A one-bedroom condo at Van Buren Lofts, priced at $239,900
 

WEST LOOP
FROM $174,900 TO $289,900

Last spring, Peter Brennan’s Foxford Development bought 52 unsold condos in the 183-unit Van Buren Lofts, at 1224 West Van Buren Street. Brennan cut prices by 30 to 40 percent, replaced dated finishes, beefed up the condo association’s reserve funds, and completed work on storage units and other features left undone by the original owner.

Brennan figured those moves would also benefit current condo owners, whose homes had been underappraised. (Some units had even fallen into short-sale status.) “Helping them is helping me,” he says, since future buyers can count on more stable resale prices.

By October, Brennan had sold 15 units. The 37 remaining homes start at $174,900 for a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath condo with about 1,100 square feet. The most expensive, priced at $289,900, is a two-bedroom, two-bath condo with a den. The listing agent is Garry Benson of Garrison Partners.

Send tips about home sales to dennis@rodkin.com.

Photograph: Courtesy of Van Buren Lofts