I’ve always thought of Avenue East, the white and blue high-rise at left in the above photo, and 550 St Clair, the glassy high-rise at right, as twins separated at birth. They’re both boxy, they have roughly the same footprint and they’re about the same height.
However, when it comes to the units that are currently available at each of these Streeterville high-rises, they’re actually quite different. The remaining inventory at Avenue East is limited to a couple of one-bedrooms and 20 two-bedrooms, whereas 550 St Clair’s remaining units range from studios to three-bedroom units. So for the sake of comparison, I’ll look at a couple of two-bedroom / two-bath units.
The floor plan at left is from the 07 tier in Avenue East, which, as I mentioned in a post yesterday, has 1,100 square feet of living space and is priced from the $510s to the $550s (under a pricing incentive set to expire September 14), depending on the floor.
At about 1,200 square feet, unit 1004 in 550 St Clair (at right) is a bit larger. It’s priced a bit higher too, in the $590s, although that falls in line with Avenue East’s range of prices per square foot.
The 550 St Clair condo is a corner unit, and both the south and east walls appear to be floor-to ceiling windows. For its part, the Avenue East unit should have plenty of light too, and the layout of its master bedroom is pretty spacious. Both units have inset balconies, and while no measurements are listed for the 550 St Clair balcony, it appears to be smaller than Avenue East’s 12-6″ x 5-6″ balcony.
Parking comes at a premium in Streeterville, and that could make or break a deal either of these units. We’ve seen a number of different parking incentives at 550 St Clair this year, but Ron Ruby of Weichert Realtors First Chicago says that all parking spaces are currently priced at $50,000. At Avenue East, parking that’s normally $45,000 to $60,000 is currently being offered at half price for the 07 tier, bringing it down to about half the price of a 550 St Clair space.
Don’t take that to mean that you’ll have to pay full price at 550 St Clair. There are no specific pricing incentives at 550 St Clair right now, but Ruby invites price negotiation.
“Bring us your offers,” Ruby says, echoing Appraisal Research Counselors‘ recent statement that “point of purchase concessions” are the norm in this market.
– Rate and review Avenue East at NewHomeNotebook.com.
– Rate and review 550 St Clair at NewHomeNotebook.com.