Original Condition 2-Bedroom in the Water Tower Condos for Just $699,000: 180 E. Pearson
This 2-bedroom condo on the 46th floor of the Water Tower Condominiums at 180 E. Pearson in Streeterville came on the market in July 2018.
Built in 1975, Water Tower Condominiums has 260 units and leased parking. It’s most famous for being the building that Oprah Winfrey lived in for years.
It’s a full service building with 24-hour doorman and room service available from the Ritz Carlton Hotel which is in the base of the building.
The listing for this unit says it is in “original condition.”
It has lake views from some of its windows.
The 1775 square foot unit has a partially opened to the living/dining room all-white kitchen (is that the original oven?).
It has a master suite with a master bathroom and walk-in-closet. Be sure to check out the bathroom pictures.
There’s an actual laundry room with a side-by-side washer/dryer.
This unit has assessments of just $1009 a month. I found an older listing which had them at $1497 a month.
Water Tower Condos has apparently cut its monthly assessments.
Yes, you read that right. It CUT them.
From Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s:
For a three-bedroom, 2,750-square-foot unit, monthly assessments have been $2,550 a month, Rosenblum said, and will drop to $1,750 a month when the 32.6 percent reduction takes effect Jan. 1. That’s a savings of $9,600 a year.
Crain’s could not reach Debbie Lipoff, the condo association’s board president, to request comment. Board members won’t talk to the media about the reduction in assessments, said both Rosenblum and Bruce Johnson-Reid, a Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty agent representing a unit on the 65th floor that has been on the market since April at $2.1 million. But both agents said the reduction came because board members looked at the association’s hefty reserve fund—$28 million, according to Rosenblum—and no imminent need for costly repairs or updates to the 40-story residential portion of the 70-story multi-use tower.
The building has a marble-clad exterior so it’s not surprising that the board might be conservative about having a large reserve fund.
But many of the new construction buildings don’t have high assessments so it’s been hard to compete in this market.
Right now, the monthly fees are $2,537 on the three-bedroom condo Johnson-Reid is representing, which has an asking price of $2.1 million. The cut will reduce that to around $1,710.
This unit was originally listed in July 2018 for $800,000.
It has been reduced to $699,000.
There’s no prior sales listed in the public record except a Trustees Deed in 1999 for $725,000.
With lower assessments and the high floor, is this a deal?
Stephanie Cutter at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #4603: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1775 square feet
- No prior sales listed back to 1987
- Originally listed in July 2018 for $800,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed at $699,000
- Assessments of $1009 a month (includes doorman, cable, Internet, exterior maintenance, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $14,426
- Parking is available for lease at $350-$510 a month
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 16×13
- Bedroom #2: 15×11
- Living room: 20×15
- Dining room: 13×11
- Kitchen: 14×10
- Laundry room: 9×5
- Walk-in-closet: 10×7
- Foyer: 9×8
Want to do a little rent vs own comparison on this one?
Now I don’t know what they initially paid for it but if they bought in 1975 for $725,000?
If you bought $725,000 worth of stock in 1975 instead of this property your total return would be:
Consolidated Edison: $452m
JP Morgan: $305m
IBM: $54m
Coca Cola: $1.8b
Johnson & Johnson: 23B
Pfizer: 18b
Procter & Gamble: 2b
Colgate: 8b
Cigna: 8.8b
Just pulled a few old companies, but the Vanguard Wellington flagship fund would be a similar return. Would’ve caught high total returns in the bond market as well. Obviously even if they paid 1/10 of $725,000 my point is still pretty clear.
Y’all still fiddling with those rent v own calculators? 😀
@AnonIDGAF – sure, they’d be billionaires, but they would have been homeless for the past 44 years.
They could have a sign saying “Homeless, please help. Waiting for my investments to pay off.”
Kidding, of course.
I can imagine the dinner conversations when the wife wants to go out to eat but the husband tells her that he spent all his extra cash that month on their two leased parking spots.
No way – “if they bought in 1975 for $725,000”.
In 1975, $100K would buy a pretty nice home.
Nice enough, and price seems fair considering building. I’d rather be higher up and on the southern side of the building not facing the Hancock. Assessments seem like they’ll be affordable once they go down. Parking is just, wow. I can’t imagine paying $500 a month.
Agree- no one paid $725,000 in 1975 for a condo anywhere in Chicago. I think these might have gone for $150,000 to $200,000 at most, and that would have been seen as very expensive.
I was four in 1975/ That year, my parents bought a four-bedroom condo in a courtyard building right off of Lake Shore in Lakeview for $45,000. Sold it for $150,000 in 1986. Valued at around $450,000 now.
“Assessments seem like they’ll be affordable once they go down.”
Dan #2: I think the $1009 a month IS the lowered assessment. You’re not living in a full amenity building in a 2/2 with an assessment under $1,000 a month.
One of the older listings of this unit said the assessments were $1497 a month so the cut is pretty dramatic, actually.
Sabrina, I wasn’t under the assumption they’d be $1,009. I read the article to have them at $1,700, which sounds decent for this building.
The old listing had $1497 a month. I assume the $1009 a month IS the lowered amount even though the article says they will be lowered on Jan 1. They may have just lowered them already in the listing because it IS so much better.
This is the first case I’ve ever heard of any condo building in Chicago actually lowering their assessments.
Unprecedented.