Old Style Vintage Living in the Heart of Old Town: A 2-Bedroom at 1539 N. Wells
This 2-bedroom in this vintage 4-flat at 1539 N. Wells in Old Town came on the market in April 2019.
Built in 1895, it is one of the few remaining original vintage residential buildings still on this section of Wells Street in Old Town.
This unit is on the third floor and has hardwood floors.
Some of the vintage features remain including what looks like a stained glass window in the front of the unit, pocket doors between the living and dining rooms and a wood burning fireplace.
It also has some vintage moldings, which have been painted white.
The kitchen appears to have wood cabinets and a mix of stainless and black appliances along with exposed brick.
There’s no parking and no central air. It has window a/c units.
It does have a washer/dryer in the unit.
There’s also a large shared backyard.
This building is next door to Woodie’s Flat, a casual restaurant which has an outdoor patio on the patio in front of the building and on the sidewalk.
You’re also right in the middle of all the other Old Town restaurants and bar scene.
Originally listed at $385,000 in April 2019, it was reduced to $374,900.
On a street with a lot of new luxury apartment rentals and modern condos, what’s the market for a vintage 2/1?
Will a developer simply buy this whole building out?
Damian Kosydar at Compass has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #3: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, no square footage listed
- Sold in August 1999 for $217,000
- Sold in April 2003 for $291,000
- Originally listed in April 2019 for $385,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $374,900
- Assessments of $286 a month (includes heat, security, exterior maintenance, scavenger)
- Taxes of $5061
- No central air. Window a/c units only.
- No parking but available to rent in the neighborhood.
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Wood burning fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 22×8
- Bedroom #2: 9×8
- Living room: 18×12
- Dining room: 15×12
- Kitchen: 15×11
- Laundry room: 5×4
Well, it’s an easy walk to Treasure Island….
99 price + CPI = $331k
03 price + CPI = $404k
Kitchen looks like it was done by the seller or buyer in ’99. Bath looks like it was probably done by the 03 buyer, but maybe the 03 seller.
Buyer should be someone trying to consolidate the building; the building to the south (same size lot) sold for $1.7m 6 years ago.
Yah – – price indicates that someone should buy this with an eye to eventually owning the whole place. This is great rental material. No way would I want to live next to Woodies in summer and that fireplace is atrocious. Wonder what it looked like like before it was “remodeled.” I have to wonder if whomever picked the tile back splash in the kitchen wasn’t color blind. It looks terrible next to the exposed brick. Painting those cabinets would help a ton.
The right price for this is in the $315K range in imho, and then keeping it as a rental.
Is that a reference to there’s nothing good about this place or that TI is closed.
I’ll agree that’s a hefty ask for no parking, dated kitchen, no AC, laundry??, narrow and vintage and $5k taxes.
@Looking to Buy – – I was wondering the same. As far as I can guess, Sabrina might have suggested yesterday’s listing was walking distance to TI, indicating a lack of familiarity with TI’s having gone out of business….at least in Old Town. I believe that reference was subsequently edited so now a bunch of folks’ comments don’t make a ton of sense.
@The Cat – the reference to TI was in the comments section of the listing yesterday. A few of us found it amusing that the listing agent hadn’t realized TI has closed (in Old Town and everywhere else).
Juvenile? Sure, but still better than 95% of YouTube comments.
yeah, wasn’t Sabrina, but the agent (or assistant) who wrote the listing for the place on Cleveland.
Listing still sez:
“Great location belonging to Lincoln elementary school district, close to lake, transportation, Marianos, and Treasure Island.”
If I were writing the description, I would have highlighted that it is walking distance to St Mike’s for easy weekly mass. LOL
The comment above was also for the SFH on Cleveland.
I used to work at Woodie’s…the units in this building were always getting broken into by every means possible.
Nice looking exterior, but the interior reminds me of some cheap rentals I’ve seen. Wouldn’t want to be right on Wells, either. Pass.
“yeah, wasn’t Sabrina, but the agent (or assistant) who wrote the listing for the place on Cleveland.”
It wasn’t me! I can’t get blamed for this one.
Clearly the writer of the listing hasn’t been over on Wells in a while and missed the whole story about the Treasure Islands going bankrupt. Lol. Easy to do when the grocery store has been in these Old Town listings for like 50 years.
Wasn’t Whole Foods going to go into that store though? I thought they were.
Considering what big news TI’s spectacular belly up/collapse was it would have been hard to miss. Interesting, I haven’t heard about this location, but the Lakeview parking lot is busier now that it had been for years as a Treasure Island – it’s just a parking lot. The Hyde Park store is being split with part becoming a Trader Joe’s – with a new Jewel in Woodlawn and Shop N’ Save taking over the Jeffery Plaza Dominick’s (and I think another new biggish store in Bronzeville) at long last – I suspect most full-line grocers weren’t interested. Rumor in Hyde Park was a Pete’s Fresh Market and a lot of people were looking forward to that.
I can’t believe the Streeterville location isn’t a Bockwinkles yet.
@Sabrina – – Sorry!!!! Did not mean to implicate you. Doesn’t seem like the sort of error you would make. I am guessing the former occupant of the house in question is very old and wrote the listing for the agent or the agent is old and hasn’t been outside of Friendship Village in Schaumberg for some time.
“I am guessing the former occupant of the house in question is very old and wrote the listing for the agent or the agent is old and hasn’t been outside of Friendship Village in Schaumberg for some time.”
No worries The Cat.
But many times agents just cut and paste old copy into new listings, especially about the neighborhood. TI was there for decades. If the agent doesn’t live in the neighborhood, might not even have given it a second thought that it wasn’t there anymore.
I viewed this unit, as there are hardly an 2/1’s available in Old Town. It is in pretty bad condition– very squeaky floors, old wires running along the full length of the walls, and just generally dirty feeling. Would take a full rehab to make it feel like a home. Then there’s the fact that it’s 1 of 3 units in a very old building (hello special assessments).
It’s a place I might have considered renting for the right price in my early 20s. Realistically, given the overall condition, lack of parking, and location next to the bar, I think they are going to have to come down to $250k-$280k.
A/I