We Love Private Roof Top Decks Right on the Drive: 3720 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview
This 3-bedroom top floor unit at 3720 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview is a rarity on the Drive as it’s in a small, intimate 4-unit building.
Yet, the unit has many of the amenities of a larger building, including a private elevator.
The vintage unit also has a dramatic staircase that leads to a private roof deck (which can be expanded for your own use.)
But the roof deck isn’t the only outdoor space. It also has a deck off the kitchen and a private 15×9 deck off the master bedroom.
The unit has some of its vintage features intact including wood floors, curved walls and vintage tiles in two of the bathrooms.
The full-floor unit also has central air and 2-car parking included.
The unit was recently reduced $115,000.
Is this a deal for the square footage and location?
Scott Foster at Re/Max Exclusive Properties has the listing. See the virtual tour here (warning- it has music).
Unit #3: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 car parking, sunroom, no square footage listed
- Sold in August 1992 for $452,500
- Sold in December 2000 for $855,000
- Lis pendens filed in March 2010
- Originally listed in June 2010 for $1.115 million
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $1 million
- Assessments of $790 a month (includes heat)
- Taxes of $6446
- Central Air
- Not sure about washer/dryer in the unit (the public listing doesn’t mention it.)
- Bedroom #1: 21×15
- Bedroom #2: 15×15
- Bedroom #3: 15×14
Just look at the appreciation from 1992 to present. If this doesn’t spell a ponzi economy for America (driven by RE asset bubble) I don’t know what does!
Gorgeous — regardless of appreciation rates, this looks like it’s worth a million. And assessments are reasonable as well. Not exactly decorated to my taste, but beautiful.
Wow.
Are the assessments reasonable given that it is an elevator building?
2 parking on site?
Put assessments at 500 and oh crap…I might buy this.
I’d want to see how the traffic noise is at this level.
Big bedrooms in a vintage? WOW
Bob: you have to factor in 1) an improving neighborhood; 2) new master bathroom and central air (these appear to be the most significant rehab, but other restoration may have been done); and 3) whatever inflation adjustment you would typically figure.
Given all of that, I don’t think it unreasonable (or particular an example of bubble) for this to sell in mid to high 900’s.
As a very nice vintage unit in a small bldg (low assessments), with elevator, and with 3/3 + sunroom, den, butler pantry, 2 car parking etc., I think it would be worth at least 800K elswhere in Lakeview. Now add a premium for LSD and for the unique roof potential & access and you’re definitely into the mid 900’s at least.
It’s absolutely gorgeous and exceptional and worth the money and I MUST HAVE IT.
I can’t afford it, so will one of you kind souls in here, or several of you, front me a IO loan with a .05% teaser locked in for 20 years? Or maybe a 20/10 pay option ARM with a beginning payment of $800 a month with a 15 year lockup?
Or something like that?
Jokes aside, it is a ravishing apartment, and NOT your cookie cutter 20s vintage unit.
assesments under a grand! woohoo!
Taxes are ridiculously low… are they for real? I’d expect them to at least double next tax bill after purchase.
God damn, this place is great.
It’s part of an Association with the 70s era buildings you see in the background. The *building* has only 4 units, but the ass’n has many, many more than that.
This is an amazing place. The things I would do to that roof…
Interesting – there is a 1200 square foot unit in the building (on the market for $319) with assessments of $150. I wonder how the units are assessed since I am most familiar with it being based on percentage of ownership which is usually a function of square footage. Maybe the deckspace is included? If it were based solely on square footage, this place would be assessed based on 6,320SF. I don’t think that these assessments are crazy.
“It’s part of an Association with the 70s era buildings you see in the background. The *building* has only 4 units, but the ass’n has many, many more than that.”
Ah, maybe that explains it.
If I were this building I would declare my independence.
“there is a 1200 square foot unit in the building (on the market for $319) with assessments of $150.”
In the association, but not in the building. Check out the aerial on the redfin listing, here:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3720-N-Lake-Shore-Dr-60613/unit-5D/home/13378740
You might not want your independence with just 4 units.
Still…man this place can make me leave Old Town
Ridiculously beautiful and absolutely worth a million (if not more!!)!! This place is going to make someone VERY happy!!!
Props to Sabrina. Some nice properties. Mid cen Flossmoor. Trump. This place.
nice……..
