Near North Side Chicago Home Listed for $7.5 Million

A Near North Side mansion hit the market this week at $7.5 million, a price well below its replacement cost given the expense of construction in today’s market, the listing agent said.

The 10,800-square-foot home at 445 West Superior Street is asking $694 per square foot, offering seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, according to public listing information. The property has five levels, an elevator, a large rooftop terrace and luxury finishings by big-name designers. Rebuilding it with today’s pricing would cost “well over $10 million,” listing broker Carrie McCormick of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate said.

“Land value has gone up, the cost of land, and then obviously construction costs,” she said. “The cost of goods, in general, has gone up — steel, wood, also labor.”

President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs — and the uncertainty surrounding them — is part of that, but McCormick also attributed it to general inflation and labor shortages in construction-related fields.

The home on West Superior Street was custom-built by the sellers in 2012. They are still in Chicago but are looking to downsize, McCormick said. Many luxury buyers value custom-builds and want one of their own, but that requires more money and time than it used to, McCormick said.

Testing that idea is a Lincoln Park property that went on the market this week for $8 million; it’s a speculative build set to be completed next year.

The seven-bed, seven-bath home is pricier than the house on West Superior, at $1,067 per square foot. Chicago-based builder Savane Design + Build is developing the home, which sits on a double lot at 1865 North Fremont Street. Thomas Moran of @properties has the listing.

The luxury market in Chicago — particularly in neighborhoods like Near North Side, Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast — has been performing well, McCormick said.

A Gold Coast home at 1521 North State Parkway that was featured on an episode of FX’s “The Bear” — as well as several other TV shows — went under contract for $7.3 million this week after it spent more than six years on and off the market. The price amounts to $752 per square foot.

McCormick had that listing, and also represented the buyer in the sale of another luxury Gold Coast home, at 1451 North Astor Street, for $5.2 million, or $605 per square foot, last month. @properties’ Emily Sachs Wong represented the seller in that deal.

It’s unlikely that the inventory concerns of last year are going to be solved by a boom of development, given the rise in construction costs. But luxury buyers who can avoid high interest rates by paying cash are ready to move, McCormick said.

“Buyers are getting fatigued from waiting,” she said. “They want to just move on with their life and start living.”