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West suburbsElmhurst

A like-new Nantucket-style home in center-of-town Elmhurst

249 E St Charles Elmhurst

The 4-bedroom, 4-bath Nantucket-style home at 249 E St Charles Rd is in a convenient center-of-town Elmhurst location. This like-new, spacious home was built in 2008 and boasts 3,000 square feet of open-plan living area. The home has a separate formal dining room with butler’s pantry, a large kitchen island adjacent to a breakfast area ...

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Posted by sponsored post on March 19, 2013
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

Is the West Loop the next hot neighborhood?

West Loop Chicago

For years, the West Loop has been one of those neighborhoods that’s always on the verge of becoming hot but never quite catches fire. The past few years, however, have seen a quiet accumulation of infrastructure improvements, commercial and office development, and plans for new residential developments that may finally enable the West Loop to ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on March 7, 2013
ChicagoNorthwest Side

A video look at Portage Park

Portage Park

You may or may not have noticed that ABC 7 has cancelled 190 North. The last show will air on March 31, and it will be missed by Chicago neighborhood buffs. A good introduction to 190 North is Lou Canellis’ high-energy video tour of Portgage Park, a popular northwest side neighborhood. The neighborhood’s been in ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on March 6, 2013
ChicagoWest / Southwest

Jens Jensen, the Frank Lloyd Wright of landscape architecture

Aerial view of Columbus Park

Many of you may have allowed Jens Jensen’s 150th birthday to pass unnoticed in 2010. I know I did. And some of you may not know of Jens Jensen, an immigrant who started as a street sweeper and rose to become Chicago’s best-known landscape architect. A number of Jensen’s landscapes are now part of the ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on March 1, 2013
ChicagoSouth Side

A park bordered on 3 sides by parking lots

Aerial view of Armour Square Park

Armour Square is one of Chicago’s 77 community areas. The Chinatown neighborhood occupies the northern part of Armour Square. US Cellular Field and the CHA’s Wentworth Gardens fill out the southern stretch of Armour Square. The neighborhood is also home to Armour Square Park, which was known variously as Park No. 3 and Armour Square, ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on December 5, 2012
ChicagoWest / Southwest

Columbus Park, an idealized prairie in Austin

Columbus Park Chicago

The Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side is home to one of the city’s most beautiful parks. Columbus Park was conceived 100 years ago, and landscape architect Jens Jensen began its design on a 150-acre parcel in 1915. The park has had its ups and downs over the years, including the loss of acreage for ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on November 19, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

235 Van Buren was top-selling downtown condo in Q3

Aerial view of 235 Van Buren Chicago

According to data reported by Appraisal Research Counselors (ARC) to Chicago Real Estate Daily the Ralph Johnson-designed tower at 235 Van Buren held second place in downtown condo sales in the fourth quarter of last year and the first and second quarters of this year. The ARC report for the third quarter of this year ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on November 15, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

The playfully-shaped dog park at 235 Van Buren

Chicago dog park

Viewed from a balcony on the penthouse level of 235 Van Buren, the fenced-in part of the new “dog-friendly area” adjacent to the building vaguely resembles a long-necked dog. We’ve been referring to the new park south of the building as Wacker Gateway Park, but before becoming part of the Chicago Park District it had ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on November 7, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

The doggie dip at Echelon at K Station

Echelon at K Station

Echelon at K Station, a pet-friendly luxury apartment tower in the Fulton River District, opened its outdoor pool for a “doggie dip” before the pool closed for the season late in October. It was a cold and windy Sunday morning, and residents’ dogs studiously avoided the water. Attempts to coax dogs into the water with ...

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Posted by sponsored post on October 31, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

A visit to the park and dog park at 235 Van Buren

Park at 235 Van Buren

The long-awaited park immediately adjacent to 235 Van Buren in the Loop appears to be in the final stages of construction. The park is tentatively named Wacker Gateway Park. Trees have been planted along the perimeter, and other plantings are in place or on-site. Benches and antique street lamps have been installed, and walkways partially ...

