South Loop Condo Auctions Prove to be Relatively Successful

We've been following the condo auctions of Michigan Avenue Towers (1400 S. Michigan) and Motor Row Lofts (2301 S. Michigan) for a couple weeks now. This past weekend the auctions were held and they proved to be relatively successful.

The Michigan Avenue Towers auction had more units and was advertising that the starting auction prices for some units were up to 62% off the original list price. The auction came and went and overall 43 units sold for 26% off the original list price (however this doesn't include parking which is still going for $35K a spot). Although that's still a lot off the price, it sounds like the general feeling was that the developer did pretty well. According to a post on YoChicago:

I got the sense that these homes sold for more than many had expected — “The developers have to be thrilled with this,” I heard one agent say. The units sold for an average of $276 per square foot, down 26 percent from an original average of $375 per square foot. In all, sales surpassed $11.2 million.

The other auction at Motor Row, seemed to be successful as well:

The auction was well attended and resulted in the sale of 20 units (several at reserve) at prices ranging from $187,000 to $316,000. You can see more details on pricing from commenter neo at CribChatter.

Although none of this is particularly good for the neighborhood as it drives down real estate comps, at least some of the rates were higher then expected.