Vintage on the Outside But Modern on the Inside: 257 E. Delaware in Streeterville
This 4 bedroom full-floor penthouse at 257 E. Delaware in the Gold Coast came on the market in January 2020.
Built in 1917, 257 E. Delaware only has 13 units.
It does not have a doorman. The elevator opens by key on each floor.
There’s no parking but the listing says there is valet parking “right outside your front door.” It doesn’t list the cost.
The building has a private garden and storage as well as an on-site engineer.
The listing says this unit was renovated in 2019 and was created by merging two units.
We chattered about the bigger of those units, #10A, in 2018.
You can see our chatter here.
It now has modern finishes including stone floors in the living/dining rooms and kitchen.
The kitchen has white modern cabinets with a double oven, a Subzero dual refrigerator, a walk-in-pantry and an island with waterfall countertops.
There’s a wet bar and powder room off the kitchen.
There’s a wood burning fireplace in the family room with a large slab stone surround.
The unit also has a 10 foot wide porcelain and glass enclosed wine cellar overlooking the kitchen.
Every bedroom is en suite.
The primary bedroom has a gas burning fireplace and dual walk-in-closets with a white marble bathroom with steam shower and heated floors.
This penthouse has features buyers are looking for including central air and a laundry room.
The listing says this building is in the Gold Coast, but there’s some dispute on this site whether this is the Gold Coast or Streeterville.
In 2018, I called it the Gold Coast, so I’m going with that here.
It’s near the Mag Mile, museums, Oak Street Beach and the restaurants of Streeterville and the Gold Coast.
Listed at $2.65 million for 4,000 square feet, is this the perfect mixture of vintage and modern?
Kelly Angelopoulos and Ivan Madera at Jameson Sotheby’s have the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #10AB: 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4000 square feet, penthouse
- Unit #10B: 2 bedrooms, 1 baths sold in November 2018 for $440,000 per Zillow
- Unit #10A: 2 bedrooms, 3 baths, sold in November 2018 for $550,000 per Zillow
- Originally listed in January 2020 (I couldn’t find a price)
- Withdrawn in September 2020
- Re-listed in December 2020 for $2.65 million
- Currently still listed at $2.65 million
- Assessments of $2740 a month (includes cable, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $21,858
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- 2 fireplaces (one wood burning, one gas)
- No parking but 2 car leased valet parking available
- Bedroom #1: 16×17
- Bedroom #2: 10×14
- Bedroom #3: 13×12
- Bedroom #4: 9×10
- Living room: 25×10
- Family room: 25×23
- Dining room: 25×10
- Kitchen: 25×15
- Laundry room: 7×7
- Pantry: 7×8
- Wet bar: 8×5
Seems odd to invest the time/money/effort into a place only to live in it for 12-16 mo.
Wine feature wall is love hate thing, would behave them to show some alternative uses. Design is tasteful if your into that kind of thing. Arched windows are killer
Not sure if it’s a good economic decision to be 2X higher than anyone else in the same bldg (sf)
I’d call this BboL
Beautiful renovation. Although the assessments are no bargain, this is a good example of how a building can keep assessments lower than its “peers” by not having door staff. That said, it’s a lot to pay for no parking and a dark, small outdoor space.
I assume someone did this as investment/flip, not for themselves. If they get anywhere close to the asking price, looks like they’ll do pretty well (depending how cost-effectively they did the renovations–say 500-600K?), but the carrying costs of $100K/yr+ have to be getting tough after a couple years.
I think they did a great job overall, but the “wine cellar” seems somewhat taste specific, and not sure the totally open kitchen works well in this case
Travesty that they sanitized the character out of this vintage residence (besides the windows which I guess they were stuck with). The kitchen cabinets could be from IKEA.
The wine wall is well designed but tacky as a focal point in the main space of the home as it is here.
If the old 10A is typical for this building, this renovation is the equivalent of putting $50k into Hyundai Sonata and then trying to sell it for $100k
Yeah there’s an ass for every seat, but good luck finding an ass for this one
the choice of the shiny ?manufactured stone makes this place look cheap. It would’ve looked better with honed (matte) marble.
“I assume someone did this as investment/flip, not for themselves.”
Yep, confirmed:
https://www.blitzcapitalgroup.com/completed-projects
Of interest:
application for inclusion on National Register, done in 1987:
http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/200925.pdf
This place is really nice, but for $2.65M, one expects more than “really nice”.
You could pay $2.6M CASH, and still have a $6,700 per month obligation — for a property that won’t appreciate much over the next few years.
