No New Owner Yet for Massive Gold Coast Terrace Unit: 220 E. Walton
We last chattered about this 3-bedroom gold coast unit at 220 E. Walton in the Gold Coast with a massive 2145 square foot terrace that has lake views in August 2008.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
It is still available and has been reduced another $250,000.
“Creative owner financing” is available.
The listing says it’s the first time the unit has ever been on the market. The building was built in 1919.
It also has a private elevator entrance with a private vestible.
Mary Bennett at Koenig & Strey still has the listing. See the pictures here.
220 E. Walton #11E: 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4500 square feet (2145 of it is the terrace)
- I couldn’t find any original sales price
- Was listed in October 2007 at $3.25 million
- Reduced
- Was listed in August 2008 at $2.9 million (no parking)
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $2.65 million (no parking)
- Taxes of $25,192
- Assessments of $3,624 a month
- Central Air
LOVE IT
Now this is a penthouse
I would rather have half the terrace and a couple parking spots.
Sweet! A huge terrace in a climate with 10 months of winter!
Insanity.
$68,680 per year in taxes and assessments. Yowzas.
That’s a pretty pimptastic pad, if you’re 80 years old…
Bob couldnt even afford to live here for a day. lol
Liberace anyone? Maybe Versace?
Creative owner financing?
this unit has some character but the interior would need to get rid of the grandpa/grandma look. At least modernize a bit.
I am wondering: does the terrace half-wall block the view and the light for the inside? It’s hard to see on the photos. I was told that the terrace used to be glassed off and turned into a conservatory. Has anyone been inside and can tell whether this is an airy, light place? I don’t have time to see all interesting properties, alas. But seems interesting, no? Though I don’t understand absurdly high assessments — what’s that about?
Great proportions. A price closer to 2 million would be more realistic considering the need for some anticipated “modernization” in the poper way for the kitchen and baths no doubt. I hope a new owner respects the space.
Needs more flamethrower.
Dare I say that this place is Gold Coast old money… literally. The owner probably will carry a second mortgage for a qualified buyer given how hard jumbo financing is for a property in this price range.
I bet it smells like mothballs
WANT.
I love this place. Maybe in some future life I’ll be able to afford it.
Looks like a great deal for the new price. Just needs some redecoration and maybe new kitchens and baths- though I’d hesitate to redo a really exceptional antique bath.
Trouble for this place is, it needs a really wealthy person to carry it, and Really Rich People are in short supply relative to the number of dwellings available in upper price brackets these days. If you need to be financed at all to buy this place, maybe you can’t afford it. I know an old Lake Forest real estate man who told me that in the pre-EZ money days, you had to have at least a 50% down payment to buy a place like this, and many of these expensive old buildings required all cash.
Laura, most of the co-op buildings in the area have those stipulations still. Those large vintage co-ops along east Lake Shore near the Drake are pretty much all cash buildings, and run multiple millions of dollars. They are for “old money” pretty much.
Yea, JC, I know those buildings well, and they are all cash buildings, the really expensive ones in particular. Most well-off people couldn’t afford to live in these places if they got them as tax-free gifts, because of the maintenance and taxes.
Additionally, they want your financial history going back 20 years before they approve you, and approval usually takes unanimous board approval- one person can blackball you.
If you have to finance, you really can’t afford the place, and you never want to have to sell it- real bitch to find a buyer who qualifies.
It would be interesting to see someone on crib chatter with a knowledge of the requirements for some of these buildings and an insight into how strict these boards are. Clealry, this is not new york, and none of these buildings are going to have the mystique (or the board requirements) of a 740 park but there has to be some interesting history and ridiculous stories about 199 and 209 e lake shore as well as 2450 lakeview.
I don’t think they can get financial data back that far as personal bankruptcies aren’t even recorded on your credit record a decade later.
It’s not so much old money as having money and being old. Plenty of wealthy doctors, lawyers, former small business owners, etc. The interest on CDs is more than enough to cover the ongoing expenses. There are plenty of retired people out there who made a killing in their 40’s and 50’s when they were at the top of their game in their respective professions and saved, saved and saved. Now they’re sitting on a ton of cash and paying high assessments doesn’t matter. You probably wouldn’t even recognize most of the names of people in these buildings.
You’d have to spend another million redoing this craphole to take it out of the 17th century. Which is probably when the owners were born.
Regarding the requirements for getting accepted into a coop, every building has it’s own set of criteria, depending on who is now and who has been on the co-op board and who has established the rules. I have not personally tried to interview for a coop here in Chicago, but I do have some knowledge of the process in a few of NYC’s better co-op buildings.
My grandparents live in the penthouse level triplex in a rather exclusive coop building on Park Avenue. My grandfather is President of their board and has been for as long as I can remember, as the apartment (it started life as a simplex) has been in our family since it was built at the turn of the century.
Their current board requires seven years of verifiable and notarized finanical statements from a CPA employed by a wealth management firm, or a well placed financial institution. These statements contain in depth information of all financial activity of the applicant including assets and income (usually around 10 X the asking price of the unit they are interested in) and it’s source, all other RE and business holdings and their transactions, credit history…. basically every aspect of their finances are open to scrutiny.
No past bankruptcies are allowed nor are any or past current leins. If applicant was recently divorced (frowned upon) the settlement of such divorce must be disclosed to prevent any ‘unwanted legal actions’ which may affect the building’s reputation. Someone like any extended member of the Madoff family would have their application trashed immediately.
Employment verification (if employed, which most are not), outstanding credit, professional and personal character reference letters are required. Of course those personal character references written by present residents carry the most influence.
There also has to be full disclosure of the financing process that will be used for purchase of the unit or a letter from the buyer’s bank which verifies the availability of funds to purchase the place outright. Also besides hinting at your massive investment portfolio during the interview, which is very formal and very discreet, name dropping and personal stories involving said names are impressive as well.
I think I remember my gramps mentioning over his life only 8 units have changed hands as the units usually stay in the family and are passed down to the heirs. Even when this happens, the heirs must undergo an interview. which in some cases have been more demanding than if an ‘outsider’ were to try and buy a unit. It is a very demanding process and the higher the asking price of the property, the harder it is to gain entrance into this rarified world.
I remember the first time I tried to buy in a coop, although it was not an exclusive building, it was a hard interview and I was simply too ‘informal’ in my responses to be accepted. I learned from that meeting and was never denied again. But then, I always carried a personal reference letter written by my grandparents…and that always did the job!!
1/10 listed at $2.65M currently active
1/09 listed $2.9M reduced to $2.65M expired 1/10
6/07 listed $3.25M reduced to $2.9M expired 1/09
Still “NEVER BEFORE ON MARKET!” after 942 days on the market.