棲居美學10 房屋參觀：芝加哥奢華公寓，歷史悠久，風格獨特，坐擁高空美景

Open House Chicago is sponsored in part by Carrie McCormick Real Estate, Ben Cohen at Rate, and Chicago Title & Trust. Chicago is a city consistently voted one of the best in the world. Home to sprawling beaches and soaring skyscrapers, this place is booming with opportunities to be awed and inspired around every corner. I should know. I'm born and raised here. Where I'm standing is a prime example. When the Tribune Tower was built a hundred years ago, it was designed to be the most beautiful building in the world. Architects added flying buttresses and gothic touches despite this being the era of Art Deco. Today this building holds some of the most luxurious condos in the city, ones that boast views in all directions. We walk by these stunning structures all the time, and I know you want to peek inside as much as I do. So that's what this show is all about. Now I don't have a penthouse in the sky or a mansion on the lakefront, but I do have a friend who's a luxury real estate titan who's got the keys to some of the most coveted addresses in the area. Welcome to the top. That's not all. Along the way, we'll also get some practical advice on how to make our real estate dreams a reality. You can get away with putting 3% down, 5% down. What's more iconic than Chicago's skyline? Nothing, in my opinion. So let's kick things off there. Today we're seeing three condos, each with different perspectives of the city. One, a double-digit, million-dollar, three-story penthouse steeped in history. Look at this view. Then, a modern sanctuary owned by a Chicago champion. Look what I found. But let's start at the center of all the hustle and bustle on Michigan Avenue. Here's the bar. I'm Courtney Hall, and this is The Listing. We're just off the mag mile headed to meet luxury real estate agent Carrie McCormick. Now, she's an expert in this field with just over $2 billion in real estate sales. She has the keys to places like the Park Tower. Now, Star Wars creator George Lucas apparently set a real estate record in Chicago by creating the most expensive condo in this building. So let's go pay him a visit. Just kidding. But we are going to the penthouse. Carrie. Hi. I'm so excited that you're here. We're at one of Chicago's best addresses. We're 800 North Michigan Avenue. This is known as the Park Hyatt. A lot of celebrities in this building. I just heard. Lots of fancy people. But I'm so excited to have you here because this penthouse, the views, number one. The space was designed by Scott Hemel, which is an award-winning interior designer here. But this just gives you a flavor of the rest of the unit. Can't wait to show you. I love all the materials in here. I see wood going up the ceiling. I see travertine on the walls here. It does have this really neutral palette in here. Natural finishes that bring a lot of warmth. So not only we have wood and travertine. The walls are wrapped. You'll see we've got leather. We have suede. It really gives you this feeling. Like luxe feeling, yeah. Every turn is just a retreat of finishes here. And look at the views. In like every single room, there's a view. So this space is 4,000 square feet, two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath. But you have to see this primary suite and this primary bathroom is a moment of its own. Yes, suede walls. Suede walls. That's the suede walls dance. I just made that up. Wow. Yeah. So this is the secondary family room. They've got a built-in bar. But it just, the suede wraps around you and you just feel cozy in this room. It is cozy. Yes. It's cozy. It's luxe. But we're also on the northwest corner of the unit. So we get incredible sunsets to the east and to the north. We get the views of the lake and the city. It's just, again, at every turn, there's something special. Look at that lake. And you get the John Hancock. I mean, talk about skyline views. Wow. So we just saw the suede walls. Now we have leather walls. Because you can't leave that out. That's right. And then if you notice the stitching here, this is what we call baseball stitching. And again, a lot of great integrated hidden components in here. I want you to take a look at what's in this cabinet. Okay. What's in the cabinet? Open sesame. Here's the bar. Look at that. I mean, you have to have a spot to store your Versace stemware. So love to show you this kitchen. This kitchen was done by Bofie. And you'll see again, there's a mix of materials from the metals to the stone to the woods. That's like the theme in this one. Really creating the warmth. And again, it's like a cocoon in here. But then... Let's go out to the balcony. Well, look at this view. Oh my gosh. I'm on top of the world. Or at least Chicago. That's right. And we're back on street level in River North, an area that used to be a hub for factories and then for art and design with the building of the Merchandise Mart. Now it's residential, a lot of nightlife. You get single family homes, lofts, vintage walk-ups. But since today's theme is skyline views, let's check out this high-rise with a famous owner. And let's jaywalk. Okay. Here we are at 1201. And look at this. Is this any indication of who lives here? We'll find out after the break. Kerry, what's up with the rhinestone Buddha that I saw walking in? Hi, I'm Greg Kenner from Chicago Title & Trust. And I would like to share with you a trusty tip. Now, I know you might not know what title insurance is. But don't worry. I'm here to help. Think