This Building Started it All: The Pencil Factory at 1800 W. Roscoe in Roscoe Village
This 3-bedroom in the Pencil Factory Lofts at 1800 W. Roscoe in Roscoe Village just came on the market.
Recently, we had been chattering about the West Lakeview and Roscoe Village neighborhoods and how they went from middle class to luxury since the 1990s.
On the Roscoe Village Neighborhood web site, it lists the conversion of the Pencil Factory into lofts as the start of the turnaround in the neighborhood.
The building was turned into loft condos in 1994 and many of the original features were kept intact, including the spectacular industrial factory windows that face south and exposed brick.
This unit has 3 exposures, south, east and west and is a southeast corner unit.
It has concrete ceilings and hardwood floors throughout.
The kitchen has maple cabinets, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances with a breakfast bar.
This loft has central air, washer/dryer in the unit and heated garage parking is included.
The Pencil Factory has a part-time doorman and an exercise room along with a rooftop deck.
At $499,900, is this a deal for a 3-bedroom unit in this hot and trendy neighborhood?
Joe Zimmerman at Keller Williams Lincoln Park has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #313: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage
- Sold in July 1994 for $185,000
- Sold in February 1997 for $229,500
- Sold in February 1999 for $240,000
- Sold in June 2009 for $420,000
- Sold in November 2015 for $445,000
- Currently listed for $499,900 (includes the garage parking)
- Assessments of $578 a month (includes doorman, exercise room, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger and snow removal)
- Taxes of $7721
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 17×14
- Bedroom #2: 13×21
- Bedroom #3: 12×13
- Foyer: 13×6
Completely uninspired layout.
At $500M someone is going to jump at it
$185k in Jul-94 + CPI = $311k in Mar-18
Must have a great view of the el (and the Metra) out the east side windows.
I think this is a steal – it will probably go pending by Sunday if not sooner.
CLOSE TO WRIGLEY FIELD!!! SOLD!!!
LETS RAWK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOLZ
GO CUBBIES
Not only is this on the EL tracks… its on the Metra tracks too… HARD PASS!
This looks like it has western exposure which is away from the tracks (look at floorplan where the master br windows are. A 3br for under $500k, this should go under contract within the week.
This is a nice place, if I was in the market to buy I’d seriously consider this.
Nice column in the kitchen. Seriously, an architect couldn’t design around it any better?
I think it has potential. A lot of space for the money. It could use some minor updating around the edges, but overall this is a good value imho.
Its actually the South East corner… so yeah… train noise up the ass you stupid Obama loving downvoting fuckwads
There are a lot of rentals in this building. Just saying. A friend rented out her unit for years after leaving and one of her tenants was every nightmare you hear about rolled up into one person. I think some of that could probably have been alleviated with better screening, but I recall when visiting her in this building (before she moved out obviously), that it seemed loud in the common areas.
“This looks like it has western exposure”
Realtor sez: “rarely available southeast corner unit”
Now, I don’t trust a realtor to give me directions, nor know the difference bt east and west, but in a situation like this, it’s a huuuuuge mistake to make.
“every nightmare you hear about rolled up into one person”
Cooking meth in the kitchen, making kiddie porn in the bedroom, and running a brothel which also sold stolen guns?
Or did you mean ‘every nightmare you hear about except those related to an Amber Alert trailer park’?
“Not only is this on the EL tracks… its on the Metra tracks too”
Seriously, you barely notice the thru here, at least at street level. Might be worse when you’re on train level.
And they will do bridge replacement thru here eventually. May still be 5+ years away tho.
“barely notice the METRA thru here”
I’d say reasonably priced, consistent with what seems similar (without having a good enough sense of the size). Lots of places in the area or just east are going for $600+, but they are larger and newer, and there are listings in the $400s and low $500s. So IMO not a steal, but reasonably priced units, and units in that price range in the area are going fast, so it likely will. Most available in the area aren’t lofts, either, so assuming some like that, that gives it something extra.
This listing went for $477K about 6 months ago and the sq footage seems similar to what I was guessing from the floor plan, but I’m terrible at judging just from photos.
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1800-W-Roscoe-St-60657/unit-305/home/13386153
I can see why someone might like it but it’s not for me. Too industrial looking. Great light, though. Love the big windows.
The listing includes a floor plan with all the room measurements, yet the realtor could not be bothered to perform the 4th grade math needed to calculate the square footage. Why?
Is there some secret code among realtors to see if they can sell a place without providing the square footage? Because I can’t think of a reason to omit it, unless the space is so complicated that a reasonable figure is not possible. But for this listing we’re talking about the sum of three rectangles.
“unless the space is so complicated that a reasonable figure is not possible.”
Perfectly (single) rectangular condos seem too complicated to get right. 20×30 1 beds end up listed as 850 sf.
But, “it’s just a number”.
Interesting how they place a kitchen chair in front of the column. Barely enough counter space for a bagel plate at that location. There, you’d get a direct view into the column a few inches away.
With the design of the kitchen, there is really only seating for one person at the counter.
“The listing includes a floor plan with all the room measurements, yet the realtor could not be bothered to perform the 4th grade math needed to calculate the square footage. Why?”
There’s zero chance the Foyer is 10’+ wide.
