Dream Town's Chicago Real Estate Search

Over the past three months, Jerzy Kozera of Koenig & Strey GMAC Realty has seen buyers snatch up 10 of the 12 condos Volo Development is selling at 2537 N Sawyer Ave in Logan Square. He credits the gut-rehab's popularity to its placement on a residential, one-way street, as well as its proximity to the Logan Square Blue Line station, located just a block and a half north.

Kozera says the two remaining units are two-bedroom / two-baths on the building's third floor, one priced in the $240s and the other priced in the $270s. The former appears to be in the MLS; if the listing does correspond to that condo, then the floor plan includes a 11' x 12' master bedroom, 9' x 10' second bedroom, 9' x 11' kitchen, and 15' x 19' living area.

Improvements in every home include individual heating and air systems, hardwood floors in a variety of optional stains, a selection of Ikea kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, limestone tile bathroom floors, and balconies. Parking is not available.

In the June issue of New Homes, Elizabeth Blackwell writes about the spacious, full-floor condominiums of C/A 23, The Brixton Group's new development at 23 N Aberdeen St in the West Loop.

With condos ranging from 1,900 to 4,000 square feet, C/A 23 is sure to stand out in a neighborhood replete with new construction homes, says developer Geoff Ruttenberg.

“If you’re looking for this kind of square footage, you’d usually have to buy a townhouse, which is very vertical,” says Geoff Ruttenberg, CEO of The Brixton Group, which is developing the property.

“From a practical standpoint, having this amount of square footage on one floor means a convenient, enjoyable lifestyle. It’s a unique option in a very urban, hot neighborhood.”

C/A 23 combines a downtown look with access to the outdoors. (The name refers to the development’s location, between Carpenter and Aberdeen streets.) A spacious courtyard, subdivided into 12 private yards, connects two five-story buildings, each with 24 units. Penthouse buyers get roof rights, allowing them to build custom decks. Most West Loop properties have little (if any) outdoor space, so buyers at C/A 23 have a rare opportunity to enjoy both a contemporary downtown lifestyle and a garden.

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… Of course, I don't think most gay people care who moves into our 'hoods as long as they don't make us take down the risque photos of half-naked men in our store windows. Unlike some of the people in this video, my motivation for wanting boystown to stay gay isn't really out of any dislike for straight people. It's mainly because if I'm surrounded by other gay folk, I'm less likely to get the crap beaten out of me for being the only guy walking home at night who looks gay. I doubt the Puerto Ricans are afraid the yuppies are going to beat and mug them if their numbers dwindle, but perhaps they would argue that they're being robbed in another sense as property taxes and rent go up.

In the end, I don't care what color the people are in my neighborhood as long as I feel that I can be myself and that I'm safe. Unfortunately, I haven't found poor minorities (or poor people in general) to be very gay friendly. So, I guess I'm stuck looking at places in Lakeview and fighting the good fight to keep out those Lincoln Park breeders with their Range Rovers and screaming kids. I'm all for fair housing laws, but where is the law to keep those brats from ruining my right to an evening of sushi and overpriced cosmopolitans without a crying baby at the next table?

Commenter Danny, drawing some parallels between his choice to live in Boystown and the desires of some Humboldt Park residents to prevent gentrification in their own neighborhood.

One year ago, we published an article by New Homes contributor Phil Berger about Edgewater homes priced below $400,000. Phil wrote about JP Stellas Properties' conversion at 1262 W Bryn Mawr Ave, "a top-notch gut rehab of an impressive classic graystone" on the northern edge of the Lakewood Balmoral area.

Only one condo has sold in the year since we published Phil's column, leaving two "estate-sized units" (JP Stellas' words) still for sale, including the two-bedroom / two-bath garden unit (PDF) Phil focused on in his piece.

The 1,614 square-foot home is now priced in the $330s, according to the JP Stellas Web site. That's down about $30,000 from last year. The building's second-level unit, a three-bedroom / two-bath home (PDF) with 1,849 square feet, is priced in the $540s, just as it was last May.

Features for both units include restored masonry, new drywall and wood and carpet flooring, shaker-style cabinets, granite countertops, GE and Jenn-Air kitchen appliances, limestone bathroom floors, and Porcher, Grohe and Toto fixtures.

One parking space is included with the purchase of the three-bedroom. Parking is "optional" with the garden unit, but the JP Stellas Web site does not specify a cost.

More than a year has passed since we last posted a sales update for Pearson on the Park, a 27-story apartment building in Streeterville that Hawthorne Development recently converted to condos.

As Dustin pointed out last year, location is one of the building's best features. The park for which it is named is Lake Shore Park, the narrow strip of green located just across the street, next to the Museum of Contemporary Art and two blocks from Michigan Avenue and Water Tower Place.

Since our last update, Jameson Realty Group has taken over sales of the building and about 20 units have sold.

There are eight three-bedroom / two-bath condos remaining. They all have the same floor plan and are located on the northeast corner of the building (see below). Prices for those three-bedrooms seem to be priced according to placement, as they start in the $490s for the unit on the second floor and reach into the $530s for the 19th-floor home.

There are four different floor plans for Pearson on the Park's 17 two-bedroom / one-bath units (see them at the development's Web site), with price points in the $360s to the $380s.

As an added bonus, Hawthorne is now giving away parking spaces once valued at $39,000 at no additional charge.

There are still plenty of units available – 49 to be exact – in the Chess Lofts, the 119-unit South Loop loft conversion at the former home of Chess Records.

According to Jerry Mazo, a sales associate with Garrison Partners, one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-den and two-bedroom units are still available in more than a dozen different floor plans.

There are 29 two-bedroom / two-bath units remaining that range in size from 874 to 1,168 square feet, as well as 17 one-bedrooms and three one-bedroom-plus-dens. Some work is still being done on the seventh and eighth floors, but that should be finished within the next 30 days, Mazo says.

One-bedrooms start in the $210s, while the two-bedrooms start in the $260s. Parking is an additional $34,000 to $37,000 and is offered only to buyers of two-bedroom units.

Asked who originally created Opera Lofts’ edifices, architect Mike Jerabek responds simply: “a madman.” The 370-foot multi-level building (really a conglomerate of six buildings) was constructed from 1912 to 1924 and for years served as a set design and storage facility for the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Developer LOACQ recently converted the building at 2545 S Dearborn St into the 93-unit Opera Lofts. In the June issue of New Homes, writer Dan Schuyler talks to Jerabek and LOACQ's Leigh Ballen about the project.

“We’ve spent the last two years trying to make this vision come true,” says co-developer Leigh Ballen. “It turns out that no one person knows all there is to know about this building. We knew it would make great loft space, and it has been an honor to be a part of it. But the challenges have been unique, to say the least.”

Ballen says that because Opera Lofts is so awe-inspiring, he and his partners were committed to spare no expense in crafting the finest building of its type, with finishes that rival even those in big-name, high-profile projects like the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

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Name the neighborhood Betelgeuse needs to avoid. Is it really safe to lodge a sandworm in a play area? Careful not to say you-know-who's name three times as you go exploring in this neighborhood - I hear the sandworm wakes up too. Be the first to guess correctly and win a date with Lydia, or, better yet, a Yo yo-yo.

A word of thanks to Yo regular Stokes, who ran across one of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture's renderings for JFJ Development's Broadway 3030 over the weekend, and to our own Joe Zekas, who snapped a screen cap of the image for all to see.

As I said last week, a new rendering should be available soon. JFJ and @properties will begin selling the project's 53 condominiums after Memorial Day.