Chicago Neighborhood Story • October 27, 2023

The Influence of New City’s History

by Molly Heyen

Chicago

BY CARL SANDBURG

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

New City

If you’ve been following my reports about the areas that saw an increase in closings in 2021 and 2022 you may have learned some of Chicago’s history that is perfectly painted in Carl Sandburg’s poem about the city. Our next area to explore is New City. New City is probably better known for the two neighborhoods that make up the area, Back of the Yards and Canaryville. Of course, his first line in the poem, “Hog Butcher for the World” refers to the Union Stock Yard, which at its peak controlled about ¼ of the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

The Union Stock Yard first opened on Christmas day, 1865 in the town of Lake. While the meat packing industry had previously been centered in Cincinnati southern trade was closed off in that city during the Civil War. At the time Chicago was becoming a central location for shipping due to a strong train system. Ongoing advancements in refrigerator boxcar designs made Chicago an excellent location for the meatpacking industry.

The area was annexed by Chicago in 1889 and developments of workingmen’s cottages sprang up. The area was originally settled by Irish and German butchers. With little access to transportation these workers wanted to live near their jobs. Between 1881-1905 the meatpacking industry saw the most strikes in any industry in the United States at the time, including an 1894 strike supporting the Pullman workers, who we learned about in March. During this time managers found that they could hire Polish workers as strikebreakers. This drove many of the Irish and German workers to move to Englewood and other neighboring areas. You may recall from my July post that in 1905 Englewood enjoyed its most prosperous year.

1906 was the year Upton Sinclair published his book The Jungle in which he describes the working conditions in the stockyards in grotesque detail. The unsanitary conditions were not solely contained within the plants. The entire Back of the Yards community was impoverished and polluted from the start. The nearby branch of the Chicago River is called Bubbly Creek because all of the waste dumped in it from the stockyards has caused it to bubble. These conditions led to gang activity starting with the Irish and German youths and evolving through time as different groups of nationalities moved in and out of the area.

Canaryville wasn’t immune to this either. Settled by clerks, cattle buyers, and managers, it has always strived to be more of a middle class neighborhood. However, a strong gang reputation was also established there.

The great depression hit the area hard and became the catalyst for neighbors to come together to advocate change in the neighborhood. In 1939 the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council (BYNC) was created for this purpose. The organization is still active today, shepherding the area through societal and economic changes.

Increase in highway travel following World War II led to truck transport of meat and less of a need for a central hub. The Union Stock Yard closed in 1971 and has since been replaced with a very active industrial park.

For better or worse New City has been behind a surprising amount of Chicago history and in some ways completely embodies Carl Sandburg’s poem. Upton Sinclair’s book finally caused the US government to inspect the meatpacking plants and as a result enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. Crooked politicians paid gang members to do dirty tasks and as the kids grew older they followed into careers in politics. The BYNC was used as a model for community organizing across the country.

Today the BYNC continues to offer strong support for the whole community with programming for youths, adults, and seniors. New City is also a priority area for the INVEST South/West program which offers incentives for developers to improve the major commercial corridor at Ashland and 47th. As part of that program a new branch of the Chicago Public Library is being built. Vacant land is also being developed for affordable housing, youth programming, senior living, medical clinics, and park space

Although the two neighborhoods that make up the area are pretty distinct a strong community is very important to the area of New City. An equitable developer would do very well here. There is plenty of room for development and improvements while allowing the community to keep its strong personality. Next time you are in the area in the evening I encourage you to take a drive through Canaryville. I think, in the whole city, it might be the most decorated neighborhood for the holidays, all of them!

