Even outlying neighborhoods, like West Rogers Park, are feeling the effects of Chicago’s real estate boom. Alderman Bernard Stone (50th) tells Yo that developers are buying teardowns and vacant lots for about $500,000 in the neighborhood.
West Rogers Park, of course, is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city, with particularly strong Asian, Jewish and Muslim populations. Competition for single-family homes is fierce during a real estate boom, and the pressure must be amplified for people who have decided they want to stay in the neighborhood, where they have such strong cultural ties.
Stone sold his detached home for about $330,000 in 1995 and he estimates that the 3,000-square-foot house is probably worth about $1 million today.
“The Orthodox Jews would kill each other to get that lot,” laughs Stone, who is Jewish himself. “It’s a beautiful house; they could walk to synagogue.”