*Picks jaw up off floor, tries to proceed with day*
Good gravy, I love this unit so much I want to dress it up, take it out on the town, and propose on bended knee to it!!!
It has to be function of interest rates being 1/2 of what they once were, esp. as compared to the 1990’s.
I recall when rates were around 8% in the early 1990’s, 2bd/2ba condo in the Hancock bldg. were in the low $200K range, now they’ve doubled in price just like this has.
“Just look at the appreciation from 1992 to present. If this doesn’t spell a ponzi economy for America (driven by RE asset bubble) I don’t know what does!”
Yeah, this place is torturing me. . . I thought I hated ELV and buildings with substantial assessments. . .
. . . but, I’m sorry, this seems like a very appropriately priced high-end property– especially since the asseessment includes heat. And 2 parking spaces, additionally, means the only question is the w/d.
That living room is freakin amazing. . . I would just sit there staring at those serpentine plaster walls (with matching curved ceiling molding no less!), grinning stupidly as I thought about what a pain in the a$$ that must’ve been to finish.
Makes that place on Fletcher look like even more of a rip-off. . . I mean seriously, an extra $100k to upgrade to THIS??? No brainer.
This type of place on ELSD or Lincoln park would be in the 3-5 million range. This is a complete bargain. I just wish I liked this area more – I would move here in a second!!!
those are the biggest 2nd and 3rd bedrooms i’ve ever seen in the city. low assessments almost unheard of too (i’d be suspicious here but just my nature)
definitely unique and quite nice. a bit disappointing to not have more of a view of the lake from this spot, but i’d bet it goes quick at this price.
“This type of place on ELSD or Lincoln park would be in the 3-5 million range. This is a complete bargain. I just wish I liked this area more – I would move here in a second!!!”
Eh, I think it would definitely be more expensive, but the price disparity between LV and LP really isn’t anywhere near that.
Either way I agree, I’d move here in a second as well (I could almost wouldn’t need a moving van!)
Wow.
Sabrina hits one WAAAAY out of the park.
Not a single hater yet. WOW
“a bit disappointing to not have more of a view of the lake from this spot”
Get the trees cut down and you’d have a fine lake view, right over the ball fields and the golf clubhouse.
“Eh, I think it would definitely be more expensive”
Not really – check out 999 ELSD unit 9A. I almost bought this place. Probably one of the nicest vintage units on the market. – 2.99million. 2 problems were the assessments (6k/month) and only rental parking next door. I think it is not selling b/c they only allow 50% financing (appropriate, I think).
999 LSD isn’t THAT great of a comp. You are basically cherry-picking one of the most sought-after addresses in all of Chicago and a much nicer apartment to boot.
Ok, I’ll hate:
Puke. This is a step below the rococo liberace place on fullerton that pops up every once in a while. Yes, it’s master crafted, and in excellent condition, but it’s so old looking, so grandma and ug. So ug.
Moreover, this place has an $800,000 mortgage. Behind most million dollar homes (and all but one so far on CC) there is an almost equally big mortgage. A super-jumbo on this baby too. A real whopper at $800,000.
And the owner stopped paying assessments a while back too.
But but I thought there were SOOOO many rich people…I thought there were sooooo many rich people that could afford these units? I thought someone was *prima facie* rich because they could afford a place like this? What is happening to the rich people with money?????
I predict the upper $700’s as a REO. ING Bank will take slight loss on this, there’s no way they’re going to walk away fully satisfied 100% on the dollar on a foreclosure like this.
btw this place has been listed on and off since June 2007 without a sale.
It’s still way overpriced at a $1,000,000 now.
“But but I thought there were SOOOO many rich people…I thought there were sooooo many rich people that could afford these units….”
There ARE a lot of people w/money – they just don’t want to live in this particular neighborhood. Put this unit on ELSD/gold coast, add 500-750k and it will be sold in hours.
Which once again proves my premises that there are more people who’ve been livin’ the dream, and units to satisfy their spendthrift nature, than people who are actually rich.
“#clio on August 24th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
“But but I thought there were SOOOO many rich people…I thought there were sooooo many rich people that could afford these units….”
There ARE a lot of people w/money – they just don’t want to live in this particular neighborhood. Put this unit on ELSD/gold coast, add 500-750k and it will be sold in hours.”
I echo the poster wondering WTF is up with those taxes – those are so low as to stink of having a friend in the assessor’s office.