Curt Tech & Co. Postcard advertising the stockyards

Chicago Stock Yards (NBY 417615).jpg

Sources:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2218.html

https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2018/06/21/union-stock-yards

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/99.html

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/102991/1/Thesis_Porkopolis_Hudson_Nuss.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car

https://www.lib.niu.edu/2006/iht1320636.html

https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2020/01/23/the-jungle-food-safety

https://www.chicagoganghistory.com/neighborhood/new-city/

https://bync.org/history

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2218.html

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/invest_sw/home/new-city.html

Chicago Neighborhood Story • September 27, 2023

From Steel Mills to Nature Preserves: The Neighborhood of Hegewisch

by Molly Heyen

Image of a walking path in Hegewisch Marsh Park, Chicago

The furthest southeast neighborhood in the city is Hegewisch. If you don’t know the area you might even think you are already in the suburbs when driving through. According to Wikipedia Hegewisch has more undeveloped land than the other neighborhoods in Chicago. Chicago Cityscape even reports that in 2018 about 17.7% of the area is open space, primarily under conservation and 16.1% is water. Compare that to 8.4% of the land that is populated by single family homes and 2.7% dedicated to the only mobile park in the city of Chicago.

The community was first established by Adolph Hegewisch, president of U.S. Rolling Stock Company in 1883. Much like Pullman he was looking to create a company town. He chose land near the train tracks and had plans to create more waterway connections to encourage other factories to move nearby. Lack of funds kept the canals from being built and the town did not grow as fully as he had hoped.

However, steel mills did establish in the area. By 1935 workers at the mills began to organize for better pay and better working conditions. In 1936 the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, one of the precursors to the United Steelworkers, was formed. In 1937 they signed a contract with Carnegie-Illinois to improve pay and working conditions. Unfortunately, other steel mills did not follow suit. Non-violent demonstrations ensued until Memorial Day when Republic Steel hired off-duty police officers to the demonstration. They opened fire killing 10 and wounding 100s more. It’s called the Memorial Day Massacre.

Steel mills continued to operate heavily through the Vietnam War, after which demand decreased. Mills started closing in Hegewisch and the last one closed in 2001. From the 1980s residents of Hegewisch worked together to establish a library, a Metra stop, and earn a grant to focus on the infrastructure of the community.

The steel mills left a lot of pollution in the neighborhood and clean up continues today. It hasn’t been a smooth ride. In 1994 Donald Schroud purchased land from one of the last steel mills. He had big plans to clean up the area and redevelop it. Although he had a lot of initial support from the city to start a Tribune article from 2020 tells the story of how it never came to fruition and the questions that remain.

Even though there is still a lot of work to do, much has occurred that makes the community truly unique. Part of the community is named Arizona. Not just because it’s so far south in the city, but because its sandy dirt is home to the only native cactus in Chicago! In January of 2022 Chicago Magazine posted a very nice article about the “town”, in what ways make it a strong community, and how the nature that surrounds it helps give it a feeling of being outside of the city.

While there is still a lot of cleanup to do from all of the pollution Hegewisch has seen, a visit to Hegewisch Marsh Park can serve as a great example of what the rest of the land could be. Nestled in 129 acres native wetland and prairie has been restored. The area is part of a migratory flight path of over 325 species of birds and 210 have been recorded as seen in this marshland. Other animals such as turtles, beavers, and deer have also been spotted. Go visit for hiking, birdwatching, fall colors, and snowshoeing. All within city limits! To learn more about nature preserves in Chicagoland check out this blog.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegewisch,_Chicago

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/577.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-chicago-superfund-toxic-site-20201204-5nqtkvxwhbge3e24tcocftdzuq-story.html

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130930/hegewisch/citys-last-wild-prickly-pear-cacti-live-secret-on-far-southeast-side/

https://natureinchicago.wordpress.com/2023/03/23/hegewisch-marsh-park-great-birdwatching-and-hiking-and-an-inspiring-story-of-ongoing-environmental-restoration/

Chicago Neighborhood Story • July 5, 2023

How the Train System Has Affected Englewood

by Molly Heyen

Image of trains at Racine stop in Englewood

The rail system has been a big part of the Englewood area since the 1850s, when it was known as Junction Grove. The August 1869 edition of The Land Owner described the benefits of the railway, “In point of accessibility to the city, this point is all that could be desired. It is only twenty minutes by either the Chicago and Rock Island or Michigan Southern trains, whose tracks, crossing here, trains are always stopped for a sufficient length of time for passengers to get off or on the cars. The Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne railroad also passes directly through the place, which runs four special trains every day, especially for the accommodation of Englewood. The Rock Island railroad has also put on an accommodation train which runs to Englewood six times a day, thereby greatly increasing the already superior accessibility of this point. All the above railroads sell commutation tickets, at the rate of twenty for $2, making the fare each way only ten cents, the price of a Wabash Avenue or Broadway omnibus. Besides these ways of getting there, it is a very pleasant drive up the avenues and across the prairie.”

