“Mini Condos @ Mini Prices” Are Being Listed Again: 1140 N. LaSalle in the Gold Coast
This studio in The Flats on LaSalle at 1140 N. LaSalle in the Gold Coast just came on the market.
The building was constructed in 1924 as a luxury hotel. All of the units are either small one bedrooms or studios. There is no parking.
And there are no washer/dryers in the units as there is no space for them.
Long time housing market watchers will remember this building from its former ads during the boom describing the conversion as “Mini Condos @ Mini Prices”. They also gave away Mini Coopers at one point as a promotion.
This studio is just 281 square feet.
The main living spaces is 15×11 and is carpeted.
The kitchen is a Pullman kitchen with a stainless steel refrigerator and stove.
There is window units for air conditioning.
The building has a doorman.
The listing says the “Lincoln Park Zoo and the Lake” are a half a mile away.
With all the new construction going up in the area, and therefore producing a LOT of competition for renters, would you buy in this building as an investor?
Zack Ivanovic at The Building Group has the listing. See the pictures here.
1140 N. LaSalle: studio, 281 square feet
- Sold in June 2010 for $83,000
- Currently listed for $85,000
- Assessment of $269 a month (includes heat, water, gas, cable, doorman)
- Taxes of $803
- Window unit air conditioning
- No washer/dryer in the unit
- No parking
- Studio: 15×11
These were awful! HAHA
It could be used as an Airbnb rental or as a prostitute’s workplace, but that’s about it.
I think a little renovation goes a long way here. What is awful is the pathetic pictures the realtor took.
The description begins: “Large Gold Coast studio”. What is the threshold for “large”? 250 sq. ft. ???? Room for a twin bed AND a bistro table?
Do they really get $1200 per month in this place (http://www.flatsonlasalle.com/availability)? The assessments are high but include everything but electric. The cap rate isn’t bad if you get them down a little and pay cash.
Al – My ex girlfriend lived in this building in 08-09 and she paid $1100 for a litter box like this, so $1200 now seems fair. Hallways were dimly lit by fluorescent lights and the walls were paper thin; you could hear everything from fornication to a flatulence. You just never felt like you had any privacy. The residents were not of high standard to put it gently (I’m certain that Jenny’s comment is based more in reality than humor). I’m still wondering why management doesn’t rent these units out by the hour! The area was also horrendous, very high level of transience; though I’m not sure if there still is now. Needless to say it scarred me from ever wanting to live or go out in the Gold Coast.
With the “mini house” movement, I wonder if someone will build some new “mini condos” now. There are probably a bunch of young single people that would be willing to live in 1/2 the space for 1/2 the price. If this building wasn’t as bad as Elliot describes, this would make for a good in-town
is that a full size tub? What is the length of a full size tub?
Chuk – I completely agree. I wish more budget-friendly utilitarian condos with modern amenities (central heat/AC + in unit laundry) were built in GZ locations (or emerging neighborhoods), but developers would laugh because they’d sacrifice margins by not maxing out $ per sq/ft. Demand would be off the charts too and drive costs up unless they were exclusive to primary residence in addition to age/income restrictions. The cost of renting downtown is getting higher but it’s still better (from an opportunity cost standpoint) than owning.
There’s this company called FLATS that is charging ridiculous prices for rental studios in rehabbed buildings and moron hipsters are scooping them up.
This place wouldn’t be a terrible airbnb rental, do a little rehab, put in some marble floors, soundproofing, rehab that little bathroom and you could probably get a hundred bucks a night or more, the location is not great (way better than it used to be, I use the public storage building there often) but its near a lot of good stuff.
Can we just put a bunch of these on the roof?
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/harness-power-wind-and-sunlight-live-eco-friendly-egg-house
“There’s this company called FLATS that is charging ridiculous prices for rental studios in rehabbed buildings and moron hipsters are scooping them up.”
Yeah, JZ took them on and called them out for their crappy buildings and failures to deliver. It was interesting to see that because usually JZ has his nose up the *sses of the “PR”-type real estate promoters.
Yeah yo is like a real estate Tabloid now… If his post isn’t from ‘sponsored post’, he just totally trashes some poor rental agent or landlord, which I guess is sort of a public service? lol
No, you have it backwards. Ususally yo and JZ are paid shills for the “Flats” type PR-manic “trendy” real estate promoters. JZ is usually mesmerized by the PR-show and is like a lapdog. In the case of Flats he actually called them out, instead of being their cuck-mouthpiece which is what we’ve come to expect. It was a rare case of independence for yo.
Wow, it’s older than I remembered but still: http://yochicago.com/flats-chicago-%E2%80%93-proceed-with-caution-renters/32610/
Flats probably told him eff you I’m not paying to use your crap site, so now he bashes them lol
Assuming the HOA allows it, how much would it cost to make this unit more loft style? Stairs with built in storage and a lofted bed. I don’t think the issue is 280 sq ft. It’s more that Chicago hasn’t learned to make small spaces work the way Paris or Manhattan does.
The Tripadvisor gnome called–he wants his place back.
I had an idea for Jenny (or anyone else wanting lots of bathrooms). Buy 3 of these units ($255,000; 840 sq. ft; 3 bathrooms); 4 of these ($340,000; 1120 sq. ft.; 4 bathrooms), etc. I doubt these are easy to combine & might not be easy to find contiguous units, but these seem like a good price.
As the only website in Chicago that has the guts to call out some of the bad landlords and rental services by name, it’s amusing to see gutless snipes like sonies making vicious and baseless charges.
We don’t approach companies like Flats for advertising and wouldn’t allow them to advertise if they approached us.
I’ve been under the impression that the vast majority of units in this building over the years were bought by parents of kids attending the local colleges and using these minu-condis as an alternative to paying for firm rooms.
Dormitory rooms on the campuses, sorry.