It’s hard to imagine a more sophisticated home buyer — or architecture critic — than Lewis Kostiner.
Over a 20-year span, Lewis and his wife Annie developed dozens of real estate projects, including a raft of loft buildings in the West Loop. They were a major force in the emergence of the West Loop as a viable residential neighborhood, and among a small coterie of developers who took maximum advantage of the loft aesthetic.
Prior to becoming a real estate developer, Kostiner was a talented professional photographer and photography instructor. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Library of Congress Gallery in Washington, DC, the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, and many other venues.
Lewis always took a perfectionist’s approach to everything he did. So when we learned that he bought a full-floor condo at Superior 110, 110 W Superior St in River North, and spoke highly of its developer, we thought it would be useful to hear his perspective.
I looked at these condos over the weekend and maybe it is my igonarance, but the master bedrooms seemed awfully small.
Lewis has the entire floor, so I am sure he could dicate his own floor plan. But why would the developer do this.
For example, the 701/703 floor plan has bedroom dimensions listed at 16×16. It did not seem that large, unless the closet is also included in the dimensions, in which case this would not be correct.
Paul,
I use some approximate yardsticks to guesstimate dimensions of rooms from floor plans.
Architects typically draw floor plans using 1-foot tiles in the baths. I also use tubs and appliances with a stated or known dimension as a measuring stick.
If the bath tiles are drawn to a 1-foot scale then the room is 16 x 16. It’s not, however, a uniform 16 on one axis given the curving window wall. And, the columns eat into the living space. Those two factors may account for your perception of the room size.
It’s standard practice to state room dimensions using the longest point-to-point measurement.
Master bedrooms seem to have shrunk over the years, probably in response to buyer preferences. I’ve seen many high-priced luxury units with 11 x 13 masters.
And yes, Lewis does have a full floor that was built out to his specs. He bought pre-construction, a time when the developer is highly-motivated to accommodate a full-floor buyer.
Thanks Joe. Your explanation will help next time I go to see 110 W. Superior. The only thing I did not like was that the master bed room as too small. In the lower units, the columns were outside the bedroom meaning they were probably smaller than the higher units.
Since you have been in this industry for a very long time, I was wondering if you know any buildings/developer who do property exchanges. When I lived in London, I saw ads for developers who would take your old (albiet cheaper home) and net the value difference against a more expensive newer home they were selling. Their approach was that they would get a 1 million pound house off their books and were ok taking on a 350,000 pound house which they could resell a lot easier.
I would imagine, luxury developers could do the same thing here. Your thoughts?
Paul,
I’ve seen a variation on this in the suburbs, where developers have offered to buy an existing home from someone who’s buying a new one from them. Neumann Homes was making a “buy ours and we’ll buy yours” offer (video) at Clublands in Antioch – just before they filed bankruptcy. I can’t recall any recent instances in the city.
Developers today are very flexible with serious buyers. I’d suggest you make an offer and see what happens – although I’d guess there’d be long odds against you.