How one of Chicago’s top agents is selling her own Gold Coast condo

Susan Miner is listing her condo at the Waldorf for $5.3 million

Susan Miner with 11 East Walton Street
Susan Miner with 11 East Walton Street (Susan Miner, Google Maps, Getty)

One of Chicago’s top residential real estate brokers is selling her own condo at one of the Gold Coast’s premier buildings.

Susan Miner, broker and owner at Premier Relocation and Real Estate Services, listed her Gold Coast condo in the Waldorf Astoria at 11 East Walton Street last week, asking $5.3 million.

Miner and her family are moving across State Street to No. 9 Walton, another tower of luxury condos that have been bought by some of the biggest names in Chicago business and professional sports, into a condo that had more space, she said.

Miner has managed some of Chicago’s biggest residential deals for clients including Ken Griffin and SKTY Trading founder Scott Saldana, and brought buyers to deals during the presale of both the Waldorf and No. 9. She bought condos at both buildings in part to show her clients that she believed in the projects, she said.

“I’ve always believed in investing in the buildings, such as the Waldorf, that I’m also recommending to my clients,” Miner said. “So it’s a way of demonstrating the confidence that I have and my expertise and my faith in the building.”

She added she loved the Waldorf and is relocating to a larger unit. “We really decided to sell only because we needed more space for our family,” she said.

Pricing the condo required some additional work on her part, beyond the standard evaluation of comparable properties in the building. She updated the finishes, as well as main areas like kitchens and bathrooms over the past several years, moves she recommends her clients make when they prepare to sell.

She then brought in fellow brokers and agents to also evaluate the unit, so she could ensure she was pricing it fairly without personal bias.

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Timing wise, Miner said the listing was in part necessary because the family needed additional space, but it’s also the time of year to get properties listed before the spring market.

The 4,000-square-foot condo is on the 42nd floor and has three bedrooms and five bathrooms. The property has a family room that can be converted into a fourth bedroom and includes all of the amenities of the Waldorf.

Griffin’s sale of his longtime Chicago home in the Waldorf building closed in September for $10.2 million, an 11 percent discount from its $11.5 million asking price when it hit the market in July. 

In October, when Saldana and his wife Elyssa were sellers of a Waldorf penthouse, it took a steep price cut to make a sale. The Saldanas sold their full-floor condo building for $9.4 million, after having it listed for 15 months and trimming their initial $15 million asking price by more than a third to reach a deal with the buyer. The couple first listed the 6,400-square-foot, 55th-floor condo in June 2021 before removing it from the market and relisting it in May at $12.5 million. They paid $6.3 million for the property in 2010.

Built in 2009, the Waldorf Astoria building includes condos on the upper floors and a hotel on the lower portion. Condo owners in the 60-story get access to the hotel’s amenities through a fee in their community association assessments. Those include 24-hour security, room service, access to the spa, indoor pool, fitness center and Pilates studio.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify Miner’s role in making deals during the presale of the Waldorf Astoria and No. 9 Walton.

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