Now “Seriously Committed” To Selling Their Properties: 1550 N. State Pky, 25 E. Superior and 1540 N. Lake Shore Drive
You might have seen the advertisement in the Sunday Chicago Tribune for 3 upper bracket properties being offered by Katherine Chez at Coldwell Banker (she specializes in luxury properties.)
You can see her website here.
The ad states:
“Three incredible listings with sellers seriously committed to selling their property:”
And then it states at the bottom of the ad:
“With traditional marketing methods unreliable in these turbulent times, these sellers continue to lower their prices regularly in an effort to find their market and achieve their sale. Preview these listings online at www.coldwellbankeroline.com or call 312-440-7533. Don’t wait! Call today to schedule a showing.”
Kudos to Ms. Chez for trying another method to get people to look at these upper bracket properties.
One of the properties listed, 1550 N. State Parkway #LIBC, in the historic Benjamin Marshall designed building along Lincoln Park in the Gold Coast, is listed in the ad as being originally listed for $3,999,000. It doesn’t tell you WHEN this unit originally came on the market, however.
But here at Crib Chatter, we like to provide the listing details:
1550 N. State Parkway #LIBC: 4 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, 6000 square feet, 2 parking spaces available next door
- Sold in January 1998 for $2 million
- Originally listed sometime before August 2008 for $3,999,000 (anyone know exactly when?)
- Cancelled
- Re-listed in August 2008 for $3.7 million
- Reduced Sep 23, 2009 to $3,589,000
- Reduced Oct 5, 2009 to $3,481,330
- Currently listed at $3,481,330
- Assessments of $4238 a month (includes heat, doorman, electric, cable)
- Taxes of $13,098
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
Seeing the actual history of the listing brings up a host of questions:
- What does the ad mean? That this seller of 1550 N. State Parkway wasn’t committed over 436 days ago but is now? (i.e. they’ve seen the light?)
- That reducing by $218,670 is “committed” after more than 12 months on the market with no reductions?
- That other sellers at this price point are NOT committed so that’s why they’re not selling?
I hate singling out Ms. Chez’s ad, as, again, I applaud her for trying a new method to sell these upper bracket properties.
On the other two properties listed in the ad, the histories look like the following:
25 E. Superior #4902: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 3700 square feet, 2 car parking
- Sold in September 2004 for $2 million
- Listed in February 2009 for $3.495 million (was it listed prior to February?)
- Reduced on Oct 5, 2009 to $3.395 million
- Currently $3.395 million
- Assessments of $3,175 a month (includes heat, gas, parking, cable, doorman, pool)
- Taxes of $36,192
The last unit to sell for over $3 million in this building was Unit #4800 for $4 million in February 2008.
In the last 5 years, only 6 units over $3 million have sold in the building. The majority of those sales were in 2005.
1540 N. Lake Shore Drive #16S: 2 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, penthouse with 2-story living room and 20 foot cathedral ceilings
- I couldn’t find an original sales price
- Listed on Sep 8, 2009 for $1.75 million (as says it was listed for $2.1 million originally- but when?)
- Reduced on Sep 22, 2009 to $1.7 million
- Reduced on Oct 6, 2009 to $1.65 million
- CASH ONLY building
- Listing says sold “as-is”
- Parking available at 1550 N. Lake Shore Drive for $365 a month
1550 N. State Parkway, Unit LIBC: See the pictures and virtual tour here.
25 E. Superior #4902: See the pictures and virtual tour here.
1540 N. Lake Shore Drive #16S: See the listing here– no pictures of the fabulous sounding 2-story living room, unfortunately.
“Currently listed at $3,481,330”
What a strange price… why not put exactly how many cents it would be on there too!
“Assessments of $4238 a month (includes heat, doorman, electric, cable)”
wow! I guess when you’re throwing down 3.4 million on a marginal place another $4200 a month isn’t really a big deal… but WOW those assessments are huge!
wholy assesments batman. looking at those monthly assesemnts has me thinking i took a wrong career move somewhere or i married into the wrong family.
like sabrina said, its a good marketing idea, but the sellers really dont seem that motivated after looking at the data sabrina provided.
really 4k a month for ass fee?
Its places like this why I don’t even bother looking at properties in GC or RN. The ridonkulousity of listings like this keeps me away.
2005 had alot of credit rich people so I hope high end realtors aren’t comparing 05 to 09. How many people are actually real, liquid rich and can afford to buy these places without needing a highly leveraged loan? Assuming hell freezes over next thursday and I can afford to spend 4M on a place, I would purchase one of the Mansions on the park, build it to my exact liking and get to use Walton on the Park’s amenities for free. The 4k I save in assessment each month could go towards my 24/7 staff.
the assessments are quite high, but when I went to look at comps between 3-4 million, the taxes were low in comparison, from about 7-15K lower. There was one co-op with taxes at 74K. Dear god. Assessments are about 500-1500 higher than most other units listed. For what it’s worth.
the assessments are quite high, but when I went to look at comps between 3-4 million, the taxes were low in comparison, from about 7-15K lower. Assessments are about 500-1500 higher than most other units listed. For what it’s worth.
The penthouse on Superior looks like a furniture store, and I fucking love it. Like, enough to put up with living in the city again.
