Chicago-based developers Capri Capital Partners LLC and Judson Investment Co. plan to erect a new 1 million square-foot mixed-use condo/retail building in Bronzeville, which is slated to begin construction in early 2008. The building, called The Metropolis, will feature over 320,000 sq. ft. of retail space along with 102 luxury condominiums, 20 of which are reserved for lower-income buyers and priced very reasonably at around $160,000. A similar condo nearby would probably go for around $350,000. Other condominiums in the complex are planned to sell between $250,000 and $400,000.

Technorati Tags: Chicago Condos, The Metropolis, Bronzeville Condos

Park Place Tower Condos

There’s a lot of talk about perhaps the Chicago market picking up, But so far, there’s no sign of it. Now, I’m looking at actual closing numbers here in Chicago as reported by the Chicago Association of Realtors.

Week of March 7 – March 13th

103 Chicago Single family home closings - down 38% from the same week a year ago when 165 homes closed.

231 Condos and townhomes closed, down 23% from the same week in 2006.

I’ve been keeping close track of the closing numbers since last April and there have only been two weeks where the numbers weren’t down.

The average time homes are sitting on the market has increased from 84 days in March 2006 to an average of 131 days now.

Today there area about 15,175 active listings for homes for sale in Chicago…up from about 12,000 in March 2006.

There are 7,100 active condo and townhome listings for sale…up from just about 5,000 last year.

Looks like we have a pretty big supply-demand imbalance here. What do you think?

Prices haven’t tanked… but there are signs that sellers are going to have to start slashing prices to sell.

The Sunday papers are filled with Condo Developers and home builders offering incentives… “Six months free mortgage payments,” “free upgrades,” “plasma TV,” in an effort to spur sales.

The big news in the past couple of weeks has been the sub prime mortgage meltdown. In a nutshell, this means that a lot of potential buyers will now be squeezed out of the market. People who could have bought a home last year cannot today because of stricter mortgage financing terms. Some estimates are that this could knock 20% of the buyers out of the pool.

Now, Chicago is still booming. This is not a gloom and doom situation whatsoever, just as long as you’re not looking to buy a condo for investment purposes. Downtown Chicago luxury condos are being built as never before…later this week, probably Thursday, I’ll have my special report on pre construction Chicago condos ready…watch for it.

Christopher Carley, the Chicago developer who proved unable to build the nation’s tallest building in the city, The Chicago Spire is seeking to try his luck with another downtown site.

After hiring “star-chitect” Santiago Calatrava to design the 2,000-foot-tall, spire-shaped tower once billed as the “Fordham Spire,” Carley could not secure financing for the project. It has since been taken over by Shelbourne Development Ltd. of Dublin.

A dispute with Shelbourne’s executive chairman, Garrett Kelleher, cost Mr. Carley any direct role in the development.

Carley, chief executive of Fordham Co., along with his partner Michael Reschke, ousted chairman of Prime Group Realty Trust, arranged in January to purchase a roughly two-acre parcel at Illinois Street and Columbus Drive from HBE Corp. of St. Louis for $60 million. They plan to close on the property, now a parking lot, in June.

The new site, with convenient access to North Michigan Avenue and the lake as well as the Chicago River, could support as much as 2 million square feet of buildings.

In addition to luxury condos, the duo is considering adding a swank hotel like the Hotel de Crillon, which Carley had planned to bring to his twisting tower, now renamed the Chicago Spire.

If Carley and Reschke get approval for their plans, the nearly three-year construction effort would likely start in mid- to late 2008. The structure could be ready for occupancy in 2011, and by then, in Carley’s opinion, “despite concerns about overbuilding, by the time my project is complete there wouldn’t be a lot of unsold product left.”

Although the near-term condition of the downtown property markets looks fairly grim, Carley stays optimistic by keeping a long-term perspective.

In 1987, as a partner for the real estate firm Trammell Crow, Carley said he tried to buy a 40-acre parcel that included his new site for $50 million. But the owner decided not to take him up on the offer.

“Now, just two acres has sold for $60 million,” Carley said.

The price appreciation is entirely warranted, he said. In addition to a small number of new offices, a flood of housing is changing the character of Chicago’s downtown.

“The transformation of downtown into a residential location is just beginning,” he said. “The giant Baby Boomer generation is coming downtown in a trickle now, but that will turn into a flood.

“Just wait five years. The number of housing units in development will triple or quadruple.”

Mr. Carley’s predictions have not always been as accurate as he might have hoped. Carley has been dogged by questions about the profitability of his recent condo projects, 65 E. Goethe St., the Fordham at 25 E. Superior St. and the Pinnacle at 21 E. Huron St.

Technorati Tags: Fordham Spire, Christopher Carley, Chicago luxury condos