Rogers Park suffers from a case of mistaken identity, but anyone who`s willing to take a second look at this ethnic and economic melting pot of a community will find a housing mix as diverse as the neighborhood residents.
Located in the city`s northeast corner, Rogers Park is bounded by Evanston on the north, Lake Michigan on the east, Devon Avenue on the south and Ridge Boulevard on the west. Its sister community to the west, West Ridge, often goes by the moniker West Rogers Park, and some in the community tag the real McCoy ”East Rogers Park,” which may cause some confusion. And though its borders are clearly defined by 1980 census maps and the City of Chicago, the lines are often blurred by media reports and landlords advertising their flats.
”If a crime happens on the North Side, whether it`s Edgewater, West Ridge or even Evanston, the media says Rogers Park,” says Cary Steinbuck, executive director of the Rogers Park Community Council (RPCC). ”We do have a certain amount of street crime and theft, but if you were to believe the media, we get all the crime north of Uptown.”
Adding to the confusion are landlords from neighboring communities who apply the ”Rogers Park” tag indiscriminately when advertising vacancies.
”Regardless of its reputation,” says one landlord, ”Rogers Park is better known than Edgewater or West Ridge, especially to people in the suburbs. When you say `Rogers Park,` people know what area you`re talking about.”
Cultural diversity
And that area has developed numerous reputations over the years. From Indian territory to immigrant farmland, from wealthy city neighborhood to its present melange of cultures, Rogers Park and its residents share a rich history.
The community was originally settled by Pottawattomie Indians. Then, Rogers Park`s first white settlers built a tavern on Ridge near Pratt, which served as a stop along the stagecoach line in 1809. In the 1830s, an Irishman named Phillip Rogers began acquiring 1,600 acres of farmland from the federal government, and by 1878 the Village of Rogers Park was incorporated, 22 years after the death of its namesake.
A turn-of-the-century real estate boom that lasted through the 1920s resulted in the construction of thousands of two-story apartment buildings and single-family homes that still stand in Rogers Park`s eastern and western sectors, respective ly. Construction dropped off during the 1930s until after World War II, when the majority of Rogers Park`s multifamily dwellings and courtyard buildings were built.
Today, apartments still dominate the housing mix, though the percentage of renter-occupied units has slipped from 93 percent to about 82 percent over the decades 1960 to 1980, mostly because of condo and single-family conversions, according to the RPCC. And from the days of Phillip Rogers and the German farmers who settled his community, Rogers Park has grown to become an area that attracts students, families, community organizers, old hippies, young yuppies and everything in between. It`s also a community where as many as 50 languages are spoken on the streets and in the schools.
With its wealth of apartments, lakefront location, excellent public transportation to the Loop and north suburbs and absolute bounty of small shops and restaurants that reflect the cultural diversity, Rogers Park does have something for almost everyone.
Stroll down Clark Street from Howard Street to Devon and you`ll find eats ranging from Mexican burritos to Jamaican jerk chicken to Vietnamese spring rolls. Of course, you`ll also discover a few diners with a ”bottomless cup” of coffee and greasy hamburgers.
Full range of rents
Rents, like the cuisine, vary widely, with studios beginning as low as $250 per month and the tab for two-bedroom apartments near the lake soaring to $775. Make no mistake about it, there`s no shortage of Section 8 subsidized housing in Rogers Park, but there also is no deficiency of well-kept blocks of homes.
And although you might expect to find bargain rents in the student-populated portion of the community near Loyola University, don`t count on it. Rents in the campus area average $395 for a studio and $450 for a one-bedroom, according to a rent survey compiled by the Rogers Park Tenant Committee. Rents are higher near campus and along the lake because, as one property manager puts it, ”that`s where the action is.”
Not everyone agrees entirely with that assessment. ”It`s probably not a function of north and south or east and west as much as it is a tendency for rents in different pockets to reflect that particular two or three blocks,”
says Ralph Scott of the tenant committee.
One building that may or may not reflect its locale is the much-ballyhooed Granada Centre, a joint project of Loyola University and Senior Lifestyle Corp. that will feature 166 apartments, office and retail space and a 250-car public garage. Rents are expected to range from about $600 for a convertible to $1,200 for a two-bedroom, though rates haven`t been formally set, according to Marilyn Huffman of Senior Lifestyle.
”We`re hoping to attract people to move back to Rogers Park,” says Huffman. ”We want to open up doors to people who`ve moved farther south in the city or into the (north) suburbs.”
But with rents much higher than the norm, some locals are dubious that Granada Centre will fill up.
”I wouldn`t want to have my money in (Granada Centre),” says Bob Nichevich, vice president of sales for Long-Kogen Real Estate, which manages more than 4,000 apartments and condos in Rogers Park and surrounding areas. Nichevich cites the project`s relatively high rents and the tendency for higher-income dwellers to buy rather than rent as reasons.
”Some Lincoln Parkers have discovered Rogers Park, but they`re buying. And they`re bringing their standards and remodeling older properties they`ve bought,” he says. ”I think if I were a guy who wanted to open a Lincoln Park-type saloon or restaurant, I`d very seriously look into this area.”
