Downtown Chicago Condos With Biggest Price Cuts

For sellers of condos in downtown Chicago, success may be based on how much of a loss they can stomach.

Luxury condos have been slow movers over the last few years, as the market slipped and money moved to the suburbs and the North Side neighborhoods. Sellers have had to make deep cuts to find buyers, sometimes slashing millions from their asking price and selling for less than they paid years ago.

Many luxury condos still on the market have made similar price chops: The price for a 63rd floor penthouse at 800 North Michigan Avenue has dropped by $8 million since it was first shopped around privately in 2022. A 31st-floor condo at the Palmolive building has had its asking price reduced by close to $5 million in the five years that it’s been on the market.

Some sellers resisted lowering their prices over the last few years, hoping the market would recover, said Compass agent Jeff Lowe. But more sellers are starting to cut their expectations and lower their asking prices, and buyers are starting to come to the table.

“Sellers are definitely taking it on the chin, but at least if they’re willing to take it on the chin there are buyers,” Lowe said. “I would say three or four years ago, that wasn’t the case.”

Still, other sellers are often slow to accept the realities of the market and take a loss on their sale.

“Sometimes because the owners paid so much money pre-Covid, they’re having a difficulty taking a loss of a million or two million,” said Chezi Rafaeli, a Coldwell Banker Realty agent who specializes in downtown condos.

Rafaeli has a listing on the 86th floor of Trump Tower at 401 North Wabash Avenue that’s asking $6 million, a $2 million drop from its asking price in 2021. The seller received a recent offer close to the asking price, he said, but they are holding out in the hopes of a market recovery.

Here’s a rundown of some of the properties that have had the biggest drops in asking price since they were listed.

800 North Michigan Avenue

Of the condos currently listed above $4 million downtown, the biggest price drop has been at Bob Levy’s 63rd-floor penthouse at 800 North Michigan Avenue.

The former Art Institute of Chicago chair is currently asking nearly $7 million for the Park Tower unit, according to listing services. That’s less than half the original asking price when the condo was first shopped on a private agents’ network for $15 million.

It was listed publicly for $13.5 million in July 2022, and by September 2024 the price had been knocked down to $9 million, based on listing data. In January, the asking price dropped to $7.7 million and fell to just under $7 million in July. Levy paid $3.5 million for the penthouse in 2000, according to property records.

Lowe, the listing agent for the condo, said he thinks the current price is attractive. He expects it to sell early next year.

“We’re priced to sell there as soon as we find somebody that’s ready for a full floor in that building,” Lowe said.

Citadel founder Ken Griffin found a buyer this month for his penthouse at the building, with a $12.5 million asking price. The final asking price was more than $3 million less than he first asked for the unit, but a good sign for the market that has rarely seen eight-figure deals in the last three years.

Also at 800 North Michigan, listing services show unit 3501 has cut its asking price by $1.35 million, from an initial $5.65 million, since it was listed in January 2024. Its most recent asking price, at $4.3 million, was set in September.

159 East Walton Place

Two for-sale units with the biggest price chops are at the Palmolive Building at 159 East Walton Place. A condo owned by Chicago financier David Herro has been on the market since 2020, when it first asked for $10.9 million, based on listing data. The 5,500-square-foot unit now is asking just under $6 million. That would be a loss for Herro, who bought the condo in 2013 for $6.75 million, property records show.

Another condo, owned by former Navteq CEO Judson Green, is asking $4.25 million. It’s a nearly 5,000-square-foot unit on the building’s 18th floor. The current price, set in August, is a 42 percent drop from its initial asking price of $7.35 million in February 2020, according to listing services. Green bought the condo for $6.3 million in 2007, property records show.

Also at the building, a duplex covering the top two floors — once owned by Vince Vaughn — has had $3 million cut off its asking price from 2021. The 7,900-square-foot penthouse was listed for $11.9 million and is now asking $8.9 million, according to listing services.

The Palmolive Building, built in 1929, has been particularly hit by dropping values over the last few years, Rafaeli said. The building lacks the new amenities that luxury buyers are after, and it has seen property taxes rise because of recent special assessments.

“Today it all comes down to amenities,” he said, “and people are more attracted to amenities versus just living in a condo with a doorman.”