The area saw growth following this recognition. The Englewood Times continued to boast about the area in February of 1906. “The year 1905 was the most prosperous Englewood has known, and every indication is that there will be even greater expansion in business throughout the current year.

Recently bank reports show that Englewood financial institutions are among the most successful in the city. One local bank, in fact, paid its stockholders the highest dividends during the year of any national bank in Chicago.

…

Engelwood has more and better schools and churches than any community of comparative size in the United States.

…

Englewood has a complete retail shopping district of not only small stores but large well-stocked establishments in the hands of competent and enterprising businessmen.”

In 1929 Sears, Roebuck and Company purchased the Becker-Ryan and Company department store at 63rd and Halsted. By then the intersection of 63rd and Halsted was one of the busiest commercial districts in the city, second to State and Madison Sts. Only a few years later Sears opened a brand new five story department store on the site, the first large air conditioned store in the city.

Even in the 1950s this area thrived, bringing in $150M per year around 1958, which is equivalent to about $1.35B in today’s dollars. However, by 1961, nearly 30 years after Sears built it’s state of the art store, Engelwood’s shopping district was looking towards federal funds for rehabilitation.

Unfortunately, Englewood was also a victim to redlining. I found a great map of all of the districts affected by this lending practice. It’s pretty fascinating how much of the city was in the red. This plus the decline of its shopping district at 63rd and Halsted contributed greatly to the decline of the neighborhood. Two department stores, Weiboldt’s and then Sears closed in 1975 and 1976, respectively. Interestingly, the Sears Tower was built in 1970 and opened in 1973 according to Google.

Although the neighborhood was seeing a downturn in the late ‘60s plans and attempts to revive it continued. Robert Weber, Vice President of Englewood’s Chicago City Bank and Trust Co. was optimistic in his 1971 interview with the Chicago Tribune, “The name of the game is not black or white, it’s green. If you have businessmen willing to invest money in your community, to take a chance, then you can survive.” Unfortunately, the 1970s were not kind to the business world of Englewood. Not only did it lose its anchor department stores in the middle of the decade, Richard Drew, the director of the Englewood Business Men’s Association passed away in 1978, and with that left some of the strength of the association.

Another massive blow to Englewood’s economy happened in 1994. Many Green Line stops were shut down for a large rebuild project, but the one at 63rd and Racine never reopened.

However, Englewood might prove to be one of the most resilient neighborhoods in Chicago. National media has continued to put it down, but even today optimism permeates throughout the neighborhood. There are a variety of organizations in and by the neighborhood focused on making it a strong and thriving community. “The commitment to equitable infrastructure principles and practices must be co-designed with and for the benefit of the community that has been ignored.” -Asiaha Butler co-founder and CEO of Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.) She lists a handful of them in her March 2022 article in Crain’s.

Along with residents working towards improving the neighborhood, there are many incentives available to support property owners and business owners in this endeavor. Englewood still has a long road to travel if it is going to return to its heyday. But even if it doesn’t house the second busiest commercial district in the city again this neighborhood continues to have a strong community dedicated help it thrive.

Sources:

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/426.html

https://chicagology.com/englewood/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-opinion-flashback-englewood-shopping-district-20201225-yhhq3t4j6rfp5o44ofxqcszjqa-story.html

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=063cdb28dd3a449b92bc04f904256f62

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englewood,_Chicago

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/equity/englewood-residents-leverage-their-civic-infrastructure

Market Report • June 8, 2023

East Garfield Park: Past, Present, and Future

by Molly Heyen

So far this year we have been looking at a few neighborhoods at a time to compare what kind of changes they have seen over the past two years. Out of 77 areas in Chicago only nine areas saw an increase in closings in both 2021 and 2022. For the next portion of this blog series we will explore each of these neighborhoods to see what other changes have been occurring.

