June 3, 2011 – Jameson Realty is still marketing individual Chicago condos at Silver Tower. The high-rise is located on 303 West Ohio Street in River North and if you are interested in purchasing a unit there, you may want to act sooner as opposed to later because the remaining block of unsold condos in this Chicago real estate development is also up for sale in bulk. An investor could purcahse them and lease them, which seems to be the trend of late.

The condos come with oak hardwood floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, carpeted bedrooms, a balcony or terrace, KitchenAid stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, double bowl sink, Grohe fixtures, cherry or maple cabinets and 12 inch marble bath tile and surround.

Building amenities include a 24 hour doorman, sky lobby with terrace and community room, fitness center and resident storage lockers.

Some of the condos currently for sale are listed below.

Unit #2009 / 1BR / 1 Bath / $244,729
Unit #3308 / 1BR / 1 Bath / $248,750
Unit #2409 / 1BR / 1 Bath / $250,708
Unit #3701 / 1BR / 1 Bath / $279,202
Unit #2405 / 1BR / 2 Bath / $288,886
Unit #3105 / 1BR / 2 Bath / $295,738
Unit #1706 / 2BR / 2 Bath / $357,621
Unit #2007 / 2BR / 2 Bath / $401,566
Unit #2507 / 2BR / 2 Bath / $413,313
Unit #3101 / 3BR / 2.5 Bath / $599,900

You can also find other great new Chicago condos in River North by following the link.

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

May 27, 2011 – Unless there is a big rush of Chicago condo sales, 2011 will be the third year in a row that Chicago real estate developers have sold fewer than 600 Downtown Chicago condos. A recent Appraisal Research Counselors report that was highlighted in a Crain’s article stated that just 174 downtown Chicago condos were sold in the first quarter of this year. There were 256 downtown units that sold in the first quarter of last year (2010). But even with the low number of sales for Q1 of 2011, the report points out that it’s better than the last quarter of last year (2010) because developers had a net loss of 19 sales then due to walk-away buyers.

The ARC report gave a few obvious reasons for the dismal sales. “Not knowing whether the bottom has been reached in prices, concerned about the continued weakness in the economy and job market, and finding it difficult to sell existing residences and finance new acquisitions, many people are opting for the easier decision — to rent,” ARC explained.

But the article also went on to state that the excess inventory of downtown Chicago condos is slowly decreasing despite dismal sales. That is largely due to developers putting new projects on hold, scrapping plans completely and converting condos to rental units. At the end of the first quarter of last year (2010) there were 4,182 unsold downtown Chicago condos. At the end of the first quarter of this year (2011) that number went down to 2,031 unsold downtown Chicago condos. Back in 2008 there were 8,222 unsold downtown Chicago condos at the end of the first quarter. ARC started recording sales data in 1997 and said in the article that right now the inventory of unsold downtown Chicago condos is pretty close to what it was in ’97.

Buyers opting to walk-away from sales contracts has forced ARC to change the way they track sales. The firm has always counted a signed contract as a sale, but just recently started only counting closed contracts. With that in mind, there were 189 downtown Chicago condos that sold and closed in the first quarter of this year. In the last quarter of last year there were 251 sales contracts that closed on downtown Chicago condos and 451 that closed in the first quarter of last year (2010).

Most housing experts agree that we still may be a year or even two away from a real recovery in terms of Chicago condo prices and sales.

[tags]Chicago Condo Sales, Downtown Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

April 22, 2011 – A little bit of good Chicago real estate news hit the wire recently. According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, the median price of Chicago condos sold in March 2011 was actually higher than the median price one year ago. It’s the first year-over-year monthly increase since 2008.

A recent Tribune article highlighted the IAR report and stated that the March 2011 median price for a Chicago condo was $275,000 which is a 2.8% increase over the March 2010 median price of $267,500. The last time that there was a year-over-year gain was when the October 2008 median price of $315,000 was 3.3% higher than the October 2007 median price.

The median price may have improved, but the year-over-year sales numbers didn’t. March 2011 sales of Chicago area homes and condos dropped 15.6% and the median price fell 14.1% from However, sales of Chicago area single-family homes and condos were up 41.3% in March 2011 from February 2011. There were 5,324 single-family homes and condos sold in March 2011 with a median price of $158,000 which was 3.6% higher than in February 2011.

For in-town Chicago homes and condos, March 2011 sales were up 37.3% from February 2011 but down 20.1% from March of 2010, according to the report. There were 1,450 units sold in-town Chicago in March 2011 with a median price of $191,000. That was 7.6% higher than the median price in February 2011 but 8.6% lower than the median price of $209,000 in March of 2010.

