This is DeGrazia Development’s Riverside Homes, a project of fairly bland single-family and townhomes wedged between industrial sites including the Holsum Baking Division of Metz Baking Company, on the 2800 block of South Hillock Avenue near the Chicago River. Across the river is the Chicago Sun-Times printing plant. Ever since the construction of Bridgeport Village on a former industrial site next to the river, developers have been circling similar riverfront parcels. For now, the neighbors are a little noisy and ugly, but this area may well develop nicely if demand continues for single-family and townhomes that are cheaper than in other parts of the city, starting from the $600s. Developer Anthony DeGrazia says he doesn’t have an option on the Holsum parcel but “We are going after it.” DeGrazia, who is young but has been developing parcels of land in Bridgeport for about a decade (more on him later), says these days everyone is trying to be a developer in Bridgeport. “I know guys who own beef stands and hot dog stands and they become developers,” he says. “They are amateurs throwing their hats in the arena.” DeGrazia says the market is “tough” at the moment and should “shake out the amateurs.” 
