Think-Realty-Magazine-October-2018

NUTS & BOLTS

NICHE INVESTING

LITTLE DETAILS ARE A BIG DEAL “I actually have one apartment that still has a porcelain kitchen sink on legs, and the architect living there wants to keep it that way!” she noted. “I keep the old latch cabinets, pedestal sinks in the bathroom, the old subway tiles, the fire- places, the wall sconces, and the cove moldings,” Price said. “To my tenants, the little details are a big deal. That close attention to details and how we work to preserve them is what my tenants value.” Of course, Price said, when she invests in a new building there is some work that often has to be done. However, the “heart” of the building has to remain intact. “I would never empty a build- ing out and make every apartment the same. Each apartment is an individual home for someone. I might have to sand the kitchen floor in one unit or replace the kitchen sink in another, but each unit ends up with something a little different from the others because I evaluate each one individually. If I can’t love the building as it is – even if that means putting some work into it – then I am not interested in the building.”

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Carla Price is the owner of PMG Properties. Learn more about the unique style of apartment living her company offers by emailing candaproperties@aol.com.

Vintage Style Brings Loyal Tenants, SteadyReturns EMBRACING THE ERA SHE LOVES WORKS FOR CHICAGO LANDLORD CARLA PRICE.

by Carole VanSickle Ellis

C

arla Price has always run her real estate business her own way, and that has created a unique demand for her boutique, vintage apartments in Chicago that has lasted more than 50 years. Price started her real estate business in the De- Paul area of Lincoln Park in the 1960s and has “always appre- ciated historic architecture,” she said. “I like the vintage look, and I’ve always done very well with that. I don’t have granite countertops or dishwashers in my units, but I seldom show a property more than once or twice before it is rented because people who want a vintage apartment are attracted to mine.” Price’s apartments (opposite and above) attract designers, architects, illustrators, and graphic designers, “people who are very visual and to whom the small details matter,” she said. Geo- graphically, this places them near the shores of Lake Michigan and in close proximity to Northwestern University in Evanston

VINTAGE: Denoting something of high quality, representational and recognizable as belonging to the era in which it was made. Often used to refer to a look harkening back to the 1950s and 1960s.

Price and her tenants place high value on the retention of vintage characteristics like fireplaces (top), latch cabinets (middle), and unique moldings (bottom).

and Loyola in Rogers Park. What really makes the units stand out, however, is what Price refers to as their “pure vintage” character.

The "heart" in Price's buildings keeps her tenants in residence for years at a time.

84 | think realty magazine :: october 2018

thinkrealty . com | 85

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