Change is in the air at Avenue East, the 133-unit high-rise at 160 E Illinois St in Streeterville. For most of 2008 sales figures were at a standstill, so the developer is shaking up the sales staff. Keller Williams Realty is out, and Equity Marketing Services, which handled sales at the development’s launch, is back in.
Traffic is on the rise again, says Casey Ebel of Equity Marketing. In response, her sales team is staffing a sales center from Wednesday to Sunday.
Nineteen homes are still for sale, which is one less than I reported last summer. To reinvigorate sales, one of each unit type will be reduced in price by 10 to 20 percent, Ebel says.
The building’s two remaining one-bedroom / one-baths in are priced in the $390s, the nine remaining two-bedroom / two-baths are priced from the $470s to $760s, and the eight remaining two-bedrooms / two-baths with dens are priced from the $740s to over $1 million. Each home is finished out and ready for immediate delivery, Ebel says.
NewHomeNotebook:
• Rate and review Avenue East
I visited this building a few months ago when the developer was willing to hear offers up to 25% off. I loved the building and the units, but the thing that scared me off was the association dues are very high. I was told the association had already set them and any established building in the area had similar monthly assessments.
I looked up 445 E. North Water St and they seem much more reasonable for a 2 bed/2 bath(I believe the buildings have about the same number of units and I based it on similar square footage). Am I missing something that Avenue East has?
So how do the assessments compare by square foot, Allison?
445 E. North Water St #1602 is 1227sf and association due is $459 a month. This comes to about $.37 per sf
160 E. Illinois St #1507 is 1100sf and association due is $601 a month. This comes to about $.55 per sf
There might also be a parking assessment on one or both, but I’m not sure. Any insight???
Allison,
Heat and a/c are included in the assessment at Avenue East, not so at 445 – based on building descriptions / not verified.
Avenue East has more amenities, again based on Web site descriptions.
Avenue East may include other items in assessments or offer a higher level of services or may be in a reserve-building phase.
Avenue East is 133 units, 445 is 148 units – that makes for a modest difference when the cost of staff is spread across the number of units.
There are just too many variables involved to make any reasonable comparisons from one building to another. Take the numbers as a given and work from there.
Allison… live where you love (if you can afford to).
Something must have made that relatively small bump in assessmnet worth it to you.
Totally agree. You have to be able to come home at the end of the day and feel happy about spending that money to live there.
Completely agree. Lucky for me, I like/love a lot of the buildings in this area and Museum Park. No need to settle when there is plenty out there and I can keep on renewing a six month lease.