Seeing double in the West Loop
Posted 4/16/2008 by Mark Boyer
Does this look familiar?
On the way back from Pilsen yesterday, Joe and I stumbled on Equinox Development Corp's condos at 17 – 25 N Bishop St in the West Loop. The place looks remarkably similar to Morgan Row, another large condo building Equinox built at 27 – 41 N Morgan St in the same neighborhood.
I found two condos from 17 – 25 N Bishop St listed on Craigslist, but both of the Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate agents listed were on vacation. The first is a three-bedroom / two-bath condo listed in the $460s, while the other has three bedrooms and two baths and is listed in the $690s. Those prices are consistent with Morgan Row’s price points, which were between the $460s and the $670s last we checked.
In fact, it looks like the rendering and photo gallery in the Craigslist ad is actually from Morgan Row, because it shows seven sets of balconies, and I only count five on the Bishop Street development. The developer's site also has some site plans in pdf format.
Comments
4/16/08
Stokes said:
I think the contractors are on vacation too. Those buildings have sat like that for quite some time…
Mark Boyer said:
Even if that is the case, it looks like they've started up again, because if you enlarge the image on the right you'll notice a couple of guys in hard hats.
Alan said:
These balcony's in front are terrible. They cut out so much light on the inside and just look awful. What happened to balcony's in the rear?
7/3/08
Citizen said:
The company seems to thrive on cheating and stealing. It's a wonder that, despite the city suing them & losing the GC license, they find immoral ways to continue the thievery.
Occupancy permits are overlooked in the majority of units and locations, which inspectors conveniently overlook. Many unhappy and ignored tenants in various locations have begun to speak out about the atrocity of the continued negative plague this company is having on the Chicago real estate profession. I am happy to join them after the experiences and neglect received from Equinox Development.
8/29/08
D said:
I had a contact on a unit in Morgan row recently. The developer and realtor said they would finish the unit by the close date. During this time they insisted work was being done on the unit. The close date came and went and finally 2 weeks later they admitted the builder (Equinox) is out of money and cannot finish any more units. They did not even attempt to do any work while my unit was under contract. I agree with the comments below, stay away from developments from this company.
9/25/08
thekloz said:
The owner of this scam company is on the run having left a trail of unfinished and shoddy housing. The realtors are semi in cahoots by making empty promises and just trying to get people to close on units they know will never be finished. It's amazing it takes the city this long to stop such activity but I guess developers are the ones keeping the aldermen in the lifestyles they are accustomed to. Good riddance to these scammers.