Just a day after Crain’s reported that The Clare at Water Tower had defaulted on $229 million in debt, twenty-two of its apartments were listed for rent in the Multiple Listing Service.
Although news reports have referred to two-thirds of the units at The Clare remaining “unsold,” the upscale retirement project at 55 E Pearson has never offered units for sale. Like other “senior lifestyle centers” it required a largely refundable deposit of half a million dollars or more from renters.
The current rental listings make no mention of deposit amounts, and appear to offer conventional rentals. One-bedroom apartments, with one or one-and-a-half baths, start at $3,540 a month and range up to $5,372 in the high-amenity, high-service building. Two-bedroom, two-bath units range from $5,786 to $6,475 a month, and 3-bedroom, 2-bath units rent for $7,165.
Bad karma here. Since the building was named after a religious order based on poverty, building a high-end complex in one of the wealthiest places on Earth probably wasn’t a good idea.
Story not exactly true. Rentals were offered last year as well. I turned the offer down, as the rents were way too high for the quality of the apartments are well below high end by any stretch. I also was told I could not rent a 3 bedroom. The views are beautiful so I guess that’s what you pay for, but I have that in the high rise I’m in now so why bother. Furthermore I’ve heard that in other parts of the country when this option was offered and people moved in that the population of the building was divided and those who didn’t pay the upfront amount were “shunned”. Not good. Bigger question is this…when I was offered this so called “deal”, I was told I would not receive any discounts on my future health care needs – bottom line – I may as well stay in my current building…we have everything but the meals but with all the great restaurants around I’d rather eat out anyway! Don’t waste your time with it. The Nuns can’t know anuything about what’s really going on at that place…if they did, how could they let this go on??? I’ll continue to say my prayers for those poor individuals that moved in and paid all that money with no guarantee they will get it back in the end. I’ve also heard they are offering discounts on the deposit amount. When I was more naive and considering moving there, I asked about a reduced amount and was told absolutely not – there was a “lot of activity” right now with the sales, therefore no discount. Seems that was just a bunch of baloney. No ill wishes to anyone there, my sympathy goes out to them. Good luck “Clare”.