18 lofts still available at 3133 Lakewood
Posted 5/15/2008 by Mark Boyer
We received some press materials from the Macon Group yesterday and learned that three units in the loft development at 3133 N Lakewood Ave have sold since Joe posted a sales update in March. The loft development still has a way to go before sellout, as only seven of the building's 25 units are under contract.
Looking at the press package, this floor plan for unit 3A, a one-bedroom / one-bath unit on the third floor, stuck out from the rest simply because it looks so similar to the two units in 1720 South Michigan that readers ridiculed earlier this week.
If everyone's numbers are to be believed, unit 3A in 3133 North Lakewood is a little bit larger than either of 1720 South Michigan's floor plans. The kitchen area alone gives you 100 square feet more than what you get at 1720 South Michigan, but it comes at a price: Whereas those 1720 South Michigan's one-bedrooms are listed in the $210s, this one is listed in the $340s.
For comparison within Lake View, Clifton Crossing, located just a few blocks to the south and east, is offering one- and two-bedrooms from the $210s. Over on Ashland, one-bedroom units start in the $290s at the LV Lofts.
Comments
5/15/08
Stokes said:
This one is not that similar. It's living / dining is livable because they didn't cram an inset balcony into the living space or hinder it with a column. This one also has windows in the bedroom making it light years better than the borrowed light over the kichen unit.
Mark Boyer said:
Stokes:
Good point about the windows - nobody wants a windowless bedroom. The rest of the unit has a bunch of windows as well.
While the living/dining room might benefit from not having the balcony or column from 1720 South Michigan, the placement of this balcony is very strange, and those three doors that open into each other must be a mess.
I should also point out that the model photo at the top of the post probably isn't from unit 3A. It's just one of the photos that was included in the press package.
Joe Zekas said:
Mark,
Thousands of people have bought units with windowless bedrooms and some of them must have wanted those units even if they would have preferred a bedroom window.
UptownR said:
By code you can't have a windowless bedroom. The Michigan Avenue unit got away with it because of the partial height enclosure.
Mark Boyer said:
Joe:
Perhaps I should amend my somewhat hyperbolic comment above to convey that in my opinion, windowless bedrooms are less desirable than bedrooms with windows, and I imagine that many buyers share that opinion.
If indeed "thousands of people have bought units with windowless bedrooms," that doesn't necessarily mean that there is much demand for windowless bedrooms, which was my point. (I didn't say that nobody wants a condo with a windowless bedroom.)
If what you say is true, there must be some explanation for why so many people are buying condos with windowless bedrooms (price, photographers' dark rooms, they are vampires, etc.), but again, I doubt that it is a preferred style of bedroom for many buyers.
Geoff Vrba said:
To debate buyers preferences is not really worthwhile. We all have our own, and to generalize to draw conclusions about market trends is futile. A great deal, if not thousands as Joe suggests, of buildings have come online in the last boom, with bedrooms without window.
UptownR, windowless bedrooms are legal as long as they have partial height walls. 1720 is not unique in having this feature. I alone have at least 10 friends with condos in the south and west loops, not a one with a full height wall or windowed bedroom in the bunch. People are buying them.
Devyn said:
My last place had a windowless bedroom… I was there for 4 years, and I will admit, it got old. When I first moved in, I felt as though I was sleeping in a coffin.
I had to install a ceiling fan in the bedroom to circulate the air as there was no other way to get fresh air into that area. I also learned to keep the door open to help with circulation.
UptownR said:
According to the Chicgao Building Code you can only have a "windowless" internal bedroom if a few conditions are met:
1. You must let in "borrowed" natural light from an adjacent room, and the windows in that adjacent room must be parallel to the wall letting light in.
2. The openings letting light in to the bedroom are of a total size greater than 8% of the bedroom's floor area, or at least 25 SF (depending on which is larger).
3. The room has artificial ventillation that meets ASHRAE standards.
Like I said before, the unit in question was able to go windowless because of the partial height wall. That's a lousy solution, if you ask me. Kind of like loft living.
UptownR said:
Devyn, your last place sounds like it wasn't up to code.
Many codes don't allow windowless bedrooms at all. Wisconsin mandates external windows that are at least 10% of the bedroom's GSF. Either way, if a building is designed well this shouldn't be an issue.
Joe Zekas said:
Upto3n'r comparison to loft living is right on point here.
At one time in the not too distant past the Chicago code completely prohibited windowless bedrooms. The city bought into / created an exception to enable adaptive reuse of loft buildings with floor plates that didn't adapt themselves easily to residential conversion.
At the time I don't think anyone anticipated that windowless bedrooms would be built in new construction. But we all know what happened when the exception was not narrowly drafted.