A year ago, just about any Chicago neighborhood outside of the downtown area was described as “up and coming” in real-estate listings. New condo and townhouse construction in some of the city’s outlying regions has since slowed, but one neighborhood that still appears to be developing at a fierce pace is Rogers Park, the lakeside neighborhood on the Far North Side of Chicago that has long been known as a rental community.
In the July issue of New Homes, Mark checks out some of the changes afoot in Chicago’s northernmost neighborhood.
Condo conversions in Rogers Park started in 1993 with Paul Goguen and Capstone Partners’ first project on Eastlake Terrace, says RE/MAX NorthCoast Realty broker Connie Abels.
“What Goguen started was the ‘lily pad’ theory: Lily pads reproduce and double themselves every day, and that’s kind of what’s happening here in Rogers Park,” Abels says.
Gut rehabs are indeed multiplying in Rogers Park. The neighborhood is now flush with courtyard and loft conversions. Some infill new construction also can be seen on a few of the neighborhood’s more developed commercial and retail corridors.
Abels’ RE/MAX office is located on the ground floor of North Beach Lofts, Markle Development’s innovative 43-unit adaptive reuse project at the corner of Morse and Sheridan avenues. The original building was a two-story garage and storage facility before Markle renovated the base and added three stories of new construction, says Edie Swedlow, a Jameson Realty Group sales associate who is marketing the property. Only a couple of units were left at North Beach Lofts in June.
Scaffolding lines much of Morse Avenue between Sheridan Road and Ashland Avenue, as local developers and business owners try to shake the street’s reputation as a crime-ridden skid row. The Glenwood Arts District is central to the street’s rebirth, as evidenced by the bright new mural on the side of the Morse CTA Red Line platform that showcases artists and musicians of different stripes.
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