Barring any last-minute scheduling conflicts, I’ll be spending part of my early Friday evening looking at homes in West Town with Prudential Rubloff agent Eric Rojas. Eric says the neighborhood has performed remarkably well over the past few months; hopefully he’ll be able to give us a good view into sales and availability during our video tour.
This morning I looked up listings in Noble Square, the pocket of West Town bounded by Ashland, North, and Chicago avenues and the Kennedy Expressway, where Eric and I will be spending part of our evening. I found a whole lot of two-bedroom condos and three-bedroom townhomes, but was surprised that just one single-family home was for sale in the neighborhood.
The 2,200 square-foot, three-bedroom / three-bath cottage at 1461 W Cortez St sold in 2002 for $282,500, returned to the market in July 2009 for an unknown price, went through a few rounds of price changes, delistings and relistings throughout the rest of 2009 and early 2010, hit $499,000 in early June, and dropped to its current price of $450,000 in mid-July.
The home has stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and multi-colored slate finishes in the kitchen; two Jacuzzi tubs; a mud room; a finished basement with wood-burning fireplace; skylights; three balconies; a yard; and a 2.5-car detached garage. 2008 taxes were $5,041. Alicia Farah of Rubloff has the listing.
The location earns a a “walker’s paradise” Walk Score of 91, due to its proximity to shops and services along Division, Ashland, Milwaukee, and Chicago avenues, and an “excellent transit” score of 73, thanks to those streets bus routes and the Division Street Blue Line station to the north.
As I said above, there are two prevalent home styles for sale in Noble Square. Two-bedroom condos with two or 2.5 baths can range from the $190s to the $590s, with a median in the $340s. Three-bedroom townhomes, most of which have two or 2.5 baths as well, run from the $300s all the way up to the $790s, with a median in the $460s.
We saw the West Town condo market closings keep pace with the very popular Lake View and Lincoln Park condo markets in terms of number of transactions. I’ll cite some numbers. The more popular area and higher prices of West Town are borderd by North Ashland and North Western, West Augusta and West North Avenue.
Noble Square east of Ashland will get you close to the Blue Line and Divison Street night life, but at a significant discount than if you purchase adjacent to Division Street. We see 10-20% less for comaparable condos. The prices in Noble Square don’t look as good for sellers… however a buyer can get a much better value than west of Ashland and should look here if they want to live in Wicker Park.