Property sales in Evanston are down 14 percent this year, but the average selling price is up 1.5 percent.
Figures from the City Clerk’s office show that 87 properties changed hands in September, down from 126 in the same month last year. The value of sales last month totalled $53.2 million, up from $51.8 million a year ago.
In the largest single transaction last month, Park Investment Properties LLC, controlled by developer Robert King, spent $4.25 million to close on its contract to purchase 1890 Maple Ave., the site of a planned 14-story mixed-use development, two weeks before the City Council, on a split vote, approved a planned development ordinance for the project.
Another potential downtown development site also changed hands. Parcels at 1521-1527 Chicago Ave. and around the corner at 518-526 Davis St. were sold by Davis Chicago, LLC to Imagine Properties 200, LLC, a newly formed entity headed by long-time downtown property owner Ted Mavrakis, for a total of $4.5 million. These properties were part of the site once planned for the failed Optima Promenade project.
And in north Evanston two adjoining commercial properties at 1729-1803 Central St. changed hands for $1.96 million.
Six residential properties cracked the $1 million barrier last month:
- Developers of the Sherman Plaza complex at 807 Davis St. sold a 25th floor condo for $1.56 million and a 23rd floor unit for $1.48 million.
- A condo in the mansion at 1314 Ridge Ave. that once was School District 65’s headquarters sold for $1.45 million.
- A single family home at 1423 Judson Ave. sold for $1.35 millon
- A single family home at 2424 Lincoln St. sold for $1.35 million.
- A single family home at 2440 Orrington Ave. sold for $1.24 million.
For the past 12 months the number of sales is down 10.5 percent, while the average price is up 28 percent compared to the year earlier period. The price figure has been boosted by a number of large commercial transactions late last year.
The city gets about five percent of its general fund budget from the Real Estate Transfer Tax, charged at $5 for every $1,000 of selling price.
Seven months into the city’s fiscal year, collections are running 15 percent ahead of the pace needed to reach the $4.055 million budget goal.