Penthouse Living in the China Club Lofts: 616 W. Fulton in the West Loop
This 2-bedroom duplex loft in the China Club Lofts at 616 W. Fulton in the West Loop was just reduced.
It came on the market in May 2010 and has since been reduced $20,000 (parking was just included with the unit- which adds on another reduction.)
The unit is missing some of the authentic loft features (brick, timber) that the other China Club Lofts have because this part of the building was added onto the roof at the time of the loft conversion.
Therefore, it has 22 foot high ceilings, skylights and a 22×10 terrace but no exposed brick.
The kitchen has a viking stove, stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.
One of the bedrooms on the duplex up is open to the living space below.
I can’t tell if parking is included with the price or not.
Priced $32,500 under the 2007 purchase price, is this a deal?
Chris McComas at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #710: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in October 1997 for $222,500
- Sold in May 2000 for $315,000
- Sold in February 2007 for $412,500
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in October 2009
- Originally listed in May 2010 for $400,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $380,000 (yes- parking is included)
- Assessments of $445 a month (includes doorman, cable)
- Taxes of $5291
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 21×20 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 17×11 (main floor)
This seems like a really cool place at a good price. This could be a nice pied-a-terre for someone who works downtown and would like a place to stay for those days they have to be in work early or in inclement weather as well as on weekends. You could really transform this place into a really cool bachelor pad!!!
The one thing I don’t like about this place as a primary residence is its location – it always seems very dark and depressing in this region (maybe because the tall buildings are blocking out the sunlight). Also, on weekends and after hours, the neighborhood is dead with not much in walking distance (2 years ago, I had a girlfriend that lived near “N9ne” and it was always depressing going to her place because of the neighborhood)
I know that we aren’t suppose to talk about the decorative portion of the house, but can we complain about paint if we are discussing how much money in primer, new paint, and labor (if you’re too lazy) it would cost to replace this color scheme? Also, the wood floors are on a diagonal. Now I’m all for diagonal pattern with your bathroom floors, but in a bedroom or living area it reminds me of something cheesy I would find in a bachelor pad where a ‘Quagmire’ type guy lives in. And this place seems pricey.
Giggity giggity!
I think this one goes for around 10% under ask. The good thing is it’s on the 7th floor.
Lofted master defeats the purpose of having two bedrooms — you really can’t have a full-time roommate or older child living with you and have any privacy. Other than that, I love this place. I looked at units in the building a while back and really love the building. Not sure if the top floor has them, but every other floor has bonus rooms across the hall, making for great storage or office spaces.
The flip side to “dark and depressing” is quiet. I currently live in River North near EBC and it’s nice and peaceful, I would never want to live a few blocks east and have to deal with all the noise of rowdy drunks at 3am. I’d rather walk the extra few blocks to get places.
“I know that we aren’t suppose to talk about the decorative portion of the house, but can we complain about paint if we are discussing how much money in primer, new paint, and labor (if you’re too lazy) it would cost to replace this color scheme?”
ITS A SHORT SALE. Clearly the paint wasnt the only bad decision made here.
I’m a sucker for the rooftop decks, I wonder if this deck is private or a community deck. I also like the size of the master bedroom, but not the fact that it’s open to the rest of the living space. However, this place looks like the actual space that overlooks the living area is fairly small. I imagine if you wanted to have kids or get a roommate, you could frame up a wall without much issue and put in a door.
Kevin: that’s pretty much what friends of mine did after determining that the open loft idea wasn’t ideal when you have multiple folks living in the same place. Not a full wall but rather a wall of stained glass to patch up the top. Worked out well.
if only china club were still open (and popular) you could buy this place and pull cheesy clubrats “up to see my penthouse” 7 days a week.
this block used to be club mecca in chicago. china, drink, shelter and elixer were all clustered here. a friend served drinks to mel gibson at elixer one night, said he was a total dick. guess that has been confirmed.
LOL great post CH
never been to drink i dont remember that one, i do remember either friday or saturday china would do 17 and over nights shelter is and was a institution.
