Aqua was one of the big winners last week - receiving an Honor Award at the annual Design Excellence Awards gathering of the American Institute of Architects - the highest form of recognition in the "distinguished building category." Aqua was also named the world's best skyscraper in 2009 by the German-based building database Emporis.
Aqua has also been selected as one of five finalists for the 4th International Highrise Award. It is the only U.S. representative. The finalists were selected in Frankfurt/Main, Germany by an international jury of architects, engineers and property specialists. The other finalists are from Dubai, Tokyo, Bangkok, and Shanghai. The five finalists were selected for demonstrating "a positive trend that has the opportunity of exploring new building forms."
The 334-room hotel venture in Aqua has obtained a $66 million loan to finance the project and construction has started. The Radisson Blu, a new upscale brand run by Carlson Hotels Worldwide is scheduled to open next September - it is the first Raddison Blu Hotel in the U.S.
Showing posts with label luxury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label luxury. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Chicago Home Sales
So - several of my clients sent me this article and asked for my comments. I thought I would share this with you too! If a few ask, perhaps more would like to know....
Here you go: Averages are meaningless in our specific luxury market - we are not in the slightest changed by the drop in the $8k tax credit as none of our buyers are in that market. As always, the important information to study for your particular sale or purchase is- building by building and then tier by tier within that building. Nothing else is relevant.
As an example, most units at Trump and Heritage are up 20% over 6 months ago if they are in the prime tiers. In the not prime tiers, it is another story. In some of our other buildings, sales prices are lower by as much as 20%, but there are usually additional reasons - assessments got too high, a special need or special assessment got bad word of mouth going, too many desperate sellers...reasons. But proper marketing and patience gets the job done.
Building by building, tier by tier.
Our Fox Group sales numbers this year are excellent. Out of 5,000 Keller Williams Groups nation-wide, we performed #3. Why? Luxury market, direct marketing techniques, not relying on the old way of doing business. Half of our sales are "on us", meaning we find the buyers through direct means. A lot of luxury buyers are interested in buying "up", enjoying a finer home in a somewhat uncertain economy. While our year would be LOTS better if interested buyers could sell their own homes (Domino Effect), we have some who either have successfully sold or who are buying without selling first.
Person by person, building by building, tier by tier.
We are bullish on our market segment and our numbers show it! Do sellers need patience? Yes. Are lowest price units selling first? Yes again. In my 20 years in real estate, I have never seen a better chance to buy. And if that means savvy, informed sellers may take a little less, then that dictates that they should do that - and buy into the best market they are likely to see in their lifetimes. Sell for less, buy for less still. And buy well so you can appreciate value increase over time.
Basics. Location, location, location? NO! Value, Value, Value.
Here you go: Averages are meaningless in our specific luxury market - we are not in the slightest changed by the drop in the $8k tax credit as none of our buyers are in that market. As always, the important information to study for your particular sale or purchase is- building by building and then tier by tier within that building. Nothing else is relevant.
As an example, most units at Trump and Heritage are up 20% over 6 months ago if they are in the prime tiers. In the not prime tiers, it is another story. In some of our other buildings, sales prices are lower by as much as 20%, but there are usually additional reasons - assessments got too high, a special need or special assessment got bad word of mouth going, too many desperate sellers...reasons. But proper marketing and patience gets the job done.
Building by building, tier by tier.
Our Fox Group sales numbers this year are excellent. Out of 5,000 Keller Williams Groups nation-wide, we performed #3. Why? Luxury market, direct marketing techniques, not relying on the old way of doing business. Half of our sales are "on us", meaning we find the buyers through direct means. A lot of luxury buyers are interested in buying "up", enjoying a finer home in a somewhat uncertain economy. While our year would be LOTS better if interested buyers could sell their own homes (Domino Effect), we have some who either have successfully sold or who are buying without selling first.
Person by person, building by building, tier by tier.
We are bullish on our market segment and our numbers show it! Do sellers need patience? Yes. Are lowest price units selling first? Yes again. In my 20 years in real estate, I have never seen a better chance to buy. And if that means savvy, informed sellers may take a little less, then that dictates that they should do that - and buy into the best market they are likely to see in their lifetimes. Sell for less, buy for less still. And buy well so you can appreciate value increase over time.
Basics. Location, location, location? NO! Value, Value, Value.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
What's Driving the Sale of Downtown Luxury Condos?
By Dennis Rodkin, Chicago Magazine
In the first few months of 2010, as some local developers slashed prices or staged auctions on their newly built condominiums, a small segment at the upper end of the condo market flourished. As Gail Lissner of Appraisal Research Counselors notes, “There are always wealthy people with the ability to buy.” The big difference lately is that those well-heeled folks have been shelling out princely sums to buy luxurious new condos in downtown high-rises. “These are not speculators buying cookie-cutter condos,” says Lissner. “By and large, they are buying to live in these really high-end, unique places.”
