UPDATED, 5:15 p.m., June 21: Noise, drugs, trash in the street — even a possible porn shoot. Talk about a nightmare of a short-term rental home. Make that two homes.
Located in one of the city’s toniest neighborhoods, the Gold Coast homes raised the ire of the community and caught the attention of two aldermen. Now, the owner of the buildings is looking to sell.
Celeste Properties have now put the two houses, at 67 and 68 East Cedar streets, on the block for $6 million, according to Crain’s.
The 6,000-square-foot house at 68 East Cedar is now listed at just under $3 million while 67 East Cedar is listed for $2.75 million.
Celeste bought the two houses across the street from each other in 2014 and 2015. Both had bed-and-breakfast licenses, and Celeste had plans to operate them as short-term rentals. It paid $2.1 million for 67 East Cedar and $2.2 million for 68 East Cedar. Neighbors on the block not far from the Rush Street bar scene did not like the plan.
The two residences soon became “a textbook case of the problems that are associated with unregulated short-term rentals,” Alderman Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes 68 East Cedar, told Crain’s.
Hopkins said rowdy renters generated numerous of complaints about broken glass and trash in the street, drug use, after-hours noise and misuse of resident parking passes.
Neighbors once complained a porn shoot was going on in one of the houses after seeing “scantily clad young women” and camera equipment.
While Hopkins and Alderman Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the other house, couldn’t force Celeste to sell the buildings, “We made it clear that this couldn’t go on, and that might have helped,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins said the bed-and-breakfast licenses will not be transferred in the sales. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the ward that Alderman Brendan Reilly represents.