September 30, 2009 – The $20.2 million foreclosure suite filed by National City Bank probably comes as no surprise to most people who have followed the saga of X/O Condominiums. The bank claims that Chicago real estate developers Keith Giles and Jerry Karlik have defaulted on the $13.4 million loan they took out in 2005 to purchase the property, along with the added $19.1 million they borrowed in 2007 for pre-development costs according to an article in Crain’s.

X/O was to be two high-rise towers located on 1712 South Prairie with a total of 479 Chicago condos. Pre-sales began in 2006 but a local alderman bogged the project down by trying to limit the height of the towers. The resulting lawsuits weren’t dropped until 2007 and the housing market was too weak by then to support sales for such a large project. Marketing for the units stopped in 2008.

An unnamed bank representative told Crain’s that the X/O site was now probably not worth the original $13 million that Giles paid for it. The local property values have gone down dramatically and a new project is unlikely to be able to get zoning approval for another high-rise due to both neighborhood and alderman resistance. That means that with a shorter tower, fewer units could be built and profits would be reduced.

With lenders unwilling to finance construction loans on big developments until the housing market rebounds, it may be at lease a couple more years before we see more large scale Pre Construction Condos in Chicago.

[tags]X/O Condominiums, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 29, 2009 – First it was the new Trump Kids for the Junior Jet Set and Trump Baby Attaché program for younger visitors at Trump Tower. Now Trump is launching another program aimed at the business sector. The Trump Express Meetings program is designed to accommodate smaller groups of businessmen and women, usually up to 15 at the smaller Trump Hotels and as many as 50 at the larger ones. For Trump Tower in Chicago, meetings of up to 25 persons can take advantage of this new service offered.

According to a profile in Hotels Magazine, the service is broken down into categories by the time of day or evening you want to schedule your meeting. The Trump Express Day Meeting is suited for all-day meetings. Breakfast in the form of pastries and coffee or tea is served. Lunch consists of an assortment of soups and sandwiches, plus there is a sweet afternoon snack available. Drinks such as bottled water, sodas and coffee are available at all times. This costs between $75 and $145 per meeting attendee.

Trump Lunch I is as the title implies, just for a lunch meeting. Soups, sandwiches, salads, dessert, coffee and tea are served for $40 to $80 per person. If you opt for the Trump Lunch II you get a bigger menu for your lunch meal and this will run about $60 to $95 per meeting attendee.

Finally, the Trump Happy Hour will get you two hours at an open bar, gourmet hors d’ oeuvres, both hot and cold, plus some salad options. This costs about $45 to $114 per person.

No matter which package you pick, you’ll be able to use the meeting room for free. Chicago’s Trump is advertising a discount on the use of their audiovisual equipment plus 15% off treatments at The Spa at Trump and 10% off anything you order at the Rebar lounge. This program and the discounts are good through April 30, 2010.

And while this may help boost business at the hotel portion, Trump is most likely hoping to net a few sales at their Chicago real estate development. The competition for buyers of Chicago Luxury Condos is pretty stiff, and Trump seems to be trying anything except actually lowering prices.

[tags]Trump Tower, Chicago Luxury Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 28, 2009 – If you like Chicago townhomes and shopping to buy, you may want to visit the Parkhomes of Cornelia Court in West Roscoe Village. Right now there are immediate delivery homes available at this Chicago real estate development with prices starting in the mid $400,000s. Anchor General is the developer and if you qualify you can get up to six months of loan payments, both interest and principal, which can save you as much as $15,000. For the last five available townhomes they are also offering a $5,000 gift card to the retailer of the buyer’s choice if you can close by September 30th.

When construction is completed, Cornelia Court will have thirteen buildings with a total of 63 residences. The three to four story townhomes come in three styles. The Addison and the Cornelia both have 2,242 square feet while the Bentley has 2,904 square feet. These Chicago townhomes have from two to four bedrooms and 2.5 to 3.5 baths, and some also come with a den. The two to seven story buildings are being built around a courtyard, with European influences in the design The interior park measures about 10,650 square feet.

Finishes include kitchens with 42″ cabinets, Frigidaire stainless steel appliances, 1.25″ granite counter tops and backsplash and you can opt to upgrade to Jenn-Air or Viking appliances. The baths have marble or limestone floors, vanity tops and surround, Moen faucets, double under mount sinks and several vanity choices plus an optional Whirlpool.

All of the townhomes come with solid oak hardwood flooring, hardwood staircases, carpeted bedrooms, solid wood core doors, ventless gas fireplace with granite surround and an optional wood burning fireplace for the Bentley models.