Consider these numbers: From the beginning of the year until the middle of May, about 40 downtown condos have been sold for $2 million or more—and most of those condos were in buildings that opened in the last two years. (Some sales may have not yet appeared in public records.) They ranged from an $8.182-million sale at the Elysian—the 60-story tower at 11 East Walton Street designed by Lucien Lagrange—to a three-bedroom unit that went for a little more than $2.24 million at Aqua, the much-praised skyscraper at 225 North Columbus Drive that Jeanne Gang designed for Magellan Development. (The Elysian sale was the highest price paid for a Chicago condo since November 2006, when a 61st-floor unit at the Park Tower—at 800 North Michigan Avenue—went for $8.275 million.)
What’s driving the sales? To update an old real-estate adage: timing, timing, timing. Many of these new elite homeowners made their decision to buy several years ago, while buildings were under construction or still in the planning stage—and before the recession punctured the real-estate boom. With those condo towers now ready for residents, the folks who agreed years ago to buy are finally inking the deals.
That’s generally what’s been happening at the Elysian, according to Caryl Dillon, who was the tower’s sales agent. Since January 1st, at least 16 buyers there closed on condos priced at $2 million or more (in addition to the $8.182-million sale already mentioned, one condo went for $7.25 million and another for $6.9 million). That’s on top of a first round of December 2009 closings at $2 million and up. Meanwhile, at The Legacy (which recently opened at 60 East Monroe Street), three units priced at more than $2 million were among the first closings in the building—and usually the earliest buyers sign off on the earliest closings. (Since condos on a building’s bottom floors are often finished first, some lower-level, lower-priced units bought during construction can also be among the earliest closings.)
Buyers who signed contracts before the bust could have opted to cancel their contracts when the economy soured—as did numerous buyers of medium-priced homes. But “10 percent [the standard deposit on a condo] is a lot to walk away from” on a multimillion-dollar sale, Lissner says. Still, as she suggests, it’s also likely that for many of these rich buyers “their lifestyle hasn’t changed in the downturn.”
Janet Owen, a Sudler Sotheby’s International agent who works exclusively in the luxury market, points out that many rich people have not had to worry about the tight mortgage-financing climate that has contributed to the drag on the larger real-estate market. Mortgage lenders have been requiring bigger down payments, higher credit scores, and more detailed documentation of financial histories from average buyers. “These aren’t issues [wealthy potential homeowners] have to think about,” says Owen. On top of this, she notes, “their buying had nothing to do with the $8,000 federal tax credit.”
That is especially true of well-to-do buyers who made their purchase decisions recently. In early May, someone paid $2.3 million for a previously owned condo on the 51st floor of the Trump International Hotel & Tower (that building, at 401 North Wabash Avenue, opened in 2008). Another buyer spent $3.45 million in April for a 54th–floor condo at 55 East Erie that an investor had held on to since 2003. These new purchasers “are almost always cash buyers,” says Tere Proctor, who was the director of sales at Trump before returning to agency work (at Koenig & Strey Real Living). “They see the value in buildings like Trump and the Elysian, and they’re banking on knowing that whenever the market gets better, they will be holding valuable real estate.”
Read the full article and see building highlights here.
In the first few months of 2010, as some local developers slashed prices or staged auctions on their newly built condominiums, a small segment at the upper end of the condo market flourished. As Gail Lissner of Appraisal Research Counselors notes, “There are always wealthy people with the ability to buy.” The big difference lately is that those well-heeled folks have been shelling out princely sums to buy luxurious new condos in downtown high-rises. “These are not speculators buying cookie-cutter condos,” says Lissner. “By and large, they are buying to live in these really high-end, unique places.”
Consider these numbers: From the beginning of the year until the middle of May, about 40 downtown condos have been sold for $2 million or more—and most of those condos were in buildings that opened in the last two years. (Some sales may have not yet appeared in public records.) They ranged from an $8.182-million sale at the Elysian—the 60-story tower at 11 East Walton Street designed by Lucien Lagrange—to a three-bedroom unit that went for a little more than $2.24 million at Aqua, the much-praised skyscraper at 225 North Columbus Drive that Jeanne Gang designed for Magellan Development. (The Elysian sale was the highest price paid for a Chicago condo since November 2006, when a 61st-floor unit at the Park Tower—at 800 North Michigan Avenue—went for $8.275 million.)
