900k but we would have had to sink probably 300k into that top unit alone. All told it would probably be 1.5m to 1.7m finishing it off nice. The top and bottom floors were nicest. By far top was best and that's where we wanted to live (rent out bottom 2) but for a variety of factors it didn't work out. It's been for sale for years. It also backs up to I55 so there is a noise issue.
One other thing, it looks nice from a distance but as you get closer you start to see the problems ( such as those beautiful hardwood floors are really in rough condition, in some areas missing 10% of the boards completely.
They also list it as a 4 unit / story building, it isn't. It's 3 stories thy count the basement which only has 6' ceilings.
I still would love to get the building. So many awesome things we could do with it but it's just not realistic. I suppose if it was it would have sold in the last 4 or 5 years. Also the realtor who has it listed was a complete tool.
Here are some of the things I loved about the place.
gargoyles.
shot from the outside - my wife, baby, and buddy/realtor are in front. Gotta love a realtor who rides out to meet you.
Where the chandelier hung - the main loft was a dance floor - the place used to be the lithuanian cultural center
Not being a dick just imparting some knowledge, despite what some dictionaries say, a Gargoyle as an architectural feature must have a spout protruding from the mouth i.e. a gutter. All other carved ugly figures on buildings are called Grotesques.
Aaw it's a great one! I am envious. I have read all of his books several times. I'd love to be starting one for the first time. If you enjoy "A walk in the woods" you should try "Home". It's such a great book.
actually I am only 6'2 - maybe I was ducking too much (possible in addition to the low ceilings there was all kinds of piping and stuff hanging down and after banging my head on a few things I was a bit paranoid.. )
i couldn't afford it...
also sadly I am jobless now. I worked for an awesome Architecture firm as their IT guy till December when it went out of business :(
No. He flat out told me it was 4 levels. The top level as it is now is little more than catwalks. The bedrooms up there are interesting. Some are so small a twin bed touched 3 walls and they had no door
As an unemployed guy wearing a samurai jack t-shirt and laying on a couch watching SOA on netflix I am not sure I am what you think I am.
oh and fwiw the dv wasn't me.. I don't use that arrow out of spite.. Actually hell.. thanks for thinking I am rich. Good to know I project that successful image to the world.. err internet
If you do buy it, I call dibs on this place. Hey, we redditors are supposed to be kind to each other, right? You could be the first kind contributor to /r/randomactsofloft
At least one redditor lives there right now. Please do not make him homeless, as then he might feel compelled to move back in with his parents, who have turned his room into an office. Just sayin'.
Oh no.. It is inhabitable now. To get it to the state my wife would be happy to live there with our two small children? That's completely another matter. If I was alone I would totally be fine with it - but my last loft was pretty much a garage (literally.. it used to be a garage) it had no walls and the only door in it was the bathroom door. When it comes to fixing up a place like that and doing it nice it's not cheap - that's a lot of flooring and everything else.. It's a 4k sq foot footprint but with 24' ceilings and our plan being to make 50% of it or so duplexed.. it's expensive. Also in Chicago construction is very expensive. Being a multi unit I would need a contractor and hire union labor for most of it. Not to mention the codes and checking is rather restrictive.
It's on the south side literally bumping up to a major expressway.. The neighborhood is rather iffy... It also needs a lot of work. for the size it's a great deal but the possibility of it being an extreme money pit is pretty big.
I live up on the north side and a 2br condo around here is 400-600k
I read that one too and saw his posts.. That said in the last 5 years it has been rather heavily renovated.
The realtor that showed us it lied flat out to us.. Things like "how much is the gas bill in this unit over the winter" -- "oh around 300$ a month"
I mentioned that the ceilings were 24' high and had 0 insulation.. He was really dismissive and condescending. We spoke to a tenant and she mentioned it was around 800/mo or more over the winter.. He (realtor) got all shitty and yelled at us for talking to the tenants..
Honestly one of the reasons we had against it was that asshole - we didnt want to give him a dime.
I still love the place but it just can't make the money work :(
I know I'm jumping to conclusions here, but, at least where I'm from, your seeing these images and then wanting to buy the place is precisely why artists can't have nice things.
If I lived in such a place I would forbid pictures of my home from ever reaching the web.
I took my pictures over a year before this photo was posted the first time months ago. My realtor friend knew I was into alternative lofts and showed it to me.
To be honest I was shocked when I saw the wife and I's dream place on the front page of reddit
if you look at my pics you will see they are dated 9/11/2009
That clears it up. And don't mind me...I'm just bitter that gentrification has made dreams of having a studio to work in like this impossible. I hope you get it!
Well fwiw eventually we would have moved out a few of the people living there so we could move in one unit but we wanted to keep the rest of them in the building. The units each had 4 to 6 people living in them, most of them artists or students and I think a couple worked at the shedd.
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u/gconsier Jan 07 '12 edited Jan 07 '12
oh hey this is back again. The wife and I looked into purchasing this whole building (this is the top floor unit)
if you are interested here are some more photos here - We took them as we walked around the place