Highwood now a hotspot in shadow of Highland Park's upscale homes, downtown

Here's a trip for you. Make your way up to the north side of Highland Park, where it touches Highwood, and sit yourself down at Pancho Viti's for a margarita, some warm tortilla chips and house-made guacamole (keep your eyes peeled; you could see former Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoc having dinner at the next table, as we did.)

You wouldn't do yourself any harm by staying at Pancho Viti's to eat dinner, but if you did you would miss the trip. So push away from the table, as difficult as you might find that after the pleasingly tangy shrimp seafood cocktail, and walk next door – 12 or 15 steps, tops. There, you'll find yourself in a completely different world, one called Miramar, the Cuban-French bistro-bar-disco hotspot that serves delicious food and dangerously palatable mojitos.

So in this very succinct trip you get three countries (Mexico, Cuba, France), two cities (Highland Park and Highwood: you step over a crack in the sidewalk and you're in a new town), two restaurants, and one restaurateur, Gabriel Viti. (more…)

Chicagoans have always treated architecture as a spectator sport, but for decades frustrated fans have watched as the players repeatedly dropped the ball in a game we once dominated.

However, in 2006, Chicago is staging a comeback in the most exalted of architectural endeavors: high-rise design. The condo boom in new downtown neighborhoods like Lakeshore East, the Loop and Streeterville, continues to yield high-rises of varying quality, but the overall field of contenders is a lot stronger than in years past. (more…)

Shrinking numbers, soaring prices put new houses out of reach for families

When Paul Bertsche and his wife, Wendy Andrews, began searching for a home in 1994 they scoured the city for a new house with a yard where their children could play. The pickings were slim, so in 1995 Bertsche and Andrews decided to build their own home – along with 88 others for young families facing the same dilemma. (more…)

CA Development recently filed an application with the city for Edgebrook Glen, a planned development of 64 luxury single-family homes at 5200 W. Armstrong Ave., on the far Northwest Side. The project will offer families suburban-style space – detached homes, large yards, and a location adjacent to the Indian Woods forest preserve – but within the Chicago city limits, according to developer Paul Bertsche. (more…)

When I first met Marla Mason and Mark Olshansky, the brother-sister team behind JMM Development, they were converting vintage apartments into condominiums in Albany Park, a neighborhood most builders wouldn't give a second look. (more…)

A local developer has broken ground on the first units in a residential development that marks a creative new approach to building affordable and market-rate housing in a joint-venture deal with the city. (more…)

Concord Homes has opened two models at Concord at Jefferson Park, a new community of 29 single-family homes and 56 rowhomes at Lawrence and Lamon, in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Jefferson Park. (more…)

Only five condominiums and two townhomes remain for sale at Shakespeare Court, a new development by the Thrush Companies in North Kenwood-Oakland, on the South Side. All of the units are available for delivery in 30 days, according to the developer. (more…)

Snitzer Homes has unveiled 10 new single-family home designs that offer classic Chicago architecture and even more space than earlier models at Bridgeport Village, 3300 S. Racine, in the Near Southwest neighborhood of Bridgeport. (more…)

Concord Homes has opened its first model home at Concord at Jefferson Park, a new development of 29 single-family houses and 56 townhouses at Lawrence and Lamon, in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Jefferson Park. (more…)