Chitownproperty

With Chicago’s big newspapers slashing newsroom staff and alt-weeklies forced to survive on shoestring budgets, coverage of the city’s various neighborhoods increasingly falls through the cracks. That’s where “hyperlocal” sites like The Center Square Ledger come in. Launched this week, it covers the Lincoln Square, North Center, and Ravenswood Manor neighborhoods exclusively, from [...]

Coldwell Banker has a new channel on YouTube featuring videos with real estate advice, market news, and community profiles like the one above about Pilsen.

Urban lifestyle a big draw for buyers in West Loop
The West Loop is no longer just Oprah’s ‘hood. It’s known as a condo loft market, but as more people move to the neighborhood and start families, it has started to fill in with townhomes and further develop its retail and commercial amenities. The [...]

This piece in the Sun-Times basically amounts to an extended marketing flyer for a home (we wish we could get that kind of press for our listings), but it features one of the most beautiful blocks in the city. The Jackson Boulevard Historic District, between Laflin and Ashland, just west of Whitney Young High [...]

On October 7, the city will be sponsoring a showcase of more than 35 mixed-income housing developments, ranging from Rogers Park on the north side to West Pullman on the south side. The tours will include model units from $139,000 to $800,000. The developments have been partially funded by the government, which supports [...]

Millenium Park has been a catalyst for residential real estate development downtown, causing the center of the city’s urban living to move progressively south. This lengthy profile in the New York Times details the park’s effect on the market.

Buying new construction in the city isn’t all about condos. There are plenty of single-family homes to be found, either as infill or in planned developments. This article from the Sun-Times profiles a handful of these new developments.

While one should always be skeptical of the veracity of Wikipedia articles, it’s hard to find fault with this guide to the Neighborhoods of Chicago. It features maps and brief descriptions of 76 different neighborhoods in the city. It may not be a definitive guide, but the next time someone tells you they’re [...]

We could have included this with our post on Chicago maps, but Chicago Neighborhoods includes so much beautiful photography that we thought it was worth the individual attention. Click on any of the neighborhoods in blue (it’s a work in progress) to see dozens of street-level views of architecture.

Big box retailers, discount warehouses, and grocery chains are scrambling to build downtown as more and more people decide to live in the city. Home Depot is planning a new store at Roosevelt and Jefferson, Costco wants a 135,000 square-foot site in the South Loop, and grocery stores like Dominick’s, Jewel, and Whole Foods [...]

We found a slew of useful Chicago maps this weekend:
Chicago Census 2000 maps from the University of Chicago, local maps of data generated by the last census, including housing age, income levels, demographic makeup, population changes, and transit use.
CTA Google Maps overlaid with all the CTA stops let you pinpoint exact locations and transfer points [...]

Chicagoist also posted a nice roundup yesterday of the best eateries in the new-old Maxwell Street Market area between UIC, Pilsen, and Little Italy. The multiple construction projects along Halsted and areas west have taken over 10 years to finish, but the changes in just the past few have been dramatic as both the [...]

Sunday’s Sun-Times Homelife section ran a spotlight on the West Roscoe Village neighborhood, a “vintage blue-collar industrial neighborhood.” The area is bounded by Western Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway and Diversey and Addison, bisected by the north branch of the Chicago River.
The neighborhood has drawn interest because of its affordability in comparison to those [...]

The South Loop is quickly becoming known for its nightlife, proximity to downtown and the Museum Campus, and of course, its luxury high rises featuring spectacular views. The Sun-Times highlights some of the South Loop’s signature buildings and new developments in this feature.

Rogers Park Manor on the North Side has been added to the bungalow districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making it the fourth such neighborhood in Chicago. Homeowners in the neighborhood benefit from added prestige, and can also now apply for an 8-year property tax freeze if they are completing major home [...]