Speculation about price cuts has been growing since news broke that River North’s Silver Tower was in foreclosure.

Yesterday an agent from the company handling sales for Silver Tower was predicting the development will “drastically reduce prices” on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Stay tuned for details.

Not every story we add to our Chicago Real Estate News feed warrants “top story” status or a “quote of the day” post, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting. You’ll find some of these good reads in our Chicago Real Estate News Weekend feed.

(Photo from the YoChicago Flickr photostream.)

The 220-unit Haberdasher Square Lofts was one of the early loft conversions in the near West Loop neighborhood in Chicago, and remains one of the few full-amenity loft conversions in the city.

In the above video, Baird & Warner’s Ted Guarnero gives us an overview of the building, its history, and the range of unit sizes and prices available in what remains one of the West Loop’s and city’s top-echelon lofts.

Guarnero was part of the original sales team at Haberdasher when the building converted from a Hart Shaffner Marx clothing factory into luxury lofts in the early 90s. He’s also the sponsor of this series of YoChicago videos of the property .

You can also walk through a light-filled 3-bedroom loft, and visit the sundeck and fitness center.

• Prairie Pointe auction: First impressions and observations and a sale-by-sale breakdown
• 1400 Lake Shore Drive auction: An early tip, the official announcement, unit-by-unit pricing, and resale and short sale trends in the tower
• Rubloff’s Michael Pierson: How to find a real estate agent, Chicago’s evolving brokerage scene, and real-time market data from Rubloff
• A fabulous master suite in Wilmette
• More of Lino Darchun’s favorite Lincoln Park high-rises
• 565 Quincy’s hood – live in the West Loop
• Elysian’s troublesome top
• What we know about SoNo on the Near North Side
• John Hall Homes launches sales, construction at Reserve of St Charles
• The funky heart of Rogers Park
• The end is nigh for federal home buyer tax credits
• Inside Astoria Tower’s private spa
• CHA pumps $3.4 million into Roosevelt Square on the Near West Side
• New models open at Superior 110 in River North

The size and pace of price reductions among 1400 Lake Shore Drive’s resales haven’t made things any easier for RDM Development, which still has about 80 units of its own sitting on the books. That’s probably why RDM decided to go the auction route with at least some of its units– it’s the only way to stand up to the competition within its own building.

Several units in 1400 Lake Shore Drive show up on CondoShark’s Top 10 lists for price reductions and short sales in the Gold Coast neighborhood, including a few homes listed by CondoShark’s own Matt Garrison of Coldwell Banker. Those homes include:

Top price reductions:

• Unit #22-V: A 327 square-foot studio listed by Garrison; was $194,565, now $125,000 (35.8% off)
• Unit #22-N: A 357 square-foot studio listed by Garrison; Was $212,415, now $139,900 (34.1% off)
• Unit #14-H: A two-bedroom / two-bath listed by John Biank of Property Pro Realty; was $474,900, now $348,999 (26.5% off)

Top short sales / foreclosures:

• Unit #17-P: A one-bedroom / one-bath listed by Jose Reyes of A Plus Realty; was $249,900, now $145,900 (41.6% off)
• Unit #21-G: A one-bedroom / one-bath listed by Reyes; was $275,900, now $175,900 (36.2% off)
• Unit #11-B: A two-bedroom / two-bath listed by Cari Zwieg of Jameson Real Estate; was $429,900, now $319,000 (25.8% off)

CondoShark.com tracks price reductions on homes in seven Chicago neighborhoods and select North Shore suburbs.

@properties‘ Eldridge Team celebrated the debut of its newest models at Superior 110 with an evening-long open house on Thursday. Several units were open for touring, but the showstopper was unit #2203, a three-bedroom / three-bath home staged with Maxalto furniture (seen above and below). The 2,500 square-foot home is now priced in at $1.38 million, down from an original list price of almost $1.7 million.

Just 11 two- and three-bedroom homes are still for sale at the tower, located at 110 W Superior St in River North. They range in price from the $560s to $1.45 million, with parking included with every unit. Monthly assessments are estimated at $489 to $1,300.

View, print, or download this spreadsheet in Google Docs.

Yesterday afternoon we received a sheet detailing the original prices, minimum bids, assessments, and upgrade information for all 47 units being considered for auction at 1400 Lake Shore Drive. I gather that RDM Development, Jameson Real Estate, and Fine & Co may pare this list down to around 30 units, but it gives you a good idea of what types of homes and prices to expect on auction day.

I’ve uploaded the full price and availability sheet (in PDF format) to our Google Docs database.

If all you want is a quick overview of availability and pricing, check out the spreadsheet below. The “upgrade pricing” amount in the far right column represents the optional cost for upgrading these homes, which are otherwise selling “as-is.”

Since someone’s sure to ask, estimated monthly assessments are $167 to $222 for studios, $364 to $530 for one-bedrooms, $547 to $594 for two-bedrooms, and $603 for the lone three-bedroom.

View, print, or download this spreadsheet at Google Docs.

Among all of the Chicago brokerages with a strong online presence, it was Rubloff that pioneered many of the concepts buyers expect from today’s Web sites — listings, development descriptions, and neighborhood data, just to name a few. Since merging with Prudential Preferred Properties, Prudential Rubloff has continued to roll out new content at Rubloff.com that is “fresh and appropriate for the consumer,” says President / Chairman Michael Pierson.

The latest tool at Rubloff.com is the Premier Market Watch, which gives buyers real-time data about market activity. Users can receive detail-rich 12-page reports, or opt for a quick, one-page overview for each of their queries. “It not only gives you graphic information, but it gives you the narrative portion, so it really helps you understand, ‘What is this graph telling me?’” says Pierson.

Told ya so.

Jameson Real Estate and Fine & Co will auction 30 condos at RDM Development’s 1400 Lake Shore Drive on April 25, allowing buyers to get in on a Gold Coast home before the April 30 federal tax credit deadline.

Of the 30 studios and one-, two-, and three-bedrooms to be auctioned, 15 will be sold subject to minimum bids ranging from $50,000 to $200,000. The other 15 will be sold at reserve, which is different from what we heard earlier in the week.

The homes can be purchased “as is” or with upgraded kitchens and baths. Investors who don’t plan to live in their homes can opt for units with tenants already in place. The renovated tower includes a day spa and salon, 24-hour door staff, grocer, dry cleaning, party room with kitchen, fitness center, rooftop deck with grills, and open retail space.

Jameson and Fine will conduct the auction at the Doubletree Hotel Chicago, 300 E Ohio St, on Sunday, April 25. Registration begins at 11 a.m., with the auction following at noon. Homes will be open for viewing from noon to 3 p.m. March 27 and 28 and April 10, 11, 17, 18 and 24.

Not only is this the first auction of Lake Shore Drive condos in 20 years, but it marks Jameson’s first endeavor into the auction process. The brokerage took over the marketing of most of 1400 Lake Shore Drive’s units last year.

The CHA is putting more than $3.4 million in loans into Roosevelt Square, Related Midwest’s stalled mixed-income development on Roosevelt Road on the Near West Side. According to the Chicago Journal, the money will help fund the construction of 121 rental units, but Related still needs another $8 million for the project and has no timetable for completion.