The Grand Daddy of the Carl Street Studios Comes on the Market: 155 W. Burton
The Carl Street Studios is a 15 (or is it 16?) unit complex at 155 W. Burton Place in Old Town that was built in 1880 by Edgar Miller.
To say it is unique is an understatement.
From time to time units come on the market, including a duplex we chattered about way back in September 2007.
See our prior chatter and pictures here.
But now, the grand daddy of them all has come on the market, a 3-bedroom, 5500 square foot, renovated vintage beauty with a 2-story living room.
The listing says it has stained glass, sculpture mosaics and frescoes as well as a private roof top deck. The kitchen was apparently renovated 2 years ago.
It also has central air. The only thing it’s lacking is parking (there is none at the Carl Street Studios) but you can rent a private 2-car garage rental for $420 a month (according to the listing.)
Is this property so unusual that price point won’t matter?
Millie Rosenbloom at Baird and Warner has the listing. See the pictures of this unique property here.
Unit #2: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 half baths, 5500 square feet
- Sold in March 2003 for $1.8 million
- Currently listed for $3.1 million
- Assessments of $3578 a month
- Taxes of $29,704
- Central Air
- Parking is rental for $420 a month (2 spaces)
Unlike that place in Naperville/Ukraine Village that you blogged about last week, this place actually does warrant a “unique” asking price.
Would not be surprised if it sat on the market for 5 years, would not be surprised if it sold next week.
John
Anyone venture a guess which Chicagoan could actually afford this unit and actually would be interested in it as well? Chicago moguls tend to remain in Gold Coast/Lincoln Park West/East Lake Shore Drive areas. Only way this unit will sell anywhere over $1.5 million is if Architectural Digest publishes a feature article on it. Beautiful finishes, but absence of true price comps to support this price coupled with the unconventional nature of unit/building makes it a difficult sale. Given size of commission, I’m sure realtor is up to the task.
I second JKD
“Would not be surprised if it sat on the market for 5 years, would not be surprised if it sold next week.”
Can someone please tell me what the hell the $3578/month assessments pay for?! You could purchase a SFH in LV for that much a month!
No mortgage on this property! and owned by some old rich guy.
Price won’t matter, whoever wants it will buy it. Beautiful place, and this is what I think of when I see a $2 million+ property. People that buy unique places like this could give two shits about comps lol!
Dear Homeowner, I am available for immediate adoption.
(Did you notice–$6K in assessments and taxes per month? Wowsers. The rich are different.)
Not sure if it’s me or the pictures but everything looks kinda outta scale in this place. extremely narrow doors and halls and even worse when juxtaposed with wide fireplaces. Same in the bathroom.
Where is Bill Gates when you need him?
well I dont know…the realor looks a little past her prime…I am thinking this might not sell as quickly as it would with a young hottie
The owner is expecting 9.5% annual appreciation and $563 per square foot just for living in this space for the past six years. LOL.
1.4MM is my guess. Yes, indeed he is going to lose money on this.
But Bob he’s rich and rich people don’t care if they lose money, if they overpay or if they even get any appreciation.
While it is a very unique one of a kind home, I would much rather have my $3 mil go for the floor through 27th fl condo in 50 W Chestnut. I followed the construction on this one…awesome place.
Well i’d imagine that taxes are included in the assessments, so that’s about 2400 a month right there… who knows what the other $1100 is for, maybe all the utilities/insurance?
Looks like a cave. Overrated.
$48,000 annually for parking and assessments??
“Well i’d imagine that taxes are included in the assessments”
None of the listing I find give any indication that the assessment includes taxes. That’s a major nut to *not* be clear on, if it is actually part of the assessment.
the colors/patterns on some of the tiles could use help
24K a month, jesus, i would need my own helicopter pad
Oh god, I want to live here! Chicago has a lot of quirky, very well off people who would live here (except for that pesky economy), though I think 3m seems a bit high – especially because I think it’s been on (and maybe off) the market for quite a while now – I’ll check the old VHT link to see.
BTW Sabrina, the 1880 was for the original building, the renovations which produced the space were around 1930. This really is a truly unique place in every way.
I want to live here too! Back in the early 90’s, I rented a place in a similar building on Schiller between LaSalle and Wells. It wasn’t a Kogen/Miller, but same idea — architect traveled to Italy in the 30’s, brought back all sorts of tile and marble and created some amazing spaces. I think they sold my building and a similar one across the street in 2002 or so — one is now a B and B and the other is still rental (although far more expensive than when I lived there). I loved it and miss living in something so special, even if it was a little run down.
Still $3.1 million seems high, even for this. I suppose the right buyer may be willing to pay it — I’ve got to believe that price sensitivity goes way down when you’re talking about this price range. I, sadly, have no first-hand experience to back that up…
This Carl Street Stuido is a great place. I love it.
But, for the money, I would rather live in the penthouse with the japanese gardens at Contemporaine.
In July 2008, the 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 3000 square feet, 2 parking spaces included, 3000 square foot terrace with Japanese gardens, was listed for $3.59 million; Assessments of $1900 a month; and Taxes of $24,771. See the link here.
Does anyone have an unpdate on this equally uber-unique unit at 201 W. Grand in River North at Contemporaine? Thanks.
still for sale
$3,590,000
“But, for the money, I would rather live in the penthouse with the japanese gardens at Contemporaine.”
So would I, but you never know, some people prefer this Carl St. decor more than contemporaine.
Some of you saying there are no rich buyers for this unit are completely making that up. There are quite a fair amount of wealthy people that can afford this and would find the location desirable (though being able to afford this vs. wanting this are two very different things).
With that said, I’m not sure this particular unit can compete with the other houses on the market in this price range (though it’s really hard to tell from the pics). The price will have to come down esp. with those assessments.
trader,
I think what they meant to say is that the ratio of places with an ask price targetted towards rich people to the actual number of rich people is insanely high.
….”And exactly as the developers of the tropical wonderlands of Florida had learned that there were more land- speculators able and willing to gamble in houses intended for the polo- playing class than there were members of this class, so also those who carved out playgrounds for the rich in North Carolina or elsewhere learned to their ultimate sorrow that the rich could not play everywhere at once. And once more the downfall of their bright hopes had financial repercussions, as bankrupt developments led to the closing of bank after bank.” Frederick Lewis Allen in Only Yesterday…
Every developer, specuvestor, passive-specuvestor homeowner is trying to sell to the polo playing class; It’s unfortunate that the rich cannot play everywhere at once. This seller has stiff competition from every angle for somebody’s $3.1 million dollars.
3.1 mil and the parking is rental?
Additionally, how many people could both afford to pay this price AND would choose this place over the many other options available to them?
Thanks for clarifying your thoughts. I agree that the rich have a ton of options right now, which is also why i feel this place will have a tough time selling.
I still feel that there are a lot more rich people and those with high income than most people on this forum realize.
Thanks, David.
beautiful. so charming and warm and interesting. man, i wish someone would “build interesting” like this today.
This place has something that a $ 3 million Lincoln park spec home does not have — history. Just google the Carl Street Studios and Edgar Miller and you will see that people have done their PhD thesis on this building.
While I personally do not love the tile work, I would far rather have this than one of those granite facade cookie cutters on Mohawk.
As for the money — the assessments are definitely pressing the price downward, but are certainly no worse (by a long shot) of a co-op on Lincoln Park. I have looked at a few of those that had $ 8k per month assessments for virtually nothing — and the requirement of a cash purchase (no mortgage allowed)… although that is becoming more rare.
I bet this sells fairly quickly.