Situated just west of the West Loop and south of Humbolt Park, home of Garfield Park and the Garfield Park Conservatory, East Garfield Park is a community afflicted by the constant societal shifts in the city. The community was annexed at about the same time the park was created. The large park encouraged wealthy residents to build their homes nearby. Overtime the elevated train was built. Access to major railways as well as commuter lines attracted industrial growth, which in turn brought in more workers and residential development.

The neighborhood grew from the late 1800s into the 1930s. Residents were diverse. Irish and Germans dominated the first influx of residents, followed by Russian Jews and Italians. The neighborhood saw a loss in population during the Great Depression. Nationwide, by 1933, housing values dropped by about 35% and foreclosure rates in 1932 were over 300% higher than they had been in 1926. The system of redlining was also developed in the 1930s.

Redlining was a categorization system that lenders used to determine the risk factor of lending in an area. Areas, like East Garfield Park, that were ethnically mixed, as well as areas with low income and a high percentage of black residents were never in the top category. Neighborhoods that were negatively impacted by redlining became disinvested.

Unfortunately East Garfield Park continued to decline through World War II, the construction of Interstate 290, which displaced many homes, and rioting following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By 606 Vision

Despite its challenges, East Garfield Park has seen a resurgence in recent years, thanks in part to the efforts of community organizations, developers, and city programming. Current proposed and in development projects include green space with a food forest that would be owned by NeighborSpace, a few mid-rise mixed-use buildings to provide affordable housing, and a 25,000 sf building redevelopment for BandWith.

The neighborhood also has great programming, such as art gallery openings, throughout the year and is peppered with innovative businesses. The Hatchery has pop-up markets in the summer. SKYart hosts free art programs for kids and teens. Inspiration Kitchen is a restaurant and training facility supporting people experiencing homelessness. The Chicago Tool Library recently moved to the neighborhood and Great Lakes Yard has called it home for years.

There are many opportunities for development and investment in East Garfield Park. Vacant residential land accounts for about 7% of the community and vacant commercial land is about 3%. This provides a nice opportunity for infill development. Overall there are 35 development and financial incentive programs within the community. With a strong and diverse group of residents focused on recovery from its turbulent past East Garfield Park would be a great community for an equitable developer to focus on.

Access to the expressway as well as two el lines makes getting downtown from the neighborhood a breeze. It will be great to watch this neighborhood continue to develop and thrive.

Sources:

East Garfield Park Wikipedia page

Housing 1929-1941 Encyclopedia.com

Chicago Cityscape

How Chicago Invented the Suburbs

BandWith

Garden Art Gallery

Market Report • May 9, 2023

Communities That Had Fewer Closings in 2021 Than in 2022

by Molly Heyen

Chart illustrating what type of market various months supply are in

At the end of March we pointed out that there are 9 communities out of the official 77 in Chicago that did not see a growth in closed sales for the years 2021 or 2022. Are those communities stable or shrinking? If the latter is there something that might be driving the home sales down? Below is the list. Lets see what we can learn.

Every one of these neighborhoods saw fewer sales in 2022 than in 2021. However, two of them had 0 change in the number of sales between 2020 and 2021. Six of the communities saw a difference of 8 or less. Three of the communities saw between 20-33 fewer sales. Those three communities were Avalon Park, Lower West Side, and Washington Heights.

For a more complete story we should look at how many homes were listed between these years. If fewer people are selling, fewer people can buy.

This chart shows that Archer Heights, Brighton Park, Jefferson Park, and West Elsdon had the same number or fewer listings in 2022 than in 2021. West Elsdon was pretty much the same each year. The already extremely low months supply of inventory in these neighborhoods has either stayed about the same or gone down. These properties are likely getting multiple offers. Whereas the other neighborhoods had a much higher number of new listings in 2022 than 2021 and the months supply of inventory has increased by over a month in most cases.

