Why Not Flee Downtown for Hyde Park? A 2/2 at 1765 E. 55th Street
This 2-bedroom co-op in the Park Shore at 1765 E. 55th Street in East Hyde Park came on the market in June 2020.
Built in 1921, the Park Shore has 119 units. It’s a full amenity building with a doorman, an exercise room for which you have to pay a fee, and a garden with a fountain.
There’s leased parking with the building but there’s currently a waitlist for a spot.
This unit is on the 9th floor and has northeast lake front views.
The listing says it was rehabbed in 2017.
It has oak hardwood flooring throughout and an electric fireplace with a Carrara marble surrounded by the renovated mantle.
The kitchen has custom gray (? can’t tell the color) cabinets, white subway tiles and Cambria quartz countertops with a waterfall island with a breakfast bar, a farmhouse sink and luxury appliances including a Wolf 6-burner range, a Bosch dishwasher and a Subzero refrigerator.
The kitchen is open to the formal dining room which is currently being used as a seating area.
There are lake views from the master bedroom.
The listing says there is new plumbing and light fixtures.
It has crown molding and the original doors with brass fittings and crystal door knobs.
There’s no parking but it can be leased in the neighborhood.
Additionally there is no central air, but wall air-conditioning, and no in-unit laundry. There’s a common laundry room for the building.
Originally listed at $249,000, it has been reduced to $219,900.
The assessment includes just about everything, including taxes.
This building is in a prime east Hyde Park location, near the new Trader Joe’s, restaurants and the Museum of Science and Industry.
If you’re trying to flee downtown, is Hyde Park an option instead of the suburbs?
Collin Wasiak at Compass has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit J1: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in May 2016 for $115,000
- Originally listed in June 2020 for $249,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $219,900
- Co-op
- Assessments of $1959 a month (includes heat, gas, taxes, doorman, cable, exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal, Internet)
- Electric fireplace
- No in-unit washer/dryer- laundry in the building
- No parking but available to rent in the neighborhood
- No central air- wall A/C units
- Bedroom #1: 14×18
- Bedroom #2: 14×17
- Kitchen: 13×12
- Foyer: 4×15
- Living room: 15×23
- Dining room: 14×15
The math here doesn’t work at all. Annual coop fees of almost $24,000 on a $219,000 apartment and a wait list to park your car and pay even more. I wonder how much it costs to use the treadmill?
Skip the coop and lease an apartment in Hyde Park with your $24,000.
hahahahahahaha no
It’s a nice building, but there are better choices in less crowded parts of the neighborhood. They’ve been doing a lot of work on the building – I wonder if they are keeping assessments higher rather than doing specials – there’s a big variation in how buildings prefer to do it.
“If you’re trying to flee downtown, is Hyde Park an option instead of the suburbs?”
If downtown falls into Lake Michigan (which by the way it’s not), Hyde Park wouldn’t be too far behind……….
If I’m going to “flee” downtown it sure as sh*t wouldn’t be to Hyde Park. Evanston, maybe.
Who puts ~$20k in appliances into a ~$200k condo?
I very much like the unit, but it seems radically over-improved for the building. This one is half the price and appears to be a bit bigger (pix are *terrible*, as you expect on a $99k list):
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1755-E-55th-St-60615/unit-301/home/170323744
Hyde Park is actually quite nice now in terms of amenities. I went down there right before the lock down and was really surprised by all the new restaurants / shops on the main drag; 51st street?
Well thats great but I’m sure they will all be out of business by Christmas
Interior is pleasant but three big flashing lights include no parking, $2,000 a month assessment (But you still have to pay extra for exercise room? What a joke), and views mostly blocked.
“Hyde Park is actually quite nice now in terms of amenities.”
Yep. Booming.
The Trader’s Joes was a great addition.
“If I’m going to “flee” downtown it sure as sh*t wouldn’t be to Hyde Park.”
Clearly you haven’t been there in quite some time Nyet. Nicer than Evanston. Lovely neighborhood. Glad to see it so vibrant.
Developers are noticing now. They’re building new high rises there.
“I wonder if they are keeping assessments higher rather than doing specials – there’s a big variation in how buildings prefer to do it.”
No specials, from what I’ve heard.
They are doing everything. New windows. New elevators. New hallways. New lobby.
It’s impressive there are no specials.
No new high-rises planned, the two new ones are complete & occupied. Newest large residential buildings are around 4 floors on big lots (renovated church and former parking lot). Other than some parking lots off of East Hyde Park Blvd (aka 51st St) there are no lots large enough or zoned for tall buildings.
Students love the Trader Joe’s but locals (other than carless) go elsewhere for full line shopping (not the new Jewel on 61st, but like the Mariano’s on 39th & King). My friends down there say they haven’t been to TJ’s in months. The Whole Paycheck is small and crowded – also avoided by a lot of locals.
“It’s impressive there are no specials.”
It’s a co-op; the corp took out a $1.5m mortgage in Jun-18. Something a condo association can’t do as readily.
Looks like there was a significant increase in the assessments from pre-mortgage listings to now; 1/3 or more higher.
I briefly considered Hyde Park when I bought a few years ago, and looked at places in this building and others, that were on offer for dirt-cheap prices, and decided quickly that neither this building nor the area in general was a good alternative to north side neighborhoods like Edgewater and Rogers Park. These north shore neighborhoods have better public transportation, more amenities, are more walkable, and have lower crime rates.
Then, the building- this is a co-operative, and I frankly feel that co-ops are too financially risky for anyone who isn’t rich and who doesn’t have a large stash of readily available cash he can tap into on a moment’s notice. As others have noted, co-operative boards have a lot more discretion than condo boards do, and can levy massive special assessments without the approval of the general ownership, while in a condominium, a super-majority of 75% of the ownership is required to levy a special. Imagine that you are the typical middle or upper-middle income owner and your co-op board lobs a special assessment at you that increases your payment by 50% or more, or even doubles it- this happened to long-time owners at 5000 S East End in Hyde Park a few years ago, where owners were suddenly confronted with special assessments that ranged from $58,000 to $160,000, more than the market value of the respective units at the time, and they were due immediately. A number of owners were completely wiped out as a result, could not get the assessments financed, and had to just turn in their keys and walk away, taking a total loss on their units.
As for this building and this unit- the unit has been redone very nicely and you can see a lot of money was spent doing it. But the building, while charming, doesn’t have any amenities that would justify the sky-high HOA, and is not nearly so attractive as many other vintage high rises in that area, which also have stratospheric HOA fees. I found that Hyde Park is HOA hell in general.
Sabrina, I get down to Hyde Park now and then, and while I find it attractive and interesting, I don’t agree that it’s nicer than Evanston, or even Edgewater and Rogers Park, and it certainly isn’t as convenient.
About this unit- there are eight other units for sale in this building, mostly one bed and mostly priced $115K or less.
Buyer Beware- 8 units for sale in one building at the same time, is ominous. I suspect there’s another special assessment coming soon. You definitely want to find out before you buy.