about it as the only insurance that takes a look backwards. For example, investigating a building's dating history. Does anybody owe any money? How did the last relationship end? Well, that's where we come in. Chicago Title has been doing this work for nearly 180 years. That's hundreds of millions of closings and countless documents signed. We work with realtors and lawyers to make the day that you get your keys as smooth as possible. And in the Chicago area alone, we did that more than 60,000 times last year. Coming up, we're going to take a ride in the time machine to show you just how old we are. Well, experienced, that is. And how do we keep this business moving forward? The interesting lives here. I know. Well, this home was designed for one of the Chicago Blackhawks. Nice. So you can see it was designed for a champion here. Yeah. I'm loving the mix of black and white marble here. What can you tell me about this place? Yeah. So this home is 4,100 square feet, four bedrooms, three and a half baths. And everybody loves this open concept. This is sleek. It's sexy. It's sophisticated. Floor-to-ceiling windows. It's like the skyline and views are wrapped right around you. I can't imagine what this looks like at night. It's like a little jewel box. Oh, beautiful. Should we go this way? Yeah, let's go down the hall. So we are now in the primary suite and this is a sanctuary. Yes. Yeah. Look at those light fixtures. Everything about it has been custom designed for this home. And the primary bathroom is such a retreat. It's like a spa. It is. And you even get a view in your bathroom. You can just lay in this bath. Look up to the north side. This room is where everyone is going to hang out in. You have your double island. And again, the city is your backdrop. One of the most spectacular features of this home is the terrace. It spans 46 feet. All right. Let's say I've fallen in love. I want this place. What are my next steps? Well, I've got the perfect person for you. Ben is outside on that beautiful terrace. Let's go out and talk to him. All right. Let me check it out. So there's a few steps between falling in love and making the home yours. So I'm here with managing director at Ben Cohen. What's up, Ben? What's up, Court? How are you? Look at this view. I know. Incredible, right? Beautiful day. Yeah. OK. So it carries the matchmaker. Are you kind of like the dating coach making sure we lock down this deal? Yeah. I mean, that's an amazing analogy. Absolutely. Because getting the financing done, assuming you're getting a mortgage to buy a house is a critical component of buying a house. And you have to be ready in order to make an offer on a house. You have to have your financing in place. And how important is being quick in doing this? In this market with a ton of demand and no supply, speed is everything. Speed, execution and giving a seller certainty. That is my value prop. That's how I help a consumer win a home at the end of the day. So how do you make sure that you are quicker than other lenders? Follow up, follow through, communicate, set expectations up front. You know, it's not that complicated if you really just set people's expectations and you give them a firm timeline. Do I have to have like ten million dollars to work with you? No, no. I don't have ten million dollars. You know, there's this big misconception out there, especially in the first-time homebuyer market, which is a lot of the market right now is first-time homebuyers. They'll come to me and say, hey, I want to buy a home and I'm putting 20% down. One of the first questions I ask them is, are you putting 20% down because you have to or because you want to? There's so many first-time homebuyers. You can get away with putting 3% down, 5% down, not many first-time homebuyers put 20% down. So that's a big myth out there in the world that you have to have 20% or 25% to put down. It's absolutely not the case. Well, you heard it here. You got Ben's information at the bottom of your screen. Thank you, Ben. Thanks, Court. Yeah, coming up next, we're staying around this hood and I'm going to show you another incredible place, plus some design tips if you happen to have a skyline view like this. Isn't this beautiful? Oh, my gosh. Welcome back. Greg here from Chicago Tidal. Where am I, you ask? Well, I said we were going to take a time machine. For those of you that like severance, you call this the severed floor. But to me, it's my museum or archives, if you will. What are these? These are track books, but they're not just any track books. These track books actually survived the Chicago fire. Pretty cool, huh? If I open this baby up, you'll see that it's full of information on specific properties. Look at the handwriting. Clearly, this was something we looked for when we hired employees back in the day. I would have never been hired. Still to this day, we have to go back to these books at times to complete our research. Pretty crazy, right? So you've got the names of the people, basically your sellers, your buyers, and the instrument that was used to facilitate the transaction. And here are the dates. Look at this. 1840, 1849, 1843. This is so cool. We'll be back in a few. Welcome back. So we're at our last property of the day, 500 West Superior, right in the heart of River North. Now, this one's cool because it has historical significance. It was the old administrative headquarters for the Montgomery Ward building. Well, when the company went bankrupt, it