Jan 5, 2009

Sale of the Week

Sale of the Week: Among the Mega in Lincoln Park

List Price: $4.75 million
Sale Price: $5.05 million
The Property: This 13-room residence, with its ornate carved limestone and brick façade, stands among the new mega-homes along Burling, Orchard, and Howe streets south of Armitage Avenue in Chicago. The house has six bedrooms, six-plus baths, two fireplaces, and garage space for six cars.

The developers Melrose Partners began construction on the place in 2006 and lavished on it all manner of high-end craftwork, says the selling agent, Jennifer Ames. That includes walnut interior doors (eight feet tall and two-and-a-half inches thick), extensive millwork and paneling on all levels (even the basement), beamed and coffered ceilings, and floors of wide-plank walnut or limestone. Ames says that people who came to tour the house “would stand there feeling the doors or the millwork—and these were high-end homeowners who are used to the great co-ops.”

Public records identify the buyers as Mark and Lily Hauf, who closed on their purchase of the house on December 16th. They could not be reached for comment. The Haufs live in London now, where Mark Hauf runs Metromedia International Group, which owns mobile and land telephone and cable television operations in the Republic of Georgia. In the past, he worked for Ameritech here, and prior to that, Wisconsin Bell.

Price Points: The house was initially priced at $6.5 million, but after Ames took over the unsold listing in May 2008, a series of cuts brought the price down to $4.75 million—though the house ultimately sold for $5.05 million. Ames points out that there is a lesson here: Don’t wait too long. Each price cut, she says, brought out more potential buyers, but few made realistic offers. When the price finally got down to $4.75 million, one would-be buyer who had been waiting to snag the house found himself in a bidding war with at least one other buyer, the eventual victor. A similar house next door, also built by Melrose Partners, is on the market and listed with Ames, although the new price has not yet been set.

Listing Agent: Jennifer Ames, Coldwell Banker, 312-440-7525

Posted at 02:20 PM in Sale of the Week | Permalink

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