An auction of 16 Oak Lawn high-rise condominiums on Sunday brought about $7.3 million in bids, with the highest bid $815,000 and the lowest, $290,000.

About 100 people showed up for the auction of the Centrum Tower units at 3111 Welborn St. at Oak Lawn Avenue and Cedar Springs Road.

Twelve units were sold “absolute,” meaning the seller must accept the high bid. The lowest final bid for those units was $360,000 and the highest was $650,000, said Michael Fine, executive vice president of Chicago-based Sheldon Good & Co., which conducted the auction.

The $650,000 accepted bid was on a unit originally priced at $995,000, Fine said. “The buyers are seeing more than a 25 percent discount on that unit,” he said.

Four units drawing final bids as high as $815,000 and as low as $290,000 were sold with reserve, meaning the seller has five days to evaluate the bid and accept or reject it. The unit generating the $815,000 bid originally was listed at $1.5 million, Fine said.

The one- and two-bedroom condo units range in size from1,362 square feet to 5,164 square feet and previously were listed for $495,000 and up.

Posted: 05|22|07 at 8:08 am. Filed under: US Property.