We’ll have to wait a few more months and see if the median price for Chicago condos and Chicago real estate in general continues to improve in 2011.

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

April 11, 2011 – Not too long ago we told you that developers Ronald Shipka and Richard Stein of Enterprise Cos. and Mesirow Real Estate had sold Walton the Park to the Dart family of Dart Container Corporation. Mr. Shipka and Mr. Stein still owed $82 million on the construction loan due for the 31 story Gold Coast tower and the Dart family paid that off, allowing the developers to avoid a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to ST Residential.

Crain’s reported that sales of only 33 Chicago condos had closed out of the 198 units at Walton on the Park. That left a lot of empty units, most of which had around 1,464 square feet
of living space. At the time of the purchase in March, the Darts were leaning towards leasing the condos. Now we know for certain that the units are up for rent and Coldwell Banker is marketing them.

The monthly rental rates for one bedroom condos at Walton on the Park, which is located on 2 West Delaware, are starting at $2,700 and include one indoor parking space. Montly lease rates for the two bedroom condos are starting at $3,600 and also include one indoor parking space. The monthly rental rates for the three bedroom condos start at $6,000 and include two indoor parking spaces.

There have been several Chicago real estate developments that have recently switched to rental, but the rates for the units at Walton on the Park are among the most expensive we’ve seen lately.

[tags]Walton On The Park, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

January 22, 2011 – According to the latest report issued from the Illinois Association of Realtors, sales of Chicago homes and condos in 2010 were the lowest sales numbers in the past ten years. There were 69,010 existing Chicago area condos and single-family homes sold in 2010, which is a 0.5% drop from the year before (2009). That is the biggest decline in year over year sales since 2000, which is the first year the IAR began keeping data.

For sales of Chicago condos in the city during 2010 there was a 2.5% drop from total sales during last year (2009). There were 11,051 units sold in the city for 2010 with an average median price of $267,900 for 2010 which is a 4.3 % decrease from the previous year.

The Tribune published highlights from the IAR report and stated that area sales of Chicago condos and single-family homes in December 2010 were down 10% from December of 2009. There were 5,204 single-family homes and Chicago condos sold in December 2010. That is up 15.2% from November 2010 but down 9.9% from the year before when 5,779 homes were sold in December 2009. The median price for December of 2010 was also down to $167,850 which is down from the $182,000 in December of 2009.

These numbers show that buyers are still finding good deals on prices of Chicago homes for sale.

[tags]Chicago Homes For Sale, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

January 21, 2011 – With all of the recent news about Chicago real estate developers pushing new rental tower construction plans, we also see that investors are paying attention to opportunities as well. Crescent Heights of Miami, the developer who recently bought 205 units in Astoria Tower for $45 million, has decided to sell one of their other relatively recent purchases. Cityfront Place, the 39 story, 480 unit Streeterville apartment tower located on 400 North McClurg Court, is now being marketed by CB Richard Ellis according to a Crain’s report.

Crescent Heights paid $82 million for Cityfront Place in December of 2009. The article goes on to say that the tower might bring $100 million or even more, as investors are eager to bet on rental properties lately. CB Richard Ellis was cited in the article as showing that Cityfront Place is 98% leased and effective rents are 5% to 6% higher than they were a year ago. Rents run from $1,095 to $2,285 for the studio to two bedroom apartments there.

Another rental property that Crescent Heights is looking to sell is Regents Park. This Hyde Park development on 5020-5050 South Lake Shore Drive consists of two towers and is 95% occupied. The developer paid $128 million for it back in 2005 and is expected to make quite a bit of a profit from the sale.

Appraisal Research Counselors VP Ron DeVries was quoted in the article as saying that, “There’s huge demand out there for people to buy assets, particularly the Class A-type properties, the institutional assets. It’s almost like we went from a condo-flipper market to an apartment-flipper market.”

Besides the current supply of apartments available, there are also a lot of Chicago condos for rent as well.

[tags]Cityfront Place, Chicago Condos For Rent, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

January 14, 2011 – In case you’ve been wondering how Chicago real estate and Chicago condos in particular compare to other major cities in the U.S., the latest Standard&Poor’s Case-Shiller report has hit the news. From their findings, Chicago condo sales rank the lowest when stacked up against condo markets in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

According to their report, Chicago condo prices have only climbed back up to early 2002 levels. New York condo prices have scored the best, making it back to early 2005 levels. Condos in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco are at late 2003 to early 2004 price levels.

Data gathered by S&P for October 2010 showed that the Chicago condo market hit it’s lowest rate of annual decline, a -11.8% score. That gave Chicago the dubious honor of having the lowest performance in annual rate of return of the five major condo markets listed above.

