List Price: $5.62 million
Sale Price: $5.33 million
The Property: A yet-unidentified buyer on January 31 became the fourth to pay over $5 million for a residence in the lavish new 2550 N. Lakeview condo tower. The 35th-floor condo has four bedrooms, four full baths—and dozens of multi-million-dollar neighbors, right there in the same building.
At least 42 homes in the building have sold in the $2 million-and-up range. Of those, 21 sales had closed by the time I wrote about the building last March. Since then, as further floors have been finished, the building has notched at least another 21 sales at $2 million or more.
The sales since March include four for $5 million or more; two in the $4 million range; three in the $3 million range; and a dozen in the $2 millions. And that’s not even mentioning the several dozen that have sold for between $1 million and $2 million.
During construction, the building went through a confusing name change, from 2520 N. Lakeview to 2550 N. Lakeview. An easier-to-remember name might be Vertical Gold Coast, now that there are dozens of upper-priced homes stacked atop one another in the 39-story tower.
Adjacent to the base of the condo tower, where the developers originally planned townhouses that would share in the amenities, is the mansion that Morningstar CEO and billionaire Joe Mansueto is building for a reported $22 million.
John Murphy, a partner in the developer team who spoke to me for the March story, has not responded to a request for further comment. David Hooks, a spokesman for the developers, told me that of 218 units, there are 61 left to sell. Twenty of those are priced at $2 million and up.
My research in the records turned up no sales for more than $10 million. Last spring, Murphy told me that “we have a few [condos] that get up into the tens of millions.” The top advertised price during construction was $14 million. The website shows a floorplan for a four-bedroom penthouse with 3,561 feet inside and another 2,589 feet of balcony or terrace. It’s marked “Revised December 2013,” which suggests that it hasn’t yet sold.
Not everything in the building sells at upper-crust prices. A one-bedroom on the fourth floor sold in December for $447,000. It faces west, out over the building’s 1.2-acre landscaped garage roof. The more exalted condos have views of the park and the skyline; the photos below accompanied the listing for the $5.33 million residence.
Overlooking the Lincoln Park lagoon, the tower, designed by architect Lucien Lagrange replaced the old Columbus Hospital. The building stands over one remnant of the hospital, a church that is now the shrine to Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, a missionary nun who founded the hospital and the first U.S. citizen to named a saint by the Catholic Church.
The irony of the fact that a shrine to a woman who served the world’s poor all her life stands beneath a super-luxe condo building is duly noted.
Price Points: At least one original buyer may be hoping to profit from developers’ success with 2550 N. Lakeview. The Westchester neurosurgeon who according to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds paid $3.29 million for this in July 2012—one of the earliest multi-million-dollar sales in the building—is now asking $4.995 million for it.
Listing Agent: Tere Proctor at ARC Residential, 312-320-0863