You Can Buy A 2/2 Lincoln Park Townhouse For Under $260K: 1777 W. Altgeld
This 2-bedroom townhouse at 1777 W. Altgeld in Lincoln Park has been on the market since May 2011.
There seems to be some dispute, however, as to whether it is really a 2-bedroom or a 1-bedroom with den. Older listings say it was a 1-bedroom with den. The current listing calls it a 2-bedroom.
One bedroom is on the third floor and the second is on the main level. In the notes left by Redfin agents, they say the second bedroom is really a lower level open family room.
The kitchen has white cabinets and appliances.
There is a 1-car attached garage and a balcony off the living room.
One of the Redfin agents also says in the notes that the “unit is located next to the Metra tracks.”
This townhouse has been reduced $65,200 since May 2011.
It is now listed $3700 under the 2001 purchase price.
Is the $260,000 price as attractive when you know that this is might really be a 1-bedroom plus den/family room?
Elizabeth Kulaszewski at Jameson Sotheby’s has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit H: 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1350 square feet, townhouse, 1 car garage
- Sold in January 1994 for $169,000
- Sold in September 1999 for $219,000
- Sold in October 2001 for $263,500
- Originally listed in May 2011 for $325,000
- Reduced numerous times
- Currently listed at $259,800
- Assessments of $150 a month
- Taxes of $3884
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 16×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×10 (main floor)
- Living/dining on second floor
Their neighbors are in trouble. Additionally the same looking ones up on Oakdale in North Center I think are as well. Sure some might say it’s a totally different market but I don’t buy that BS.
A 1300 sq ft townhouse in Lincoln Park? With its own garage? $150 monthly assessment and For this price? Even the taxes are reasonable.
Sure, it’s a little bland and boring, but it is very nice. Absent any structural problems or title issues, I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t sell quickly at this price.
The great photo of Lake Michigan harbor is hilarious. For something that is almost 1800 West! Why not have a picture of the dirty Chicago River or the Lathrop Homes – that would be more accurate. As far as being a “Prime Lincoln Park Location” — this is not.
Check out that last photo! What awesome views!!!
“I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t sell quickly at this price.”
I can–your opinion of the state of the market is off the mark.
Lincoln Park my ass. If this is Lincoln Park, Iv got some great Wrigleyville Properties I can point you towards at Belmont and California.
“Their neighbors are in trouble.”
Care to elaborate on that?
I looked at the last picture and for a moment I thought, wow! A view of lake michigan from 1800 west! Amazing!
But that aside, this place, despite being 1,350 sq ft, seems tiny tiny. the dining area is so small the table fits only two chairs. The walk-in closet (with home depot style racks) is larger than the dining area itself. The kitchen is oddly designed. The bedrooms are tiny too. I understand that living in the city means smaller spaces i.e a place this size in Manhattan would be 3x the price; but the location is on this is more akin to the border of Harlem than the upper west side. There is a price for this and it’s in the low 200’s.
“You Can Buy A *UGLY* 2/2 Lincoln Park Townhouse For Under $260K” is more like it. I hatehatehate a staircase without a railing, that drywall halfwall is hideous. I would be depressed coming home to this everyday.
I guess it’s good for someone who really really wants to live (say they live) in LP.
I’m with Jon and the Doctor. Too far west.
And the harbor picture takes all credibility away from this ad. How misleading. Are they perhaps hoping to fool someone from out of town, thinking that’s the view from your deck? Why else would such a photo be included? It’s like advertising a house in the Bronx and including a photo of the Statue of Liberty.
There are a bunch of different floorplans in this development, but these are weird. They back up directly to the Metra tracks and the wall facing the tracks is CMU and glass block, instead of brick like every other exterior wall in the development. They’re super shallow too, not much deeper than the garage. A bunch of the larger 2+den units have listed and closed in the last year, all pretty quickly except for one lingering short sale. I wonder how many people see this one and compare it to the other floorplans unfavorably. Even though the real 1-beds are much smaller, they’re all on one level and don’t directly face the tracks.
Crap location. Living and dining/kitchen are borderline non functional. Pass.
I lived just southwest of here for a year and the area isn’t terrible. All the shopping you could ever want is nearby. It’s not that far from the main Bucktown drag. The issue is that its a bit of a public transit fail. You are are a bus+train or bus+bus ride from the loop. If you want to live in the city and work in the ‘burbs (like I did for half my time there) then this location is great. Right near the expressway and easy cab ride to several going out areas. I just wouldn’t want to commute to the Loop/River North from here.
I would choose this over a similarly priced condo.