“friend served drinks to mel gibson at elixer one night, said he was a total dick. guess that has been confirmed”
why does everyone think mel gibson is an ass? because he says what’s on his mind and isn’t a follower? I definitely respect him (not for his views or racist comments) but because he has the balls to come out and say what he feels/thinks!!!
oh – and terms of this place being close to the bars – that is another added bonus for a bachelor!!!!!
wow clio. sometimes you dont read good at all. the bars/clubs have been gone for nearly a decade, that’s what I meant by “used to”
no wonder anon teases you a lot.
Red No 5 is still around I used to hit that place up all the time like 10 years ago
though in fairness, my grammar is off. should be “use to”
“wow clio. sometimes you dont read good at all”
Actually, I knew that (having gone to those places before) – but other bars have arisen to take their place. N9NE is actually one of my favorite restaurants/bars (though I don’t go their often because the area reminds me of my old girlfriend.
fair enough. sorry your old girlfriend haunts you at n9ne
It has literally been years (a decade?) since I’ve heard anyone refer to a condo as a ‘bachelor pad’. LOL Good laugh.
I too have to comment on the color scheme. Although it is an easy fix (well, not in this case as 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint and a lot of labor would be required) the cost of doing so would put another $1200-1600 ++ on the price. What were these people thinking?
Overall, I do like this unit and see no problem with implementing a partial wall or even a decorative screen to give more privacy from the living area below. The terrace is a great sales point…if only it wasn’t a short sale.
The fact that it is in a ‘quieter’ area of downtown would be a tremendous draw to a certain demographic. I lived in the WL and really did enjoy the fact that the area is somewhat removed from the hustle and bustle of downtown. That said, there is plenty to do and see in this area and all is within easy walking distance of the unit. Not a problem for someone whose bid is accepted.
Speaking of short sales, with the miniscule possibility of actually having your offer accepted by the…any… lending institution, why are these properties even featured on CC? IMO, this is such a waste of space that could be better utilized by properties owned by responsible people who are/were able to stay current on the payments and required maintenance.
westloop,
why do you think that short sales are never completed? I know several people who successfully bought short sales and got GREAT deals. I, for one, like discussing these properties. Who wants to talk about a cookie cutter 500k 2/2 in Lakeview?
CH – isn’t N9NE the place with Ghost Bar attached? Perhaps that’s why the g/f haunts the place?
*ba dum, pish!*
Clio, this neighborhood is now very active. Lots of rental highrises built in the last couple years, a new neighborhood park with a kiddie playground that is always full a grocery store around the corner.
The clubs moved on, people moved in.
I have looked at 3 of the penthouses here. They seem really cool and the pictures are nice, but… The 1st bedroom is open to the living room, as you can see. The 2nd bedroom is what is in the listing labeled as an office. You need to close it off to make it a real bedroom. At least this is a corner unit so that 2nd bedroom gets a window. The middle units don’t. These places really are not very big at all. The private deck is only halfway to the edge of the building – it could have been twice as large. Or they could have made the units bigger.
The elevators in this building are very slow – more than 1 minute to go 7 floors. WTF? My apartment building gets me 23 floors in less time.
The hallways on the penthouse level (well actually the whole building) are dark and uninviting. Not to mention that someone on the penthouse level leaves their door open and lets their dog roam the hallway.
We decided that at $400k, this just wasn’t worth it.
I’ve lived in this building for 6 years (2001-2007) and loved every minute of it. I owned one of the seventh floor duplex units (though the layout is somewhat different than this unit). Here are a few facts about the building.
1) I believe the building is a converted warehouse that stored catalogs for Mongomery Wards.
2) The 7th floor wasn’t part of the original developer’s plans but was added on in a subsequent revision of the building plan. This is apparent if you look at the unit from the side of the building.
3) There is actually a crawl space between the 6th and 7th floor units (in some cases, there’s enough room to walk under the 7th floor and on top of the original building roof).
4) The deck is private (as is all the other decks for all the other units). The deck is really a NICE size.
5) The unit is south facing and gets great light. Heating/cooling bills aren’t too bad too as the unit is well insulated (80-110 during winter months).
6) The association board, when I lived there, was really engaged with maintaining and improving the building. They stretched the nickel as far as it would go — but not at the cost of preventative maintenance (which is why the assessments didn’t go up much when I lived there).
7) The building was completely retuckpointed in 2006ish timeframe.