You can compare the Parkhomes of Cornelia Court with other Townhouses in Chicago to see what best fits your budget and lifestyle.

[tags]Parkhomes of Cornelia Court, Chicago Townhomes, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 26, 2009 – It’s been a long time coming, but the first deliveries on Chicago condos at The Legacy are set to begin early next week. Mesa Development had been predicting that closings would start in September of this year, so they will hold true to that statement and begin delivering before the month is gone. The Legacy topped out back in late spring, and there is still some interior work yet to be completed on the upper levels and common amenities areas.

The 72 story tower is around 90% sold, but there are still several units up for sale in this high-rise. This past May there were just under 50 condos available from the developer, and that number is just slightly lower now.

The remaining one bedroom units at this Chicago real estate development measure from about 925 to 1,189 square feet and are priced from the $480,000s to high $500,000s. The unsold two bedroom, two bath condos have from around 1,428 to 1,596 square feet and are listed between the $640,000s to just over $1 million. The three bedroom, three to 3.5 bath condos have from 1,969 to 2,930 square feet and are priced from about $1.15 million to $2.59 million. The largest penthouse condos weight in at about $4.26 million and pack about 4,378 square feet of living space.

Even though both Aqua and the Legacy are grabbing headlines with first deliveries, don’t forget that there are a lot of other Downtown Chicago Condos for sale at reduced prices.

[tags]The Legacy, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 25, 2009 – If you’ve had a recent glimpse of Vision in Wicker Park, then you’re already aware that work on this Chicago real estate development is progressing. Of the 33 condos in the building, about 22 are still up for sale. Vision is a project of RDM Development and they are waiting to complete the interiors of those unsold units so that buyers can pick out what finishes they prefer, such as flooring and appliances, according to a profile in Chicago Magazine.

Vision is located on 1624 West Division Street and the condos there range from two bedroom, two bath to three bedroom, two bath units in 15 floor plans. The units size up between around 1,336 and 2,034 square feet with prices on the remaining condos running between $450,000 and $599,000. For an indoor parking spot you can expect to pay an extra $35,000.

The finishes in these Chicago condos are being marketed in a couple of different packages. The Urbanite has kitchens with European cabinets and concrete counter tops, an island and recessed lighting. The Urbanite baths have Jerusalem stone floors and surround, concrete vanity tops, shower and soaker tub.

The Luxe condo kitchens have Travertine marble countertops, European cabinets, an island and recessed lighting. Luxe baths come with the same Travertine marble tile and surround, glass vanity tops, shower and soaker tub.

All of the condos at Vision have wide plank wood flooring, 10′ ceilings, a recessed balcony or terrace with gas grill hook-up, choice of wood or carpeted bedroom floors, laundry with washer/dryer hook-up plus Liebherr and Wolf appliances.

If you’re shopping for Chicago New Construction Condos where you can still pick your finishes, Vision may be a good choice for you.

[tags]Vision, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 24, 2009 – There really seems to be no end to the planned developments with Chicago apartments. The latest to hit the news is a River West project from Chicago real estate developer Sean Conlon. Originally from Ireland, Mr. Conlon wants to build a seven story tower on 1100 West Grand Avenue, according to a Crain’s article. The development would be funded jointly by Mr. Conlon’s company and an Irish-based insurance company.

1100 West Grand would have 4,000 square feet of retail space and indoor parking for 59 cars. The number of rental units has yet to be disclosed, but Mr. Conlon says with the current building design it would be easy to convert them to Chicago condos. Scott Prosser, project manager for 1100 West Grand was quoted in the article as saying that, “Should the market turn, we have flexibility to go back to the condo market. We’re a good year to year and a half from that decision.”

A zoning change will have to be granted for the building site before anything concrete can happen. Mr. Conlon’s company has already demolished the former Marathon gas station that stood there and taken out the below ground gas storage tanks to meet EPA requirements.

It will be an interesting twist if projects with Chicago apartments start switching back to condos in the next couple of years, in a reversal of the current trend. Even if that does happen, we aren’t likely to see the boom of Pre Construction Condos in Chicago that we saw only a few years ago.

[tags]1100 West Grand, Chicago Apartments, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 23, 2009 – With Aqua just starting to make its first deliveries on the 262 Chicago condos in the 82 story high-rise, Magellan Development confirmed that the units are around 92% sold, with about 240 condos under contract and another two condo buyers ready to sign. But there are still a few units left if you’re interested in purchasing one. According to a recent article in GlobeSt., the studio to three bedroom units start on floor 53, have on average about 1,200 square feet of living space and are priced from around $525 per square foot.

