Millennium
Park condominium boom The amazing popularity
of downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park has sparked a boom in condominium
development, but it also is fueling a race for parking near the famed
24-acre center of entertainment, art and landscaping. Located on Michigan
Avenue between Randolph and Monroe streets, Millennium Park is a center
for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design. Visitors
can experience everything from interactive public art and ice-skating
to al fresco dining and free classical concerts presented by the Grant
Park Orchestra and Chorus. The dazzling Jay
Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of
its kind in the United States, was designed by Frank Gehry, one of
the world’s greatest living architects. Lakeshore East,
a 28-acre mixed-use development just steps from Michigan Avenue and
immediately north of Millennium Park, is planned for about 5,000 new
homes, a six-acre public park, more than 2 million square feet of
commercial space, 770,000 square feet of retail space, 2,200 hotel
rooms and the city of Chicago’s first new public elementary school
in years. But where is the
affordable parking? Today, downtown condominium developers are charging
$45,000 to $60,000 for a deeded parking spot near Millennium Park.
At Lake Point Tower a space recently sold for $99,000. And garage
parking rates in Chicago’s Loop can cost $24 or more a day. “As property
keeps appreciating in the hot Millennium Park neighborhood, people
are seeing the value in owning a downtown parking space near Michigan
Avenue and Grant Park,” said Dick Delaney, executive vice president
of Field Harbor Parking LLC. “New-construction
downtown condominium developments typically offer only one parking
space per unit. Demand is already surpassing supply. The trend is
clear,” said Paulette Rodriguez, who is marketing condo garage
spaces at the 407-car Field Harbor Parking garage on the lower level
at 165 N. Field Blvd., just north of Millennium Park. An automobile
access ramp recently opened to provide traffic access to the lower
level of the space. More than 25 percent of the 197 indoor deeded
and heated parking spaces in phase II at Field Harbor Park have been
sold since April, said Rodriguez. Forty of the spaces have been closed. Phase II deeded
garage spaces prices range from $35,500 to $52,500, and motorcycle
spaces are available for $20,000. The condo garage currently is offering
a summer promotion for buyers, guaranteeing $1,500 discounts for each
space bought and a choice of either six months of free assessments
or rental income for six months, Rodriguez said. In phase I of
the condo garage, all 205 parking spaces sold out within 11 months,
Rodriguez said. “Buyers range from homeowners without deeded
parking to local and foreign investors as well as city and suburban
residents,” Rodriguez said. The two-level
Field Harbor Parking garage, www.fieldharborparking.com, is on the
southern fringe of the Lakeshore East development, a stone’s
throw from Burnham Harbor and the Columbia Yacht Club. Within five
months, the garage also will have a new $500,000 commercial elevator
for eight to 10 people that will connect the lower-level parking garage
to Randolph Street, Delaney said. “The convenience
of having your own private parking space near Millennium Park avoids
hassles and maximizes downtown enjoyment,” Rodriguez said. “Parking
like this is priceless, making the purchase of a space a smart investment
choice.” Purchasing a parking
space is much like buying a condominium or any other piece of real
estate, Rodriguez said. Most lending institutions will grant a mortgage
or equity loan to make the purchase, which also comes with the same
tax advantages as buying a condominium, she explained. A down payment
on a parking space is usually 20 percent of the purchase price. |