List Price: $3.59 million
Sale Price: $3.12 million
The Property: On the 16th floor of the 27-story 840 North Lake Shore Drive building, this 4,300-square-foot condo has its dining room in the round projection on the southeast corner, which provides spectacular views down the drive and out across Lake Michigan. The seller, Bart Liang, bought the unfinished space in 2005 and had it configured with three bedrooms, a library, and four-plus baths. He had the space fitted out lavishly with laser-cut marble floors by Stone City and a high-end kitchen that includes a large marble island. “It’s a beautiful building,” says Liang, “and you can’t beat that location.”

Until 2002, Liang was a partner with his late father, Paul, in PBL Partners, which owned and leased seats at options exchanges in Chicago and elsewhere. They liquidated the firm in 2002; Paul Liang died in 2007. Bart Liang says that he now trades, invests in real estate, and travels. Currently living on a high floor of the Hancock, he will move to a 3,400-square-foot condo in the Elysian, at Rush and Walton streets, when that unit is completed. The location there is less majestic, but the architecture of the Elysian shares 840’s Parisian inspiration. Both buildings were designed by Lucien Lagrange, Chicago’s go-to guy for Francophile condo towers.

Price Points: Liang says he paid about  $2.55 million for the unfinished space in 2005 (the purchase price was not recorded in public records of the transaction) and then “put a lot of money” into finishing the place. He says his combined costs of buying and finishing the condo totaled “about where I sold it,” though he did have additional taxes and assessments along the way. Liang initially listed the condo for sale at $3.8 million in 2007; by February 2009, the asking price was down to $3.59 million. On February 23rd, a buyer, who is not yet identified in public records, contracted to buy the place for $3.12 million. The sale closed March 27th.

Listing Agent: Name not available