What’s driving the sales? To update an old real-estate adage: timing, timing, timing. Many of these new elite homeowners made their decision to buy several years ago, while buildings were under construction or still in the planning stage—and before the recession punctured the real-estate boom. With those condo towers now ready for residents, the folks who agreed years ago to buy are finally inking the deals.
That’s generally what’s been happening at the Elysian, according to Caryl Dillon, who was the tower’s sales agent. Since January 1st, at least 16 buyers there closed on condos priced at $2 million or more (in addition to the $8.182-million sale already mentioned, one condo went for $7.25 million and another for $6.9 million). That’s on top of a first round of December 2009 closings at $2 million and up. Meanwhile, at The Legacy (which recently opened at 60 East Monroe Street), three units priced at more than $2 million were among the first closings in the building—and usually the earliest buyers sign off on the earliest closings. (Since condos on a building’s bottom floors are often finished first, some lower-level, lower-priced units bought during construction can also be among the earliest closings.)
Buyers who signed contracts before the bust could have opted to cancel their contracts when the economy soured—as did numerous buyers of medium-priced homes. But “10 percent [the standard deposit on a condo] is a lot to walk away from” on a multimillion-dollar sale, Lissner says. Still, as she suggests, it’s also likely that for many of these rich buyers “their lifestyle hasn’t changed in the downturn.”
Janet Owen, a Sudler Sotheby’s International agent who works exclusively in the luxury market, points out that many rich people have not had to worry about the tight mortgage-financing climate that has contributed to the drag on the larger real-estate market. Mortgage lenders have been requiring bigger down payments, higher credit scores, and more detailed documentation of financial histories from average buyers. “These aren’t issues [wealthy potential homeowners] have to think about,” says Owen. On top of this, she notes, “their buying had nothing to do with the $8,000 federal tax credit.”
That is especially true of well-to-do buyers who made their purchase decisions recently. In early May, someone paid $2.3 million for a previously owned condo on the 51st floor of the Trump International Hotel & Tower (that building, at 401 North Wabash Avenue, opened in 2008). Another buyer spent $3.45 million in April for a 54th–floor condo at 55 East Erie that an investor had held on to since 2003. These new purchasers “are almost always cash buyers,” says Tere Proctor, who was the director of sales at Trump before returning to agency work (at Koenig & Strey Real Living). “They see the value in buildings like Trump and the Elysian, and they’re banking on knowing that whenever the market gets better, they will be holding valuable real estate.”
Read the full article and see building highlights here.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Chicago's Trump Hotel towers above U.S., Canadian rivals
The Donald's got The Best, at least according to Travel + Leisure magazine.
Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is ranked in the magazine August's issue as the No. 1 large city hotel in the U.S. and Canada.
The 339 rooms in the hotel are on floors 14 through 27 of the 92-story tower at 401 N. Wabash -- the former site of the Sun-Times Building.
Donald Trump, in a statement, called the honor "tremendous."
"With Trump Hotel Collection, we set out to invent the next generation of luxury hospitality," said Trump, chairman and president of The Trump Organization. "We are committed to bringing the best design, service and amenities to the market."
The Peninsula hotel at 108 E. Superior ranked No. 2 on the Travel + Leisure list.
July 9, 2010, SUN-TIMES STAFF
Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is ranked in the magazine August's issue as the No. 1 large city hotel in the U.S. and Canada.
The 339 rooms in the hotel are on floors 14 through 27 of the 92-story tower at 401 N. Wabash -- the former site of the Sun-Times Building.
Donald Trump, in a statement, called the honor "tremendous."
"With Trump Hotel Collection, we set out to invent the next generation of luxury hospitality," said Trump, chairman and president of The Trump Organization. "We are committed to bringing the best design, service and amenities to the market."
The Peninsula hotel at 108 E. Superior ranked No. 2 on the Travel + Leisure list.
July 9, 2010, SUN-TIMES STAFF
Friday, June 25, 2010
Building Information Now Available!
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Visit GoldCoastResidences for buildings that meet your needs.
Click here for more information about buildings that allow pets
Click here for more information about buildings with pools
Looking for a building that has a great pool?
Look no further!
Visit GoldCoastResidences for buildings that meet your needs.
Click here for more information about buildings that allow pets
Click here for more information about buildings with pools
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Trader pays over $7.25 million for Elysian condo
By: Andrew Schroedter May 17, 2010
(Crain’s) — An options trader is taking a gamble on the Elysian Hotel & Private Residences, paying more than $7.25 million for a condominium in the Gold Coast skyscraper that he hopes to flip for more than $10 million.
Igor Chernomzav, a co-founder of Hard Eight Futures LLC, bought a 12,000-square-foot unit on the 56th and 57th floors of the 60-story tower at 11 E. Walton St., which also features a 188-room hotel, according to property records.
