What Should Assessments Be on a 2/2 in a Full Service High Rise? 33 W. Ontario in River North
This 2-bedroom corner unit in Millennium Centre Tower at 33 W. Ontario in River North just came on the market.
Built in 2003, the building has 365 units and a parking garage.
This unit is on the southeast corner.
The kitchen has cherry cabinets, black appliances and granite counter tops and is open to the living room with an island.
It has a washer/dryer in the unit and central air.
Millennium Centre is a full service building with an outdoor pool, fitness room, party room, drycleaners and doormen.
The assessment of $730 a month includes the amenities as well as heat, air conditioning, gas, snow removal, exterior maintenance and cable. The Redfin listing doesn’t say it includes premium channels or Internet but the Redfin listing doesn’t always list everything.
This unit doesn’t come with parking, which usually has an extra assessment.
Is this assessment of $730 “cheap” for a full service building with an outdoor pool?
What’s “cheap” and what’s “expensive” when you’re getting services and amenities as well as heat, a/c, gas and cable?
Jayne Alofs at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #16B: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1289 square feet
- Sold in July 2003 for $406,000
- Sold in November 2004 for $575,000
- Lis pendens filed in July 2005
- Bank owned in April 2006
- Sold in April 2007 for $370,000 (no parking included)
- Currently listed for $488,000 (no parking included)
- Assessments of $730 a month (includes cable, heat, a/c, gas, pool, fitness room, party room, drycleaners, doorman, snow removal, exterior maintenance and bike room)
- Taxes of $5865
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 15×12
- Bedroom #2: 16×10
this place is 15% larger and the assessments are almost 25% cheaper than the place yesterday
but assessments in general kind of suck and are totally dependent on what building you’re in and what kind of association board you have, the type of residents, etc.
even townhome assessments in this town are pretty brutal
my old home was a zero amenity building and they are approaching 400 a month now I believe but include gas, cable & internet, water, and the normal condo stuff. There are also small special assessments every time the façade gets inspected by the city as well
I VOTE WE HAVE A PARTY IN THE LOBBY. MY BAND RAWKS AND WE ARE AVAILABLE. WHOOT!!!!
Anyone have any feel for how much of this assessment is still catch-up from all of the foreclosures in the building?
My assessments for a 2/2 (1600sqft) at The Legacy just hit $700 and then $50ish for parking.
The majority of the bill comes from staffing. Some buildings only have a single doorman and a few maint workers while others have managers, engineers, multiple doormen, etc.
The heating/cooling bill varies so much based off type. At the Legacy our cooling is piped from the lake into the coils in each unit so our A/C costs next to nothing however there is a very large staff that offsets that savings.
TV/Cable all that stuff is pretty cheap when bought at a bulk rate.
In the end it all evens out because those buildings that are suspiciously cheap are usually skimping on reserve funding.
“our cooling is piped from the lake”
Really? Not from Enwave (originally Exelon Thermal)?
Very reasonable assessment for this type of building imho. Check some of the older buildings in Streeterville, the Gold Coast, and up the inner drive in Lakeview…
You really can’t just look at the monthly assessment in a vacuum. You have to consider the reserves in conjunction with the reserve study and the 2 or 3 year capital budget to get some idea of the possibility of special assessments or increased regular assessments in the future.
Having said that, $730 for a 2/2 in a building with decent amenities and HVAC included seems pretty reasonable.
There is a certainly strong relationship between staffing and assessment amount. Also, the number of units is a big factor. I’d figure that heat, a/c, gas and cable is worth about $200/month in this building. The reserve amount is a factor, but it’s hard to know who much of the assessment is going into the reserve..
If the staffing and reserves compare to 2020 Lincoln Park West (yesterday’s building), I’d say that these assessments are about right and the other building is too high.
“Check some of the older buildings in Streeterville, the Gold Coast, and up the inner drive in Lakeview…”
Assessments go up as the building ages. You do know that right? It takes more maintenance as everything ages. Carpet, windows, roof has to be replaced.
I intentionally chose a building that wasn’t that old, however. 2020 N. LPW in the other post is 40 years old. Big difference.
Based on buildings I work with, the assessment is relatively low.
That may be good or may not be.
The issue is reserves.
A lot of buildings have set assessments artificially low in order to keep current owners happy and encourage sales. However, those same buildings will have huge problems in a few years when they find they lack funds for necessary repairs.
It may be a well managed building, or it may be a future problem. The potential buyer really needs to review the condo records before making the decision.
AnonIDGAF – I didn’t know we were neighbors!