The S&P report also stated that Chicago condos and single-family homes were at their highest sales levels in late 2006 and have fallen every year since then with early 2009 being the worst so far. Prices of Chicago condos declined about 13.5% annually and single-family home values dropped around 18.7% annually. Prices of Chicago condos in October 2010 dropped about 11.8% from the year before, which was again the worst performance of all five major cities surveyed.

We can hope that the worst price dip is over for Chicago real estate and there is no place else to go but up in 2011.

[tags]Chicago Condo Prices, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

January 7, 2011 – For those of you who may be interested in purchasing any Lake Shore Drive condos, one Chicago real estate development that still has units availabe is 600 North Lake Shore Drive. According to developer Belgravia Group’s site, there are a limited number of condos left for sale in each of the two towers.

In the North building, all of the floorplans except for number three are sold out. Resident floorplan three has one bedroom and 1.5 baths. This condo layout features south and southeast lake views from the oversized windows and a southeast view from the balcony.

In the South building, floorplan number seven on floors 4 though 9 is still available. This floorplan has one bedroom, 1.5 baths and southeast window and balcony views.

Also available in the South buildingis floorplan nine which has two bedrooms, two baths and northeast lake views from the windows and balcony. Floorplan number ten has one bedroom, 1.5 baths, east and northeast window views and northeast balcony views.

Floorplan eleven in the South building is available on floor 27 through 46. This layout has three bedrooms, three baths, northeast corner skyline and lake views from the windows plus northeast balcony views.

And floorplan twelve in the South building still has units available on floors 10 through 46. These Chicago condos come with three bedrooms, 3.5 baths, southeast corner lake and skyline views from the windows and south balcony views.

Some individual condos the developer has listed for sale are below.
Unit #10 / 835 Sq Ft / 1 Bedroom / 1.5 Baths / Price $455,400 / Available Now
Unit #11 / 2,124 Sq Ft / 3 Bedrooms / 3 Baths / Price $1,192,000 / Available Now
Unit #12 / 2,547 Sq Ft / 3 Bedrooms / 3.5 Baths / Price $1,650,000 / Available Now

You can find more Chicago Luxury Condos with lake views by following the link.

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

November 27, 2010 – According to the Illinois Association of Realtors, Chicago homes sales in the nine county reporting area dropped 35.9% in October as compared to October of 2009. There were 4,672 Chicago condos and single-family homes sold durnign October 2010 compared to 7,286 sold in October 2009. The Tribune detailed the IAR report in a recent article and stated that the median price of Chicago area homes also dipped 6.8% this October as compared to last. The median price for October 2010 was $177,000.

For Chicago home sales in the city, there were 1,217 condos and single-family units sold during October 2010. That is 39.5% lower than the 2,012 units that sold in the city of Chicago during October 2009. The median price for homes in the city also fell 14.9% this October as compared to last, with the new number being $183,000.

When we look at just Chicago condo sales for October of this year, the article states that there were 659 units sold. That is a 44.8% drop as compared to sales of Chicago condos during October of last year (2009). The median price of Chicago condos for October 2010 was $250,000 which is 4.9% lower than the median price a year ago.

The expiration of the $8,000 first-time home buyer federal tax credit along with the unemployment rate seems to have really had an impact on sales of Chicago Condos. It will be interesting to see what the third quarter 2010 sales numbers look like in a few weeks.

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

November 17, 2010 – It may not be the final lawsuit that the would-be Chicago real estate developer Garrett Kelleher of Chicago Spire fame will face, but it probably is the one that will push him out of the city for good, or at least for now. According to a Crain’s report, Mr. Kelleher has moved out of his corporate offices high up on 111 South Wacker Drive rather than be evicted over unpaid rent.

Kelleher’s Shelbourne Development Group was already forced to abandon their multi-million sales suite and full scale Spire condo model at the NBC Tower back in May over back rent that was owed. Now the developer has another suit against him, filed by German investors and represented by the John Buck Company. The suit was filed in early October and claims that Kelleher owes about $27,600 in back rent, according to the article. The tower’s owners filed an earlier eviction suit against Kelleher in February for about $110,000 in unpaid rent, but that case was settled out of court and Shelbourne stayed in the 6,700 square foot office until this most recent suit.

Mr. Kelleher’s lawyers claim that possible eviction wasn’t the reason for the move and were quoted in the article as saying that, “Shelbourne Development Group voluntarily moved to a location better suited to complete our work on the company projects. The rent claim, however, has been in dispute and remains in dispute.”

No matter what the outcome of the rent dispute, the chances of the Shelbourne’s version of the Spire actually being built are pretty small. If you were considering investing in one of the Chicago condos there, you may want to check into some of the many Chicago short sales that are being offered by lenders right now.

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