Looking at the renderings, I had never thought the parking levels at 235 Van Buren looked particularly large, but down at street level, 11 stories looks like quite a bit of parking. With 714 units, the parking garage at will probably be put to good use, regardless of whether most of the units turn out to be rental, as it has been widely rumored.
In addition to parking, 235 Van Buren will have 11,000 square feet of retail space on the lower levels.
It looks as though construction crews have finished the parking garage, and they appear to be pouring cement for the first few residential floors. The 47-story Perkins + Will-desined building is located at the corner of Franklin and Van Buren streets in the financial district at 235 W Van Buren St.
One- to three-bedroom condos at 235 Van Buren are priced from the $190s to the $550s. The building is scheduled for completion in early 2009.
CMK ,which was started by Collin Kihnke and Matt Kihnke, has a bad reputation in the Real Estate market among professionals. Several of their projects are experiencing significant problems with their window walls leaking, mechanical systems that never worked properly and low quality construction materials. Numerous associations have reported that the true operating expense in their buildings is 200-300 percent more than CMK stated in their sales literature, leaving the new owners responsible for the budgetary shortfalls.
Owners report that it is extremely difficult to get CMK to honor their warranties because, as one owner put it “Collin wont return my calls”.
Some of their projects are architecturally progressive, adding new life to the Chicago skyline. Until they improve their construction methods and client services, I would stay far away from one of their developments.
I just viewed your post about CMK (I purchased at 1720 South Michigan) and as a unit owner was INITIALLY very concerned. However, I contacted the management company and found this out:
FACT: The building RESERVES are in excess of $300K
FACT: Budget for the building allots for 10% per year to be put into building reserves (found this information out in the decs/bylaws given to me at closing)
FACT: Assessments have not been increased at 1720 to date. I would expect a moderate yearly increase (2-4%) b/c of the normal increase in energy, labor, etc.
FACT: The association is in place and run by unit owners.
FACT: Client service has been excellent and their entire team was very easy to work with thru the entire purchase process
Needless to say, I feel much better about my purchase! The building turned out beautiful, the South Loop location is incredible and the price was second to none for new construction!
SouthLooper,
Your Facebook page identifies you as an agent for CMK Realty.
This is one of several posts and reviews we’ve seen recently from people affiliated with CMK who are disguising that affiliation.
Your facts – and I’m willing to assume they are facts – would have a lot more credibility if you simply identified yourself as an affiliate of the company. Not doing so really undermines your credibility and raises suspicions.
This further defines the credibility issue people have with developers. I would be interested in the actual rental amount in South Looper’s building, and how many absentee owners serve one the board.
A favorite game run by many developers is to try and place their cronnies or investors on the board to steer the turnover mess; hopefully someone vets this board.
Jeff,
I think you’re reading too much into this.
What I read from it is less sweeping. Here’s all I can make of it.
We’ve had a number of negative comments posted recently about CMK from anonymous sources. I place no credence in these anonymous bashers and suggest that no one else take them at face value since they may result from any number of undisclosed biases or maliciuos intentions.
CMK appears to have overreacted and adopted a less than optimal way of responding that hurts rather than helps them. That’s about all there is to it.
Given the sales success of CMK’s developments the company is very obviously doing a number of things right.