October 31, 2010 – There were three Chicago real estate developments that won honors at the 2010 Design Excellence Awards sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Those included Aqua, 235 Van Buren and Optima Old Orchard Woods.

The 82 story Aqua, which was designed by Studio Gang Architects, received an Honor Award in the Distinguished Buildings category.

Optima Old Orchard Woods in Skokie, which was designed by architect and developer Davie Hovey, also received an Honor Award in the Distinguished Building category.

235 Van Buren, which was designed by Perkins & Will, received a Citation of Merit in the Distinguished Building category.

The judges, which consisted of architects located all over the U.S., picked 38 winners from 357 entries across the country. The awards have been presented for the past 55 years.

There are still Chicago condos available for sale at each of these award-winning developments, so if you’re condo shopping you may want to visit some or all of the sales centers and take a look at the furnished models. You could be in a new home by the holidays. And remember that there are plenty of other Chicago homes for sale that may not have won an award, but are still great residences.

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

October 29, 2010 – If you’ve had an interest in the 180 unit Terrazio but haven’t made it to the sales center to actually check out the Chicago real estate development, now might be a good time to do so. The tower’s roof top lounge recently opened late last month so you can check that out now as well as the decorated models. The tower is located on 1935 South Wabash in the South Loop and the sales center is on floor two and open on weekends from 1pm to 4pm or by appointment.

The one to three bedroom, one to two bath Chicago condos at Terrazio are priced anywhere from the $190,000s to low $400,000s.

If you’re more in the market to rent, you have that option as well at Terrazio. Developer Sedgwick Properties has decided to lease some of the units. The one bedroom condos have been listed for rent anywhere from about $1,150 to $1,575 per month. The two bedrooms are listed for about $1,950 to $2,200 per month. For a three bedroom condo you can expect to pay from $2,800 to $2,850 per month.

Finishes include hardwood flooring, stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, 42 inch cabinets and baths with stone vanity tops, tile floor and tub/shower surrounds.

Building amenities include a fitness center, business center, wet bar, Wi-Fi, rooftop lounge with tranqility pool, seating area, outdoor kitchen and small garden.

If the condos at the Terrazio aren’t what you’re looking for, there are a lot of Downtown Chicago Condos for sale at reduced prices right now.

[tags]Terrazio, Downtown Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

October 28, 2010 – Chicago real estate developer Magellan Group may not have a buyer for the apartment portion of Aqua, but the curvy 82 story Lakeshore East high-rise keeps turning heads and either winning awards or being nominated for one. This time the Studio Gang designed tower was picked as one of the five finalists for the 4th International Highrise Award, according to a recent Tribune article.

Being one one of the five finalists may not seem like much of an honor, but Aqua is the only American high-rise in the running. The five were chosen by a group of panalists in Germany that included international engineers, architects and other real estate experts. All five finalists are mixed-use developments. The high-rises had to be at least 328 feet tall according to the article. Points that the towers are being judged on include cost efficiency, aesthetics, design, how well the building fits in with its setting, new technology used and cost efficiency.

Other towers in the running for the award are located in Dubai, Tokyo, Bangkok and Shanghai.

The article also stated that Aqua and the Bangkok tower called The Met scored points for their extensive use of outdoor living space. Besides the wavy balconies, Aqua has an amazingly huge outdoor amenity level.

Aqua seems to have soaked up a lot of the spotlight when it comes to New Chicago Condos, but there are still a lot of great buildings and residences out there so don’t limit your search.

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

October 27, 2010 – Yesterday we talked about how the new wave of Chicago foreclosures was washing up in trendier neighborhoods and newer Chicago condos. This has resulted in more Chicago short sales as investors are unable to flip their units or refinance them. With the downturn in the Chicago real estate market, many condos are no longer worth the pre-construction prices that investors paid a few years ago. A recent Tribune article quoted Prudential Rubloff agent Mario Greco as saying that “They were the hot thing to do, buy (a few), flip one, keep one and keep one in your portfolio.” That’s not true anymore for the average investor.

