Looking for a Big Authentic 1-Bedroom Loft For Under $180K? 1322 S. Wabash in the South Loop
This 1-bedroom loft in the Filmwork Lofts at 1322 S. Wabash in the South Loop has been on the market since March 2011.
In that time, it has been reduced $96,000 to $179,000.
The loft has 11-foot high ceilings and exposed brick.
It also has south and west exposures and a 12×11 “den”.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances.
It has all the amenities that buyers look for including air conditioning, washer/dryer in the unit and deeded parking.
(Yes, that would be the El running right behind the building.)
Is this a deal for the square footage?
Jeanette Gregg at Koenig & Strey Real Living has the listing. See the pictures here (scroll down and click on the virtual tour if you can’t see the pictures on the main page.)
Unit #304: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, den, 1200 square feet
- Sold in June 1995 for $86,500
- Originally listed in March 2011 for $275,000
- Reduced numerous times
- Currently listed at $179,000 (includes the parking)
- Assessments of $243 a month (includes cable)
- Taxes of $1209
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 13×12
- Den: 12×11
Blech. Hate the layout. Hate the mirrors. Also, why are taxes so low?
I wondered about the taxes myself — is it one of those “historic buildings” exemptions? If so, I think that goes away on first resale.
Even with the mirrors and layout, this still seems like a deal to me (as long as you can’t reach out and touch the El from those windows).
my favorite, the diagonal floors… what a stupid trend!
I say diagonal floors have their place and they don’t bother me here. . . but, that wall of mirrors is going to put off some buyers.
Like, perhaps the buyers who just paid $290k for unit 601 in this building.
(Yeah, I know, 601 had a second bath and is not on the L side. . . still, seems like a serious pricing lesson here.)
This is marked as one of my favorites on Redfin. A place I’d really consider if I could get the real story behind those taxes. They seem too low to be true. I think Michael may be right in that they would be reappraised immediately after resale.
I’m torn about the mirrors, they do make the great room appear bigger but they come off as a bit tacky, I’d rather have a wall on which to hang art work.
Ignore the taxes. In the long run they will be 1.5% of the purchase price at current rates. And if it’s a historic building tax break, those are not transferable.
The irony with those tax breaks is that the developer gets the majority of the benefit in the form of a premium on the units. Then when the units sell that premium goes away. Beware the tax benefits.
I don’t know about this being a deal…. It looks like you could practically reach out and touch the El as it goes by…
Mirrors are wonderful – they make me very very happy. Honestly, when you are down, all you have to do is look in the mirror and realize what a beautiful person you are – and you will feel better.
@Gary – I’m a little confused about how property taxes work here. I have my eye on a condo that has reasonable taxes. The listing agent is also using the lower tax as a selling point of the property. If I buy it, then should I expect my taxes to be 1.5 – 2% of my purchase price? I was under the assumption that I would just take over the current amount the current homeowner is paying and it would just increase what ever %age each year. please enlighten me. Thx!
“Honestly, when you are down, all you have to do is look in the mirror and realize what a beautiful person you are – and you will feel better.”
Just don’t look too closely for the plastic surgery scars…
Clio – glad you like the mirrors, though I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. Any thoughts on the price?
Would like to see what the parking space is like, if it’s a tight fit or inconvenient spot. I think this unit has a lot of potential. Does anybody know if the ceilings/subfloors are concrete? The photos seem to indicate concrete but i’ve tried researching Filmworks loft and couldn’t find much.
I think this place is a good deal. Wonder if the association has any reserves… those assessments are low.
BTW, I also think this place is really ugly, but $5K to rip out the mirrors, paint the place, and create some built-ins and break the space up a bit could be money well spent.
They are not kidding when they say “close to trains” are they? Seems like a good-sized 1 bdr. The mirrors don’t do it for me but how hard is it to remove those?
This condo is not 1200 sq feet, it’s 970. Who knew that you could create 200+ sq feet of space by adding a wall of mirrors. I hate it when realtors are overly generous when stating square footage! There should be a law to enforce the accuracy of sq footage in listings.
Correction, its more like 922 sq feet.
Elliot: I’m pretty sure that the parking is good here: a lot adjacent to the building. The building was converted in 1995, before the area became super trendy, so I don’t think the parking spaces are too tight.
This seems like a heck of a deal to me . . .especially for a long term (10+ year) owner.
Clio: you are kidding, right?
Been in this building, and the public space and timber loftiness is great. But this unit is right at El track level, and they are literally outside those windows. That is a deal-breaker.
Parking is uncovered lot, right next to building. Nice when its not snowing or raining.
“my favorite, the diagonal floors… what a stupid trend!”
Sonies- this “trend” was from the 1990s. Many of the loft buildings from that decade have diagonal floors. Just goes to show you what is “in” and “out” as these used to be considered better than regular hardwood.
I am wanting to buy an investment property (cash) price range up to $200,000. Please I need advice. Where to look for listings? Any properties already listed that is a good deal? Looking for something that will rent quickly and will not require to much money on up keeping the unit. I know people on crib chatter are savvy real estate people. All advice and comment will be greatly appreciated.
Whoa. First post on new site!
whew! I thought i was on drugs like in the new harold & kumar movie when they go claymation for a bit.
Some of the parking is inside the building as well. When you take the el past this building you can see a parking lot beside the building and a ramp that goes up to the third or fourth floor maybe and cars parked inside. I’m not sure how big those spaces can be….
WHAT DOES “REPLY” MEAN? DOES YOUR REPLY GO DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON?
No. It creates a threaded response. Like this one.
thanks chuk
You’ll no longer need to cut and paste part of someone’s elses post to “reply” to it. The comment will go right underneath the other post- as chuk’s did.
thanks chuk – that is great because it eliminates needing to copy a comment to which you are responding.
WHAT DOES “CAPS LOCK” MEAN” ITS A BIG IMPOSING BUTTON ON THE LEFT.
The only thing I don’t like about the threaded reply is that it can make it easy to miss a new reply. If someone replies to an earlier post in the thread, their reply will go near the top of the posts where the original post was (I think). Unless it was one of the most recent posts that show up on the right, you will probably never see the reply.
For instance, this reply.
When going into a listing, one will have to look all the way from top to bottom to find any new posts in case any are replies. In the old format, you could just scroll to the bottom and the most recent posts would be there.
The parking lot is kind of tight, the ramp is tight, and those indoor spaces can be very, very tight. None of the parking was well planned. It is a must to check out any spot here carefully.
Still no ignore button yet. Guess we’ll have to continue scanning for clio.
The main part of the bldg shown in the pic above is concrete. The units in the shorter bldg portion not in the pic are timber.
This is the danger of the threaded reply. It is true- in the old format you could just scroll down to the bottom and see the latest posts and not “miss” anything in the thread. Otherwise, things will be missed.
But you all asked for threading!
Let’s see how the site operates over the next few days. It’s new for all of us. Things can be changed. I can get rid of the threading if people decide they hate it. And we can go back to copying peoples comments again.
What about a reply that just provides a link to the quoted post? Similar to the comment feature on curbed.com… it might be an option worth mulling over.
Threading allows one to ignore topic derailments more easily.
Seems reasonable. The only somewhat comparable building that has loft units of this size and similar train noise is 165 N Canal. I prefer the location of 165 Canal better but if you take a look, the prices are still about 100K higher for 1200 sq/ft 1/1 with dens