As is the case with many new developments, I think the word "tower" is used somewhat loosely in the title of this new condo building at 1635 W Cortland St in Bucktown. Rick Lowe from Century 21 Blair James Realty says Cortland Tower was completed at least seven months ago, but five of the eight homes are still available. Of the remaining three, one has sold, one is under contract, and one has been rented.

This building is located at the corner of Cortland Street and Marshfield Avenue, in a part of Bucktown that's characterized by extreme contrasts. On the one side, there's the constant roar of the Kennedy Expressway, which is located just across the street from the development (below, at left), while on the other, there's Cortland Street's nostalgic recreation of Main Street, USA. To punctuate that point, a guy drove by in a John Deere tractor just as I was shooting some photos (below, at right).

Lowe describes two of the remaining units, the 2,000 square-foot three-bedroom / two-bath with a 1,400 square-foot roof deck and the 1,600 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath, as penthouses, and they are priced in the $490s and the $670s. The other three homes all have two bedrooms and 1,200 to 1,600 square feet of living space, and are priced from the $410s. Each home comes with one parking space.

None of the unsold homes have been finished, so buyers still have a chance to customize their units. Lowe says each home be ready for delivery within 45 days.

I learned from the folks at Property Consultants Realty this morning that buyers only a week and a half to select their own finishes at Emerald. After Nov. 15, developers will start building out the remaining units in the two towers at 123 S Green St in the West Loop.

Because of this, the $5,000 upgrade incentive we've written about in the past is no longer available. A $5,000 new-buyer referral package is still in place and can be used to purchase add-ons like a portable fireplace, and buyers of east-facing units will get parking spaces (typically priced at $35,000) at no additional charge.

Close to 80 percent of Emerald's 212 units are under contract, and about half are closed and occupied. The remaining homes one-bedroom / one-baths with and without dens and two-bedroom / two-baths, priced from the $290s up to the $520s, according to the project's latest pricing sheet.

- Rate and review Emerald at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Now that crews have topped off the tower at Trio, it seems like a good time to get over there and have a look around the construction site and a model or two. I plan to do that next week - stay tuned for some new pictures and video from that visit once I return.

The latest word on RDM's condos at 650 - 670 W Wayman St come from Bob Kohler of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, who says that workers are putting up drywall in the tower and should have the building ready for occupancy by early summer.

Judging from some of the ads we've seen lately, RDM is making a big push to market the tower's duplex penthouses, which make up the building's 19th through 21st floors. The two-bedroom / two-bath and three-bedroom / three-bath homes have 1,500 to 3,500 square feet spread across two levels, and "a completely different type of upgrade" than the ones found on lower floors, Kohler says.

"We're shooting for the highest upgrades possible: Wolf appliances, really exotic wide-plank floors, that kind of thing," he says. The penthouses start in the $640s and top out at around $1.3 million, while the tower's single-floor units start in the $270s.

Meanwhile, all of the available homes in Trio's mid-rises are ready for immediate delivery, Kohler says. One-bedrooms in the two buildings run from the $240s to the $370s, while two-bedrooms are priced from the $280s to the $420s.

- Rate and review Trio at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Yo didn't learn about the condos at 6 N May St until last February, when construction was finished and half of the units had already been sold. Somehow, the 16-unit elevator building in the West Loop has managed to escape our gaze almost ever since. In fact, Realtor Renata Williamson has moved over to @properties since our last update, but it turns out she's still handling sales for the development.

The three remaining condos at Six North May all have two bedrooms, two baths, and 1,200 to 1,250 square feet of living space, Williamson says. Two of those homes are top-floor units with private roof decks and are priced in the $410s. The third, unit 203, is priced in the $360s.

Williamson says the homes have 10-foot ceiling heights, Bosch and KitchenAid Architect Series appliances, white oak flooring throughout, and mosaic backsplashes. Garage parking, which was previously priced at $30,000, and was later reduced to $15,000, is now included at no additional charge.

If you're interested in paying a little bit more, an MLS search also brought up one two-bedroom / two-bath resale priced in the $430s.