There have been 73 new foreclosures filed in the Chicago Loop area from July 1st through September 30th of this year. RealtyTrac data shows that in the South Loop, one in every 217 units has been hit with some sort of foreclosure. Towers that had the most foreclosures include River City with 16, Century Tower with 9 and Park Millennium with 6.

The Near South Side or South Loop has three high-rise condo buildings that make up two-thirds of the new foreclosures, according to the article. 1620 South Michigan had 12, Vision on State had 11 and 1720 South Michigan had 8.

If the unemployment rate doesn’t improve and homeowners are unable to refinance mortgages, we will most likely see more Chicago foreclosures and Chicago short sales in the near future.

[tags]Chicago Short Sales, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

October 26, 2010 – The big Chicago real estate news stories right now aren’t about new developments, price cuts or incentives. Chicago foreclosures are the hot topic and foreclosures are becoming more common in trendier Chicago neighborhoods. According to a recent Tribune report, there were 73 foreclosures filed in the Loop neighborhood from July through September of this year. If you add those to the foreclosures that were filed during the previous months of this year and you get a total of 205 foreclosures, up nearly 77% from the same period last year.

The article also stated that neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, the Near North, Near South and Near West sides all had double digit increases in foreclosure filings in the third quarter of this year, from data gathered by the Woodstock Institute. From January through September of this year, there were 515 foreclosure suits filed against Chicago condos and single-family homes in the Near North Side alone. The report found that those were the fourth highest number of foreclosure filings in any neighborhood. The ones with more filings were, in order, Austin. Belmont-Cragin and West Ridge, according to the Tribune article.

This new wave of foreclosures aren’t just in older developments either. Many of them are showing up in new high-rise buildings. This is resulting in more short sales. The Near South Side (South Loop) has three well-known towers that account for two-thirds of the filings in that neighborhood. Tomorrow we’ll let you know what buildings those are and detail a few more towers with high numbers of Chicago foreclosures.

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

October 25, 2010 – In our last post we told you about the price reductions that Belgravia Group made on two and three bedroom condos at 433 West Briar Place in Lake View. The vintage 11 story building has 34 units, 17 of which Belgravia purchased and are remarketing with price cuts anywhere from about 20% to 39% off the old prices.

The condos come with hardwood flooring, stainless steel kitchen appliances, granite counter tops. undermount sinks, double bowl vanities in the baths, marble tile in the baths, cenral AC and gas forced heat plus washer and dryer hook-up. The building amenities include a fitness room and bike storage room.

Residence A floor plans have three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 2,300 square feet. They were priced from $770,000 to $890,000 and are now priced from $539,900 to $599,900.

Residence B floor plans have two bedrooms and 2.5 baths with 1,600 square feet. These condos were listed from $520,000 to $650,000 but are now reduced and run from $349,900 to $419,900. And the Residence C floor plans come with two bedrooms and 2.5 baths. They also have 1,600 square feet. Old prices on these condos ran from $425,000 to $670,000 and have since been lowered to $339,900 to $404,900.

And if you like what you see at 433 West Briar but already own a vintage Chicago condo, you might want to hire one of the Chicago remodeling contractors and update some features.

[tags]433 W Briar, Chicago Remodeling Contractors, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

October 23, 2010 – Belgravia Group has several well-known developments with Chicago lofts and Chicago condos that have been popular with buyers despite the sluggish housing market. Price reductions have paid off with big sales numbers at 565 Quincy with junior one bedrooms priced from $157,900 and a free parking space with the purchase of one and two bedroom condos.

At 600 North Lake Shore Drive, there are three condos listed for sale from the developer site. Those include unit #10 which is an 835 square foot unit with 1 bedroom and 1.5 baths. It is available immediately and priced at $455,400.

Unit #11 is also available now and has 2,124 square feet, three bedrooms and three baths for $1,192,000.

Unit #12 is a three bedroom, 3.5 bath condo with even more space at 2,547 square feet. This residence is priced at $1,650,000 and is ready for move-in now.

