Turning former public housing sites into mixed-income neighborhoods sounds like a good idea, but will the developers and the Chicago Housing Authority be able to entice middle-class folks to buy into it?
If reports from the West Side are an indication, they have a good chance. That’s where Westhaven Park is rising in the place of the Henry Horner Homes. Market-rate condos in an elevator midrise and in traditional three-flat walkup buildings are selling at a “great” pace, says Pam Gecan, market manager of AMS Realty, which is working from a trailer at 100 N. Hermitage Ave., a couple of blocks west of Ashland Avenue.
Of 113 units, 75 have sold since sales began around Christmas, she said. The lowest priced units in the three-flats are 1,196-square-foot two-bedroom, two-baths at $215,400. The least expensive units remaining in the midrise are 1,051-square-foot two-bedroom, two-baths at $230,000. Parking is $16,000 for three-flat units and $17,500 for the midrise indoor parking.
“We’re getting people associated with the [University of Illinois at Chicago] and young professionals who work downtown,” Gecan said. She touted the per-square-foot prices as 25 to 35 percent less than comparable units elsewhere and said hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances are standard.
First occupancies are schedule for around June 2005, Gecan said.
One-bedroom units are sold out, she said.
One-bedroom triplex
A few miles to the northeast, a one-bedroom is still available and though the building it’s in began as servants quarters, it’s more likely today that residents here will be employers, not employees.
“There isn’t any place like it” anywhere else in Chicago, says listing agent Helen Jaeger Roth of Koenig & Strey GMAC.
We’ll say. That one-bedroom has an asking price of $2.19 million. But in fairness, the condominium encompasses 3,250 square feet on three levels with a nearly 1,000-square-foot terrace. Plus, it’s east of Michigan Avenue and adjacent to some of the most prestigious buildings in Chicago.
The building, at 210 E. Walton St., was built as servants quarters for the 209 E. Lake Shore Drive co-op building. Benjamin Marshall was the architect for both. Its architectural provenance doesn’t stop there. The building was restored and updated by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in 1990, in a plan by 209 Lake Shore to turn it into co-op units to be sold as unfinished space. That effort failed and the building later sold and was turned into five duplex and triplex condos, Roth said.
Though most of the units are traditional, the owner of this unit wanted “the ultimate urban pad” that also was private, Roth said.
A 70-year-old, married, former West Sider “who is young at heart,” the owner designed “every piece” of the place, with the help of an Aspen, Colo., architect, Roth said.
The bedroom, study, sitting room, exercise room and gourmet kitchen are all connected by a stainless-steel staircase.
Want 3,250 square feet but more than one bedroom? This unit lends itself to conversion to multiple bedrooms, Roth said.
Who would buy this “ultimate urban pad”? One offer, Roth said, came from a single woman.
———-
Wayne Faulkner is editor of Real Estate. You may contact him at wfaulkner@tribune.com.
