CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[Skyguy_7]

^^ Good find. It's a triplex with a private pool on the roof. $45mil is starting to make some sense! He's worth $8 billion, so this is chump change.

[hotwheels]

Recently Completed LondonHouse Hotel Features Beautiful Restoration Work

Begun in 2013, the remodelling and restoration work recently completed at the former London Guarantee & Accident Building (1923, Alfred S. Alschuler) has involved countless masons, metalworkers, tilers, heritage experts, architects, and engineers. The multi-million-dollar transformation of one of Chicago's most iconic structures from defunct office tower to the LondonHouse Hotel has resulted in a beautiful finished product inside and out. While the exterior limestone cladding and fine detail masonry and metal work were first to undergo a complete rehabilitation and restoration, equal attention to detail has gone into the interior restoration work that has brought out many of the fine period details, such as the rich gold copper ceilings, wrought iron, and marble cladding.

[jc5680]

Originally Posted by Rooster slayer

Harry, that 625 W Adams set....I like that rooftop water tank...is chicago preserving any of those?

The city isn't doing anything as far as I know - they are the responsibility of the building owners. There are some recent reforms enacted by the city that makes maintaining them more expensive though.

Our building is currently faced with spending 25k to remove it or 50k+ to fix.

That leaves building owners with the prospect of potential special assessments for something that doesn't currently serve a function - or in our case trying to raise funds elsewhere:
https://www.gofundme.com/zf4bxg5e

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by JDMChicago

The duplex penthouse was asking 24 or 25 mil. Here are some plans I found. Looks like someone bought the full floor directly below and also got control of the rooftop to add a terrace and a pool.
https://gisapps.cityofchicago.org/gi...pds/PD1043.pdf

If it's now a triplex at the top, then the top 3 floors must still be firmly in the hands of the developer......future owners that have signed contracts can't assemble floors to combine and AND begin marketing to flip at a profit for units in a building that are still under construction and haven't been delivered yet/haven't taken title to from the developer/ownership jv....no developer would allow this in their pre-sale contracts....

[James_Mac]

The rental website for Linea / 215 W. Lake is finally up:

http://lineachicago.com/

Looks to have a good number of new renderings. No prices, yet.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

$45 million? That would be close to being the most expensive residential unit in Chicago, actually I don't recall if anything has traded for a higher price.

I wonder how much the most premiere units at Vista Tower will go for.

On a side note, just think how much property tax revenue is materializing out of thin air with all these new projects. A $45 million condo alone probably generates more than entire blocks of homes

Anything close to $45 mil acheived would easily set a new record for any single housing unit in the city of chicago (in chunk price certainly and almost certainly in price/pound), and I I'm nearly positive in the metro area as well......my guess is that they'll end-up coming up far short of this figure (it's a little silly when you think about Chicago's relative lack of barriers to supply and relative costs of construction, not to mention existing downtown condo sales prices), yet still could very well establish a new record....

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by jc5680

The city isn't doing anything as far as I know - they are the responsibility of the building owners. There are some recent reforms enacted by the city that makes maintaining them more expensive though.

Our building is currently faced with spending 25k to remove it or 50k+ to fix.

That leaves building owners with the prospect of potential special assessments for something that doesn't currently serve a function - or in our case trying to raise funds elsewhere:
https://www.gofundme.com/zf4bxg5e

I don't think any were individually landmarked, but Daley loved them and on any landmarked building they were considered a defacto part of the historic fabric and all water tanks in the city were considered potential landmarks and any permit to remove them had to undergo landmarks PRC scrutiny.

But in general they have been an out of sight, out of mind item in terms of building maintenance and they suffered for it.

After the Brewster collapse increased inspections, this became obvious.
Other high profile issues like the Swedish museum splashed even more egg on the face of the DOB and in may of 2014 the portion of the code treating them as potential landmarks was struck.

A couple of months later the Donahue Building in the Printers Row district applied to demolish theirs and Landmarks reversed their previous stance saying:

"Moving forward, unless water tanks are specifically addressed in the landmark designation ordinance for a specific property or district, Historic Preservation staff shall review and approve the applications for their removal without further review and decision of the Permit Review Committee or the Commission."

[JDMChicago]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

If it's now a triplex at the top, then the top 3 floors must still be firmly in the hands of the developer......future owners that have signed contracts can't assemble floors to combine and AND begin marketing to flip at a profit

I don't know that this is being marketed as a flip. Just thought it was interesting that the ceiling heights on top three floors were jacked up to nearly 20 feet and a pool on the roof was added. All served by a private elevator. Someone is getting one hell of a place.

[marothisu]

Looks like Atrium Village Phase 1 building has added a few units and a new floor. At least according to the building permit, it's added 1 floor for 32 total and 5 units for 405 total.

[harryc]

Feb 9


Feb 27




Mar 2

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by harryc

and at the bottom the crane for 225 W Hubbard, and I believe the tip of the crane for 151 N Franklin.

and Atrium Village as well!

