When asked to describe the Chatham community on Chicago`s South Side, locals invariably fall into the buzzword mode and summon up words and phrases like ”stable,” ”middle-middle class” and ”quiet.”
In search of something more concrete, we turned to author and real estate tycoon Dempsey J. Travis, a 35-year resident of Chatham and a man who has a way with words.
”Chatham is the diamond of black communities nationwide. You`ll find people who have aspirations live in Chatham. People with the `Cosby mentality,` ” he says, adding, ”Whenever a story on the black middle-class is written, no matter where in the country it`s written, they use Chatham as an example.”
Chatham`s rather ragged boundaries are 79th Street on the north, Dauphin Avenue to 87th Street and the New York, Chicago, St. Louis Railroad on the east, Burnside Avenue up to Holland Road on the south and Parnell Avenue on the west.
Chatham has long been a middle-class community. In the 1950s and early
`60s, the community was a bastion of blue-collar Irish and Swedish residents until it underwent a swift racial transformation. Today, blacks make up 99 percent of Chatham`s population, which decreased by nearly 10 percent during the 1980s, to 36,779 from 40,725, according to U.S. Census estimates.
Today, Chatham remains the quintessential middle-class Chicago community, complete with well-kept bungalow, Georgian and three-flat homes and children playing on neatly trimmed front lawns.
Home prices, too, are decidedly middle of the road. Flat buildings are priced between $75,000 and $150,000, with prices having crept upward in recent years. Two-bedroom bungalows and Georgians sell for between $60,000 and $70,000, while larger, three-bedroom models fetch up to $95,000, according to Ron Branch, owner of ERA Branch & Associates on Cottage Grove Avenue.
Property scarce
The prices and atmosphere have made Chatham a popular dwelling spot, so much so that finding a home can be one of the biggest challenges for gaining entry into the community.
”There are more people who want to move into Chatham than out. By a long shot,” says Branch, adding that the community`s popularity doesn`t always translate into a bonus for real estate brokers seeking listings in Chatham.
”If any one broker tried to live off of Chatham, he`d go broke,” he says, noting that most properties never go on the open market. Homes are often sold or willed to family members.
With homes in such high demand, developers are on the move with new projects, particularly townhouses. Dempsey Travis` D.J. Travis Development Co. has begun building Chatham Park Place, an upscale development of 52 luxury townhouses, each priced between $185,000 and $300,000.
Travis says the inspiration for Chatham Park Place came while he was interviewing black executives and professionals for his book ”Racism American Style.”
”They kept saying, `If there was a nice place comparable to what I`ve got in the suburbs, I`d move back to the old neighborhood,` ” he says.
If townhouses are what`s new in Chatham, then cooperatives are what`s old. The Chatham Park Village Cooperative, a former rental development that went co-op in 1962, is reminiscent of Hyde Park and the University of Chicago campus, with leafy sidestreets winding through the complex of 63 brick buildings housing 553 units. Co-op residents pay monthly fees of $324 for a one-bedroom or $405 for a five-room, two-bedroom unit, according to Chatham Park`s Rosalyn Clark.
Just beyond the Chatham Park Village is another co-op, the Chatham Park South Cooperative, which opened in 1983 and houses seniors and the handicapped in 128 HUD-subsidized units. There`s currently a three-year waiting list at Chatham Park South, says the building`s management.
While houses and co-ops may be hard to come by in Chatham, apartments are readily accessible. Rents range from $350 to $450 for a one-bedroom unit, while two-bedroom spreads run in the $450 to $600 range.
Section 8 housing is available at some, though not most, rental locations, and apartments tend to be owner-occupied and, as a result, very well-maintained.
Many of Chatham`s rental units are found on either side of Cottage Grove, particularly in the southern sector of the community, where low-rise apartment buildings line the main strips and brick flats dot the sidestreets.
Transportation from Chatham to downtown is excellent. Buses run along Cottage Grove and King Drive, while the Dan Ryan elevated and Metra Electric provide rapid train transit to the Loop. The Dan Ryan Expressway, the Calumet Expressway and the South Shore Drive are also nearby.
