The 2,000 Square Foot 2-Bedroom: 1035 N. Dearborn in the Gold Coast

This 2-bedroom in Maple Tower at 1035 N. Dearborn in the Gold Coast came on the market in March 2022.

Built in 2006, Maple Tower is a boutique high-rise with just 27 units and attached garage parking.

It has doorstaff and an exercise room.

This unit is a half-floor residence with rare 3 exposures and 10 foot ceilings.

It has a foyer, RH window treatments, and hardwood floors.

The kitchen has white cabinets with crown molding, a custom tile backsplash, Caesarstone countertops, Subzero and Wolf appliances and a Culinary hood.

There’s a gas fireplace in the living room.

The primary suite has a walk-in-closet, a spa-like bath with Italian granite heated floors, all Kohler fixtures, a floating dual vanity a separate shower and tub and blue tooth surround.

The second bath has Italian granite and subway tile shower.

The unit has the features buyers look for including central air, garage parking included and a laundry room with cabinets and its own sink.

It has outdoor space in a 18×7 covered balcony off the dining room.

This building is near all the shops and restaurants of the Gold Coast.

Most of the 2 bedroom condos we chatter about are 1100 to 1400 square feet but this one is 2000 square feet.

Is this a great city home for entertaining?

Chris Bauer and Patrick Natale at Compass has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.

Unit #6E: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2000 square feet

  • Sold in January 2006 for $950,000
  • Sold in March 2015 for $972,500
  • Originally listed in March 2022 for $999,000
  • Still listed at $999,000 (garage parking included)
  • Assessments of $1,612 a month (includes air conditioning, gas, doorman, cable, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
  • Taxes of $18,271
  • Central Air
  • Washer/dryer in the unit
  • Gas fireplace
  • Bedroom #1: 21×12
  • Bedroom #2: 14×9
  • Living room: 21×16
  • Dining room: 17×10
  • Kitchen: 16×10
  • Laundry room: 8×5
  • Foyer: 10×9
  • Walk-in-closet: 13×5
  • Balcony: 18×7

40 Responses to “The 2,000 Square Foot 2-Bedroom: 1035 N. Dearborn in the Gold Coast”

  1. January 2006 for $950,000 + CPI = $1.377m
    March 2015 for $972,500 + CPI = $1.184m

    Who paid for the “completely remodeled”?

    Better result that #20 (full floor) that’s looking at a 2d re-sale at a nominal price decline:

    https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1035-N-Dearborn-St-60610/unit-20/home/12612710

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  2. Boring

    Bar is less than useless and would have been better served as a coat closet, maybe strip some of the wasted space that is the foyer and add a closet there

    Balcony is nice sized but views suck

    The “Built ins” are offputting as they should be symmetrical

    The Market is so HAWT ™, owners are taking a loss…

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  3. “The Market is so HAWT ™, owners are taking a loss…”

    It’s in the upper bracket and downtown. I’ve said over and over and over again that there is too much inventory in the upper bracket downtown. Buyers have a lot of choice.

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  4. Someone moved to Chicago in 2021. Wow. No wonder the apartments filled up again and condos were red hot.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/08/the-cities-americans-moved-to-the-most-in-2021-according-to-penske.html

    Here are the country’s top 10 moving destinations for 2021, according to Penske’s report:

    Houston
    Las Vegas
    Phoenix
    Charlotte, North Carolina (which hasn’t ranked in the top 10 since 2017)
    Denver
    San Antonio
    Dallas
    Orlando, Florida
    Austin, Texas
    Chicago (which hasn’t ranked in the top 10 since 2015)

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  5. “It’s in the upper bracket and downtown. I’ve said over and over and over again that there is too much inventory in the upper bracket downtown. Buyers have a lot of choice.”

    This is something your “high powered 2 career couples in their 20s and early 30s who won’t care that rates are at 5.5% or even 6%” should be able to afford, no?

    $250k HHI should be able to get this done and Chicago is littered with these folks

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  6. “It’s in the upper bracket”

    $990k is NOT “upper bracket”, unless it’s just a p-a-t. Upper bracket starts with at least a 2.

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  7. “$990k is NOT “upper bracket”, unless it’s just a p-a-t. Upper bracket starts with at least a 2.”

    If $200k HHI is UMC, $1MM properties are “Upper bracket”.

    besides its just a number

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  8. “If $200k HHI is UMC”

    It depends on whether one thinks of income-based class as being three categories (lower, middle, upper), or more.

