Chicago has another million-dollar home on the market and it's a total dump.
That's right. The frumpy house at 3710 N Kenmore Avenue is for sale for $9.8 million. Why so pricey? Because Wrigley Field's home plate is just over 500 feet away.
The price is justified though, and frankly, the seller could probably ask for more. The McDonald's parking lot on Clark and Addison streets, soon-to-be home of the Wrigley Field Triangle building, fetched a cool $20 million in 2011. And that was when real estate markets were still in the pits.
The home is special because it's one of the few properties surrounding Wrigley Field not owned by members of the Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs and are quietly gobbling up rooftop properties in the immediate vicinity. In March, they added three more to their collection—3617 N Sheffield Ave and 3619 N Sheffield Ave and 3637 N Sheffield Ave—bringing their total to six.
This is not the first time this million-dollar stinker has been shopped around. In 2011, the 1.5-story home was listed for $9.9 million, likely in an attempt to capitalize on the McDonald's parking lot sale. Interestingly, the listing contained this bizarre quip: "House is being sold in as-is condition with no warranties...No interior showings, drive-by only."
No interior showings? What gives?
The home's sale history is decidedly opportunistic, appearing on the market when the Cubs appear in the news or the playoffs. In 2009, the home was listed for $8.5 million. In 2007 it was also listed for $5 million. Each time the home was taken off the market in less than two months.
Even real estate agents are billing the sale as "land." To be certain, no one in their right mind would purchase the house and leave it the way it is. It has one bathroom, an unfinished basement, 980 square feet in total, the trees in its front yard have been cut down and the exterior is in desperate need of a scrubbing.
If sold, the home will likely cease to be a home entirely. Zoning there allows for a building up to four stories tall that could become a bar, restaurant or bed-and-breakfast. A rooftop would give a new view of Wrigley Field's third baseline. So someone should snap up this diamond in the rough before the Cubs or Donald Trump can slap their names on it.
Photograph: 3710nkenmore.com
A rooftop would give this view of Wrigley Field.