Or you could just rent this comparable apartment in a 5-star building for $6,700, put that $2.6M CASH into the stock market, and come out way ahead in a few years.
https://hotpads.com/401-n-wabash-ave-chicago-il-60611-sk5rna/81f/pad?baths=3-8plus&beds=2&lat=41.8959&lon=-87.6306&orderBy=activated&z=14
“Or you could just rent this comparable apartment”
How is a ~2000sf 2/2 comparable to a ~4000sf 4/4.5?
This place is a lot closer to comparable, and asking $7500:
https://hotpads.com/550-n-saint-clair-st-chicago-il-60611-skex1s/2302/pad
This place is a lot closer to comparable, and asking $7500 . .
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$800/mo difference, X12 months $9,600. Assume 50% tax bracket (total effective) so need to earn $19,200 to make the diff. That’s less than 1 percent of 2.6 mil per year (Purchase price banked, and rest of rent coming from other sources), so even ten year treasuries net the margin.
As Mister Rogers would put it: “Can you say ‘Hard pass,’ boys and girls? There, I knew you could.”
“You could pay $2.6M CASH, and still have a $6,700 per month obligation — for a property that won’t appreciate much over the next few years.
Or you could just rent this comparable apartment in a 5-star building for $6,700, put that $2.6M CASH into the stock market, and come out way ahead in a few years.”
I agree with your premise, but your example is not a comparable (even if it was similar # BRs/sq footage, which it’s not). There’s a “Trump Tower” discount…..That brand is toxic in Chicago (and elsewhere). If you don’t care about that stuff, you absolutely can get a deal in that building. Although the 2 BR/3 BA 2700 sq ft units there are looking for rents of $8400-$8500….
I was (erroneously) comparing to 10A, which is 2,000 square feet.
“That brand is toxic in Chicago.”
You do realize that the President doesn’t actually run the building or reside in the building, correct?
“You do realize that the President doesn’t actually run the building or reside in the building, correct?”
He may not run it but it does have an effect on the value people place on it. Could be a good opportunity to buy at depressed levels and when it rebrands as XXX, values should jump.
But ignoring the impact of Trumps name on price in a Blue city is akin to the deliberate stupid mistakes Sabrina always makes regarding the Chicago Market being HAWT ™
I rent down the street at the Hancock and consider anything east of Michigan over here to be Streeterville. I’ve always felt the southeast corner of the Gold Coast was Oak and Michigan. But I can be convinced otherwise if someone has a good argument.
As for the unit, I’d love to have a whole floor but not if most of my views were directly into the Mies buildings. This must have been great before 1948.
” But I can be convinced otherwise if someone has a good argument.”
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According to Sabrina and Gary, “Because I said so” is a good argument, along with “The neighborhood changed.”
They sure sucked all the warmth out of this place. Gray and shiny surfaces as far as the eye can see.
https://www.blitzcapitalgroup.com/completed-projects
“At Blitz Capital Group, all aspects of the approval, development and construction process are overseen by Mr. Taylor personally; thereby, ensuring an efficient use of time and money. Our money and reputation are invested in every deal. Maintaining, preserving, and enhancing both is very important to us! “
Yeah, I’m going to go out on a limb and say none of this is true
“But ignoring the impact of Trumps name on price in a Blue city is akin to the deliberate stupid mistakes Sabrina always makes regarding the Chicago Market being HAWT ™”
They’ve removed his name off most of the other buildings but he doesn’t co-own those.
There is talk he may end up selling the hotel in Chicago anyway (he doesn’t own the condo portion) and then there won’t be any point in having his name on the building.
It will be interesting to watch what happens with values in the building now that he’s no longer president.
But there are additional pressures facing it such as:
1. Age (it’s now 13 years old and the finishes are starting to show it)
2. Competition (Tribune Tower will start closings just a half block away and the St. Regis has similar stellar views and it’s now closing as well)
3. Desire for outdoor space will hurt all buildings without it
“2. Competition (Tribune Tower will start closings just a half block away and the St. Regis has similar stellar views and it’s now closing as well)
3. Desire for outdoor space will hurt all buildings without it“
““The neighborhood changed.””
Yes, this area is now officially known as the Bucktown Riviera.
“Yes, this area is now officially known as the Bucktown Riviera.”
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Not to be confused with Bucktown-by-the-Sea.
Another beautiful old 20s vintage apartment utterly destroyed, with all the charm and warmth stripped out, everything malevolently “open” and light and bright and bare and spare.
With what it must have cost to do this, the owner could have bought a comparable unit in a glossy new building where it was mostly done for him, with only a few tweaks needed to get the same results.
Laura, I couldn’t agree with you more.