Only a few of 100 East Huron’s 204 condos have any private outdoor space—and the terrace on this 40th floor duplex is the best by a long shot.

It runs 55 feet east to west, 1,200 square feet in total, taking in incredible city views in three directions. But unlike at some high-priced quasi-penthouses in the Loop or on the Near North Side, the oversized terrace isn’t compensating for scant interior space. The floor plan covers half of the 40th floor and a quarter of the 41st, totaling 5,680 square feet.

“This home has given us the best possible urban living,” says owner Hal Gershowitz, an award-winning author and former business executive. He and wife Diane have been the sole owners going back to the tower’s completion in 1990, and now, they've already shipped most of their striking art collection to a new home in California. 

When the Gershowitz's arrived, noted interior designer Dale Carol Anderson brought an abundance of marble and ornate millwork. Parenti & Raffaelli were recruited for the thickly layered custom paneling and cabinetry that covers the condo.

From the circular marble foyer and gallery at the entry, up to the master suite on the upper level, with its home gym and a large study, the home's striking details are too numerous to list out. But it really is worth mentioning that there's floor-to-ceiling glass in every room, and separate his and hers master bathrooms all decked in marble. The gentleman’s facility has a shaving sink inside its roomy forest green shower stall.

The tower’s two-part lobby, staged between the ground floor and the 9th floor, is a necessity of having office and retail at the building’s base. But it functions as a seal from the outside world—a building playing defense in the chaotic Chicago of the early 1990s. The major amenities live on the 9th floor, including an indoor pool and fitness center.

Price Points: Listing for the first time on Monday for $2.6 million, this property is priced at least one million dollars below comps in the Mag Mile, and has almost the square footage of two nearby penthouses asking $5.1 and $7.5 million. Listing agent Janet Owen of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices jokes, “If you figure it’s a million-dollar view, then the unit is only $1.6 million.”

Property tax hit $38,061 in 2012, not out-of-whack with the comps. But there’s disadvantage in a monthly assessment of $4,846 that falls short of covering all utilities. And, while some peer condos toward the top of the market come with multiple deeded parking spaces, this one’s garage spaces cost an extra $240 to $340 a month.