$259K seems ok until I saw the listing photos and map. Just too small and a bit off the mark being that close to public housing. I don’t hate the area but it is not ideal. This technically is still LP address however it is at the end of the end of LP. If LP sucked then the realtors would be calling that area by a different name. Since it is good the area gets a hall pass.
How wide is this place– 12 foot? That last photo is all they way down to the museum campus.
The old lady who lived in a shoe had more space! yuk.
So the top level is just a master suite? Developer is a moron as is any buyer. Should have made these a little bit wider to get a second bedroom upstairs, then it’d be more like a typical 2 BR townhouse, 2BR and 1 or 2 baths up, LR/DR/Kitchen on middle, garage and family room/den/office on ground floor. Because it’s only really 1 BR, what’s the market? Couple that doesn’t have/want kids?
@TheDoctor – reminds me of a development by the Addison Target (Sacto/Cornelia) that I saw marketing itself as “West Roscoe Village” a couple years ago. This is like East Costco.
@jp3chicago – Lathrop is going to be closed and redeveloped (north part already is), so long term, that issue goes away. Plus it’s not really that close to Lathrop.
” the location is on this is more akin to the border of Harlem than the upper west side”
That’d be *East* Harlem, aka WestCostCo. Thus making it a v. good comparison to this place also in greater CostCo.
Oh, I know someone who lives in this development who bought during the boom and WAY overpaid and has been having a terrible time trying to sell. Some of these units have a better layout, I think, but the location is convenient enough (though calling it Lincoln Park seems like a stretch, and showing pictures of the lake is a joke).
Yes, Lathrop Homes nearby, but garage and amenities, plus neutral finishes at a low price means that this will work well for someone.
I would be concerned about the development, though, as there are a lot of people who want to get out and can’t sell. Probably lots of short sales and f/cs either now or in the pipeline.
Given the dearth of, and demand for, big THs, nice RHs and, of course, the almighty SFH, I’m surprised that more developers aren’t targeting places like this, or the dup-up in West Town that Sabrina just now posted, and attempting to combine units. This place is currently listed at $259k. Why not approach the neighbor, and see what they’d take? After the costs of combining the units, updating the baths, and installing a relatively nice kitchen, they’ll have a 2,700+ sq ft place, with two garage spaces. On the dup-up West Town thread, given that it’s listed for $450k, I’d bet the owner of the dup-down would be open to a reasonable offer. Make it a SFH.
annony: I like your creativity, but my guess is that the best & highest use of this place is for someone who sees it as a condo alternative—not doing a combo. The combo would likely cost a bundle & you’d have a weird looking place with double staircases, two different entrances, etc. I think you could find a nicer rowhouse in this area for your 600K.
As for combining the duplex-up in West town, I think the building has 3 units, so you’d be combining with the 2d floor unit. Again, not sure it would be worth all the reconfiguration needed.
I looked at one of these when I was shopping for a place, they are FRICKIN TINY! The layout of my 1ksqft CMK 2/2 is much roomier than this POS. Also the Metra tracks were directly behind the one I was looking at. And the 2nd bedroom is more of a den and its right off the garage and front door area. Horrible horrible places!
not sure I care, but can anyone elaborate on the “layout”? Doesn’t seem like a typical townhouse with windows out on front & back—the LR window & kitchen window seem to both face out in the same direction. So is there really only 1 exposure? is it some kind of end unit, or???
Just looked at the listing–the mapped location of the Lathrop Homes is hilariously misplaced. That spot is actually Menard’s.
Actually, it must be about 30,000 feet wide if it stretches all the way from Altgeld down to the museum campus.
“How wide is this place– 12 foot? That last photo is all they way down to the museum campus.”
I believe I looked at this unit earlier this year and if so its directly on metra track (as in you can wave to the conductor as he goes by while having breakfast.)
Doesn’t help to have a larger better laid out 2/2 model in the same development not on the metra in short sale for 289K that still hasn’t sold.
” The issue is that its a bit of a public transit fail.”
Guess you never leave the city–Clyborn metra stop is pretty close.
Last I heard, Lathrop Homes is on its way to being closed and demolished, along with the rest of the public housing in that area. The only problem is that the CHA operates on a geological time frame….”soon” usually means 25 years at least. Cabrini was slated to be vacated and demolished in the early 80s and look how long it took to get it vacated, let alone demolished.
Lathrop is resisting demolition in favor of transition to a tenant-controlled development with subsidized and market-rate housing. These buildings have historic significance, so I’m told, and have not had as much negativity as the hi-rises over the years.
Is this home part of the “Terra Cotta Place” development by the Metra/Menards noted above?
Ugh…Lincoln Park. No thanks!
I don’t think many people consider nearly a mile (.9 walking sez google maps) to be “close” when talking public transit, and that’s also going through 2 big ugly intersections.