Sale of the Week
Sale of the Week—Get Width It in Ravenswood
List Price: $2.05 million
Sale Price: $2.35 million
The Property: Not yet finished but already sold, this raised 12-room house is super-wide by city standards: a full 40 feet, on a lot that is 43 feet wide. “It’s totally suburban,” says Brent Meder, whose Meder Properties built it, as he walks across the breadth of the first floor’s kitchen and family room, a pairing most often combined front-to-back in new city homes on standard 25-foot lots. This floor plan’s width also accommodates four bedrooms together on the second floor—and they aren’t all strung out in a row, but clustered together in a more collegial layout.
The house is on a rare (for this strictly gridded section of the city) L-shaped block in a part of Ravenswood that’s just west of North Center, just south of Lincoln Square, and just sleepy enough to not yet have a homey designation of its own. Most of the other housing on the block is boxy red brick Georgians on wide lots, nothing like the farmhouse-style frame homes with front porches that line up cheek to cheek on the nearby streets.
This house’s main living rooms have arched openings between them, a shape echoed by the stacked windows on the front second floor, where Juliet balconies will be installed. In all there’s about 5,300 square feet of living space, including a very large rooftop deck and a doggy room and shower near a side door to a dog run.
On the deck, Meder says, there will be a set of solar panels to provide partial power for the house. He has also filled both the interior and the exterior wall cavities with extra-tight insulation. The result: “We’re estimating that the electric bill will run $65 to $85 [a month],” he says—an impressive figure for such a large house.
Meder had been building the house on spec, but buyers materialized this spring. Ordinarily, a new house wouldn’t be marked as sold until the buyers have taken possession, but Meder says the parties arranged to close the sale before the house is completed with finishes chosen by the buyers. (They are not identified in public records, and Meder would not name them.) The sale closed August 4th.
Price Points: Meder bought the house that used to stand on this lot, a brick Georgian like its neighbors, for $530,000 in 2007; others have sold in the range of $560,000. Within a few blocks of this, where the houses have more of that old-line city home look, prices over $1 million are not uncommon; there have been more than three in the last three years, according to Midwest Real Estate Data. Nevertheless, the great majority of them have been below $1.5million; only two have sold above that line, this one and a slightly larger one that sold for $1.77 million in August 2007.
Listing Agent: Richard Divito, @Properties, (773) 862-0200
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Reader Comments:
How can it be legal to build a 40 foot wide house on a 43 foot wide lot? This is the kind of developement that destroys neighborhoods. Where is the green space???Where will the kids play??? What about quality of life for the unfortunate neighbors of these overconsuming people?
Strange that Mr. Meder said the house was sold to an anonymous buyer when he is now the one living in it. Could be that he "sold" it to himself at an inflated price to provide better comps for the similar home he is building on the lot next to it. Sounds a bit fishy...
Looking forward to the Juliet balconies and solar panels--because there's just not enough going on with the front of that house! $2.3 million for a gingerbread nightmare jammed onto a city lot? The buyer has more money than brains!
Celebrating this house among "boxy brick Georgians" is ridiculous. It is the in ultimate pretension and proves the point that you can not buy class or style.
Let's hope developers who build homes like this one are the first to go belly-up in this market. The bankruptcy clock is ticking for Meder Properties.
Whats going on with that block? The house across the street says "There's a CAN$ER in the Neighborhood" This Brent Meder seems like a real jerk, but a CAN$ER. Does anyone on that block know whats up?
My husband and I live on this block. The house is atrocious. I wouldn't let Brent Meder build our dog house
$2 million for this house?? Meder has got to be kidding. He's a new developer who got in at the peak of the real estate market. This house and the rest of his properties will soon be in foreclosure
Look out. Brent Meder is building a new house right next to the one featured in this article. Buyer beware. You would end up as Meder's neighbor. Ask anyone on the block what thats like.
This house is for sale again. Brent Meder currently lives in this house and he has it listed for $2.1 million. He must need the cash.
Buyer beware! Meders's properties are known to be poorly constructed. This house will likely need tens of thousands of dollars in repairs/corrections in the first year of ownership. Dont trust him when he says he'll take care of it. His word is worthless.
Wow! All the comments on this house. I, too, live on this block. It's a beautiful neighborhood except for this house and the one Brent Meder is building next door. I agree with the other comments; Brent Meder cannot be trusted. Call the Alderman's office, speak with the neighbors before dealing with Brent Meder
Everyone on this page is a complete moron! All you poor bastards don't know great construction and vision. Brent Meder is a god among men and he could buy and sell all of you worthless bastards.
Very interesting comments on this article. From the looks of things, Brent Meder and his neighbors are all jerks. I'd stay away from this disaster in the making.
Quite the neighborhood soap opera. I heard the whole street was down-zoned because of Meder's house. The sign across the street actually reads "A Cancer Eats Our Neighborhood". I'm surprised the Trib hasn't jumped on this neighborhood drama. They love this stuff. Dennis, what do you think? A little investigative reporting and there might be a very entertaining story.
This house and the new one next door (also by Brent Meder} are disasters. The price of this house continues to fall because no one in their right mind would pay anything close to $2 million for this monstrosity. Not to mention, Meder's reputation in the banking industry is questionable at best and surely his lack of integrity has infiltrated his real estate development ventures. Steer clear until these houses are foreclosed, then buy one and rehab it!!
Surprise, Surprise- In foreclosure