Here’s some more listing info:
1550 N. State Parkway #LIBC
10/1/2004 for $5,500,000 then $4,999,000 then $4,500,000 cancelled 9/19/2005
5/4/2006 for $4,750,000 then $4,750,000 then $4,200,000 cancelled 10/9/2006
7/23/2007 for $3,999,000 expired 7/22/2008
8/6/2008 for $3,700,000 then $3,589,000 then $3,481,330 active
25 E. Superior #4902
2/29/2008 for $4,200,000 then $3,950,000 then $3,775,000 cancelled 10/10/2008
11/19/2008 for $3,775,000 cancelled 2/18/2009
11/26/2008 listed for rent for $19,000 cancelled 2/23/2009
2/26/2009 for $3,495,000 then $3,395,000 active
1540 N. Lake Shore Drive #16S
10/20/2006 for $2,399,000 then $2,299,000 then $1,999,000 cancelled 10/9/2007
6/11/2008 for $1,900,000 cancelled 9/8/2009
9/8/2009 for $1,750,000 then $1,700,000 then $1,650,000 active
A couple of years ago, would it have been possible to obtain a personal loan, or just refinance another property to pull out equity in order to buy in an “all-cash” building? Otherwise, it’s a bunch of old people or trust fund kids most likely. $4,000+ a month in assessments will only go up each year. Any guess on the average age of the owners in the building?
I’d prefer the Superior place any day.
1- I lived in 25 E Superior and it may be the worst constructed building I have ever seen. Just horrible.
2- I am impressed 3% reductions across the board. Figure if a buyer in this market gets an offer within 10% of offer they should be thrilled so it probably gives them all 7% of wiggle room within their original trigger price. What a bargain, when is the next flight to get me back to Chicago?
The prior sale info for 25 E. Superior #4902 is below. The transfer indicated by Sabrina does not appear to belong to this unit.
Closed 3/22/04 for $1,564,000
Mortgage 10/12/05 for $1,000,000 to Bank Amer
Mortgage 10/12/05 for $500,000 to Bank Amer
I think the prices will have to come down 20-25% to move these properties. Who would the typical buyer be? Is it someone with just a ton of cash sitting around, or someone who has to sell another property that will languish on the market in quasi-perpetuity until they cut that price 20-25%?
I think there’s a typo in this marketing ploy. It should be that the sellers NEED TO BE COMMITTED, not are committed. Good luck with these places!
Anybody else think it’s a bit odd to have 4.5 bathrooms in a 2 bedroom place? Where are all your tinklers sleeping? Or do you just invite people over to use the restrooms…
25 E Superior:
“325 degrees of exposure”
So, it’s a full floor minus one small unit, or what? I hate lies about degrees of view–hotels are horrible about it too–270 deg. means you have direct views thru 3 cardinal directions. 325 deg means you have views in all 4 cardinal directions, with a less than 45 deg gap–even if the gap is (say) centered on due south, in order to see South 17.5 deg East and West, you’d be able to see south, too.
Counting what you can see if you press your nose against the glass–or lean out over your terrace railing–doesn’t count.
“Anybody else think it’s a bit odd to have 4.5 bathrooms in a 2 bedroom place?”
I remember a house in NorCal that was 2 BR and 7 or 8 baths (mostly halfs, but still) and over 12,000 SF. So there are odd people about.
I’d guess it had more bedrooms, and the Baths didn’t get de-plumbed in whatever reno enlarged the rooms.
You can sleep in a bathroom but you can’t poop in a bedroom!
Sabrina is starting to get as cheeky as those who read her blog! I like it.
“I remember a house in NorCal that was 2 BR and 7 or 8 baths (mostly halfs, but still) and over 12,000 SF. So there are odd people about.”
For some reason, the “when you’ve got to go. go. go.” commercial just popped into my head. But that’s 12,000 SF. Shouldn’t need 5 bathrooms in this place.
What’s the name of 25 E Superior (if there is one)? I’m trying to find out if I’ve ever looked in it.
^^ I think it’s The Fordham
Is this the building with a strange crossover level?
Ughh. The high end sellers of ’09 remind me of the low/mid sellers of ’07/’08. Chaaaasing the market down. They should be discounting these properties to the 2004-2005 price if they hope to sell. I think all of these need at least another 500K off.
For example, I believe 25 E Superior will not find any bidders until it drops to 2.5MM.
since Daley closed down Meigs Field; if your place is 2M plus, it has to come with helicopter pad. Traffics for chumps.
Another thing about the Fordham, 25 E. Superior, is they just got done with a whopping special assessment (very unusual for an almost new building) due to concrete chunks of facade deteriorating, which required a costly reformation and paint job.
Hate what was done to that unit at 1550 N. State. Why drop the ceilings in this place? The whole feel of the unit was wrecked by the contemporary rehab and it would be really expensive and difficult to restore the place to its original appearance.
The Fordham (25 E. Superior) was be spectacularly badly built for chunks of concrete to be falling already. That place went up maybe 10 years ago.
desteve… I always commented here about the facade of the Fordam… now wait for having to deal with the water problems internally. there was always water everywhere in that building. Used to pour down the pipes by the service elevator and the roof would flood every rain. apartment finishings always looked super cheap to me also. I think the shortcuts in construction were everywhere.
Would love if you had more info on the special assessments, it was something i wondered about for years.
Ze:
I looked at a 2/2 last year that ultimately sold for $100k less than its prior sale a year earlier. The special assessment for that unit was $7k. Keep in mind that’s only so you don’t get klonked on the head from a piece of concrete as you are greeted by the door staff…..
Not commenting on the method of selling these expensive properties, but Katherine Chez is a very amazing realtor and woman overall. Just read up on her in her new profile in Today’s Chicago Woman after meeting her the other day, where she was showing her abysmally-low (joke) $575k property (1100 N Lake Shore Dr).
http://www.tcwmag.com/Interviews/Katherine-Chez.aspx
I bet that they are serioulsy committed to getting these huge overpriced homes with major assesments off thier checking accounts.
Does serioulsy committed to selling make anyone else think bring your lowball offers?