List Price: $5.075 million
Sale Price: $4.75 million
The Property: In early 2008, a suburban couple paid $4.417 million for a nine-room condominium in a new block of residences at 900 North Michigan (aka the Bloomingdale’s building) that was created on eight floors previously occupied by offices. The couple planned to sell their house in the northern suburbs, buy a smaller house there, and then split their time between this Chicago condo and their new, smaller suburban home.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan. With their suburban house still unsold, the couple—identified in Cook County Recorder of Deeds documents as John and Anita Russell—have unloaded this 4,788-square-foot, 21st-floor condo and bought a smaller unit in the same building. According to the listing sheet for the larger condo—which was sold on February 26th for $4.75 million—the Russells never moved into the larger condo. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t fit it out lavishly. Katherine Chez, one of two agents on both the original condo purchase and its recent resale, says that the couple commissioned several custom built-ins, a spa-like master bath, a sleek kitchen, high-end light fixtures, and automatic window blinds, among other finishes. I could not reach the Russells for comment.

Chez says that the buyers, who are not yet named in public records, are moving from a condominium in the original block of residences at 900 North Michigan, on floors 48-66. They will get an all-new condo, she notes, without changing locations. (Their address, however, will change; the older condos are at 132 East Delaware Place, while the newer ones are at 77 East Walton Street.)

Price Points: It may appear that the Russells made $333,000 on a condo they never occupied. But factoring in the cost of the finishes and fixtures that they ordered for the unit, Chez says, “I think they’re about even.” A five-room, 3,021-square-foot condo also on the building’s 21st floor was sold for $2.31 million on the same day as today’s property, but Chez would not say whether that is the Russell’s newly purchased condo. Files at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds don’t yet identify the buyers of that unit.

Listing Agent: Coldwell Banker’s Katherine Chez (312-440-7533) and Mary O’Connor (312-543-2079 or mhoconnor@ameritech.net)