- Rate and review Six North May at NewHomeNotebook.com.

While putting together my last post about 200 North Dearborn, I realized that no one from the Yo staff had ever made it over to the converted tower to have a look inside. Yesterday, I met up with American Invsco sales consultant Janet Seehausen and toured several of the building's upgraded and "as-is" models.

I'll post the videos from my visit in the near future. For now, you can see how the living areas, kitchens and bathrooms look in 200 North Dearborn's upgraded condos. (Unaltered units by comparison have carpeting, linoleum kitchen floors and white kitchen appliances.) You can also get an idea of the eastern and western views from the upper levels of the 47-story tower.

Approximately 130 of the tower's 309 homes have closed since the conversion began in the summer of 2007, Seehausen says. Prices of the remaining homes run from the $250s for a studio to the $550s for a two-bedroom.

Invsco currently is offering a 12-percent discount on all list prices, 24 months of paid assessments and taxes, and parking for $5,000 for buyers of one- and two-bedroom units.

- Rate and review 200 North Dearborn at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Seven homes are still available in Blue State Properties' Elston Timber Lofts, a 25-unit development at 3641 N Elston Ave in Irving Park. The term "timber lofts" is used loosely in this case, because while much of the building is constructed of large timber beams, and there are loft-like layouts and features like exposed ductwork that might be found in an industrial loft, it's actually a new-construction building.

Steve Kreher of Lake View Realty says that he's selling three of the condos, and the developer will be selling the remaining four. Kreher says prices were recently reduced for all of the remaining homes in the development by about $10,000 per unit. In addition, for buyers that close on their units before December 31st, garage parking will be included for free. After that, it will be back to the previous price of $15,000 per space.

The homes that Kreher is selling all have two bedrooms and two baths, they range in size from 1,150 square feet to 1,375 square feet, and they're priced from the $260s to the $300s.

- Rate and review Elston Timber Lofts at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Do you have a thing for shag rugs? Maybe it's time to check out the new two-bedroom model at Emerald.

According to a media release we received yesterday afternoon, Senco Development, Harlem Irving Companies and New Frontier Companies commissioned local decorator Marijo Gordon to create the "urbane, eco-lifestyle" model in Emerald's southern tower, located at 125 S Green St in the West Loop.

The model is a 1,297 square-foot, east-facing two bedroom / two bath on the eighth floor. It's the largest floor plan in Emerald's two 12-story towers and sells in the $520s, the upper end of the price range for the development's two-bedroom units. One-bedrooms with 765 to 794 square feet run from the $290s to the $330s, 900 square-foot one-bedrooms with dens go for the $340s to the $370s.

It's probably worth noting what you can - and can't - see in the model. Gordon furnished the unit's living area with a sofa, stools, and built-in seating. She did not include a dining table, noting in the release that it wouldn't "have enhanced her 'youthful' approach." I can see where Gordon's coming from, because I'm certainly guilty of eating dinner in front of the tube (that's why they call it a living / dining area, right?), but I also wonder whether this unit could comfortably accommodate a dining table in the first place.

Garage parking, typically $35,000 per space, comes free with all east-facing units at Emerald until Thanksgiving.

- Rate and review Emerald at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Two weeks ago, The Thrush Companies slashed the prices for 10 of the roughly 30 homes that are still on the market at 740 Fulton, the 14-story high-rise in the Fulton River District. We were a bit late getting the scoop, and five of the 10 discounted condos have already been sold, but considering the amount that Thrush is taking off the listing prices, it's better late than never.

Manoj Mukkada from Keller Williams Realty and the MyCityHome Group is handling sales, and he says that prices are all over the place. Not surprisingly, the homes that received the biggest price cuts were snatched up first. For example, Mukkada says one of the tower's penthouses was originally listed at $1.08 million and was reduced to the $790s. Another was originally priced in the $870s and sold in the $670s.

Mukkada says his favorite of the five remaining discounted condos is unit 1109, the 1,050 square-foot two-bedroom / two-bath on the 11th floor, which currently serves as a model unit. It was listed previously for more than $400,000 and is now priced in the $300s with parking included.

