Feb 24, 2010
Housing Bulletin
The Remains of the Heyday
In the wake of the bust that followed the glory days of the condo boom, a number of projects ground to a halt. One of the most striking is this unfinished structure at 2609 West Belmont Avenue, where gaping windows, rusting steel, and scattered construction materials give the impression of a six-story-tall ghost town.
MC Development began work on the project in 2006. The company intended to sell 46 condos ranging in price from $269,900 to $389,900. Work stopped and restarted a few times before finally halting more than a year ago. Documents on file with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds show that foreclosure proceedings against the project, which occupies seven city lots, began a year ago. “We’re trying to work with the bank to reinstate our loan and finally finish it,” says MC Development’s Virgil Tiran.
The project is “a prominent symbol of the maladies we’ve been seeing in terms of real-estate projects that are incomplete,” says Ray Valadez, the chief of staff in the city’s First Ward, where the building is situated. (The ward currently has no alderman). “In terms of magnitude, it’s about the worst we’ve seen.”
Click through the slide show below to see how a building, whose architect envisioned it as a picturesque addition to the western edge of Lake View, turned into a fragmentary relic of the real-estate market’s now-fizzled condo boom.
Posted at 08:18 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink
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Reader Comments:
This location, next to the river, has so much potential, alas.
I have also wondered many times while walking my dog what would happen in a very big storm as there are items on the roof that appear to be in question whether or not they will stay there.
If you had that pool or better yet a "poll" then I would say these units go for 44% of asking price... and not for another 3 years.
And good work Dennis.
Thanks, BBOLAN. I wondered about items blowing off, too, but the city inspectors determined that everything is safe on that site. If and when the units here go back on the market, I'm sure you're right; they'll go at far lower prices than the originals. And I agree: that location is great. North of the site, across Belmont, are some successful riverfront townhomes. I'm guessing the residents there are disappointed about the state of this site. --Dennis
Once there is water in those cavities and the metal connectors have started rusting, it will never be right. This building will never be right.
Thats why I suggest it will go for 44% of original asking prices and will take 3 years. There needs to be a year of clean up and repair, a year to make it sellable and a year to sell it.