Sale of the Week
Deal of the Week-Penthouse With its own Pool
List Price: $4.25 million
Sale Price: $6 million
The Property: A River North penthouse with huge windows and decks on every side that maximize dramatic all-directions views of the city, this 18th-floor spread also has its own indoor lap pool, very likely the city's highest pool for an individual residence.
The 6,700-square-foot loft-style space has maple ceilings in the living and dining rooms, programmable blackout shades for those rare times when the panoramic view becomes too much, and a 14-foot endless current pool (for swimming in place).
The sellers, Glenn and Erika Kofman, had bought the penthouse in 2002 for $3.725 million, planning to use it as their city getaway; their primary residence was in Northbrook. At the time, they were in their mid-20s and Glenn Kofman owned a lucrative local-phone service company that was operating in four states, as Deal Estate reported then.
In January of this year, they listed the home for sale with Emily Sachs Wong of Koenig & Strey GMAC. "It was just an in-town for them," Wong says of the couple. (They did not respond to calls requesting an interview.)
In July a bidding war broke out, Wong says, and in the end the Kofmans sold the home and some of its contents for $6 million, on July 23. That's the most anyone has paid for a condo outside the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, according to data from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois.
Price Points: The penthouse is at the top of an otherwise mid-priced building, where sales have largely been in the $300,000s since mid-2006 for one- and two-bedrooms of under 1,300 square feet. After the penthouse, the building's biggest recent transaction on record is $424,000, paid in March for a 1,310-square-foot two-bedroom.
But then, this penthouse occupies a rarefied realm all its own.
Buyer: Not yet identified in public records of the sale.
Listing Agent: Emily Sachs Wong, Koenig & Strey GMAC, (312) 475-4599
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Reader Comments:
Dennis:
Why was there a bidding war on something that had been on the market (on and off) for over two years? They first listed this property in 2005 at $6 million. They lowered the price several times before finally listing it at $4.25 million in January of this year.
Why would there be a bidding war on a property that they couldn't sell for years at a much higher price?
Something isn't right here.
So the new record is set in a mid-priced building that's only 18 stories tall and far from to the lake. Sounds like the architect hit one out of the park. Bill Barry 1, Lucien Lagrange 0.
On why it sold above the asking price, all I was able to find out is that some personal property was sold with the condo. The sellers' agent wouldn't specify what that was, but if it included things like art, a pool table and custom furniture, that would have played a big part in the big price.
Why a bidding war when the property had sat so long? That's one of those eternal puzzles of the real estate market. Two (or more) people must have come along at the right time, ready to buy. But again, I didn't have access to details.
And hey, about that Bill Barry/Lucien Lagrange comparison: Is that you, Mr. Barry?
Busted.
bb