CHICAGO | St. Regis Chicago (Vista) | 1,191 FT | 101 FLOORS

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yesterday the Tribune reported:

About 1/3 under contract
6 of 21 uber luxury units are under contract, including an $8.6 million penthouse
Many of the buyers are believed to be foreign, as predicted
Construction financing is expected to close in 45 to 60 days

Keep a close eye on this, guys. If Vista is a success we may see a lot more Chinese money "parked" locally, and perhaps many more high profile condo proposals

1/3 under contract is pretty decent for still being 3 years away from delivery. The sales center has been open for less than a year.

The facade looks promising as well.. all things are looking up for this project.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yesterday the Tribune reported:

About 1/3 under contract
6 of 21 uber luxury units are under contract, including an $8.6 million penthouse
Many of the buyers are believed to be foreign, as predicted
Construction financing is expected to close in 45 to 60 days

Keep a close eye on this, guys. If Vista is a success we may see a lot more Chinese money "parked" locally, and perhaps many more high profile condo proposals

There's no hard info that I've seen whatsoever thus far on the depth of the foreign buyer market here. You misread that article. There was one sentiment-driven wishy-washy statement from a local broker that seemed to suggest (in all probability misleadingly) that there's been a half-decent amount of foreign interest/purchase activity. Potentially on the contrary, a statement from Sean Linnane of Magellan in the Trib article (http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...302-story.html) is very suggestive that the market for units in the tower is actually primarily local (which makes more sense to me):

"We're surprised by the depth of the Chicago market. Most buyers are Chicago buyers — a lot buying second homes; often with a place in the suburbs."

In other words, no huge change from the luxury downtown Chicago new construction condo market in the boom of the naughts.

Do not be surprised if there is not in fact a deep market that develops for Chinese (I don't mean the ethnicity, I mean capital originating from mainland China) purchases of uber-luxury Chicago residential condos, new construction or otherwise. First of all, do not overlook the important widespread expectation that Chinese authorities will further clamp down on outbound capital this year. That could have a huge impact on residential investment in markets (NY, SF, LA, Vancouver, Toronto, etc) that actually do enjoy strong capital inflows into for-sale residential markets from China. Secondly, a relative lack of supply constraints more than compensates for some improvement in Chicago's global visibility and the 'safe harbor' status of investing in 1) the US in general, and 2) Chicago's less cyclically-amplified market....

Finally, it would be a very admirable feat if Magellan is in fact able to land its debt financing for this project in the next couple months. That's awesome that they are that close, and I'm pulling for them. That stated, I'm not impressed with the unit sales velocity here of late. It seems that it may have taken at least 7-8 months to move from 25% of units under contract to 33% of units under contract. While not necessarily problematic, that's less than swift, for certain....

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

There's no hard info that I've seen whatsoever thus far on the depth of the foreign buyer market here. You misread that article. There was one sentiment-driven wishy-washy statement from a local broker that seemed to suggest (in all probability misleadingly) that there's been a half-decent amount of foreign interest/purchase activity. Potentially on the contrary, a statement from Sean Linnane of Magellan in the Trib article (http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...302-story.html) is very suggestive that the market for units in the tower is actually primarily local (which makes more sense to me):

"We're surprised by the depth of the Chicago market. Most buyers are Chicago buyers — a lot buying second homes; often with a place in the suburbs."

In other words, no huge change from the luxury downtown Chicago new construction condo market in the boom of the naughts.

Do not be surprised if there is not in fact a deep market that develops for Chinese (I don't mean the ethnicity, I mean capital originating from mainland China) purchases of uber-luxury Chicago residential condos, new construction or otherwise. First of all, do not overlook the important widespread expectation that Chinese authorities will further clamp down on outbound capital this year. That could have a huge impact on residential investment in markets (NY, SF, LA, Vancouver, Toronto, etc) that actually do enjoy strong capital inflows into for-sale residential markets from China. Secondly, a relative lack of supply constraints more than compensates for some improvement in Chicago's global visibility and the 'safe harbor' status of investing in 1) the US in general, and 2) Chicago's less cyclically-amplified market....

Finally, it would be a very admirable feat if Magellan is in fact able to land its debt financing for this project in the next couple months. That's awesome that they are that close, and I'm pulling for them. That stated, I'm not impressed with the unit sales velocity here of late. It seems that it may have taken at least 7-8 months to move from 25% of units under contract to 33% of units under contract. While not necessarily problematic, that's less than swift, for certain....

Well the building isn't expected to open until 2020, so I'd say 1/3 of the units being sold when it's three years from delivery isn't too shabby. It'll be interesting to see how things play out in China, but it's my understanding that Chinese immigration to Chicago is on the upswing.