[emathias]

The Lennar project on Wells between Erie and Huron, for a 15-story apartment building must be getting close. Divvy today sent me an email about the station on the SE corner of Wells/Huron moving to the SW corner due to "an upcoming construction project."

Also, I don't think anyone has previously posted this PDF with images about the Lennar project.

Antunovich has a page about it, too.

Also, this project still has not been added to the 1st page here. Not sure who maintains that, but I've been pointing that out now since last summer and it'd be nice to get it added.

[Rocket49]

Originally Posted by Skyguy_7

^Regarding 9 W Walton, $45 million for the duplex is what I've been told. Not a typo, and it's just raw space in fact. This is directly from the job site, but I do agree, it sounds quite high.

Perhaps its a wealthy foreign investor sheltering/laundering his money.

It would be nice to see some of the mega dollars of the Russian, Chinese, and Arab billionaires come our way instead of going to NYC and London.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Rocket49

Perhaps its a wealthy foreign investor sheltering/laundering his money.

It would be nice to see some of the mega dollars of the Russian, Chinese, and Arab billionaires come our way instead of going to NYC and London.

Why?

The property taxes would be nice, but otherwise they contribute nothing at all to the city. And because US cities do have annual property taxes, apartments are not as attractive as pure investment vehicles as they are in London.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by 10023

Why?

The property taxes would be nice, but otherwise they contribute nothing at all to the city. And because US cities do have annual property taxes, apartments are not as attractive as pure investment vehicles as they are in London.

Nothing for normal people at least. The vast majority of foreign investment in cities like NYC doesn't actually reside there. That rich Russian guy buying a $40M condo isn't spending more than a few weeks or month in NYC every year. It's just another home. Just like Shahid Khan. He owns a place in Chicago but isn't there for more than a few weeks out of the year total. Chicago would be no different. It just raises the housing price/COL when you get too many of them. I don't think anybody who actually understands what happens when too much rich foreign investment comes into a city in the form of private residences actually wants too much f it.

A little is good, but not too much. It reminds me of when my girlfriend's parents from Shanghai visited Chicago and loved it. When I told her dad that there's some wealthy Chinese investment in Chicago but not a ton and not nearly as much as the coasts, he said "Chicago is lucky then." He understands how too much of it can actually raise the housing prices and could price people out of areas that they could normally afford.

[10023]

I was actually being kind when I wrote that. Knightsbridge and large swathes of Mayfair have actually been completely ruined by wealthy Middle Eastern investors / seasonal residents.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by emathias

The Lennar project on Wells between Erie and Huron, for a 15-story apartment building must be getting close. Divvy today sent me an email about the station on the SE corner of Wells/Huron moving to the SW corner due to "an upcoming construction project."

Also, I don't think anyone has previously posted this PDF with images about the Lennar project.

Antunovich has a page about it, too.

Also, this project still has not been added to the 1st page here. Not sure who maintains that, but I've been pointing that out now since last summer and it'd be nice to get it added.

This design has always rubbed me the wrong way....there's been just something about it - something that I haven't quite been able to put my finger on.....just now I finally realize what it is......it's an Antunovich, of course....

[Steely Dan]

Evanston news:

Davis tower would be city's tallest
By Bill Smith on March 8, 2017 - 5:05am


A rendering of the proposed 601 Davis building to the right of the existing 1603 Orrington tower.


Developers unveiled plans for what would be Evanston's tallest building Monday night at a community meeting at the downtown public library.

Vermilion Development showed revised plans for 601 Davis St. as a 33-story rental residential buiilding to be build on the Chase Bank drive thru and a vacant lot just to the east.

The same developers in December 2015 had proposed a 27-story tower for the site, which would have been essentially the same height as the city's current tallest building, the Chase Bank tower at 1603 Orrington Ave. But that plan had stalled in the intervening months.

full article: http://evanstonnow.com/story/real-es...-citys-tallest

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by marothisu

He understands how too much of it can actually raise the housing prices and could price people out of areas that they could normally afford.

Just to play devil's advocate, wouldn't this phenomenon have a ripple effect? For example, the people who would have purchased those condos now look to places like West Loop and Old Town. The people in those places get priced out and move to Wicker Park and Logan Square. Those people move to Avondale and Hermosa. From there to Bridgeport, Pilsen and Bronzeville. And on and on.

In many ways, isn't this how NYC became both unaffordable and safe over the past 20 years?

[SamInTheLoop]

^ this could quickly get wildly off-topic, but my view is there is certainly some of the ripple effect you describe, however I do not think you would be able to point to an influx of targeted foreign HNW residential investment in the toniest neighborhoods in Manhattan 20-25 years ago, as a primary causal factor for significant declines in overall NYC crime and affordability over the past 1-2 decades....that is a far more complex phenomenon....