A room in the Windy City Urban Inn bed and breakfast owned by Andy Shaw and his wife.
| ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | With a desire to spend more time at their Michigan summer home, former WLS-Ch. 7 political reporter Andy Shaw and his wife want to scale back from their labor-intensive lifestyle running their Windy City Urban Inn bed-and-breakfast inside their Lincoln Park mansion.
So, they’ve listed the eight-bedroom mansion for $3 million. After they sell it, they plan to move to a condo downtown. |
See also • Elite Street: Former Blackhawk from $6,000 a month renter |
Now the Better Government Association’s executive director, Shaw, 61, retired in January 2009 after 25 years at ABC-7 Channel 7.
In 1998, the Shaws paid $973,000 for the 6,000-square-foot,
124-year-old mansion. They converted it to an inn with eight baths and
six rentable bedrooms, and gutted and -rehabbed the three-unit,
five-bedroom coach house.
“We ran it as an inn at full speed for more than a decade, and we loved
every minute,” Shaw said. “It’s a great house on a great street in a
great neighborhood, and we attracted some of those most interesting
visitors in the entire world. It was a phenomenal experience and a
wonderful business for my wife to run while I did my ABC job.”
But as the couple approached 60, however, they started to burn out.
They listed the property for eight months in 2007 for $2.999 million.
They re-listed it last year for $3 million.
“We don’t have to sell,” Shaw said. “If we needed to get the cash out
of it, we’d sell it for a lot less. There’s no reason to give it away.”
Buyers could continue operating the inn or convert it to a
single-family home, condos, a nonprofit group’s headquarters or a
corporate training center, Shaw said.
“It’s a turnkey,” he said. “It’s ready to go right now in any number of ways.”
hey, if this is “advertise your fabulous home” day at the Trib, I’d like to feature our neighbor’s house in West Rogers Park. It’s a stunning bungalow that they *have* to sell because he lost his job. At $324,000, it’s a great deal. Look for the listing on Farwell. And come join a truly great neighborhood.
Hey, I wish I had a fabulous home. Just two worthless journalism degrees. 50 cents each. (They make great coasters or construction paper for your kid to draw on).
I have no doubt the university prez has a great mansion.
(Mom always said, go into TV not print)
You would have to be dumb as a post to think this is a viable business. An 11 bedroom inn can NOT make enough to pay a purchase price of $3,000,000!! ANd Shaw is a moron if he thinks anyone would be stupid enough to spend that for a business that can not pay its operating costs – staff, taxes, utilities and MORTGAGE. He is trying to ROB some por sucker. Paid $993,000 in 1998. Using the historical apprecation rate (per Shiller of the Case-Shiller Index), that house is ONLY worth $1,415,000. Historically houses only go up 1% plus the rate of inflation in a year. Using a business valuation ie: purchase price divided by 5.5, it would have to NET over $545,000 + all its utilties, taxes, insurance, operating expenses, staff costs and enough money for the owners to live. GFL on that one!s like. So long as he makes back his purchase price and the costs of things like upgrading electrical (but electrical etc only if the house were uninhabitable), he is NOT “giving it away’ He is just not making a 200% profit as if the house appreciated 16.66% a year.
Is this really news? Does anyone give a s–t that this guy is selling his bed and breakfast?!
Ann,, Go find someone to talk to…. You sound like a lonely person with nothing else to do. Maybe a dog or cat would be nice.
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann- You are S-M-R-T SMART!! You neglected the fact that Mr Shaw gutted and rehabbed the property after his purchase, so you can add that to your horrible modeling system. And it is his property to sell at any price he wants, so who cares?
Ann,
Pay attention you illiterate baffoon. Did you read the part where they converted, gutted, and rehabbed? that coems at a price. Also, you are a fool if you think housing in Chicago has not increase at exponential rates since 1998. And guess what, no one cares if its a viable business. The house alone is probably worth close to the asking price. Nevermind the 5 br coach house that comes with. Go find a single family 5 BR in LP and report back with the asking price. Then add the 6BR 8BA mansion on to it.
mr. shaw — just a quick reminder, we are in a depression and housing market crash. good luck!
Sure he doesn’t have to sell. That’s why there is a front page story in a major newspaper about a guy who used to be in the news business, who is trying to sell a large house at a high price in a tough real estate. Notice that he raised his price from 2007 to 2010 when most home prices were doing the limbo. Now I appreciate what Andy Shaw has done with the IVI-IPO especially the lawsuit about the parking meter takeover. I hope he is planning to remain an Illinois resident rather than moving to Michigan to avoid the income tax increase. However when one tries to publicize the sale of their high priced house through connections with the media , one has to expect some negative comments. Notice he is trying to sell before the higher Federal capital gains tax kicks in before the end of the year. Good luck Andy. By the way , goo analysis ANN
Andy Shaw fo president! But only if he knows how many states are in our Union. (Hint Andy, Not “57 or 58″.
drew,
The only depressed thing is your IQ. Go meet Ann, she is looking for someone.