At 433 West Briar there is a good selection of two and three bedroom condos available. The condos and savings are described as, “huge, massive, enormous, gigantic” on the site for the vintage building. Prices range from $339,900 to $599,900 for the condos, down from the old prices of $425,000 to $890,000.

In our next post we’ll tell you a little more about 433 Briar, and as always be sure to check back here for updates about price reductions on Chicago condos and information about Chicago real estate listings.

[tags]600 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate Listings[/tags]

October 22, 2010 – Even though there have been several high dollar sales of Chicago condos in the past three or four months, not every luxury Chicago real estate development is getting buyers to sign contracts. It has been three years since deliveries started at 50 East Chestnut and according to a recent Crain’s article, only 20 of the luxury units have closed out of the 34 total in the Gold Coast tower. That’s about 59%.

Charles Huzenis, along with brother Harry, of JRG Capital Partners LLC stated in the article that another buyer is working on purchasing two condos on floors 21 and 22 and will combine them for one residence. This sale is crucial because a $17 million loan comes due on the 39 story high-rise on January 17, 2011. The brothers say that if this pending sale goes through, they will be able to pay down the loan, leaving around $10 million still owed. They are also working with First Chicago Bank and Trust to get a 22 month extension to pay off the balance.

There has been only one sale in the past year, which was a $3.23 million condo that sold in January 2010. The full floor condos just may be too expensive right now for many buyers. The article states that the median price for a unit at 50 East Chestnut is $3.1 million.

Huzenis also conceeded that sales may be affected by the fact that five of the 14 condos that aren’t under contract are already built out and quite a few buyers want the option of customizing, especially at that price.

If you don’t have an extra $3 million, you can find other Chicago Luxury Condos similar to 50 East Chestnut in different price ranges.

[tags]50 East Chestnut, Chicago Luxury Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

October 21, 2010 – We’ve been talking about all of the Chicago apartment deals and Chicago condos in three towers that are probably going to be available for rent soon. But one rental Chicago real estate development isn’t doing as well as expected. According to a GlobeSt. article, EnV is only about 40% leased right now. Besides the empty apartments, no retailer has leased any of the 27,000 square feet of commercial space either.

Marketing firm Cushman & Wakefield was hired to fill the apartments and retail space about two years ago, the article states. David Lynd of the Lynd Company, developer of EnV, was quoted as saying that, “Our leasing started in July, but because the leasing season begins about three months earlier, we may have missed part of it.”

There are 249 studio to two bedroom apartments at the 29 story EnV, which is located on 161 West Kinzie. The units are leased for around $2.95 per square foot, which makes them some of the most expensive in Chicago. Units vary from about 470 to 1,207 square feet.

According to Lynd, the expensive rents are based on the finishes and amenities offered in the high-rise. The tower is LEED certified and units come with stainless steel appliances, bamboo flooring and glass balconies. Building amenities include a roftop swimming pool, wireless Internet access, media room, fitness center, outdoor terrace with seating and grilling area, private wine lockers plus a catering kitchen for parties.

If you are looking for leasing rates a little lower than those offered at EnV, you may want to check out some other Chicago apartments for rent.

[tags]EnV, Chicago Apartments For Rent, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

October 20, 2010 – Rick Levin is holding another Chicago real estate auction on December 15th. This time no Chicago condos are being sold, just the sites where a couple of planned condo towers never made it off the drawing board or out of the ground, according to a recent Crain’s report. One of those is the lot where Azure Tower was to be built.

The planned 18 story Azure Tower, which would have been located on 1330 South Michigan Avenue, was to have 130 one to two bedroom condos that were priced from the low $200,000s to mid $800,000s. As with so many other projects, sales didn’t go as expected and Concept Developers was hit with a $3.3 million foreclosure suit from lender Parkway Bank and Trust this August.

Concept had also planned to convert the former Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse located at 1340 South Michigan Avenue into condos but has put that 69,000 square foot historic building up for auction as well since the foreclosure suit was filed.

Even without these two developments being built, there are still plenty of new condos for sale. Or you may want to check out the Chicago foreclosures that are up for sale as well.

[tags]Azure Tower, Chicago Foreclosures, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]