Playboy Mansion Ballroom Unit Sells for $5.2 Million in 9 Months: 1340 N. State Parkway in the Gold Coast
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom full floor unit in the Playboy Mansion at 1340 N. State Parkway in the Gold Coast in September 2011.
See our prior chatter here.
Originally listed for $6.7 million, it was reduced to $5.8 million.
It recently sold just 9 months after it came on the market for $5.2 million.
You may recall that this property has rarely been on the market. It last changed hands 17 years ago.
The listing said the unit was once the mansion’s ballroom.
It had extensive wood paneling and carvings including beamed and tiled ceilings.
The kitchen had white cabinets and stainless steel appliances.
It had central air, washer/dryer in the unit, a 2-car garage and an attached terrace.
Back in September, one person guessed this would sell around $5 million. Another one said they’d rather have a lakefront mansion on the North Shore for around $4 million.
Just how hot IS the upper bracket in Chicago?
Or was this just a rare and unique property?
(The Ritz condos are about to start delivery on Michigan Avenue shortly. They’d love to see a stronger market.)
Katherine Chez at Baird & Warner had the listing. You can still check out the pictures here.
Unit #2: 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, 7874 square feet, full floor unit, 2 car parking
- Sold in August 1994 for $2.1 million
- Originally listed in July 2011 for $6.7 million
- Reduced to $5.8 million
- Sold on May 1, 2012 for $5.2 million
- Assessments of $4717 a month
- Taxes of $80,384
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 17×28
- Bedroom #2: 14×19
- Bedroom #3: 14×14
- Bedroom #4: 14×17
Dream apartment. I’m envious. There aren’t many of these around.
Taxes seem steep, though. $50,000 would be more like it.
Ahhh. Great minds think alike, Sabrina. I just posted on this same building. The MLS says this unit was purchased for cash. Of course, just the ability to say “Wanna come back with me to the Playboy Mansion?” is worth $5.2 MM by itself.
But you could have earned this privilege for a lot less money. On the same day unit 1N went under contract after only 8 days on the market. It was listed at $2.3 MM. I have a photo gallery of that unit in my post: http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2012/05/chicago-playboy-mansion-real-estate-action/
So envious that you think they should pay taxes at a lower rate than everyone else? $80k is about right for a $5M property in Chicago, according to the math. It ain’t rocket science to calculate the taxes.
It’s actually a little surprising to see that the assessor had the market value close to correct for an upper bracket property that hadnt sold in almost 20 years.
Amen to that.
I don’t know about you folk, but I’m not interested in bringing home some skank who’d be impressed by the playboy mansion. It’s a sort of cool after thought, but 5.2 million to say Playboy mansion? No thank you.
one more thing, there’s nothing about that unit that would impress younger skanks interested in the playboy mansion. it looks like the ‘ideal’ classy ‘man’s man’ life style that playboy’s been hocking for the last 50 years. Chicks aren’t impressed with cigars, fine whiskey and men talking about golf and the stock market. at least not the ones I know, but then again, I travel in different circles than miumiu…
Consider the source, hd. It’s salesman schtick, selling a dream.
It doesn’t even have a view. But the ballroom woodwork is amazing.
There are not that many $5 million sales in Chicago (usually). So this is a rare sale. Although in the last few months, there have been several condos selling for over $5 million. The rich are NOT afraid that this economy is going to go back into recession, that’s for sure.
Why would they, when they didn’t feel the brunt of the last one? The next one will avoid just the .01%ers though.
G – it’ll be pretty bad if only the .01% can avoid the next one. On the other hand, the revolutionary events in 1787 fell rather heavy on the .01% ….
The other day I was walking to court and someone posted a little avery sized shipping label sticker on a light post and handwritten in black ink was “burn the rich!” – I thought that was kind of funny, you don’t see that everyday.
“The rich are NOT afraid that this economy is going to go back into recession, that’s for sure.”
Not necessarily true – anyone who has 5.2 million plus cash to spend on a house doesn’t have the same concerns as you and me. I would imagine they have over 20 million in assets which really puts them in a different category. They buy when they want to buy and when the time is right for THEM (not when the housing market is good or bad – they don’t care). The main effect the economy has on them is psychological. I would suspect that the major reason the rich didn’t buy in the past 3 years was because there was a lot of shake up and uncertainty in corporate america and they probably weren’t 100% sure where they were going to be – but that doesn’t have anything about going into a recession……more about their individual situation (and yes, I understand that is indirectly related to the economy – but not in the way you meant).
