fix it up. I hate how on shows like House Hunters, they say things like, “This one is under budget so you can afford to fix it up.” If the person was paying cash, that would be true, but not if the deal is being financed. After I bought my place, I didn’t have much left over except for an emergency stash. I certainly didn’t have the money to re-do one of the bathrooms. Even if my place had cost $50k less, it wasn’t as though that $50k was going to be sitting in my bank. With 20% down, that would have left only $10k extra in my account….certainly not enough to do much renovating.
In short, if you buy a move in ready home, you’re able to finance the updates in a sense. I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking out a loan for renovations outside of my mortgage. For someone with more money, buying a fixer upper makes sense, but not for the majority of people.
Oops. I meant to post that in the other thread.
What does the current owner do with the three units? Are they rented out? Seems like an odd thing to buy one unit in 1997 and then wait 14 years to gain the other two units to not bother combining them. Even combined and renovated at $1.8 million, who would need 7 baths and want to be on the first floor? I assume some of the bedrooms would be combined into other rooms as one unit, but you’d most likely still have more than enough baths to please even Jenny but still be stuck looking at the traffic on LSD rather than the lake itself.
This is one odd listing. When do you predict the seller will actually sell the place, and as one unit or three or do you see it eventually becoming a bank-owned asset or somewhat similar?
First floor? They’ve got to be kidding. If I’m on Lake Shore, I want a lake view!
First floor location would surely be a deal-killer for me. I hate living on the ground floor or below grade.
Architect – Did you know that the “Black Swan” was often used as a discreet decoration on businesses that were “friendly” to the residents of this neighborhood which is sometimes called “Boys Town?”
Trivia Time: I believe Jack Brickhouse and/or Irv Kupcinet used to live here.
I saw another unit in this building several years ago: classic “vintage Chicago upper-middle-class atmosphere” with crown moldings, spacious rooms, large windows et al. How big is that kind of market nowadays?
sorry why should someone have to pay for someone else failed idea of combining these first floor unit?
[Laura Louzader] ” I don’t think even a 3/3 would sell for over $500K, given how other large vintages in this area are selling.”
Unit #1E, 2 bed 2 bath sold in December for $760K http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3400-N-Lake-Shore-Dr-60657/unit-1E/home/13376701
Look at the sales history for this building… almost everything has fetched big numbers compared to the rest of the neighborhood.
A 7000sqft 8/7 (not that these numbers matter if you are going to gut the space to the exterior walls anyway) first floor condo just doesn’t make any sense at this location. The seller would be better off selling them as a bundle as 3 separate places… like a 3 flat building. However, bundling usually means a discount, and this price is not a discount. At what price would it makes sense to buy these as investment properties, or at least live in one and rent out 2?
Just to be clear here, this appears to be on the 2nd floor, even though the numbers begin in “1”. Must be like European style–where the 1st floor is the level above the lobby/ground floor. The balcony’s and view of tree branches help establish that (no balcony’s on ground floor).
That said, I agree that this won’t provide a great lake view (I don’t remember how wide the park is at 3400 north), but will provide all the fun of being right on LSD.
Why are they selling now? You have to keep buying for dollar cost averaging to really work for you.
[Laura Louzader] “First floor location would surely be a deal-killer for me. I hate living on the ground floor or below grade.”
But its not the ground floor, or below grade. The first floor in this building is a solid 12-15 feet above street level.
The listing agent has it right. “Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” ….. to screw yourself by purchasing this unit at a sale price anywhere near the ask.
“Unit #1E, 2 bed 2 bath sold in December for $760K http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3400-N-Lake-Shore-Dr-60657/unit-1E/home/13376701”
Why didn’t this seller buy 1E when it was on the market in 2008? Then they could have had a 9300 sq. ft. unit with 10 bedrooms and 9 baths! So what if there is a common element hallway in middle of the unit? It wouldn’t be any more goofy than the listing is now….
Even I think 7 bathrooms is more than enough. Maybe the new owner could turn the units into a B&B. I’m sure the association would love that.
An elevated first floor is good. I didn’t know this was an high first floor.
dude, if indeed a 2/2 sold for $760K in December, it would make a lot more sense for the owner to sell these units separately. Why sell them all as a package for $1.7M if you could get about $700-800K separately.
Nobody passes up $300-700K that he could easily get with slightly more effort and only a few months more time. So I have to believe that the owner perceived difficulties in fetching more than $550K a unit.
A friend of mine lives in this building on a higher floor. They have 3 units combined into a single giant unit. It is on a higher floor so naturally that alone makes a huge difference. But the layout in their unit is spectaular! It was surprisingly livable and totally amazing for entertaining large parties. There were so many amazing rooms it felt a little like the house in “Clue” the movie. This is an awesome building, but the first floor thing is a buzzkill for me personally.
What the holy hell kind of “offer” is this? On a high floor MAYBE. And that it a hot second MAYBE.
Nope nope and nope. There are spacious rentals on this block (with the same kitchens!) with Lake views for far less. This is going nowhere.
“Even I think 7 bathrooms is more than enough.”
Jenny, I love you so much it hurts. LOL! Toilet Talk next year, Sabrina. I yearn for it.
Theis building was 1 unit per floor when originally constructed and was home to some of the more prominent Jewish families of Chicago. After WWII is gradually became divided into smaller rental units. I lived in the building in the late 70s/early 80s in a quite grand unit that was formally the kitchen, breakfast room/sun room and 3 servents rooms/baths. The developer made a great move in the late 80s adding a “parking garage” to the west to increase available spaces. Some of the condo units are quite awkward but all had some vintage detail remaining. The building is well-maintained and the assessments support what the owners likely want. The sale prices generally remain solid. The location is quite nice on the harbor and the local public grade and private schools are very desirable.That said, to restore the units into one would take someone with excessive cash as it would not appraise out at the cost spent. It seems as though, as stated above, that the Gold Coast or LP have equally beautiful and most cost-effective properties.
This is at least a second-floor unit. If you look at the exterior photo, you’ll see that the first floor corner (no balcony) is elevated a couple feet above street level but certainly not 12-15 feet. (I live next door & from the sidewalk you can see into the first floor windows without craning your neck.) Higher floors have balconies.
“Irv Kupcinet used to live here”
This area kinda reminds me of the Upper West side in NYC. I could see this building back in the day, with the Sidney and Marshall Korshak-crowd concocting various schemes, or it’s also reminiscent of the Jack Klugman/Odd Couple building.
“Theis building was 1 unit per floor when originally constructed and was home to some of the more prominent Jewish families of Chicago.”
Only the front units – there are multiple tiers, but the front units are between 1/3 and 1/2 bigger than the side tiers along the side street.
Personally I don’t know what Laura is talking about. This building has way more cache and charm than half the buildings in Lincoln park, and people who are actually from Chicago know that Lakeview is a hotter neighborhood to live in than 199 N LSD. Are there statistics on the population of where Orthodox Jewish live in Chicagoland? I know this area is very strong and a hot neighborhood for them.
Are there any specials? They just replaced their entire HVAC system on the roof a few months ago and that looked expensive.