Since last week, the 28 owners who each occupy one floor of the building at 1418 N. Lake Shore Dr. have been returning to their condominium units in the ailing building, which evacuated all its residents in January after a water line broke and wiped out its electrical power.
The question is: Will former Bull Scottie Pippen, who owns one of those floors, be among them?
Rick Landrum, director of client services for Pippen’s agent, Athletic Resources Management, said Pippen, who now plays for the Houston Rockets and is living in a temporary residence in that city, is not expected to make any housing decisions until closer to the summer.
“He has not made a decision yet on what to do with that property,” Landrum said of 1418 N. Lake Shore. “There’s no urgency right now.”
Pippen purchased the seven-room condominium for $850,000 in July 1996. Originally listed the previous year for $965,000 and later reduced to $895,000, the unit has three bedrooms, a 41-foot balcony and two marble baths in the master bedroom.
The 14-year-old, 30-story building on Lake Shore Drive is an even more ideal location for Pippen now, since former teammate Michael Jordan recently shelled out $3 million for a penthouse down the street, atop 1100 N. Lake Shore Dr.
It was in the penthouse unit at 1418 N. Lake Shore Dr.–on the very January day that the Bulls officially announced Pippen’s trade to Houston–that a sprinkler line broke, sending water down the building’s main power duct and causing some water damage, but no real structural damage, to individual condos.
Without power or electric heat, many of the building’s residents safeguarded their valuables and moved out to the Ritz-Carlton or to the Four Seasons Hotel while the repair work was taking place.
“All the major problems have been repaired, including a replacement of the electrical buss duct,” said building manager John Aykroid. “There’s still some damage in the individual apartments to their floors and their walls that has to be repaired, but the building is habitable now.”
Additionally, Landrum said, Pippen still has not yet determined whether he wants to proceed with construction of a previously proposed, 13,991-square-foot house on Telegraph Road in Lake Forest. The basketball star purchased the 10.5-acre, vacant tract in January 1998 for $1,787,500 and had planned to build a house there with a construction value of another $1.75 million. The plans were shelved last summer.
“We’ve put Lake Forest on hold for awhile until (Pippen) gets settled,” Landrum said.
Before moving to Lake Shore Drive, Pippen lived in a 14,000-square-foot house on Shady Lane in Highland Park that he purchased in 1993 for $1.5 million and sold in 1996 for $1.75 million.
– An architecturally significant pair of single-family homes in east Lincoln Park have been put on the market for more than $2 million each.
The single-family rehabs at 2134 and 2138 N. Hudson St. were originally two Victorian structures that were transformed in the late 1940s and early 1950s by modernist designers who drew upon their knowledge of the Arts and Crafts and Prairie School movements. The pair of homes have textured common brick walls, rough stone porches trimmed with hand-carved wood, handsome wood-carved doors with tile trim and “dramatic multipaneled metal windows,” according to listing information.
The properties’ greatest attractions may be their lot sizes. Both are 50 feet by 135 feet, virtually unheard-of in east Lincoln Park, and share a common courtyard.
The more than 7,600-square-foot, three-story home at 2138 N. Hudson is listed for $2.55 million and has a roof terrace, front garden and courtyard with fountain.
The 13-room, four-bedroom house also has a three-story entrance hall, a “monumental staircase with a skylight,” a large master suite with a private balcony and fireplace and a 4.5-car parking area, according to listing information.
The house at 2138 N. Hudson will be ready for occupancy at the end of 1999, and its interior can be completely redesigned according to the wishes of the purchaser.
Last week, the more than 6,000-square-foot two-story house at 2134 N. Hudson went under contract after being listed for $2.1 million, said Nancy Joyce of Baird & Warner’s Michigan Avenue office, who is the listing agent for both homes.
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