“it’ll be pretty bad if only the .01% can avoid the next one”
What, you’re not going to be at $10MM a year by then? Get some more cases off the shelf.
“G – it’ll be pretty bad if only the .01% can avoid the next one. On the other hand, the revolutionary events in 1787 fell rather heavy on the .01% …”
Yep, but now with airplanes that picture changes dramatically.
““burn the rich!” – I thought that was kind of funny, ”
Yep, why Ze feels not one iota of guilt saying fuck the po’
“Gary Lucido (May 3, 2012, 6:20 am)
Of course, just the ability to say “Wanna come back with me to the Playboy Mansion?” is worth $5.2 MM by itself.”
LOL Gary L just dropped a joke. and a good one. Today is going to be a good day 🙂
on the property its a bit too, ummm cant find the word, i can see my old literature professor sipping 30 year old scotch and saying stuff the would drop the panties of muimiu’s crowd.
Looks like the most interesting man in the world sold his place…
These “prestige” properties confuse me. $136k / year in taxes + fees and you don’t even own the whole building (have to deal w/ other owners). Regarding class warfare in the US – we’re a long way from a true revolution. The middle class is very very different from the lower class and is invested in and wedded to a stable society with their use of credit and ownership of property (both RE and regular stuff like cars / TVs / etc.). Most households in the US still have positive equity in their homes. And as much as people say “burn the rich” they really mean “tax the rich”. And by “rich” they mean anyone making more than them. As long as a majority of people in the US have skin in the game we won’t have a revolution. Tax rates will go higher though.
“The rich are NOT afraid that this economy is going to go back into recession, that’s for sure.”
That’s so 2010.
City of Chicago $5M+ sales
Year-Condo/TH-SFH-Total
2007 6 4 10
2008 7 5 12
2009 1 2 3
2010 7 4 11
2011 4 2 6
2012 (to date) 2 0 2
“That’s so 2010.”
How many listed $5m+ places on the market in each of those years?
“How many listed $5m+ places on the market in each of those years?”
thats a very valid intellectual and worldly question anon(ufo)
“Russ (May 3, 2012, 9:28 am)
Looks like the most interesting man in the world sold his place…”
LOL as i said stated today is going to be a good day.
City of Chicago $5M+ listings
Year-Condo/TH-SFH-Total
2007 48 40 88
2008 54 20 74
2009 29 24 53
2010 23 21 44
2011 16 21 37
2012 11 7 18
“thats a very valid intellectual and worldly question”
I thought that was impossible around here. @fo really is the spin master.
I also thought that demand creates its own supply, or is that the other way around?
I think the nut was no problem for seller.
http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2011/07/20/first-look-inside-that-67m-condo-in-the-playboy-mansion.php
“2012 11 7 18”
Huh. Redfin shows 30 $5m+ current listings, with 2 of them (1956 Orchard and 209 E LSD 12E) pending.
The seller has held the unit in trust for many years. The buyer paid cash.
Those are new listings with original list prices of $5M or more. I realized that the last search included any input errors for original list prices. Silly me for not checking for the realtor errors. Here’s the corrected data:
City of Chicago $5M+ new listings
Year-Condo/TH-SFH-Total
2007 30 29 59
2008 48 17 65
2009 27 23 50
2010 21 18 39
2011 15 19 34
2012 (to date) 11 6 17
As far as the totals of active $5M listings with any exposure on the market in each year, that would take real work.
so, 44 sales, and 264 “new” (obv. some were delisted and relisted) listings. Meaning ~3% annual absorption (ignoring the de-/re- number; if it’s 50%, still only 6%/yr). Yikes!
Of the 264, there were 200 unique properties. Scanning those 200, ~15 look like more realtor errors. Still under 5%.
anon, Since that absorption rate is a bit fruit punchy: Of the ~185 unique properties, 41 have closed. Of those 9 were under $5M.
Yes, it is unique. As properties which encourage panty dropping have an intrinsic value. Groove’s crowd drop theirs thinking Flacido Hafner roamed these rooms, and mine does it listing to Placido Domingo.
“Or was this just a rare and unique property?”
“listing to Placido Domingo.”
I would think the tenor generating the gravitational field would have been Pavarotti.