Explaining the success of Aqua when other Chicago real estate developments have floundered during the sluggish housing market, co-CEO Joel Carlins of Magellan was quoted in the article as saying that, “We have in effect a village in the heart of the city, as opposed to a single building, and people like that because we’re giving them a unique community and amenity package. We’re ahead of most of the other markets and haven’t had the same impact from the recession.”

The apartments at Aqua have proven to be very popular also. The 474 units are already 60% leased. Those residences are located on floors 19 through 52, measure about 1,300 square feet and are renting between $1,375 and $3,111 per month.

A great location in Lakeshore East, attention to detail and finishes plus a fantastic amenity package have certainly given the units at Aqua a bit of an edge against many other Chicago Luxury Condos.

[tags]Aqua, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 22, 2009 – Centrum Properties seems to be doing fairly well renting the units at the Lofts at Roosevelt Collection. The Chicago real estate developer recently hired Habitat Company to manage the actual leasing and operation of the project. Before deciding to make the switch to rental, the 342 lofts had been about 60% sold (about 205 units). Now, according to an article in Crain’s, 70% of the 170 units in the first building are already rented. The 170 Chicago condo lofts in the second building aren’t yet ready for residents.

And because Burnham Point is often mentioned in conjunction with the Lofts At Roosevelt because of it being the other large condo project that turned rental, we thought we’d mention some of the deals offered there. Right now they have a program in place where if you find yourself without a job you can be released from your lease within two months. Another program offers to set you up with a roommate via an application with a series of questions that will ideally hook you up with someone with similar interests with whom you can co-exist.

It’s a renter’s market right now with two major condo developments leasing instead of selling, investors renting out units they can’t sell and more apartment projects set to be completed in the next two years. But even with so many Chicago Apartments and condos to pick from you should still do your homework to make sure you get the best deal possible.

[tags]Lofts At Roosevelt, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 21, 2009 – The developer of Emerald created quite a stir by putting out a press release basically condemning other developers who have recently made, in some cases, rather drastic price cuts. “Emerald is a strong product and holding tough in a bad market where there’s no limit to the extent some developers will go to burn their initial buyers,” William Senne of Senco Development said in the release. And because he went even further by naming specific developments, it seems to have caused some hard feelings in the Chicago real estate world.

Without naming the towers that Senne criticized, his reasoning is that by cutting prices these developers are only hurting buyers by devaluing the units in a high-rise, making it difficult to get a good appraisal for a mortgage. He also believes that by reducing prices dramatically or going rental, it makes the developer less inclined to finish out punch lists or fix problems that might crop up in the condos. Senne is also against developer auctions and cutting back on building amenities.

At Emerald, which consists of two 12 story eco-friendly towers with a combined total of 212 Chicago condos, there are still just over 30% of the units for sale. But Senne is sticking to his pricing, with one bedroom, one bath condos around $270,000 and two bedroom, two bath penthouse units listed for about $629,000. The Belgravia Group is another developer who is holding the line on pricing, with the caveat that if they do reduce prices on similar units within a certain time frame of you buying, they will adjust the price on your newly purchased condo.

While Senne obviously wants to create some buzz about Emerald and make buyers feel secure about owning there, he does bring up some valid points. Condo Developers in Chicago have a hard time balancing the good will of early buyers against offering deals to sell the last few units in a project.

[tags]Emerald, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

September 20, 2009 – Silver Tower welcomed it’s first residents on the Fourth of July and Stonegate Development is still offering some a few incentives on the one to three bedroom condos for sale there. If you purchase now you can get $5,000 off of the closing costs along with one year of free assessments. A lot of Chicago real estate developers have moved away from the incentive packages that used to be so frequently used to entice buyers and are going straight for what is the most popular incentive; price cuts. But so far Silver Tower isn’t jumping on the bandwagon just yet and is sticking pretty close to their original pricing.

There are 233 Chicago condos in this 40 story River North high-rise and prices start at $249,900. Inside these units you’ll find oak hardwood flooring, wall-to-wall carpeting in the bedrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows for some pretty nice views. Each condo has a terrace or balcony as well. The kitchens have custom maple or cherry wood cabinets, Kitchen Aid stainless steel appliances, a double sink and granite counter tops. Marble floors and vanity tops are in the baths along with a separate tub and shower plus glass surround.

Building amenities include a 24 hour doorman, a fitness center, individual storage lockers, a bike storage room and a resident lounge and terrace. Pets are also welcome at Silver Tower.

If living in River North with all of its artistic, dining and retail flair appeals to you, then Silver Tower might be a good choice. And if you’re shopping for a condo with deeper discounts, there are several Chicago Condos in Streeterville that are priced to sell.

[tags]Silver Tower, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]