Love Mid-Century Modern? Then This 3-Bedroom at 860 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast is for You
This 3-bedroom at 860 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast just came on the market.
This is one of the Mies Van Der Rohe buildings that sit alongside Lake Michigan and the Drive.
Built in 1951, it has 96 units.
This is the co-op building.
This unit has north and west views (with some lake views) and has had a gut renovation.
It has cork floors throughout and floor-to-ceiling windows common in these buildings.
The kitchen has modern white cabinets, but no upper cabinets. It also has stainless steel counter tops and a Onyx wall.
The refrigerator appears to be the smaller drawer units tucked near the dishwasher.
The bathrooms have also been renovated and have porcelain Carrara tile.
The master bedroom has a walk-in closet and a master bath.
Because this is a co-op, the property taxes are included in the assessment. Additionally, the assessment includes everything except your phone including electricity, cable, Internet, heat and air conditioning.
Parking is available for $50,000 extra.
There’s no in-unit washer/dryer but there is coin laundry in the building.
With the popularity of West Elm and Design Within Reach, are the Mies buildings hotter than ever?
Shaun Moskalik at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #19J: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1600 square feet
- Sold in April 2012 for $225,000 (according to Redfin. This was a “bring your contractor” sale where the unit had been “gutted to the studs” already.)
- Currently listed for $549,900 (plus $50,000 for parking)
- Assessments of $2248 a month (includes property taxes, parking, heat, air conditioning, electricity, cable, Internet, doorman, exercise room, on-site management M-F, snow removal, exterior maintenance). In 2012, according to the prior listing, assessments were $1947 a month.
- Taxes included in assessments
- Central Air
- No washer/dryer in the unit. Coin laundry in the building
- Bedroom #1: 17×11
- Bedroom #2: 12×9
- Bedroom #3: 14×11
What a fabulous unit. I normally hate post war architecture, but Mies is Mies. Only problem is the ceilings are too low. Otherwise tastefully designed with great space and outlook. The buyer will get a valuable piece of history.
Bonus is the building is a co-op, a class of housing Chicago needs much more of. Co-op boards can much more easily keep the riffraff out.
“Only problem is the ceilings are too low.”
To me, no washer and dryer is a deal breaker. It baffles me that people will spend over a half million dollars on a home and then throw their clothes into the same washer and dryer as their neighbors.
With that assessment, no w/d, no outdoor space and 50K parking, I personally see very little value here. Plus Mies is just a tad boring.
One of my best friends lives in this building. I can’t imagine ever living here myself.
-No dogs allowed – This is the biggest reason I could never live here.
-No in-unit washer/dryer allowed. Although, my friend secretly has a portable washing machine from the 1960s.
-Central air conditioning that can’t be replaced. You’ll notice some units have these weird window air conditioners. That’s because the central air conditioner, that lives in a closet, is so old that they don’t make replacements. It’s kind of cool to have the central AC in a closet, but you have to maintain the units diligently
-Perverted parking attendant. There’s one valet in this building who hits on women when they are alone in the parking lot with him. He is the night shift guy, so whenever I leave my friend has to come down with me. When complaints were made, they went ignored because “everyone loves him.” Sure, I used to think he was great until he cornered me when I was alone. I guess the board thinks it’s OK that he’s mostly a nice guy.
-Lazy parking attendant. The guy who is there on weekend evenings is lazy to the point where I feel like bursting into angry tears. Damn it. Your job is to simply hand a parking slip to guests. You can move faster than a sloth.
I love the cork flooring, but otherwise this unit doesn’t do it for me.
Does the half drawer fridge bother anyone else? Maybe in a 1 bed… but in a 3 bedroom!?
I love Mid-Century modern. But for 2247 a month, I think I’d need something by Le Corbusier.
The best part of this building is that there are only 4 apartments per floor and there’s no garbage chute. Each of the units has a little alcove type space where you put your garbage and a man comes at night to pick it up. My friend’s brother moved into the sister building, 880, and it’s like a different world. They don’t have those little alcoves and there are a ton of apartments on each floor.
The assessments don’t seem that high to me given that they include property tax and all utilities. Of the $2247 each month, I’m guessing that that the very least $700 of that goes towards property tax.
I cannot get over how high the assessments are and you still pay for doing your laundry in a common laundry facility?
That kitchen is close to perfect – – needs a new DW though. Also, swamp out the fridge and freezer for panel front versions – – same with the DW, and hide them. That would really make this kitchen sing.