“and mine does it listing to Placido Domingo.”
I call BS.. Like the saying goes.. “treat a ho like a princess and a princess like a ho.”
Would you really want to live in a museum?
There are still plenty of women who would apreciate the “urbane single male” lifestyle that Playboy has promoted for 60 years (minus the tobacco products).
OTOH, hanging out in a hipster bar, quaffing boutique beer and yelling “Hey babe, how ’bout them Cubs/Sox/Bulls/Bears/Hawks?” has definite limitations as “chick bait.”
Wonder if this space is haunted…and the ghosts of Bunnies past dance in the night…
“hanging out in a hipster bar, quaffing boutique beer and yelling “Hey babe, how ’bout them Cubs/Sox/Bulls/Bears/Hawks?” ”
Seems an odd threesome. You actually see this happening?
Unfortunately, all too true. Thankfully I don’t go to those kinds of hangouts anymore.
“Seems an odd threesome. You actually see this happening?”
Well, it’s not all pbr. And the comment would be made ironically-ish, no?
“Well, it’s not all pbr. And the comment would be made ironically-ish, no?”
True. What’s the current epicenter of hipster-craft-beer-snobbery in Chicago?
But CTG would take it *very* earnestly, so I guess that explains her not going to the hipster bars anymore.
“What’s the current epicenter of hipster-craft-beer-snobbery in Chicago?”
Not really a world with which I am familiar. In our v limited free time, we go mostly to revbrew, which has only moderate hipster appeal. Hipsters haven’t moved onto cocktails or something?
We could use a good hipster character on CC.
“We could use a good hipster character on CC.”
Bob has informed us repeatedly that the hipsters can no longer get loans, so it seems unlikely.
Plus, they apparently smell bad (again, per Bob), so I don’t really want them around.
Hipsters’ parents get loans in order to buy their starving-artist kid a cool loft/workspace in Wicker Park or Logan Square, right?
“What’s the current epicenter of hipster-craft-beer-snobbery in Chicago?”
Rainbo club
“Consider the source, hd. It’s salesman schtick, selling a dream.”
Amen. This unit was a breath of fresh air, I was expecting some hybernia-shyster palace, but it goes to show that Hef (pornographer) was just a short-time/transient owner in a classy property. What I’ve learned from this is that Hef’s stink didn’t sully this building.
“mine does it listing to Placido Domingo.”
You have to give moo-moo credit for such an amazing desire to to assimilate the cultural traits of a culture not her own. It’s a compliment to many of us miumiu, thanks!
“What’s the current epicenter of hipster-craft-beer-snobbery in Chicago?”
One of them is the dilettante SWPL place in Logan Sq. on Milwaukee Ave. called “Revolution Brewery”, this lefitst monikered place with a communist-theme, that of course the owner are making obscene capitalist profits on. They have really good beers. All of their beer-handles at the bar are (unlike goose island which has a goose head), they have black-power salute beer-handles in varying shades of brown. they have one token white fist handle, all the suckers don’t even understand it.
Revolution Brewing: pseudo-intellectualism reaching almost parody in Chicago, IL on Milwaukee Ave: http://chi.mg/KtCoio
Wow..Helmut… I woke up and just got afraid that either it was the CC version kristallnacht or that you might miss all the subtle inside jokes (to myself) of my 1920’s thread comment.. For Miu that it is a formula from a Chinaman, for me the use of the word perturbed since it is wrong, for HD and DZ that it gets into the use of studies determining correlation without yourself visualizing dataset-or HD saying no correlation when things always have some correlation… just a laugh a second!!!
But thanks for the lesson on Farthing.. maybe you can help me out with this then… it was one of my first four interview questions when I was 22.. and yes.. I went stoned! Can’t remember but fairly certain that I got the job as well.
If the Farthing/Shekel exchange rate is 1, and can go to 1.5 or .5 with equal probability. Fair value is 1. So what is the expected value and what is the fair value of the Shekel/Farthing?
You may call Matt Taibi for assistance if you wish…
oops.. that should have been in the 2 bedroom lincoln park thread.. broke continuity.. sorry Jeffo… I keep messin up this place..
Looks like some embassy or university building.
Revolution has pretty mediocre beer, in my opinion. I can only think of one or two from them that I’d actually want to drink.
Must repost here.. I think so long as the Shekel/Farthing question remains.. The supreme being Helmut stays away.