Crib Chatter

Closings have begun at Helmut Jahn’s modern highrise at 600 N. Fairbanks in Streeterville.

From what I can tell, with only a few floors closed, there are about 15 units now for sale in the building (out of 227 total units) and about 5 rentals.

The rentals are a good deal (compared with the cost of buying the same unit):

• 1 bedroom, 1 bath of 753 square feet for $2000 a month (parking extra) [Craigslist]
• 1 bedroom, 1 bath 873 square feet for $2200 a month (parking an extra $275 a month) [Craigslist]
• 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths for $4950 a month (parking included) [Craigslist]
• 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths for $5500 a month (parking included) [Craigslist]

There are several one bedroom flips on the market.  It appears that 1 bedroom flippers are trying to make about $100,000 to $125,000 from the flips.  None have re-sold yet.

A tipster reported on a three bedroom flip:

Unit 1501: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1736 square feet

• Originally sold for $806,000
• Currently listed for $1.1 million plus $70,000 for parking
• Jameson Realty has the listing

Yep- they’re trying to make $300,000 from this flip. 

There are now some good pictures of the interior of this building including the walls of exposed concrete and the true floor to ceiling windows (not broken up by windows.)  This is a Northeast corner unit that has recently come on the market.

Unit #2002: 2 bedroom, 2 baths, 1258 square feet

• Currently listed for $650,000 plus $50,000 for parking
• This unit hasn’t closed yet
• Koenig & Strey has the listing

I’ll be watching this building for re-sales.

The Donald and his condo buildings are featured in an article in Friday’s Wall Street Journal called “Stalled Condo Projects Tarnish Trump’s Name.”  You would think the Chicago project wouldn’t be included in the article, as Trump Tower Chicago, slated to open the hotel portion of the building in only a few weeks, is rising triumphantly along the Chicago River.

But, alas, you would be wrong.  Trump Tower Chicago is being built, but sales have been less than stellar.

Meantime, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., tower with Mr. Trump’s name on it was put on hold indefinitely last month, and a West Palm Beach project could be put on the shelf shortly. Construction on a Trump Tower in Toronto is just getting under way after years of delays and a reduction in height. And at Trump Tower Chicago, a hotel and condo project set to be the second tallest building in the city after the Sears Tower, 30% of the 825 units remain unsold as the condo market there slows.

For anyone as bad in math as I am- that is 247 condos that still need to be sold. And that is at some of the highest price points in the city.

But maybe I’m also missing something else here. Wasn’t the building 80% sold a year ago? Then, a few months ago, when The Donald came to town to cheerlead for the building and drum up some interest, he said it was 75% sold. And now, it is only 70% sold.

Which is it?

Don’t tell me that The Donald isn’t feeling the sting of the sales slowdown. At an average price of $1 million per unit (and that’s on the low end)- that’s $250 million that he can’t lay his hands on to pay off those construction loans. (Trump Tower Chicago is one of the rare buildings he’s actually heavily invested in. He didn’t just license his name on it as he did in other cities.)

Just this week, as reported here, developers for the Mandarin Oriental were saying their similar hotel/condo luxury building would be built.  Yet sales there are only at 50%.  Trump is at 70%.  Waterview Tower, on Wacker, is not much better off.  The last I checked, the Ritz on Michigan Avenue was only at 30% to 40% sold.

Trump may get a boost when the hotel portion of the building opens shortly.  The building has some buzz.

Forgive me if I fear for the sales at The Spire (already under construction next to Lake Shore Drive.)

The Sun-Times’ David Roeder is reporting that the Mandarin Oriental hotel and condo tower near Millennium Park, though pushing back its timeline, is still scheduled to be built:

Gerard Kenny, whose Palladian Development is behind the project, said the credit crunch has caused delays in negotiating loans for a project expected to cost more than $750 million. But Kenny said no backer has withdrawn support for the project. He said New York-based iStar Financial Inc. is still the primary source of early funding.

Kenny said that he hopes to start construction early next year, with delivery of the 74-story building in 2010. The original plan, announced with fanfare in early 2006, called for completion sometime in 2009. The project would arise at the northwest corner of Lake and Stetson next to the Illinois Center complex.

The developer claims that 50% of the contracts have been signed on the three types of properties: the condos, the hotel-condos and the condos with extras (meaning maid service and other hotel perks.)

Question is, who is buying? There are sales ads for the Mandarin on condo investing websites. Maybe some hedge funds bought in bulk.

Mandarin Oriental [website]

Metropolitan Tower, the conversion of the former office building at 310 S. Michigan near Millennium Park has been offering incentives for several months. They’re trying to move the remaining units in the building as closings are set to begin in early 2008.

Now, they’re offering free upgrades on all finished units (not quite sure how that will work if it’s already finished- how do you then upgrade it?) And I don’t know quite what the “free” upgrades are.

But they sent me a little coupon I’m supposed to print out and bring with me to the sales center.

Metropolitan Tower [website]

Bucktown seems to be one of the few city neighborhood that has embraced the modern architectural style.  It doesn’t seem out of place to see concrete and glass homes next to stately brick rowhouses in that neighborhood. 

Question is, how well do they sell compared to the workers cottages and Victorians in that neighborhood?

2070 N. Oakley: 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4600 square feet

• Currently listed for $1,450,000
• 2 car garage

Dana DiPasquale at Baird and Warner has the listing.

Every once in awhile a property comes along that is just plain cool.  This is just such a property. 

It’s also brilliantly marketed by Jennifer Ames at Coldwell Banker.  There is no clutter seen in any of the photos.  And the nighttime pictures of the pool highlight the drama.  This is what you do if you’re trying to sell an expensive loft that is nearly at Western Avenue.