This would have made a really nice 2Br + Den/office by pushing the kitchen into the bedroom.
At 3br, this should be a rental. Dont think it pencils out at $500M
Just noticed the unit I linked above (#305) was a 2/2, but the assessments are close enough ($524 vs. $578) that I bet the sizes aren’t too different.
I’m wasting time, so checked the last sale for #313, and it was $445K in late November 2015.
“Foyer is 10’+ wide.”
Year, 6’+/- tops.
I come up with ~1950, not deducting for walls/posts/etc., and assuming the other measurements are basically accurate.
(Oh, sorry. don’t know how I missed the earlier sale information before, as it’s right in the post. Not my day!)
“The listing includes a floor plan with all the room measurements, yet the realtor could not be bothered to perform the 4th grade math needed to calculate the square footage. Why?”
There have been law suits relating to square footage in the past.
In my opinion, many realtors don’t want to deal with that possibility so they tend to include it if it comes directly from the developer/builder originally and/or if it’s in an old listing so they aren’t the ones blamed if it turns out wrong.
Now, I don’t trust a realtor to give me directions, nor know the difference bt east and west, but in a situation like this, it’s a huuuuuge mistake to make.
It seems confusing, it’s true.
But it IS a southeast corner unit. But this building is basically an “m” shape. There are several southeast corner units. And this one appears to be southeast corner unit that is the right part of the “m” and stretches the entire south façade so that there are windows on the west side as well.
This unit is a “u” shape, essentially.
I was initially confused when the listing said it had west exposures too but I’ve been in the building and remembered that the bigger 3-bedroom units had more exposures.
On the floor plan, the living room windows face south.
I’m surprised no one is complaining about the assessments on this unit.
Why not?
$578 a month but it doesn’t include a/c or heat, nor cable/Internet. There’s no pool and no full-time doorman.
Add in $200 a month for heat/air and $150-$200 for cable/Internet and you’re at $1,000 a month on costs for this unit. Is this a gas building? That could add on another $50+ a month.
Seems to me that some of the full service high rise buildings that many complain about aren’t really all that bad when you actually parse out what you are getting for your money.
The big pole in the kitchen would drive me mad. I’d love to meet the lazy ass architect who said “let’s just throw an island around this pole and call it a day”.
The assessments need to be taken into account in the price, for sure, but seem appropriate given the age of the building plus exercise equipment and a doorman.
I would agree that assessments that include heat and cable seem much higher than they really are and would price that out when comparing. Aside: my old building voted to take cable out as it was no longer a value (back when we started cable by building was way cheaper, for a smaller building it no longer was when we reconsidered it, and so many people don’t want to pay for full cable given the other options these days.
We need to return Roscoe Village and West Lakeview back to the middle class, this city is becoming filled with too much entitlement.
“This unit is a “u” shape, essentially.”
So you get the train noise in the LR, and the main entrance noise in the MBR. Enchanting.
Went to go see this unit last weekend, the southern exposure actually looks out onto Ravenswood St and the cool little parkway garden running next to the train tracks. It’s actually a nice treetop view when the Metra’s not running. The CTA tracks shouldn’t be an issue because the brown line slows and turns into the Paulina stop NE of this unit.
The 3rd bedroom/office has the W/D instead of a closet, bit weird.
Tons of lofted storage space due to the high ceilings.
Assessments are a bit high for what you get.
“There have been law suits relating to square footage in the past.”
The square footage can be calculated from the floor plan. Wouldn’t the realtor be just as liable if the floor plan measurements included in the listing were wrong?
Yet the floor plan is included.
“Nice column in the kitchen. Seriously, an architect couldn’t design around it any better?”
AND
I’d love to meet the lazy ass architect who said “let’s just throw an island around this pole and call it a day”.
Remember that the architect does not get final call. This architect may have suggested other ideas but the developer was the one who chose the final design.
The kitchen should have been moved and placed the wall between the living area and the master bedroom. Moving the entry to the master along the windows deletes that small closet. On the upside it makes entry more dramatic and no longer forces you to essentially walk thru the master bath.
Pushing that wall back an extra foot or two in an effort to make the countertop edge be flush with the wall would be the right look. Then put in la arge 4 by 10 island with stools on the LR side. Way more dramatic and functional.
The dining table could them be positioned in the nook where the current kitchen is located. Good lighting would make that space really cool. I’d try to add a wet bar and wine fridge along that back walk. But that might be too tight with the table. I’d need better dimensions.
Master entry improved
Kitchen on display
Dining room table (seldom used) in the nook
All in all that seems like a much better flow and overall use of space? Anyone else like my design?
I just calculated the sf based on the dimensions given of the rooms. It’s just shy of 1,700 s.f. (I accounted for a bit of exterior wall.) Of course, I have done this with plenty of floor plans in the past, and the number I end up getting is always less than what is given as the official sf. So I’m figuring that I’m not taking into account some space that is used to do official calculations. So, given my past experience of doing this, I would say that this could be marketed as having 1,750 sf.
Laundry equipment in the “third bedroom”? Well, if you have a baby sleeping in that space, and you’ve got the inevitable load of laundry every day (especially if you’re into cloth diapers), I’d say that’s pretty smart!