There was a time when newsmen aspired to ‘afflict the comfortable.’ Sadly those times are long past, and this story says quite a bit how the people who are supposed to be reporting on the abuses of the powerful are selling homes for 3 mil. At a press conference years ago, I remember this guy complaining about the downward movement of his Disney stock. Isn’t it likely that his wealth clouds his view of reality as lived by his viewers? BTW, I think Ann’s analysis is relevant and insightful into the real estate bubble we’re still suffering through.
tollweener — you are either andy shaw or his realtor? lol, good luck selling!
oh no he is gone? We will miss you elitist liberal dmeocratic skew to all your special witch hunts ;O)
The Tribune is the biggest joke in the ‘newspaper’ world.
All of you (haters) ought to be ashamed of yourselves for beating beating up my dear newsman. By the way Andy, I have two rental properties in Calumet City that I have been trying to sell for halve the price since November of 2009. Can you help a brother out buddy?
Hate be bitter, but really?
…With a desire to spend more time at their Michigan summer home, former WLS-Ch. 7 political reporter Andy Shaw and his wife want to scale back from their labor-intensive lifestyle running their Windy City Urban Inn bed-and-breakfast inside their Lincoln Park mansion.
I took a 3% pay cut last year and lost my bonus program, the cost of everything has gone up while the size of it has shrunk and Andy and the Trib have to rub this in my face? COME ON…
Is this really news?! of course it is! I can’t EVEN begin to tell you how much I enjoy these articles.
Keep ‘em coming!
Hey “ann is an idiot”, I love the joke you made when you called Ann an “illiterate baffoon” and you misspelled “buffoon”! That was classic!
These stories are great! Long live Chicago real estate!
No way it sells for that price. He had it sit there for 8 months in 2007, the height of the real estate boom, with no takers, and now he thinks he’s going to sell for the same price? Get real.
Retired at 61? How nice for you!
Wow Leslie, you should earn a bonus if you get your neighbors home sold, it is gorgeous! Looks so clean and ready to move in to, sorry they have to give it up.
Um, Post, er, Ann
You are forgetting the money he put in rehabing the property. You are rating it as a residential property, not commercial. You are forgetting that property sells for what someone wants to pay for it, period. It will eventually sell and it’s price will be public. It will be FAR in excess of your $1.4 million.
As for his not having a viable business, you need to run the numbers, as I did.
If he rents rooms at $150 per night and has 50% occupancy, he would draw $750 per night or $22,500 per month or $270,000 per year. As the average mortgage of $200,000 costs you about $1,500 per month, he’d at most have a $6,000 (figuring 20% down on the original $993K purchase price) mortgage payment. Throw in insurance, utilities and the minor repairs/staff, and he might have $5K per month in expenses.
Hence, at 50% occupancy, he’d be clearing around $10K per month.
Sure, rough numbers, BUT EDUCATED guesses, not off-the cuff inaccuracies like you expounded.
And Ann, how many homes do you know that earn you money, bad the appreciation of the property/structure, which this is doing anyways?
I am betting Ann was not a business student.
Mike S
I’m betting that Ann needs to stir things up on boards like this to make herself feel better about her own sorry real estate transactions.
Listen, Ann, you really shouldn’t call people hurtful names. Everyone is here because of our love of Chicago real estate.
Don’t hate. Love your community.
Is this the B&B investigated for being run without a license when it first opened? Now the guy runs the Better Government Assoc. What a great country.
Dearest Anne,
You insulted the Shaws 4 times in your little op-ed piece (Dumb as a Post, Moron, stupid, GFL). That alone discounts any sound facts you recited out of textbooks. You quoted Realty tools that do not apply to the highest end Real Estate. I’ll bet they sell for within 15% of asking price due to location alone. If you search transactions in their zip code, you will see 16 properties sold for More than 2.5 Mil in the last 6 months alone (http://chicagotribune.public-record.com/realestate/results/1/price:desc). Why don’t you do a cost analysis of their expense vs. selling price indexes and see it they match with the nationwide uselessness you quote. Maybe do a little relevant research before you demonstrate your ingorance for us next time.
Love and Kisses
Tom