It’s hard for me to understand how people can plunk down thousands of dollars for condos or houses that they buy just from studying floor plans. Of course, thousands and thousands of people have been doing just that to gain the financial advantage of pre-construction prices, so they willingly forgo tours of models.
However, they do have floor plans.
What is extremely difficult for me to fathom is how people can buy a condo without seeing a floor plan, without having something tangible that shows dimensions, locations of windows, closets, bathrooms, doors, everything.
Yet, at least 15 people have purchased condos at the newly converted rental-to-condo Evanston Galleria without having floor plans. Of those, only two buyers are familiar with the building because they’re rental tenants.
True, there is a single furnished model in this building famous for once being a Marshall Field’s store. But, seeing and walking through that model is helpful only to prospective buyers interested in the one-bedroom, one-bath A unit. Even so, how do people know whether their bedroom furniture will fit without measurements? The only furniture in the model’s bedroom is the bed and a corner table. I’d certainly wonder about fitting in a dresser and/or an armoire, since closet space here and in the rest of the apartment is minimal. (One bedroom closet with washer/dryer hookups is the designated laundry space.)
This is what prospective buyers do get to take home and think about: a single page of color photos of the model; a four-page brochure on Evanston as a discrimination-free community; a price list; a list of improvements and standard finishes; and a page titled “Typical floor.”
On it are a bare bones diagram showing a horizontal, narrow rectangle divided into skinny vertical boxes inside the bottom of the rectangle and two very narrow, wide horizontal boxes inside the top. A letter of the alphabet decorates each box — nothing else, no indications of windows, elevators, corridors.
At the west end (Benson Street) is a B; at the right end (Sherman Street) is a C; in between (facing south, Church Street) are the nine slender boxes marked A. Along the top is a box labeled F and close by, a similarly shaped box E.
All those A boxes are one-bedroom, one-bath, 830-square-foot units. The B is a two-bedroom, 1 1/2 -bath unit, and with 1,000 square feet, the largest offered; however, the two B units were among the first to go.
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Then there are the one-bedroom, one-bath, 895-square foot C units with the prime southeast location — and those three also sold right off. .
Those long, skinny E and F units at 970 and 785 square feet are, quite understandably, a harder sell: They face north and those I saw looked right at the brick wall next door.
The building has been a rental for 13 years; some apartments are still under lease and not available for viewing.
The A units, base-priced from $209,000 to $235,000, depending on floor and location, are small even by rental standards, possibly because so much space is allotted to a very long hallway.
Now, the model: Enter, facing the long hall with all doors/entries to the right; first, a tiny guest closet; a few feet ahead, a short entryway with a small closet to one side and to the other side, the door to the bathroom (with room only for sink, toilet and tub); then the entry to the bedroom, where, as mentioned, there’s a bed and table, a folding door to a wall closet, plus the laundry closet.
Back to that long hall: Pass a utility closet before entering the living/dining/kitchen space. For furniture, there’s a very large armoire or perhaps media center, a sofa, a chair or two and occasional tables; in a corner, there’s a glass-topped table for two and two small chairs. A half wall separates this space from the compact kitchen with handsome Italian maple cabinetry and stainless appliances.
Light streams into the living space from a trio of windows; ceilings are 12 feet high and walls delineating the bedroom and hallway are three-quarters high, causing marketers to call these lofts. .
The model has the standard offerings plus some decorative upgrades. The standards include painting; new toilets; upgrades to the electrical and plumbing systems “to meet current building code.” The lobby to the condos has been renovated, hallways are undergoing renovation. Planned are repairs to the exterior, the elevators and the Field’s clock at Church and Sherman.
Come-hither amenities (fitness room, pool, party room) just aren’t there; parking is available but it’s exposed, rooftop parking.
The appeal, it would seem, would be to car-less singles who don’t much care about views, workouts or entertaining but who do want to live right in the heart of Evanston, walk four blocks to the Lake, go to the movies at the multi-screen Century around the corner then stop for a bite at the new Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe — the only one in the Midwest. Cheers.