    If only three, then $200k is certainly upper-middle, or perhaps even lower-upper.

    If more than 3, it’s about how you define the characteristics–few of which are agreed upon around here.

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  9. “It depends on whether one thinks of income-based class as being three categories (lower, middle, upper), or more.”

    Are you distributing the population so that 1/3 is each? Personally, I wouldnt put 10% of the population in the Upper class ($200k threshold)

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  10. “Are you distributing the population so that 1/3 is each?”

    No, of course not.

    But when we’re in a (at this point, long) cycle where the principal determination of “upper class” is last year’s AGI, it gets weird.

    I didn’t fact check this, but it has a veneer of accuracy:

    https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percentiles/

    What do you thing are the edges?

    Is an income test appropriate regardless of household size? Should it be variable by region?

    I think that, in the Chicago metro (not GZ only), it’s reasonable for someone making $50k to think they are middle class, and also for a 2-earner HH with $250k income to think they are middle class.

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  11. “This is something your “high powered 2 career couples in their 20s and early 30s who won’t care that rates are at 5.5% or even 6%” should be able to afford, no?”

    Unlikely to want to live downtown. Most likely in one of the neighborhoods, especially the West Loop/Fulton Market.

    I don’t understand the developers right now. They are building apartments en mass in Fulton Market but no signs of condos yet when the demand to purchase is clearly there, even with higher rates. I would look for apartment to condo conversions to occur first in that neighborhood. Reminds me of River North around 2000 when they were building a bunch of new apartment buildings like The Sterling, only to decide to sell them when it was built.

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  12. I was going to crib about this 3-bedroom in Lincoln Park as it had been renovated. But it went under contract within a week.

    https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/600-W-Drummond-Pl-60614/unit-504/home/12640857

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  13. “ What do you thing are the edges?”

    I don’t think 3 catigories covers it any more and yes location matters.

    Chicago

    Poor
    Working poor $40-80k (would struggle buying a home)
    MC $80k-250k
    Laptop/managerial Class $250k-450k
    Professional Class $450-1MM (Dr/Lawyer/Consultant- Partner level, SBO)
    Upper Class $1MM-20MM
    Robber Barons >$20MM

    Spent 2 minutes thinking about it

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  14. I realize that you keyed it to Chicago, but the median HHI for the metro is pretty close to the nationwide median–are you really comfortable saying that ~55% of households are “poor” (either poor-poor or working poor)?

    And that laptop/managerial class runs up to 98.5%, and is 1,000% the group that thinks of themselves as UMC, at least in major metros. Does UMC really almost abut the reviled/demonized 1%?

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  15. “I realize that you keyed it to Chicago, but the median HHI for the metro is pretty close to the nationwide median–are you really comfortable saying that ~55% of households are “poor” (either poor-poor or working poor)?“

    For generalities sake, HH = nuclear family

    I don’t like it but yeah I’m comfortable with it. I will say 80k HHI looks a lot different w/2 parents working outside the home Vs 1 and a SAHM. Benefits will also skew the numbers.

    “ And that laptop/managerial class runs up to 98.5%, and is 1,000% the group that thinks of themselves as UMC, at least in major metros”

    Let them think what they wish, they aren’t UMC. They’re proles that want to be UMC with every fiber of their being. Too bad the vast majority will be automated out of existence. $450k is def on the high end of the range – was thinking non-equity partner type

    “ Does UMC really almost abut the reviled/demonized 1%?”

    Politicians are idiots

    Where are your breaks/groupings?

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  16. Johnny where are you getting these classifications from? A 2 second search highlights very different breakdowns (an stratifies based on total household number which is important). Essentially a family of 3 making more than $155K is considered “upper income”. In terms of ‘class’ Poor are less than $32K, lower up to $53K, Middle to $105K, upper up to $375K, and the ‘rich’ over that.

    In Chicago I would shift the breakdowns upward especially at the higher class levels. For instance, I would say upper middle class starts around $200K. With 2 decent earners you can afford to support 1 child quite well (I wouldn’t have another until earnings bumped up to $250K though). Rich to me sounds like $500K+ combined.

    Single is a whole other story. Making $10K a month you can live very well here and still invest like $3K a month (buy the dip now fam!). The trick is finding a partner close to the same level of income, etc. but I digress haha.

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  17. Rob

    Completely made up and completely non-scientific and subject to my own biases.