8) There is a small gym, doorman, and indoor heated parking which is either gotten to via wayman or fulton.
9) Neighborhood is a lot more lively than it was 3 years ago. A jewel is now around the corner. Restaurant row is a short few blocks walk. Transportation options are AWESOME. The greenline is 2 blocks away. The Metra North and South are within walking distance and all the major highways are right there.
10) Yes it was a great Bachelor pad….
215 of the 1,440 September 2010 closings of single family and condos in Chicago were reported as short sales in the mls. Ignore that 15% of the market at your own risk.
An additional 414 closings were foreclosure (REO) sales. That was another 29% of the market.
A look at October’s numbers to date reveals a large collapse in sales. I see 396 Chicago attached and detached closings so far this month, with 41 short sales and 109 REO sales. Last year, October 1-13, 2009 had 714 closings.
G- you seem to be very good w/ numbers and statistics!!! You should work for the media – they could use your calculations to support/refute anything they want (translation: stats really don’t translate into any useful information for the individual home buyer/seller – real estate is property specific).
“though in fairness, my grammar is off. should be “use to””
No, you were right in the first place.
http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/usedtotext.htm
G!! where have you been?
thanks madeline, it’s been giving me trouble today, oddly.
G is back ? — excellent dude!
Where the hell ya been?
(Someone alert Joe Zekas. On second thought: Don’t alert Joe Zekas.)
G has access to two things we don’t: the MLS and plenty of interns.
Interstingly enough, sales have collapsed, again. I’ve been seeing it on the ground and now the stats confirm it.
I also hear that the foreclosure moritorium is in full effect. The most common phrase spoken in court has been “withdrawn” repeated a couple hundred times a day. My office doesn’t handle securitized loans so we still proceeded. Still, that’s scary. This winter will be 2008 redux, but probably even worse.
The worst market crashes happen in late October and we still have 16 days left this month.
“G has access to two things we don’t: the MLS and plenty of interns”
Don’t we all effectively have access to the same information on the MLS? Redfin, itself gives 90% of the info – and the rest can be looked up on 3-4 other sites. Also, I don’t think anyone would bother interns to look up stuff for “cribchatter”
Editor’s Note:
The agent on this listing just let me know that this property is NOT a short sale.
It also has just been reduced again (I think that is from now including the parking in the listing price.) So- still listed at $380k but parking now included.
Sorry for any confusion.
“Don’t we all effectively have access to the same information on the MLS?”
Clio- only agents have access to the MLS. Most of us aren’t agents or married to one. Therefore- we envy those who can easily access all the data. 🙂
I hope that this is the real G and that the real G is back (sounds like a 90s rap hook)!
Sabrina,
what data does the MLS have that we can’t access on our own? As I have mentioned, I own a small real estate company and if I am interested in a property and tell my broker, the information he has access to is no different than information I can get on my own.
“A look at October’s numbers to date reveals a large collapse in sales. I see 396 Chicago attached and detached closings so far this month, with 41 short sales and 109 REO sales. Last year, October 1-13, 2009 had 714 closings.”
Thanks for the info G.
I’ve seen things really slow down this month (even just on the listings I am seeing.) It seems like the middle of December (not October with 80 degree weather.)
What gives?
Is this still the hangover from the tax credit? Mortgage rates at record lows. The Dow back up to 11,000 (which usually spurs the upper bracket.)
This doesn’t bode well for the rest of this year- that’s for sure.
“what data does the MLS have that we can’t access on our own?”
The complete price changes. Once the property is “delisted” you can’t see the prior list prices in the public records (only MLS has that.)
Additionally- other data that G routinely posts on sales.
Much better loft style condo unit is available at 1050 W Hubbard known as “Hubbard Street Lofts”. This is a little known gem in the River West / West Town neighborhood. I am NOT the listing agent, but I’m familiar with the building and know that these units offer great style combining “loft” with “luxury condo”. You can view photos of a 3 bedroom penthouse unit that I had offered for rent previously in this same building to get an idea of quality and finishes.
http://www.chicagoapartmentphotos.com/Apartments-1000s/1050-W-Hubbard-3B/7040344_QY3sE
This closed on Dec 15, 2010 for $365,000 (which included the parking.)