Canal Crossing slowly rising in Chinatown
Posted 1/7/2009 by Mark Boyer
"Everybody talks about a housing slowdown, but I don't see it," Wabash Properties principal See Wong told Chicago Magazine last year, adding: "I have a niche that seems economy proof." That niche, according to Chicago's Dennis Rodkin, includes more than 1,000 residential units that have been built in Chinatown and Bridgeport over the past two decades.
Today, most developers would be unlikely to describe any part of the condo market as "economy proof." One Wabash Properties development, 1349 South Wabash Private Residences, proved susceptible to market pressures, and the construction timetable for that building has been pushed back. However, Canal Crossing (pictured above and at right), Wabash's 60-unit mid-rise development at 2318 - 2328 S Canal St, appears to be moving ahead.
When I spoke with Ling Yow from Wabash Properties in August, 11 of the 60 condos in Canal Crossing were still available, which is just one less than Rodkin reported eight months earlier. There are currently four three-bedroom condos listed on the MLS that are priced from the $280s to the $320s, but because I haven't been able to reach anyone at Wabash this week, I can't say whether those four units represent the development's complete stock of available homes.
One certainty is that construction is moving at a snail's pace. When I visited the site in August, it was about half as tall as it is today, meaning that workers have only added about one floor in the past four months.
NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review Canal Crossing
• Rate and review 1349 South Wabash
Related posts:
• Sales and construction update: Canal Crossing (Aug. 28)
Comments
1/7/09
Joe Zekas said:
Perhaps they're waiting to engineer better structural support for the balconies. What's in the picture looks scary to me, unless it's only temporary.
Any architects / engineers out there?
cgcg said:
Did they substitute yellow brick for the white brick or whatever material that is?
Eric Rojas said:
Those are tooth-picks from a left over gingerbread house holding up the balconies Joe.
1/8/09
SheridanB said:
I'm assuming those balconies are precast, which means that those struts are there until the balcony slabs have complete support (the weight of the masonry walls resting on them, to judge from the block walls behind the brick). If it was poured in place, the struts would be there while the concrete cured (a very long time in this weather), but more usually to support formwork, which I don't see.
Abuyer said:
""Everybody talks about a housing slowdown, but I don't see it,"
Says the blind developer 8)
Joe Zekas said:
Abuyer,
In your haste to take a stupid shot you failed to note that the quote was from last year.
So, give us your educated take on the market the developer is operating in. You, of course, know far more about Chinatown than See Wong does. Right?
Please, head on back over to CribChatter where you don't appear so patently ignorant.
cgcg said:
@ Joe
The fact that the quote is a year old seems to add some credence to Abuyer's "stupid shot" as it demonstrates See Wong's inability to accurately judge the market: Mark notes that construction on one of his developments has been bushed back and that this one is moving "at a snail's pace." I doubt either of those things would be the case were it not for the slowdown.
Joe Zekas said:
cgcg,
You're arguing that not foreseeing the future is, in effect, more of an indication of blindness than not seeing what's in the present.
The broader point is that Abuyer is, in all likelihood, completely ignorant of the Chinatown market today or a year ago.
I don't want to see the kind of uninformed snottiness that passes for information on other sites begin pervading this one.
Abuyer said:
Answer me this Joe, give me one good reason why any "market" in the US would be completely immune from this financial credit/mortgage and housing disaster?
And it was just a stupid pun, on the "see it" portion of his quote. Its no wonder you have no comments on this site, you get your panties in a bundle every time someone says something bearish on the RE market.
Joe Zekas said:
Abuyer,
You have this going against you - people can read many undisputed bearish comments here and see the 100s of bearish stories we've written and linked to, and see how lame your claim is.
We try to report the market straight and you obviously have a problem with that.
Get a clue - people would rather read 10 intelligent comments than 1,000 stupid, pointless puns and repetitive name-calling. As you've doubtless seen, I have little patience for juvenile preening from know-nothings. There's a place for crib chatter, and this isn't it.
Do you have anything to contribute?
There are, by the way, lots of markets that are largely immune from the current forces. Try buying a co-op at the Dakota in New York, or in some of the better buildings on East Lake Shore Drive, if you want to understand that point. Understanding, however, doesn't seem to be what you're about.
UptownR said:
I feel like all of the commenters that are absolutely certain about the direction of the real estate market are less useful than sportscaster's predictions on Sunday morning. The reality of the situation is so complex that the most respected economists in the world have little idea about what the future brings, but Joe Commenter on the internet is "absolutely sure" the bottom will come in Spring 2010. Give me a break.
UptownR said:
My "Joe Commenter" quip was not a crack at any particular Joe, by the way. :)