Without further ado, one of the coolest cribs I’ve seen in Chicago in the last few months. 

I’d buy it just for the pool (only 13 x 7 so you’re not training for the Olympics in it, but that’s fine by me.)

2250 W. Ohio: 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3300 square feet

• Currently listed at $995,000
• Three level duplex
• Three parking spaces
• Private rooftop terrace and pool

You can check out the floorplans and more pictures at the brochure here.

It used to be that if you were in Printers Row, you didn’t go much south of there into the South Loop.  There was no reason to.  You might have wandered east, towards the Lake and Grant Park.  But you never went south.

But just south of the old train station at Dearborn and Polk is a group of older white townhouses.  With development springing up all around them, are these older townhouses now hot?  They won’t be far from the new Roosevelt Collection complex of shops and the multiscreen movie theater.

1146 S. Plymouth: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1 outdoor parking space

• Currently listed for $475,000
• Assessment of $365 a month
• Myrna Skilling at @Properties has the listing

They’re selling luxury one bedroom Ritz condos on Michigan Avenue for over $1 million.  But you can live two blocks south, on the same street, the Magnificient Mile, for 80% less.

Located across from the Nordstrom’s Mall at the South end of Michigan Avenue is 535 N. Michigan.  You’ve probably walked by it a thousand times and not even noticed.  Built in 1962 as apartments and converted into condos during the last condo craze in the 1970s, it is a 460 unit building with studios, 1, and 2 bedroom units.

It has a rooftop swimming pool and exercise room with stunning city views.  There is also a funky 1970s decor penthouse party room (with outdoor terrace) where you can see the fireworks on New Years Eve.

I  love the green chairs!

Groovy.

The building is well run (for an older building) and prides itself on never having had a special assessment.  Impressive.

The units can run at least 50% cheaper than what you’d get at any other building nearby.  And you still get the Michigan Avenue address.

The cheapest one bedroom I can find for sale is listed for $229,000.  It needs remodeling, but that’s an outstanding price for that location.

Or take this one bedroom that is slightly more expensive.

They’ve already done some renovations on it.  Heck, all you’d need to do is install some hardwood floors and it would look like new construction. 

Unit #3212: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 755 square feet

• Currently listed for $259,000
• Assessments of $471 a month
• Parking is available for lease in the building
• Koenig & Strey has the listing

The two bedrooms are also a deal for the area.  There is a two bedroom,  two bath short sale currently listed for $369,900.  It is not renovated.  There is also this renovated two bedroom below.

Unit #1314: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1200 square feet

• Currently listed for $449,000
• Property Consultants Realty has the listing

One of the negatives about the building is that there is no in-unit laundry and the building positively won’t allow it.  But the location can’t be beat.  If you are interested simply in a weekend in-town unit and being right on Michigan Avenue, what can be better?

The prices have been going up in this building in recent years.  Perhaps the secret is out.

Vintage buildings with parking are always prized, especially in the Gold Coast, where parking is a premium.  It is the parking and location which make The Chandler at 1429 N. Dearborn so popular.

Built in 1890, the four story, 8 unit building usually sells quickly.  Units in the building have seen a steady rise in apprecation over the past 8 years.  Question now is: are prices simply too high?

One of the top floor units is currently on the market:

Unit #4N: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1700 square feet

• Sold in August 2003 for $575,000
• Sold in January 2004 for $642,500
• Currently listed for $725,000
• One outdoor parking space included
• Teresa Costantini at Koenig & Strey has the listing

Another similarly sized unit, located on the first floor, was recently on the market:

Unit #1N: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, parking included

• Sold in March 1999 for $369,400
• Sold in March 2000 for $460,000
• Listed in June for $679,900
• Sold at the end of July 2007 for $657,500

Vintage is nice.  The Gold Coast is lovely.  But over $700,000 for a two bedroom, two bath?

We’ll see.

Anyone know anything about the James Place condominiums that are allegedly going to be built at 100 W. Huron in River North?  I was walking by Huron and Clark the other day and noticed their banner on some fences that surround a parking lot on that corner.

How many stories is it?  I don’t know.

How many units is it?  I don’t know.

What are the prices?  I don’t know.

They have a sales center at 730 N. LaSalle.  From a news release on their website:

Affinity Development and KBL Construction recently hosted the grand opening celebration of their new project at 100 West Huron Street. James Place will break ground in November 2007. The grand opening was a huge success, and several units are already under contract. Please call or visit our sales center for more details.

The parking lot I saw didn’t have any construction equipment on it. In fact, it was still being used as a parking lot. Maybe the “ground breaking” will be in “late” November. Or, maybe not.

The building is going to be 2 bedroom, 2 bath units- with four per floor and two penthouses on the top floor.  Every unit is a corner unit.

The website talks of “timeless elegance” in the finishes.  These are pictures of the kitchen and the bath:

The kitchen will have Brookhaven cabinetry, Grohe faucets and a “gourmet stainless steel appliance package.”  The bathrooms will also have Brookhaven, Grohe and Toto toilets and sinks.

I’m all for building on empty parking lots.   But this could be a hard sell given that directly across the street on Huron is Hotel Wacker, which is a by the week type hotel.  Let’s put it this way- I tried to find a picture of it to post here (the building is a red brick midrise and dates back to the 1940s) but it doesn’t have any website.  Kind of like Hotel California, you can check in but you can’t check out. Nor are there any “reviews” of it on any of the travel websites.

Anyone have any prices for James Place they can fill us in on?  It’s being developed by Affinity and KBL Construction.

James Place, 100 W. Huron in River North [website]