[Notyrview]

I'm really stoked about that sample cladding. I think the building might have a cool lego quality to it.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Well the building isn't expected to open until 2020, so I'd say 1/3 of the units being sold when it's three years from delivery isn't too shabby. It'll be interesting to see how things play out in China, but it's my understanding that Chinese immigration to Chicago is on the upswing.

Chinese immigration to Chicago is indeed increasing.....I see it all the time in the near south and southwest neighborhoods.....however, this has little to do with the hoped-for (in some quarters) connection between China and multimillion dollar downtown condos - that's more about offshore investment from high net worth individuals.....

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

There's no hard info that I've seen whatsoever thus far on the depth of the foreign buyer market here. You misread that article. There was one sentiment-driven wishy-washy statement from a local broker that seemed to suggest (in all probability misleadingly) that there's been a half-decent amount of foreign interest/purchase activity. Potentially on the contrary, a statement from Sean Linnane of Magellan in the Trib article (http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...302-story.html) is very suggestive that the market for units in the tower is actually primarily local (which makes more sense to me):

"We're surprised by the depth of the Chicago market. Most buyers are Chicago buyers — a lot buying second homes; often with a place in the suburbs."

In other words, no huge change from the luxury downtown Chicago new construction condo market in the boom of the naughts.

Do not be surprised if there is not in fact a deep market that develops for Chinese (I don't mean the ethnicity, I mean capital originating from mainland China) purchases of uber-luxury Chicago residential condos, new construction or otherwise. First of all, do not overlook the important widespread expectation that Chinese authorities will further clamp down on outbound capital this year. That could have a huge impact on residential investment in markets (NY, SF, LA, Vancouver, Toronto, etc) that actually do enjoy strong capital inflows into for-sale residential markets from China. Secondly, a relative lack of supply constraints more than compensates for some improvement in Chicago's global visibility and the 'safe harbor' status of investing in 1) the US in general, and 2) Chicago's less cyclically-amplified market....

Finally, it would be a very admirable feat if Magellan is in fact able to land its debt financing for this project in the next couple months. That's awesome that they are that close, and I'm pulling for them. That stated, I'm not impressed with the unit sales velocity here of late. It seems that it may have taken at least 7-8 months to move from 25% of units under contract to 33% of units under contract. While not necessarily problematic, that's less than swift, for certain....

If you do the math it is 1 sale per week for about 8 months. If you look at the price points (which are the top of the Chicago market) and we accept that this is happening without oceans of foreign money, I would call the sales fairly respectable (not amazing). I revise my own earlier thoughts on this topic.

[SolarWind]

March 6, 2017

[SamInTheLoop]

^ Awesome update....thanks.


I know it's been said before, but it needs to be said again and again: this is one helluva impressive operation by Mchugh......the incredibly favorable winter weather continues, but even so, I'm not sure if I've ever been this impressed by a single act of construction management as I have by the first 15-20% of this project's lifespan.......


Smooth and ahead of schedule are humble understatements....

....knock on concrete.....

[CastleScott]

This project is really moving along and I wonder if the mild winter also really helped-impressive!

[rlw777]

Is there another skyscraper in the world with two roads going through it?
The closest I could think of is the Helmsley building in New York though Park Ave is technically one road.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by rlw777

Is there another skyscraper in the world with two roads going through it?
The closest I could think of is the Helmsley building in New York though Park Ave is technically one road.

Lol the Old Post Office?

[rlw777]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

Lol the Old Post Office?

Nah I think of Congress pkwy as one.

[Kenmore]

I'm significantly more bearish on the long term health of the Chicago condo market than most on this board, really just hoping we get this one in before the bottom falls out (again) because it's going to be a stunner.

[excel]

Amazing how fast this is being built. Thanks for the updates.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by excel

Amazing how fast this is being built. Thanks for the updates.

No kidding - pretty good. There is a building being constructed near my office at Hudson Yards in Manhattan which has only jumped 1-2 floors in the last 3 months - complete opposite of this

[officeworker]

[harryc]

March 7




It appears the climbing form is supported from inside mounts.

[Skyguy_7]

Taken from 79th floor at Aqua on 3/11.

[chris08876]

They must have like 50+ guys working on this during one shift. This thing is moving given the complexity.

[intrepidDesign]

Engineering question: What are they going to use to span between the two cores? Is it going to be some heavy steel truss like we saw at 150? Or is it going to me more of a series of reinforced concrete sections like what went over the tracks at the confluence. I would imagine a park is one thing, but a mid rise is another, so I'm guessing steel.