This Gold Coast 1-Bedroom Is $61K Under the 2004 Price: 1200 N. Lake Shore Drive
This 1-bedroom in Benjamin Marshall’s 1200 N. Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast has been on the market for 10 months.
Built in 1912 with 10 full floor apartments, the first two floors of the 12-story building were used for servants (and are now maisonette units) and the top floor for playrooms and extra maid rooms.
The original units had 5 servant rooms in each apartment- including a separate servants corridor. Over the years, they were carved into smaller units. The building is a condo and not a cooperative.
This unit has some of the original vintage features of the era including 10 foot ceilings and original crown and picture frame molding.
This is not your typical 800 square foot 1-bedroom. The corner unit has 1100 square feet which includes a formal entry foyer. The eat-in kitchen has maple cabinets, granite counter tops and white appliances. The listing says the bath is marble.
While it has central air, there is no in-unit washer/dryer and no parking in the building. It is rental only nearby.
The unit is now listed $61,000 under the 2004 price at $269,000.
Unit #605, also a 1/1, is currently on the market for $295,000.
Is this a deal for the building?
Mario Greco at Prudential Rubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #405: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 1100 square feet
- Sold in September 1986 (no price listed)
- Sold in September 1998 for $195,000
- Sold in November 2004 for $330,000
- Originally listed in January 2011 for $395,000 (Mario did NOT have the listing at this time)
- Reduced numerous times
- Currently listed for $269,000
- Assessments of $999 a month (includes heat, doorman)
- Taxes of $6767
- Central Air
- No in-unit washer/dryer
- No parking- leased nearby
- Bedroom: 17×12
Neat vintage at reasonable prices. No parking, A/C, and laundry kills it for most but vintage lovers will like it.
The listing for 405 is nice enough, but 605 is much nicer (certainly $26k nicer, and then some).
I love this building, but I imagine there’s an extremely small universe of buyers looking to spend over $200k on a one bedroom with taxes and fees this high, only to lease parking in the neighborhood and drag laundry to and fro. For the single person who wants to live there full time, there are other one beds (and for not much more, small two beds) in the immediate vicinity (granted, not in buildings with this curb appeal) that offer more for the money. For an in-town, the parking and laundry seem a bit inconvenient, though I suppose not dealbreakers. I guess the market for these units is either those seeking an in-town, or someone divorced or widowed looking to downsize (perhaps a longtime resident of a very large unit in this or a neighboring building) and who has long held this building in (understandably) high regard.
As for both 405 and 605, I gather that they are going for the original 1912 no-t.v. look?
Typical demographic of the gOld Coast:
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/17300000/herbert-the-old-man-herbert-family-guy-17323787-300-315.jpg
lol..Bob that is cute. If this was a 2bedroom, I could see an old well off lady buying it and live with her help, but I wonder who’d get this? A 50-60 year old bachelor?
If the lobby shown in both listings was part of the apartment, maybe, but an additional $1000/month for assessments kills this.
Here’s a video tour of the unit with the previous listing agent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhlwvlRl44M
I like this place a lot. The living room area looks especially nice. I have no idea about the price in this case. I see this for an older person who will send out the laundry and possibly be too old to drive. It irks me that the realtor including parking in the “building features” when the building doesn’t actually have parking. That kind of deception would make me wary of trying to work with the seller.
If this actually goes for the price they’re asking, the taxes will need to be adjusted downward ASAP. Taxes for this unit should be more like $4,000.
These are both beautiful units, BTW, and the lobby is very elegant. The lack of parking and high assessments (and taxes) are turnoffs, but maybe I could overlook them in this case. The price seems pretty fair considering the building/location. Imagine the cost of these units if they were in a similar location in Manhattan (say, Park Avenue). At least $700,000 and maybe $1 million.
Massively overpriced given the assessments, taxes, lack of parking, laundry, etc.
Lots of rentals in the area for not much more than the assn+tax here.
These units are on their way to $225k and then probably lower. Maybe not this round of sales but in a year or two for sure.
“That kind of deception would make me wary of trying to work with the seller.”
Seeing that the realtor works for Prudential Rubloff would make me wary of getting involved at all.
“Seeing that the realtor works for Prudential Rubloff would make me wary of getting involved at all.”
I’ve never worked with Prudential Rubloff, why are they any different than other realty agencies?
I really enjoy real estate and the history behind it. How can one go about finding out what the original buyers paid for a property, in this case all the way back in 1912? Is a trip downtown the only way to track down that sort of data about a buildings history?
This place is much more unique than most of the bland places out there going for less. Maybe it’s just that this unit happens to be to my taste. Again, I’m not sure if the price is too high, but it certainly merits being higher than other less interesting places. (Although, I have to admit, I would give up the beauty of this place to live someplace that had an in-unit washer/dryer.)
This seems overpriced by at least $50k if you ask me.
The closest piece of civilization walking distance from here is the CVS, then Five Faces for food. They’re closer than One Mag Pile is.
At approximately $2,500 a month this place seems extremely over priced even given how beautiful it is and the cool location. I’ll be curious to know what the next sale in this building comes in at.
The agent remarks in the listing sheet are quite clear that parking is NOT in the building but across the street and in other buildings nearby. Additionally, the parking field is marked “OFF-SITE.”
But is the agent a giant tortoise? If not he is not trustworthy : )
“The agent remarks in the listing sheet are quite clear that parking is NOT in the building but across the street and in other buildings nearby. Additionally, the parking field is marked “OFF-SITE.””
this building just had a 5 million dollar renovation on the outside -a new buyer will make money on this purchase . I saw the closets -they are large and anyone could easily have a washer/dryer put in for a small cost
location is great-quiet and residential and 2 blocks south is oak street and michigan avenue full of restaurants and shopping-best of all worlds-
everyone parks right across the street or next door which is common in vintage buildings-
I checked the taxes on updated listing and they are actually about $5900 on this unit.
my friend lives in the building and they say the staff and services they offer are what you only find in a boutique building-most staff have been there for 20 years.
Lack of parking in an apartment building is definitely a “minus” in many neighborhoods of Chicago but I don’t think it is that much the case in some “vintage” Gold Coast locales. Remember, many of them were built during the era when rich urbanites divided the population in two: those who TAKE taxis and those who DRIVE them. I have a feeling there are still lots of taxi-takers around here.