was converted into 250 luxury condos. Let's go check out the penthouse. All right. Here we are, the penthouse of the old Montgomery Ward building. Now, I've heard a lot about this place, and I heard that the ceilings are so epically tall because this actually used to be the mechanics of where everything worked. Isn't it incredible? And you get such a skyline view from here. Hey, Carrie. Welcome to the top. Wow. I'll say. Be prepared to be impressed with this city view. Look at these ceilings. How tall are they? 30 feet tall. 30 feet. Wow. So there's a little bit of history here. OK. So this, like you mentioned, was the old Montgomery Ward corporate headquarters. OK. And it was built in 1972. The original architect was a Japanese architect, and they didn't want any of the executives to have the corner office. Oh, how unpretentious of them. Yes. OK. So if you look at the building from outside, you'll see that all the corners are stone. So no one had a corner office. When the developer came in here and was looking at the space, they came up here to the top, and this is where all the mechanicals were. And that's why the ceilings are so high. And that's why the ceilings were so high. So as any smart developer, space is golden. So he looked at this space and said, we're going to develop this into the most incredible penthouse with the most incredible city views. Right. And here we are. Oh, my God. You just keep looking up, up, up. So I heard there was a speakeasy. Kind of. OK. We have the most incredible lounge area that could be your speakeasy in your own home. Oh, this is cool. This is a vibe. It sure is. Again, we've got the walls that are lacquered in here. You've got a fireplace, full bath, bar. Just a place you want to sit back and kick your feet up. OK. I got to jump behind this bar and see what they have going on. Let's see what Courtney's serving up today. Exactly. All right. We're going to take you guys upstairs in a moment. But first, let's get a designer's perspective on what you need if you're lucky enough to live with the view. Hi, this is Christina, owner and curator of CKS Collective. We're a design gallery with a focus on artisan and handmade pieces. If you're lucky enough to live in a home with a gorgeous view, the idea is to incorporate that view into your space instead of obstructing that view. One of my favorite things todo in these situations is to bring in a gorgeous sculptural linear fixture that's not going to block your room visually, but allow you to still see your gorgeous view and light your space. Another one of my favorite things that I've just discovered recently from our friends at APT is this insane LG transparent TV. I don't know what kind of witchcraft they use, but this TV becomes transparent when you're not using it. It's a perfect TV for a home that has an insane skyline view. Another one of my top recommendations for enjoying that gorgeous skyline view is having the proper window treatments. So this is not as simple as it seems, but if you get it right, it really elevates your space. I always recommend doing a gorgeous sheer. Now, this is not going to obstruct your view again. You have that gorgeous skylight, so why block that out? This is just going to diffuse your light, soften up the space, and it will really elevate the look of your home. I would install them ceiling to floor to just kiss the floor. And because we love everything on remote controls now, you could have them installed on a track and just use a remote control to open and close them, so you don't even have to get up from your couch or put your cocktail down. How cool was that TV, right? All right. We're going to head upstairs. We'll be back in a moment. Carrie! Hey, everybody. Welcome back to The Trusty Tip and the 21st Century. Honestly, the real estate industry is constantly changing. One of the main components that continues to push us as an industry forward is technology. We, as the market leader, are very proud of the technology that we've built. Specifically, we've put together technology that protect our consumers against fraud during the biggest transaction of their life. People trust Chicago Title for a couple of reasons. One has to be our history. We've been around longer than anyone. The other thing is our people. We have the best underwriters and the best closers in the business. I'm Greg Kenner with Chicago Title & Trust. And that's The Trusty Tip. See you next time. We're back. So we're continuing our tour of 500 West Superior. And Carrie told me there was a catwalk. Carrie, what are we going to see next? We are going to go into the primary bedroom. Straight ahead? Straight ahead. I love it. And look at this view. Wake up to the sunrise. You have a private balcony off of this bedroom. You get incredible morning sunrises and not too bad at night either. Even when the sun is setting, the buildings get all golden. It's beautiful. It's our golden hour. Yeah. And you can see the lake right beyond the building. Not a bad place to be. No, not at all. Let's check out the balcony. Wow. I mean, the lake just right beyond there. It's so beautiful. Another unique feature of this home is it has its own private elevator. Okay. So we're going to take this elevator up to the roof deck. Perfect. All right. So we went from our private elevator to a private terrace. Let's check it out. What a perfect spot to end the tour on the rooftop at sunset. It's almost like we planned it that way. Thanks for watching. See you next time.