Mr. Chernomzav, 33, who paid cash for the five-bedroom, two-level condo, plans to remodel the unit and put it back on the market, according to Tricia Fox of residential real estate firm Keller Williams, which brokered the sale.
The asking price will be between $10 million and $11 million, Ms. Fox says.
This is the second unit Mr. Chernomzav has purchased in the Elysian, after paying a reported $8.18 million in March for a 52nd-floor unit, which he is also remodeling. Whether he also plans to flip that condo could not be determined.
A spokesman for Mr. Chernomzav declines to comment.
Mr. Chernomzav started Chicago-based Hard Eight in 2004, five years after earning a philosophy degree from Princeton University, according to his firm’s Web site. Originally from San Antonio, he began his career in 1999 as an options trader for Susquehanna Investment, part of suburban Philadelphia-based Susquehanna International Group LLP.
For his recent purchase in the Elysian, the entrepreneur bought a contract for a unit signed several years ago by a speculator represented by Ms. Fox. The identity of the speculator and how much Mr. Chernomzav paid for the contract could not be determined.
But Mr. Chernomzav is paying developer Elysian Worldwide 25% less than the speculator’s original asking price of $9.5 million for the unit, which features a 25-foot living room ceiling and 360-degree views.
Zaga Arsic, also of Keller Williams, represented Mr. Chernomzav.
The deal is a sign that the high-end market is improving as sellers cut prices, says Craig Hogan, managing broker of Keller’s Gold Coast office.
“If the price is right, people will come look,” he says.
Mr. Chernomzav has paid the highest prices for units in the Elysian, surpassing the $6.88 million that James McNulty, former CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, paid in January for a 7,400-square-foot condo on the project’s 37th floor, according to property records. Mr. McNulty didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Buyers have closed on 31 of the 51 residential condo units in the building, says developer David Pisor, who in November was forced to abandon a plan to also sell the 188 hotel units in the building.
Another 15 residential condos are under contract, says Mr. Pisor, president and CEO of Chicago-based Elysian Worldwide LLC, who adds that sales traffic has picked up in the last 45 days.
“It was pretty brutal there for a while,” he says.
(Crain’s) — An options trader is taking a gamble on the Elysian Hotel & Private Residences, paying more than $7.25 million for a condominium in the Gold Coast skyscraper that he hopes to flip for more than $10 million.
Igor Chernomzav, a co-founder of Hard Eight Futures LLC, bought a 12,000-square-foot unit on the 56th and 57th floors of the 60-story tower at 11 E. Walton St., which also features a 188-room hotel, according to property records.
Mr. Chernomzav, 33, who paid cash for the five-bedroom, two-level condo, plans to remodel the unit and put it back on the market, according to Tricia Fox of residential real estate firm Keller Williams, which brokered the sale.
The asking price will be between $10 million and $11 million, Ms. Fox says.
This is the second unit Mr. Chernomzav has purchased in the Elysian, after paying a reported $8.18 million in March for a 52nd-floor unit, which he is also remodeling. Whether he also plans to flip that condo could not be determined.
A spokesman for Mr. Chernomzav declines to comment.
Mr. Chernomzav started Chicago-based Hard Eight in 2004, five years after earning a philosophy degree from Princeton University, according to his firm’s Web site. Originally from San Antonio, he began his career in 1999 as an options trader for Susquehanna Investment, part of suburban Philadelphia-based Susquehanna International Group LLP.
For his recent purchase in the Elysian, the entrepreneur bought a contract for a unit signed several years ago by a speculator represented by Ms. Fox. The identity of the speculator and how much Mr. Chernomzav paid for the contract could not be determined.
But Mr. Chernomzav is paying developer Elysian Worldwide 25% less than the speculator’s original asking price of $9.5 million for the unit, which features a 25-foot living room ceiling and 360-degree views.
Zaga Arsic, also of Keller Williams, represented Mr. Chernomzav.
The deal is a sign that the high-end market is improving as sellers cut prices, says Craig Hogan, managing broker of Keller’s Gold Coast office.
“If the price is right, people will come look,” he says.
Mr. Chernomzav has paid the highest prices for units in the Elysian, surpassing the $6.88 million that James McNulty, former CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, paid in January for a 7,400-square-foot condo on the project’s 37th floor, according to property records. Mr. McNulty didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Buyers have closed on 31 of the 51 residential condo units in the building, says developer David Pisor, who in November was forced to abandon a plan to also sell the 188 hotel units in the building.
Another 15 residential condos are under contract, says Mr. Pisor, president and CEO of Chicago-based Elysian Worldwide LLC, who adds that sales traffic has picked up in the last 45 days.
“It was pretty brutal there for a while,” he says.
Friday, January 8, 2010
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