    I’ve approached it with 2 working parents, I noted a union worker making 80k & a SAHM is much different than 2 parents working and making $40k w/limited benefits

    For me UMC still is concerned with the monthly nut. UC doesn’t have these concerns

    This isn’t a well thought out grand theory as there’s lots of cases that would “break” my model, but I think it’s better than the current model. For sample I’d argue that a union electrician making 80k w/ a SAHW could buy a house in the burbs and be solidly MC

    As usual ymmv, but I’d be interested in others experiences and thoughts.

    Again, I think a lot of people want to be UMC, but what’s viewed as UMC today isn’t what UMC was 10 years ago

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  18. I misread this title as “The 2000 sqft 2nd bedroom” and was like “WHAT!?!?!”

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  19. “Let them think what they wish, they aren’t UMC. They’re proles that want to be UMC with every fiber of their being.”

    So, $400k is not an UMC income? That’s just regular middle class?

    Are you sure you aren’t Todd Henderson?

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  20. Middle class capped at $250k

    IMO UMC = Professional Class above

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  21. So, $250-$450 is Lower Upper Middle class?

    [I don’t think this is the first time LUMC has been brought up here]

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  22. “Where are your breaks/groupings?”

    First, I think that people not in households where someone is working for income should be categorized by assets, rather than income.

    Poor/lower class = up to 80% of area median HHI. That’s up to ~$50k in Chicago metro, up to ~$90k in EsEff metro, up to ~$36 in Jackson, MS. Break from LC to poor is based on poverty line measures.

    MC = above that up to ~2.5x area median HHI. If you make 2.5x mero area median (~$200k in Chicago), and live in a cheap place (Carpentersville), you’ll feel ‘rich’, but if you live in the featured 2/2, you’re feel LMC.

    UMC/LUC = above that up to whatever the line for UC is–and for most in this group, that upper line isn’t about income, really, until it gets really high–more like 5-10x whatever they ‘normally’ make. So the group stretches itself out a lot, but mainly talking about the 0.5%.

    UC = I’ve always thought UC was about assets rather than income, as even a $10m bonus might be a one-off that doesn’t allow you to remain UC using reasonable prudence with your net. *reliably repeatable* $5m+ is clear UC, tho.

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  23. So we’re “close” for poor & MC

    Are you in Sabrina’s camp that $200k is UMC?

    UC – I use Paul Bettany’s character from Margin Call as a guide

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  24. JohnnyU

    “Middle class capped at $250k
    IMO UMC = Professional Class above”

    🙂

    you must fly Delta Airlines where with the elimination of First Class now there is
    Delta One

    Delta’s O’hare terminal at least doesn’t suck anymore

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  25. anon tfo

    LUMC and reliably repeated

    and my thoughts / breaks

    If that “$250-$450” where the 250 is reliable base comp and then goes up with variable comp which would be cash plus options that vest over time then I tend to leave towards UMC. If the 250 isn’t guaranteed then yeah LUMC

    I don’t think of UC until about 1m reliable year after year and really UC to me is more the small business owner like having your own dental practice so you are living on the 1m a year but banking away the 2 3 4 5++ in that asset accumulation

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  26. couldn’t edit. but that like complaining about a lack of a SONIES wiki

    I don’t think of UC until about 1m reliable year after year and really UC to me is more the small business owner like having your own dental practice so you are living on the 1m a year but banking away the 2 3 4 5++ in that asset accumulation

    ==

    I don’t think of UC until about the person is employed and making 1m reliable year after year and really UC to me is more the small business owner – like having your own dental practice so you are living on the 1m a year but banking away the 2 3 4 5++ in that asset accumulation.

    I don’t even know where to try and get the stat of number of high earners as employees versus small business owners because I would like to know what the mix is across US employment / wages numbers.

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  27. “ you must fly Delta Airlines where with the elimination of First Class now there is
    Delta One”

    I do/did, isn’t DO for long hauls and first for shorter flights

    DO is pretty sweet for overseas flights

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  28. “Are you in Sabrina’s camp that $200k is UMC?”

    Do you call them simply middle class? In Plano, IL, where it would afford
    a “Exquisite sprawling estate home, craftmanship reminiscent of a European chateau.”

    https://www.redfin.com/IL/Plano/1575-Creek-Rd-60545/home/14249104

    ??