Mukkadda says survival will come down to which developers will be willing to acknowledge that the market has shifted, and he expects other developers who are sitting on large numbers of unsold units to come to the same realization soon.

"It's like the story of the two guys in the woods," Mukkada says. "The bear is coming out, and the one guy is putting his shoes on, and the other guy says to him, 'Why are you putting your shoes on? The bear is going to run faster than us and take us out.' And he says, 'No, I just need to run faster than you.'"

I couldn't help but wonder how residents who bought in 740 Fulton a year ago feel about the price reductions, but Mukkadda believes there's a sense of understanding among the building's residents.

"Most of the people that live in the building, the consensus is, they really love the building, so they're happy that the building is getting sold out," Mukkadda says. They probably are less worried about the price reductions affecting the value of their homes because they know they won't see any appreciation on their condos until the building is sold out, he adds.

- Rate and review 740 Fulton at NewHomeNotebook.com.

We learned in early August that Jameson Real Estate was handling sales at Rainbo Village, Metropolitan Development's multi-phased condo and townhouse project at 4814 - 4846 N Clark St in Uptown. At that time, the number of available homes was still unclear, as Metropolitan and Jameson seemed to be in the middle of hammering out their marketing strategies and price adjustments.

According to agent Warren Merz, Jameson is focusing solely on selling the 14 Pappageorge / Haymes-designed "Kinetic Condos" in Rainbo Village's southern mid-rise. (These soft-loft-style homes were originally marketed as the "Kinetic Lofts.") Metropolitan built a similar mid-rise to the north and "has a couple of proposals in the works" for its homes, but wants to sell the rest of the southern building's stock before moving forward with those plans, Merz says.

The 14 homes currently for sale include four one-bedrooms with 824 to 904 square feet, priced from the $220s to the $240s, and 10 two-bedroom / two-baths with 1,170 to 1,489 square feet, priced from the $310s to the $420s. All but one two-bedroom on the building's fifth floor have been built out.

Metropolitan is no longer offering the old Urbanest furniture-discount incentive Patrick wrote about last winter, but the next five people who buy a unit do get a free spot in Rainbo Village's heated garage, Merz says. (Parking typically runs $27,000 per space.)

Rainbo Village was set to have a row of townhouses immediately to the west of the two mid-rises. Not surprisingly, the market downturn has put that phase on hold, according to Merz.

None of the project's retail spaces fronting Clark Street have tenants, he says.

- Rate and review The Kinetic Condos at Rainbo Village at NewHomeNotebook.com.

One condo has sold since our last write-up on Lipe Property Company's six-unit condo development at 1250 N Paulina St in Wicker Park. According to Lipe's Laura Knepper, that buyer coincidentally was quoted in the Chicago Tribune's Wicker Park "community profile" this morning.

Taryn Bickley, formerly of Roscoe Village, confesses in the article that perhaps she is "becoming provincial about her life in Wicker Park." That isn't a word that I would apply to Wicker Park, and I'm not sure what it says about 1250 Paulina, but it's one more thing to factor in if you're interested in moving to the 'hood.

Bickley isn't 1250 Paulina's only new resident. Lipe recently moved into the ground-floor commercial space and is making it its permanent home.

The three remaining condos in the elevator building have three bedrooms, three baths and roughly 1,700 square feet of living space each. Knepper didn't have a price sheet available when I spoke with her, but an MLS search finds three units at the address that are priced in the $590s, the $620s and the $630s.

When Joe reported on this development in April, the price range was from the $570s to the $670s. It's possible that the least-expensive unit was sold, and that the others dropped in price by as much as $40,000.

Knepper says at least one of the available units comes with a large, private patio. "If anyone is looking for a giant back patio, we definitely have that," she says, adding that the outdoor space would fit a hot tub and lawn furniture with room to spare. She also says all the units' fixtures and appliances are of "Merchandise Mart-level quality."

- Rate and review 1250 Paulina on NewHomeNotebook.com.