We’ve just returned from the brand new sales center for The Chicago Spire, where architect Santiago Calatrava and developer Garrett Kelleher showed a group of journalists and photographers around two model homes and several exhibit spaces devoted to Calatrava’s oeuvre.
Questions inevitably surfaced about prices for the nearly 1,200 condos in the twisting tower, to be the nation’s tallest. Studios (which the sales team for the Spire is calling “suites”) start at $750,000. Prices for the swankiest penthouses go up to…prepare yourselves…$40 million, according to Dominic Grace, of London-based Savills PLC, which is handling international sales.
Grace was quick to emphasize that not all prices will be in the multi-million dollar range. “There is a lot of product under $2 million,” he said. “We will have a lot of product that is sub-$1,000 a square foot.”
How much is “a lot?” Kelleher told us that “up to 200” units will be priced at $1,000 or less per square foot.
More detailed pricing information and floor plans will be available when the sales center opens to the public in January, according to Grace and Michael Golden, of @properties, who is leading local sales.
The nearly 20,000-square-foot sales center is on the 18th floor of NBC Tower, at 455 N Cityfront Plaza Dr, overlooking the Spire construction site. It was originally set to open to the public today, but a spokeswoman for Shelbourne Development Ltd, Kelleher’s firm, announced several weeks ago that marketing would be postponed due to a delay in regulatory filings required by the federal government.
We’ll have more dispatches from our trip to the Spire – stay tuned.
Gosh darn it, there needs to be affordable set asides for the common skyscraper folks that live in New Jersey!
Trump paid $28m for his own penthouse. I’m sure Kelleher will have to do the same.
Yes, I spoke with the sales rep at the Trump Tower. She did say that Don had reserved the PH for himself. What a ridiculous thing to say. The Palmolive just held on to their PH until it sold. Much more credible.
If the giant dildo does in fact get built, I think it will take a LONG time to sell out. Due to the construction costs they don’t have a lot of room to cut prices, and at $1000/sq ft they aren’t exactly selling out. And $40 million for the penthouse? You could buy the entire neighboring building for that much. Good luck.
That is a lot of inventory at such high prices. Someone needs to go back and study the basic economic model of supply and demand.
I think a typical high-rise in the area sells for about $400 per sq. foot, We paid around $375 per sq. ft. for a 2 bdr. recently. I can’t imagine a place costing 2.5 times as much for the same amount of space? But the circular pool where you can swim around the entire building sounded pretty cool, I can imagine it like a water park 🙂
Eric
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