    The consumption choice of a $200k HH to live in Lake View (or of a $500k HH to have a 5000 sf city house, nanny and kids in private school, while still paying professional school loans, ala Todd Henderson) doesn’t change their externally-perceived, income-determined “class”

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  29. @Anon, that is true. However, the issue is that it may be too impractical to live in Plano and maintain the career that pays you $200k, etc for the typical professional class worker bee.

    It will be interesting to see how the remote work options of the professional class continue to change the housing situation in the exurbs and cities as people are freed from needing to live in urban areas.

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  30. “Do you call them simply middle class? In Plano, IL, where it would afford
    a “Exquisite sprawling estate home, craftmanship reminiscent of a European chateau.”

    https://www.redfin.com/IL/Plano/1575-Creek-Rd-60545/home/14249104

    ??”

    I’m not seeing the craftsmanship they’re bragging about.

    I’ve already stated that its location influenced. Is Plano part of the Chicago MSA?

    “The consumption choice of a $200k HH to live in Lake View (or of a $500k HH to have a 5000 sf city house, nanny and kids in private school, while still paying professional school loans, ala Todd Henderson) doesn’t change their externally-perceived, income-determined “class””

    Perceived by whom? The commonality for most folks is anyone having more than them is rich

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  31. “Is Plano part of the Chicago MSA?”

    Kendall County. So, yes, it is.

    “Perceived by whom?”

    “Class” is all about perception.

    If a top 10% HHI isn’t (generally) “upper middle” (and we do agree it ain’t “upper class”), then “middle” has no meaning.

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  32. … and if “upper middle” only starts at a top ~2% income, in your view, I’d argue that you’re a blinkered elitist, ala our billionaire wannabe overlords.

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  33. “… and if “upper middle” only starts at a top ~2% income, in your view, I’d argue that you’re a blinkered elitist, ala our billionaire wannabe overlords.”

    LOL, no. Hatred for the Laptop class – yep. Billionaire overlord, not quite

    IMO – UMC was a bit more than money it also had a social component. Being an indistinguishable replaceable cog was not UMC.

    Its the same a grade/test score inflation

    “If a top 10% HHI isn’t (generally) “upper middle” (and we do agree it ain’t “upper class”), then “middle” has no meaning.”

    If you’re not willing to expand the classes, then yes it has no meaning

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  34. “you’re not willing to expand the classes”

    ??

    You stated that UMC = $450k+

    Which either means UMC is not part of “middle class” in any way (with MC ending below it–and the ‘upper’ portion of MC doesn’t exist), or that “MC” writ large extends up to top 1%.

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  35. “”You stated that UMC = $450k+

    Which either means UMC is not part of “middle class” in any way (with MC ending below it–and the ‘upper’ portion of MC doesn’t exist), or that “MC” writ large extends up to top 1%.”

    I did as a comp, but yes I would put the Professional class (in your hierarchy) as the upper bound of Middle class. They are different but have some common concerns, albeit from a nicer home, car, vacation property etc.

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  36. I think the issue is that the extremes of wealth of say the top .01-.5% are so far above just merely making it to the top 1%. Someone making $500k/yr has far more in common with people making $150k than they do with someone making $10 million. However, both the $500k and $10 million guy are in the top 1%. This is why people who may be 1%ers, still view themselves as upper middle class by in large.

    People also have a very skewed view of wealth and income. People who may be broke, think the $500k guy is flying private, poppin bottles with Jay Z, has a Bentley, etc. We all know that isn’t the case.

    I describe it like this…. being 6’2 or so may put you in the top 1% in terms of height, but it doesn’t make you an NBA player. The same thing is happening with income distribution.

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  37. “Someone making $500k/yr has far more in common with people making $150k than they do with someone making $10 million.”

    Sure.

    The thing is, in “Upper Middle Class”, upper modifies middle. It doesn’t mean “upper income, but more in common with middle-ish income than with real rich folks”.

    JU is using UMC = ‘professional class’ which is really UIBMICWMITWRR (does not roll off the tongue), or “lower upper class”. They may have more in common with MC than with Elon, or the Reyes clan, or even Jon Ballis at Kirkland, but they ain’t “middle class” and therefore aren’t UMC, bc, as noted, upper modifies middle.

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  38. You guys most be tons of fun at a party

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  39. Is the party theme “who would buy a $1m 2/2 condo, and is it ‘upper bracket’ or not”?

    If so, we’d be scintillating guests, but sounds like a pretty dull party.

    To the unit: delisted last week.

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  40. Wait till we start talking about appliances

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