See also: New construction is being added to area conversions 

New restaurants, retail, nightlife create hotspots in Uptown, Edgewater

Story by Alison Soltau  |  Photography by Jim Newberry

Decades ago, builders and landlords tried to use Truman College as a springboard for revitalizing a rough patch of Uptown. Plans called for rehabbing buildings around the school at 1145 W. Wilson Ave. and developing businesses that would cater to students, creating a symbiotic relationship between campus and the neighborhood. (more…)

New condo towers at home in the Loop
Why live in the Loop?

New Homes tests the mettle of Chicago's touted "24-hour downtown"

Story by Kate HawleyÂ

Photography by chiphoto@gmail.com

When I moved back to Chicago this summer after living for two years in New York City, I was happy to come home to familiar streets and astronomically cheaper rent. Still, I sometimes missed New York's vast, teeming cityscape, where the streets were crowded into the early morning hours. (more…)

New homes, residents spur change in staid affordable neighborhoods 

Story by Alison Soltau  |  Photography by Barry Peterson

Amy Mogelberg grew up in a Bridgeport two-flat off Archer Avenue surrounded by working-class Irish, Italian and Eastern European neighbors. Her dad, who is Polish, drank at a tavern called the Bridgeport Inn, says Mogelberg, who at 32, now works as a cop in the neighborhood. Dressed as a civilian today – white T-shirt and faded jeans, hair pulled into a tight brown ponytail – she recalls catching the bus down Archer with her grandmother to buy pierogis and sauerkraut at a Polish deli in Brighton Park. (more…)

South Loop night out: more options than you think

Bigger developments bring bigger amenities – and some growing pains – in a booming neighborhood

Story by Alison Soltau  |  Photography by Carlos J. Ortiz

Developer Keith Giles remembers wading through a pool of rats in the basement of a former factory on the 1300 block of South Wabash Avenue a decade ago, spurred by a hunch that he could turn the building into a place people would be proud to call home. (more…)

Luxury development heads south as "new" locations go high-endÂ

by Alison Soltau

Not so long ago, if you had several million dollars to lavish on a high-end condo in downtown Chicago, all, or at least most, roads pointed to the tony Gold Coast. The fabled neighborhood was, and still is, the darling of many buyers of ultra-luxury homes, offering lake and skyline views, top-flight dining, abundant nightlife and world-class shopping on the nearby Magnificent Mile. Not to mention the snob appeal of a Gold Coast address. (more…)

Establishments keep coming, but neighborhood has a ways to go

by Barry Pearce

Six or seven years ago New Homes ran a "South Loop night out" story that, to no one's surprise, was fairly short. Since then, thousands upon thousands of new homes have been constructed in what has become the city's fastest-growing community, and thousands more are on the way. How has the boom in residential development affected neighborhood nightlife? That was the question we pondered as we recently set out, sober and hungry, for a night on the South Loop. (more…)

Story by Alison Soltau | Photography by Michael Jarecki

Can eclectic West Town balance preservation and building? 

At The Bleeding Heart Bakery, a brightly colored shop on Chicago Avenue in West Town, hipper-than-thou customers wearing shirts with slogans such as "Ironic T-shirt" munch on organic s'mores brownies and cookies made with enormous chunks of chocolate as they browse Bitch magazine.

Kasia's Deli is just a few blocks away, but it might as well be in another universe. Longtime neighborhood residents from Ukraine and Poland come here to stock up on cheese blintzes and potato pancakes and of course, Kasia's famous pierogies, which the eastern European deli has dished out to the likes of Bill Clinton and Mayor Richard J. Daley. (more…)

Story by Alison Soltau | Photography by Marc PoKempner 

Baby boom follows condo boom in West Lakeview neighborhoods

The Baby Jogger puts many small cars to shame. The souped-up stroller has a padded seat that reclines to 23 degrees, a retractable sun canopy, all-terrain tires and handy compartments for cell phones, BlackBerrys and the like. One of these $350 baby SUVs is parked under track lights on the gleaming hardwood floors of Kickin', 2142 W. Roscoe St., a maternity boutique that Trudy Robinson Foley opened three months ago. (more…)

West Rogers Park remains port of entry, but rising prices make docking more difficult

Leah Averick couldn't imagine living anywhere but her home of 33 years on Fargo Street, partly because West Rogers Park provides the perfect environment for following Orthodox Jewish teachings. The nearby Jewel supermarket has a kosher bakery and butcher. The neighborhood has several Jewish bookstores, and a Kollel study center for Jewish men is nearby.

Averick, who has five children and 20 grandchildren, is always busy celebrating a "happy occasion" with other members of her West Rogers Park community. Over the last few weeks she attended the 20^th anniversary of a friend's son's bar mitzvah, then stopped in at an ufruf, a ceremony held for a bride groom on the Sabbath before his wedding. "And there's always a bris happening," Averick says, referring to the ritual circumcision of newborn Jewish boys. (more…)

After more than a decade of unprecedented growth, the Chicago housing market is showing signs of a slowdown. The low interest rates that helped fuel the boom are inching upwards, buyers are growing more cautious and market times are lengthening. The days of wild appreciation, of home shoppers bidding each other above asking prices and houses selling in a day, are over, at least for now.

Why compile a list of "hot" neighborhoods as the raging fire is dying down? Is it even possible to make such a list in a cooling market?

We think so. Despite the cooling off, Chicago's real estate market, especially for new homes, is still healthy. Homeowners in most city neighborhoods should see the values of their condos and houses continue to rise, and, of course, some will rise faster than others. (more…)