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Posted by sponsored post on October 29, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

Fulton River District’s Trio Park appears complete

Trio Park Chicago

There’s a decent-sized park, complete with a dog area and playground, adjacent to Echelon at K Station. The part of the Fulton River District south of the Metra tracks, however, had no park. Trio Park, a half-acre park just west of the new Trio high-rise at 670 W Wayman, after being stalled for years, now ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on October 25, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

Why Astoria Tower residents love living there

Astoria Tower video

Astoria Tower, a full-amenity new high-rise in Chicago’s South Loop, hosts a series of events for its residents throughout the year. Join us at a party and barbecue on Astoria Tower’s sprawling terraces, meet some of the residents, and hear what they love about living in the building and the neighborhood. When asked what they ...

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Posted by sponsored post on August 22, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

Newly-rehabbed Streeterville studios steps from the Mag Mile

211 E Delaware Chicago video

211 East Delaware is a completely renovated high-rise apartment building just a block east of the Hancock Building and Chicago’s Magnificent Mile of shops and restaurants. Oak Street Beach, the Oak Street boutiques, and the Rush Street and Division night-life scenes are just minutes away. This all-studio building offers a variety of floor plans, all ...

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Posted by sponsored post on July 31, 2012
ChicagoNorth Side

Beer, bands and food trucks at Holstein Park this Saturday

Holstein Park Chicago

Holstein Park isn’t one of Chicago’s largest parks. At a mere 3 acres, it wouldn’t meet the minimum lot size requirement in many a Chicago subdivision. Holstein Park packs a lot of recreation into its small size, hosting a field house with two gyms, an assembly hall, club rooms, a swimming pool and a wading ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on June 28, 2012
ChicagoWest / Southwest

An updated look at Vittum Park

Vittum Park Chicago

The Vittum Park neighborhood spans the area from Cicero Ave (4800 W) to Laramie Ave (5200 W), from Archer Ave north to 47th St. The neighborhood, a part of the Garfield Ridge community, takes its name from the park at its center. The park, in turn, is named after Harriet Vittum, who was the head ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on June 18, 2012

Meet Lake Shore Park’s inspiring volunteer gardeners

Lake Shore Park gardens video

The next time you visit Streeterville’s Lake Shore Park, take a few seconds to look around for Janice and Marshall. You’re likely to find Marshall composting, or planting flowers, or weeding one of the more than a dozen gardens he and Janice have created over the past half-dozen years toward the eastern end of the ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on June 18, 2012
ChicagoNorthwest Side

Neighborhood brief – Kelvyn Park

4400 block Altgeld

When the Kelvyn Park neighborhood draws attention, it’s typically because of gang activity – and there is that. Kelvyn Park also offers an attractive physical environment. The streets have broad, well-tended parkways and mature trees. Wrightwood Ave, between Kostner Ave and Cicero Ave, is a lush boulevard. The eight and one-half acre Kelvyn Park has ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on March 23, 2012
ChicagoDowntown / Loop

Are parts of the West Loop poised for housing price appreciation?

View from CA23 Chicago

Price appreciation in Chicago real estate? In this market? Am I out of my mind to be talking about appreciation? For more than a decade Chicago’s real estate market has either been swept up in a frenzied bubble or mired in a sky-will-continue-to-fall-for-years-to-come funk. Due to extraordinary market conditions many home buyers never learned the ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on November 21, 2011
West suburbsElmhurst

A brief look at the Crescent Park neighborhood in Elmhurst

Crescent Park Elmhurst

Yesterday I visited the Crescent Park subdivision in Elmhurst with Tom Makinney and Maria Gracik of Koenig & Strey’s Gracik Makinney Group. We shot sponsored videos of two homes, which will be live at YouTube within a few days. The homes, at 350 E Ridge Ave, priced at $439,000, and 511 S Parkview Ave, priced ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on September 16, 2011
ChicagoNorthwest Side

Loving the dogs in Independence Park

Independence Park

It was one of those afternoons in Independence Park where the thing to do was to spend some time trying to pay back your dog’s love. This gal was making it look easy. This dog trainer was teaching his pet, with some success, to climb trees. The kid wearing this shirt wasn’t playing by the ...

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Posted by Joe Zekas on August 31, 2011