The 10 Most Expensive Chicago Residential Buildings in 2015

Here’s my 5th annual list of the most expensive condo and co-op buildings in Chicago! Each January while reviewing the previous year’s sales statistics I rank the median sale price for the most expensive buildings. Only condo and co-op apartment buildings that had at least 2 sales recorded in Chicago’s multiple listing service (MRED) that closed in 2015 were included in the rankings. Only listed sales were used in determining median sale price for a building.

To make the top 10 in the rankings for 2014 a building needed a median sale price of $1,965,000 or higher. For 2015 it had to be $1,999,999 or higher. All 10 buildings that made the list are in downtown Chicago’s Near North Side area. Seven of the buildings are in the Gold Coast neighborhood, two are in Streeterville and one, Drake Tower at 179 E Lake Shore Drive, is considered to be on the border of both neighborhoods.

The most expensive Chicago residential building in 2015 was The Ambassador at 1300 N State Parkway. With a median sale price of $4,176,667 it also had the highest median sale price of any building since I started ranking buildings 5 years ago. The previous highest median sales price was $3,875,000 for the Waldorf Astoria in 2013.

The Residences at 900 at 77 E Walton was the second most expensive building in 2015 with a median sale price of $3.55M. The only other buildings with median sale prices of $3M or higher were the Waldorf Astoria and 50 E Chestnut. Six of the buildings that made the top 10 list for 2014 made the list for 2015.

The only co-op apartment building that made the list was Drake Tower. One co-op apartment building, 1430 N Lake Shore Drive, made the list the previous year.

THE 10 MOST EXPENSIVE CHICAGO RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN 2015