Before we get too excited over this market change I want to point out that all of these neighborhoods are still in a seller’s market. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to understanding months supply of inventory.

Even the five neighborhoods that we are watching shift still have only 4 or less months supply of inventory. But we can still ask, why did these five areas have so many new listings in 2022? Are neighbors leaving or are new residences being built?

Unfortunately some questions are easier to ask than to answer. The City of Chicago does not require a certificate of occupancy for 1-3 unit buildings. Which means we can’t pull a simple list of what new construction has been completed. We can piece together some information to get a sense of where developers are building. The chart above shows how many closings of new construction and redeveloped homes there were in both sales and rentals listed on the MLS during 2022. It also shows how many new construction permits were pulled during that year. Just because a permit was pulled does not mean the construction has been completed, but it does show what kind of movement is happening in an area.

Clearly the Lower West Side is seeing a lot of activity. It should come as no surprise. The Lower West Side is directly south of the Near West Side which includes the West Loop, University Village, and the Tri-Taylor neighborhoods. Just South of the Lower West Side is Armour Square, including Chinatown, Bridgeport, and McKinley Park. The neighborhoods that make up the Lower West Side are Heart of Chicago and Pilsen, which was ranked as one of the world’s coolest neighborhoods in the 2018 Forbes list.

Please let me know if you want to try to dig deeper into any of this data for these neighborhoods. In the coming months we will explore each of the nine areas of the city that saw an increase in closings in both 2021 and in 2022.

Market Report • March 30, 2023

Chicago Communities that Saw Growth in 2022 Following Negative Changes in 2021

by Molly Heyen

Google map highlighting the Chicago neighborhoods that saw growth in 2022

In the last post we took an overall look at how neighborhoods grew, or not in 2022. There were 8 communities that did not see growth in 2021, but did see growth in 2022. This chart shows how each of those communities changed over the past two years

With an additional 43 units closed in 2022 over 2021 South Shore clearly saw the most growth. Lets see if we can figure out what is driving the growth in these neighborhoods? Are there big developments? Should we expect this growth to continue through 2023?

This is an image of an interactive map I’ve made on Google. The grey boundaries are each of the 77 communities in Chicago. The white boundaries are the neighborhoods on today’s list and the black markings are a few areas of interest that encourage development including the 606 trail and the Obama Library.

Except for Hermosa all of the neighborhoods that saw new growth in 2022 are in the south side. Hermosa is directly west of Logan Square and it sits at the west end of the 606 trail. The area of Logan Square includes the Bucktown neighborhood, which has been under heavy development and pushing west for decades. Here is an interesting article about the history of Bucktown.

On the Southside we can see Pullman and Burnside adjacent to each other. Pullman might have one of the richest histories of any neighborhood in Chicago. Here is a fascinating article about how it came to be and where it is heading. These two areas didn’t see wild growth in 2022, but it is a notable sign of the hard work and effort organizations like Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives has put into the area since it formed in 2010. Creating an emerging area from one that was stagnant as recently as the 1990s.

Mount Greenwood sits off on its own surrounded by suburbs, much like O’Hare. I’m not finding any major development happening there and there were only two additional closings YoY. Overall it looks like it’s been pretty steady over the past year.

The other four areas, South Chicago, South Shore, Greater Grand Crossing, and Auburn Gresham share borders moving south and west from the South Shore neighborhood; which had the greatest growth by far. Except for Greater Grand Crossing the other three are priority communities for the initial phase of Invest South/West, a community development initiative that has, since 2019, assisted in committing over $2.2B in investments in 10 community areas in the south and west sides. Disinvestment in these areas has been a concern since at least the 1970s. Here is an article I found from 1974 discussing the concerns of the day and ways in which the neighborhood could thrive.

It’s fascinating to see that even in the mid-70s people were talking about ways to grow these neighborhoods that align with the efforts that are being made today. The common understanding is when a neighborhood has gone stagnant it needs a significant investment to help draw more investments, which bring in jobs, amenities, and encourages residents to move in and stay. While they worked on this in the 1970s it continues to be a big effort. This is a great article that explains how residents are working together today, 50 years later, to bring the goals reported in the 1970s to fruition.