“echo the poster wondering WTF is up with those taxes”
Senior exemption (no freeze) + HO exem = $1155 savings on ’08 taxes. The ’10 assessed value is $51443, implying a MV of $514,430. So, yeah, if it sells close to ask, taxes will approximately double. And the taxes are *way* too low for the ’00 sale.
They appealed their assessment the last 3 times and lost every time.
I love this place.
On the topic of 999 Lake Shore Drive. It has bothered me for some time that the address doesn’t follow the numbering system of the west side of the street being even numbers. It is on the south side of East Lake Shore Drive, so if it had an east (E.) address it would be an odd number but not more as high as 999.
“There ARE a lot of people w/money – they just don’t want to live in this particular neighborhood. Put this unit on ELSD/gold coast, add 500-750k and it will be sold in hours.”
Which is why Chicago is so messed up, IMO. During the bubble far too many neighborhoods approximate “The GC” without the residents actually having GC wealth behind them to back it up.
I don’t think you’ll see too many people criticize too many places in the GC as overpriced even if outside of my price range. Its when Lakeview wealth poseurs tried to be living like a GC Mr. Moneybags via using creative financing that things got all out of whack.
For those who think of the wondrous architecture and decor here as being “for Grandma”…. Grandma probably rejected stuff like this back in the fifties as being hopelessly outdated, hard-to-clean, and too much a reminder of the pre-tech past. Grandma wanted a one story sprawling ranch with massive expanses of plate glass in an auto suburb with modern blond furniture and lots of hard surfaces.
The 70s and 80s saw richly decorative traditional architecture return to favor, and it was ironically us old “hippies” who helped bring it back, in reaction to the sterility of the mid-century Modernism we all grew up with. I went to schools that in Tom Wolfe’s words, looked like “duplicating machine parts warehouses”, and had to ask my mom what made my grandfather’s slick new apartment building any better than the Pruit-Igoe housing projects since his building looked so much like the “projects”. As do a large number of modern buildings built then and now.
I remember how I used to ride my bike away from my parents ranch house with its expanse of curtain wall and vaulted ceilings and hard-surfaced floors, and go sneak peaks into the windows of a small old house, occupied by an ancient woman, that was a wonderland of burgundy velvet Victorian furniture, lamps with immense prisms, wallpaper with immense blood red roses, and a surprisingly beautiful circular staircase. I wanted that house and would peer in the windows whenever the old woman was away.
Now it has receded again as the Modernist ethos makes another round, giving us yet another generation of bland, boxy buildings that 40 years hence will look just as fugly and outdated as all those “international” style highrises in Edgewater on Sheridan Roads. But as this recession drags on and people become rather poorer, they will tire of raw concrete floors and ceilings, open ductwork, open baths, and sterile, bland interiors that look like office reception rooms, and rich, warm, densely decorative architecture and interiors. After all, we humans evolved in natural environments that were even denser and more decorative, like forests and savannahs with their thousands of layers of life and riot of pattern and color. It’s hard to believe that such a species can be happy for long living in places that are nothing but straight lines, solid colors, and hard surfaces.
Those details … those curves … this is to die for, IMO. The rooftop deck is the least of its great features, also IMO!
“yet another generation of bland, boxy buildings that 40 years hence will look just as fugly and outdated as all those “international” style highrises in Edgewater on Sheridan Roads.”
I dunno Laura I can’t predict the future, but I don’t see a Vetro, for example, ever becoming the sort of eyesore of a 6030 N Sheridan. Modern-50s lacked a few of the amenities we consider modern today: like central A/C, in unit w/d and a parking garage.
Laura Louzader:
You grew up with mid-century modern and as long for something different like victorian or art deco.
I however, grew up with none of the above, and in looking back at the past, I like the mid-century modern the best. Victorian homes on the outsides are usually neat, but on the inside the rooms are cramped, the frilly stuff reminds me of great-grandma; my SO detests, simply detests the fruffy stuff of the victorian area.
“I don’t see a Vetro, for example, ever becoming the sort of eyesore of a 6030 N Sheridan. Modern-50s lacked a few of the amenities we consider modern today: like central A/C, in unit w/d and a parking garage.”
And I don’t get it. Those features don’t keep a place from being an eyesore (if anything, they add to the soreness).
“Those features don’t keep a place from being an eyesore (if anything, they add to the soreness).”
Well, floor to ceiling windows as well, for instance.
