Sorry for the teaser back in September, but we finally got our hands on the photos of the new model at 50 East Chestnut.

Designed by Gary Lee Partners, the model spans the entire 21st floor and totals almost 4,000 square feet.

According to a release that accompanied the pics, Lee says the model "allows you to live comfortably with a collection of beautiful objects - regardless of their provenance, vintage or style within a harmonious framework."

Indeed.

The Gold Coast high-rise, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, has about 14 units left; prices start at $2.9 million. Want to see more? There's a slide show of smaller images from 50 East Chestnut available at the Modern Home Theater.

Thanks to some superb access at 330 N Wabash, we were able to snap these photos of the ongoing construction at the Trump International Hotel & Tower.

During a brief visit to Walton on the Park's sales center at 1 W Walton St, we snapped this photo of the impressive scale model in the lobby. In the foreground, you can see the three stately homes that make up the Mansions on the Park. Millie Rosenbloom, of Baird & Warner, is marketing the three homes adjacent to the high-rise.

The mansions average about 10,000 square feet each, and each is available "as-is" for upwards of $4 million. We've kept an eye on these three fixer-uppers for a while now, but no buyer has materialized yet. During a recent tour, a Baird & Warner sales rep confirmed interest from private buyers and developers alike.

Get a good glimpse of these smiling, shovel-clutching suits while you can, because you may not see many other high-rise projects break ground this year.

As we mentioned earlier, The Enterprise Companies and Mesirow Financial Real Estate broke ground on the south tower of Walton on the Park at 11 a.m. today.

Principals from those companies and folks from Bovis Lend Lease, Corus Bank, Pappageorge / Haymes, Coldwell Banker, The Lord Companies and Baird & Warner were on hand to trowel some dirt and sip some bubbly at the construction site, located at 1 W. Walton St (right across State Street from Ten East Delaware's hole in the ground).

First deliveries in Walton on the Park's south tower will begin in January 2010. Prices for its units run from the $530s to $1.6 million.

The Enterprise Companies and Mesirow Financial Real Estate will break ground tomorrow on Walton on the Park's south tower, a few days earlier than the recently announced date of Jan. 21 but a few months later than developers had originally anticipated.

The first of Walton on the Park's two towers, located at 1 W. Walton St, will comprise 198 residential units, 350 parking spaces and 10,000 square feet of commercial space in 31 stories. Caisson and foundation work will be finished by May, and first residences should be set for delivery by January 2010, according to a media release. (more…)

"In this market, for the Spire to get several hundred contracts to move ahead with construction will be difficult. If they introduce 600 units priced at $2 million or more, that's a 7 1/2-year supply for the downtown Chicago luxury market. People who buy new have the patience to wait one to three years for a unit, and they're holding back to see how the economy and job market sort out."

- James M. Kinney, president of Rubloff Residential Properties, offers his spin on Chicago's luxury housing market as Shelbourne Development opens The Chicago Spire's sales center.

The Spire's 1,194 condominiums go on sale today, with most units priced at $750,000 to $15 million. (No word in the latest report on whether Shelbourne and Savills will seek $40 million for the Spire's duplex penthouses.)

It's happening two months later than expected, but Trump's hotel is opening.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago will open for business on Jan. 30, according to Crain's. The hotel's December opening was pushed back from December due to construction delays.

I took a walk over to 330 N. Wabash this afternoon to get a glimpse the Trump model. Sales manager Leah Harriett said the unit wouldn't reflect the curvilinear design of Trump's residential and hotel condos, but insisted that it would give me an idea of their look.

Then she proceeded to tell me that a number of the model's details (especially in the bedroom) were no longer representative of the tower units' finishes, leaving me wondering if the rooms I saw were going to be anything like the real deal. (Is the looped, high-def video of Ivanka extra, or does it come standard?)

The kitchen's Snaidero cabinetry, granite counters and Sub-Zero, Wolf and Miele appliances all looked like the pictures on the Trump Chicago site, as did the bathrooms, so maybe it isn't that different after all.

(more…)

Anyone interested in snatching up one of 30 W. Erie's four unsold condominiums will receive a couple perks with their purchase. Schillaci Birmingham Development has tacked two incentives onto the three-bedroom, 2.5-bath units, says broker Cary Eldridge of @properties. Buyers will now receive a parking spot (originally listed at $50,000) and $25,000 in upgrades including larger Sub-Zero refrigerators, six-burner stoves, stone countertops and wine fridges.

The half-floor condominiums are 2,300 to 2,800 square feet in size and run from $1.2 million to $1.6 million. The 20-unit building was designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. (We offered some observations about the execution of their design last fall.)

According to our extensive neighborhood mapping, Ten East Delaware will stand just inside the boundaries of River North. Prime Group CEO Michael Reschke, however, pledges his high-rise’s allegiance to two adjacent neighborhoods.

“It’s not River North,” he insists. “It’s the heart of the Gold Coast. And just a block and a half off of Michigan Avenue, too. You can walk to anywhere you’d want to go from there.”

Ten East Delaware was New Homes Magazine's cover story in August. (Click here to read our interview with architect Lucien Lagrange). At that time, The Prime Group had sold 75 of the building's 121 luxury condominiums; that number has risen to 80 in the past four months.

Most of the people who have purchased condominiums in the 35-story building are from the area and “moving up to a better building,” he says, although about one-third the buyers plan to use their condos as pieds-a-terre. Whether they call Ten East Delaware home all the time or just some of the time, they’ll all have access to amenities that Reschke believes are uncommon at other Gold Coast developments.

(more…)

A recent entry from Chicago Magazine's Deal Estate blog describes a ritzy Lincoln Park single-family home at 623 W. Belden Ave. that sold after a six-month tenure on the market.

The key here is the list price. Deal Estate reports that the circa-1895 residence initially went on the market for $1,889,000, was removed at the start of the holidays - and then closed for $1,879,000 after an off-market buyer materialized.

That final price (just $10,000 off the initial listing price, if my math is correct) is a far cry from the butcher's-block pricing that's characterized home sales lately, and it suggests that real estate agents are finally getting a handle on pricing in the current market - at least as it pertains to single-family existing homes.

(more…)