Market Report • March 30, 2023

Exploring 2022’s Changing Neighborhoods of Chicago

by Molly Heyen

In my last post we were just starting to explore what seemed to be growing neighborhoods, according to the 2021 year end report. Since it was nearing the end of 2022 we were able to look at how they were fairing and found that year over year they had all dropped in units sold. Now that the annual report is out for 2022 we can easily see which neighborhoods did see growth in 2022. It will likely surprise no one in the real estate industry that the number of neighborhoods that had more closed sales in 2022 vs 2021 dropped dramatically!

In 2021 there were a total of 60 neighborhoods that saw a growth in units sold. This is looking at the official 77 community areas of Chicago. In 2022 only 17 neighborhoods saw more closed sales than they had in 2021! The exciting questions are, did these communities also see growth in 2021? If so how much? If not why the sudden spurt of growth? Also, what has been going on with the 17 neighborhoods that did not see growth in 2021? Let’s dig in!

Nine communities saw growth in both years. Eight communities saw growth in 2022 after seeing a decline in 2021.

Nine communities did not see growth in either year.

In the upcoming posts this year let’s explore the communities that saw growth in 2022, but not 2021. Are there any big developments occurring that could be spurring this growth? Will they continue to grow in 2023? We will also take a look at the ones that have not seen growth in either year. Are those communities stable or shrinking? If the latter is there something that might be driving the home sales down? Finally we will dig into each of the nine communities that saw growth in both years. Has this been ongoing? Is it something that might continue throughout 2023 and into 2024? What investment opportunities do each of these communities hold? Stay tuned!

Market Report • December 22, 2022

Finding the Hottest Investment Opportunitities in Chicago

by Molly Heyen

When asked what the hottest opportunities in Chicago are the first thing I want to know is what is your motivation? Are you looking for a place to live or somewhere to invest? If you are looking for a place to live then we need to discuss your lifestyle habits, wants, and needs. If you are looking for a place to invest then we need to discuss your investment goals. Are you looking for an up and coming neighborhood? How long do you plan to hold the investment? Do you want a neighborhood with a lot of growth potential or do you want something that is well-established, but may still yield a nice return when you go to sell.

If you do a search for the hottest neighborhoods in Chicago you will find lists assuming you are looking for a place for yourself to live. A lot of the old favorites show up, these are neighborhoods that have been under heavy development for decades. Some are well established and some are rather newly established, by which I mean you will find locals who claim to be pioneers of the neighborhood. Always hot neighborhoods such as these include; Hyde Park, Irving Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Logan Square and Bucktown, Roscoe Village (North Center), Pilsen (Lower West Side), West Loop (Near West Side), The Loop, Streeterville, River North, Gold Coast, Old Town (all four in the Near North Side), Andersonville (Edgewater), West Town and Wicker Park, Printer’s Row, South Loop (both in the Near South Side), and Bridgeport. That’s not even an extensive list.

Looking at the 2021 Annual report we can see nice growth in all of these neighborhoods. The change from 2020 in total closed sales ranged from 14.3% in Irving Park to 95.6% in the Loop! With a median showings per listing ranging from 4-6 among all of these neighborhoods. With a high range of closed sales for YOY and very few showings it is clear these neighborhoods were high in demand for 2021. Next, let’s see how they are doing now YOY.

Interestingly, over the past year all of these neighborhoods have seen a drop in units sold. I actually ran these numbers about two months ago and in updating them for today I found the number of units sold dropped even more from an average change YOY of -8.98% to -14.68%. Even though the number of properties selling has been dropping, overall, these areas are still looking desirable with low market times of under 3 months and a high percentage received of original asking price, 95% or more. These are neighborhoods I would suggest one consider if they are looking for a stable investment. They are well-developed with sustained interest. In these locations we can find properties that will rent easily, but won’t change dramatically in value from year to year.

The 2022 Annual Report should be available before my next blog post. From it we can use the same data to find neighborhoods that are steadily growing and find out what other investment opportunities there might be for different strategies.