Well, that is true. I thought it was interesting that this vintage-y place did have that excellent feature of midcentury (at least it looks so from the living room pix).
I’ve been admiring the exterior of this building for years (and the 3-flat next door to the north). The interior is even better than I’d imagine. WANT!
Hate the furniture, though. If I were staging it, I’d put way fewer pieces, stick with more contemporary designs, and cool it on the competing patterns. (which is exactly what I’d do if I were living in it).
Love, love, love. But, would worry about noise.
Agree on the staging. Get rid of about half that furniture. Not at all keen on this place, but love the roof deck possibilities. Think they will include a wallpaper removal allowance. Yuck.
Holy shit this is AMAZING! We live around the block from this place and walk by it just about everyday… I never guessed it was so nice!
Why don’t you guys like the neighborhood? It is GREAT! % mins downtown on LSD and very walkable, everything you need is within walking distance. It gets weird once you go above Irving Park. This is GREAT, right across from the underpass for daily tennis and a great playground for the kiddos.
homedelete, I grew up with that and many other things, and best love NeoClassical, Deco, and Classical as done by the 18th Century French. I also love modern.. but only when it is something really well done.
I remember being so glad to move back to the city from the suburbs. These old Midwestern and Northeastern city have so much built beauty from the City Beautiful era of 1890-1920, and from the 20s, it’s staggering. Pretty much blows the Victorian stuff away, but the Victorian is very quirky and charming, too, and this city wouldn’t be as charming without it. The city seemed so much more beautiful and so much more substantial than the new auto suburbs with their miles of ranch and split level houses.
“On the topic of 999 Lake Shore Drive. It has bothered me for some time that the address doesn’t follow the numbering system of the west side of the street being even numbers”
I look at that every morning on my way to work. Really bothers me too for some reason. Anyone know any fun facts about the history of it?
“% mins downtow”
I think you mean… 5 mins downtown… and let me guess, taking the 145 bus?
This seems so special that it is certainly reasonable.
Can someone explain the taxes? $6K is cheap for this price and square footage. I’m confused.
Sorry about my question on taxes–it was answered earlier (I believe). Wish I could get a senior exemption. Ahh….someday.
Not decorated to my taste, but a beautiful unit with unique attributes and priced very well. Personally, I wouldn’t want to live north of North Avenue, but the buyer who desires a Lakeview location will be very happy with this home.
“I wouldn’t want to live north of North Avenue”
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a Real Chicagoan.
Mid-century modern furniture in a Victorian or a 1920s interior can look amazing…. if well done
@ Barry– The great thing about this city is the variety of neighborhoods and the fact that each appeals to people differently. I have lived in many neighborhoods over the last 15 years including Lakeview, Lincoln Square, West Loop, and Gold Coast. I have enjoyed all of them for different reasons, but have enjoyed being downtown most of all and was simply pointing out that FOR ME, the location was not something I would consider just as YOU may not be happy in a neighborhood that I enjoy. One of the other wonderful things about this city is that no matter which neighborhood one chooses to live in, it is incredibly easy to go into other areas to experience the restaurants, shops, etc. that make each unique… Buying meats and fish in the West Loop, visiting galleries in Pilsen, vintage shops and restaurants in Bucktown, Cubs games in Lakeview, German beer in Lincoln Square, Italian food on S. Oakley, etc. A person does not become a “real” Chicagoan by address, but rather by exploring all the city has to offer.
“A person does not become a “real” Chicagoan by address, but rather by exploring all the city has to offer.”
Square,
to add dont forget to explore west of western ave 🙂
“A person does not become a “real” Chicagoan by address, but rather by exploring all the city has to offer.”
I was just making a somewhat obtuse geographical joke aimed at people that make claims about Real Chicagoans (c).
A real Chicagoan is overweight by 100 lbs and has a drinking problem…
“A real Chicagoan is overweight by 100 lbs and has a drinking problem…”
Whose name ends in -ski and has a mustache, adorns a Bears jersey and whose mug is filled with Old Style.
A real chicagoan lives on the NW side. (and is overweight by 100 lbs and has a drinking problem)
Bob – hilarious.
This place has been reduced to $830K:
http://www.bairdwarner.com/real-estate/il/chicago/07553367.cfm
Also, 3 of the 4 units in the building are for sale.
Now down to $800K.
Which based on HD before, is their mortgage on the property.