Otherwise a lovely unit and fantastic location, but just too expensive (Price + Assmts) for what you get.
*swap*
Seems like absolutely no privacy. Every window faces another unit in another building only some feet away. Not much point to all the windows if the curtains need to be drawn most of the time – unless you like living in a fishbowl and being watched.
It’s like Rear Window X 1,000!!!!!
Jan Terri could watch everybody AND have band practice!!!!
GO CUBBIES!!!
Totally unrelated, but when I was a kid and my parents would drive down lakeshore drive, I was in love with these builings. Even as a kid I thought there was something “cool” about them. Fast forward to when I was renting as a grad student – I had friends who lived here and was really disappointed with most units I saw..even updated – the ceilings felt low and it felt a bit “dark”.
The assessments are high but remember they include taxes – that’s probably what, 8 grand a year?
PS I meant to add, I love the unit. The floors are cool and they have it furnished well.
I would strip out the track lights and add cans, change the light fixtures in the bathroom. Other than that it’s a cool unit.
I bet someone bites around 499.
‘No dogs’ is a huge bonus for people like me, who can’t stand the barking, the smell and the shit that covers the common elements outside. Nothing worse than being slobbered on by a labrador in the lift.
There are more of us out there than people think.
Assessments seem high but they’re all inclusive. 700 for taxes, 350 (or more) for utilities, 100 for the telly and internet. A thousand bucks or so for 1600 sq ft in a fully staffed old landmark like this ain’t too bad.
Plus, co-ops have a nice, proactive approach towards putting a lid on bad behavior.
I’d pay 500k for this if I was in the market for a home.
“I would strip out the track lights and add cans”
my guess is that the ceilings are concrete with a skim coat therefore you would have to drop the ceiling to add recessed lights.
I agree with connectedspace, dogs are disgusting. They eat shit and smell like it.
Tone, what do you think of human babies?
I also consider “no dogs” a huge advantage. My old condo building had no weight restrictions on dogs. Never again.
Respectful of another time, residents are diligent about preserving what is great architecture. Unfortunately no amenities anywhere to be found. I recently looked at unit, which I liked but appalled by lack of any amenities with such high assessments. Fun to look at but seems like a life style stuck in the past.
I’m with Jenny, I would never consider living anywhere with a no dogs rule, or even a weight limit.
jenny, I don’t like infants much, but still better than dogs. Very happy infancy doesn’t last long. My kids are well passed that, love kids.
I dislike everything about human babies except that they grow up. If buildings could legally ban babies and children, I would be among the first to move into a no-kids building.
Me too!
“It baffles me that people will spend over a half million dollars on a home and then throw their clothes into the same washer and dryer as their neighbors.” I guess Jon never sends out his shirts or has anything dry cleaned where his clothes are actually commingled with those of strangers.
“and (at 880) there are a ton of apartments on each floor”. So 8 units per floor (8 max – 2 min) is a ton, Jenny?
“Central air conditioning that can’t be replaced. You’ll notice some units have these weird window air conditioners. That’s because the central air conditioner, that lives in a closet, is so old that they don’t make replacements”. So no true, Jenny. No prohibition on replacing the old water cooled AC units (grandfathered by both the City and the Coop Board). The “weird” window units are due to the fact that the City banned any new water cooled units in the ’70’s and central AC was not as prevalent then or in the ’40’s as it is today.
Gheesh.
I know this is an old thread, but I can’t resist.
““I would strip out the track lights and add cans”
my guess is that the ceilings are concrete with a skim coat therefore you would have to drop the ceiling to add recessed lights.”
It’s likely to be a waffle slab which may allow recessed lighting (the Promontory in Hyde Park, built just before, has that system and I think these do as well). I just came across a Porsche designed LED downlight that has 1″ thick housing above the drywall/plaster so one could just add a bit of furring and drywall in a slab condition and have recessed lighting.
Canceled and relisted for $525,000
FG- It is a dropped/suspended plaster ceiling below concrete on metal deck. I don’t know of any waffle slab residential buildings from the 1940’s. There is no reason that recessed cans could not be used, just that they would have to be fire-rated. There is no asbestos or other protective material on the steel deck and beams, and thus the gypsum ceiling is the fire resistive membrane. The rated cans do come at a slight premium, or perhaps this owner wanted the flexibility. If you go to the the buildings website you will see plenty of recessed cans in many of the units.