The latest area to receive the hype treatment from Chicago developers and real estate agents is the land roughly bounded by North Western, West Montrose, North Kedzie and West Belmont avenues. One developer predicts the intersection of West Belmont and North California avenues will be “like Bucktown in the next 10 years.”
The forecaster, who is coincidentally building a loft development nearby, says there is already a lot of foot traffic at that intersection and buyers are taking a liking to the 80-year-old homes in the area, while new construction is slowly filling in.
Some have even taken to calling the area “West Lake View,” he says, although we’re yet to hear that.
Nearby, the North Pulaski Road and West Elston Avenue corridors of what is a fairly blue-collar, ethnically diverse neighborhood are steadily attracting more commercial tenants and foot traffic, he notes. The Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago River are both not far. Remind you of another Chicago neighborhood?
Drop us a line if you are familiar with the area. Do you think it’s about to “take off” and would that be a good or bad thing for you?
West Lakeview, in my book, runs from Damen (2000 W) to the Chicago River, from Diversey (2800 N) to Addison (3600 N). It includes a small sliver – from Western Ave (2400 W) to the River – of what your developer includes in the area.
There has been a fair amount of new construction in the area, and it seems to have been absorbed fairly readily, so your developer might not be simply blowing smoke.
Quite a few buyers, it seems, care more about the kind of home they live in than the kind of neighborhood they live in, and are fairly adventurous about those neighborhoods.
West Lakeview runs between Iriving Park (4000 N) to Diversey (2800 N) and from Sheffield (1000 W) to Ashland (1600 W). Between Ashland and Western (2400 W) is called NorthCenter–with a small portion between Belmont (3200 N) and Addison (3600 N) being unofficially nicknamed Roscoe Village.
The area from California to Pulaski and from Diversey to Addison has seen a large amount new construction and loft development. Particularly along belmont avenue running to Pulaski. Your developer is definitely not blowing smoke.
Everything seems to moving west near the the Kennedy and blue line.