I worked for an association promoting housing, and it was my job to represent their interests. If you look at my actual forecasts, the numbers were right in line with most forecasts. … I was a public spokesman writing about housing having a good future. I was wrong. I have to take responsibility for that.
Lereah is now a private consultant, and he expects to see a modest recovery in 2009, but warns that "it'll take a long time to get back to the peak prices we saw in many markets."
Last month, Joe reported that 71 out 87 floors were already in place, so there isn't much further to go on this one. Some more black balcony railings have been added to the lower levels, and it looks like work is being completed on the building's base, which also has a wavy design. When Joe spoke with the Magellan sales team last month, just 13 of Aqua's 267 homes were still available.
For the past few years, Studio Dwell Architects has been quietly carving out a modern niche in the residential market. The firm made a splash in 2006 when it collaborated with the Seattle-based Miller Hull Partnership on a nine-story residential building developed by Ranquist Development at 156 W Superior St in River North. Since then, Studio Dwell and Ranquist have partnered on a number of smaller residential developments in Bucktown and Wicker Park, and we've recently seen its designs crop up in the West Loop, West Town and Ukrainian Village.
Our list of Studio Dwell designs has just five developments on it. That's pretty short, because it's limited to buildings that still have new homes for sales. For a complete list of projects the firm has had a hand in, refer to the firm's Web site.
In it, Lissner gets straight to the point about what we can expect beyond 2009:
What we’re seeing in 2010 is there is no more new development taking place. There will be zero units delivered in the South Loop in 2010, so anyone who is looking for new construction will really need to be buying one of these units that was delivered in 2009, because there is no more pipeline at this point.
I still want to take a full-blown tour of Michigan Avenue Tower II, but it's hard to do so when its sales staff still hasn't received the proper furnishings for its models. For the time being, I'm forced to look at the South Loop high-rise from afar, as I did from the top floor of the neighboring 1400 Museum Park yesterday afternoon.
Most of the 269 homes in Frankel & Giles' 28-story tower at 1400 S Michigan Ave have closed or are under contract, but several units, ranging from 580 square-foot studios up to 1,260 square-foot two-bedrooms with dens, were still for sale from the $210s to the $520s last month.
Frankel & Giles seems open to renting out units, as it has ane 750 square-foot one-bedroom listed for rent at $1,600 a month. It's not alone, either: 14 other rentals are listed from $1,250 to $2,600 per month.
Monthly assessments on the for-sale units range from $214 to $522 and cover costs for utilities and amenities like a fitness center, outdoor pool and sundeck, and 24-hour door staff. Parking spaces are available from $37,500 to $65,000.
EDIT: As the comments below suggest, Frankel & Giles is just the exclusive marketer for Michigan Avenue Tower II. The title of "developer" belongs to Russland Capital Group.
In the course of 2008, Joe and I visited the West Loop several times, chronicling new condo development in a couple of neighborhood video tours. On Friday, I put on a pair of heavy mittens and walked around the West Loop to revisit some of the new developments that were either built or announced in the past year. In Part 1 of the video series, I take a look at VB1224, 1224 W Van Buren St, 155 North Aberdeen and 15 South Racine.
I'll post more installments from my series throughout the week. Follow the links below to view some of our previous West Loop video tours.
I made my way to Museum Park on Sunday afternoon in hopes of landing a grand tour of its flagship building: One Museum Park's eastern tower, located at 1211 S Prairie Ave. I wasn't that lucky, but the sales staff made time to let me into a couple of the building's three-bedroom / three-bath condos while still handling a surprising number of "real" visitors. (In the 45 minutes I was there, I saw agents walking around with single men, young couples, and middle-aged couples accompanied by what I would guess were their college-aged sons and daughters.)
What you see above and below is a 2,924 square-foot home on the tower's 23rd floor. As you'll see later, its placement on the floor's northeastern corner results in a wide arc of unobstructed views, from the Sears Tower all the way around to Soldier Field.
This home, like most of the unsold units in One Museum Park, was built out with a mix of standard finishes and upgrades. It's priced at $2.3 million and comes with two parking spaces. Condos throughout the building are priced from the $520s for a 955 square-foot one-bedroom to $2.8 million for a three-bedroom with 3,449 square feet.
"People are out there kicking the tires and not pulling the trigger. … There is so much uncertainty. The hard part is getting them to make a move. … Even when you make a contract, both parties are kind of squirrelly. It's much harder to keep contracts together. Any little thing in a transaction can cause a problem. People are on edge."
The past 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in the supply of condos in Chicago's South Loop, the great majority of them in high-rise buildings. During the 1970s condo conversions exploded the supply of high-rise condos in Edgewater from nearly zero to more than 6,500.
Edgewater condos sold, on average, for $76,000 in 1979, prior to the market collapse of the early 1980s. During 1991 and the first 6 months of 1992 Edgewater condos sold for an average of just $56,570 according to a study I conducted at the time. Adjusted for inflation, the average Edgewater condo lost a staggering 60% of its value between 1979 and 1992.
Is the Edgewater example completely inapposite to the South Loop today? I'll have the answer to that question for you about 10 years from now. If you have any insights on the topic, chime in here or join our Seeking solace in Chicago's South Loop group at Facebook and start a discussion there.
A few months ago, when construction on the Trump International Hotel and Tower reached about 75 or 80 stories, it became visible from the living room of my West Town apartment, poking up above the brick condo buildings across the street. When I woke up this morning, I noticed a helicopter hovering over the 92-story tower, so I went down to River North to watch some of the spire installation.
According to Blair Kamin's Skyline blog, the operation started around 9:30 a.m. this morning. I arrived at Wabash Avenue around 10:00, but the street was closed off, so I headed over to watch from the Columbus Drive Bridge and Upper Wacker Drive. The spire doesn't appear to be completed yet, but when it is it will measure 227 feet.
Stay tuned for a video I shot beneath the tower, which I'll post early next week.
