Although the village is not much larger than a mile square, new housing construction is continually going on throughout Posen, both in subdivisions and on single lots. It’s expected that another 60 units will be added to the 60 or so built in the last four or five years.
A typical newly built home in Posen might be an expanded split-level with three or four bedrooms and a full basement, with a top price of about $170,000.
Existing houses range in price from about $75,000 to $125,000. The average recent sales price has been $95,000, said Jim Dace, broker-owner of Harthside Reality in Midlothian.
Posen natives often return to purchase the 30-year-old Chicago-style bungalows or ranches on the village’s west side. The older northeast part of Posen has larger homes that range in age from 40 to 100 years.
Posen “offers first-time home buyers the ability to have a home in a nice neighborhood at a reasonable price,” said Dace. “It still has affordable housing.”
Part of the affordability is due to property taxes that are about half what they might be on a similar house in larger, better-known southwest suburbs, said Village President Kevin Whitney. Local government has focused on delivering necessary services at low cost.
There are prospects for future tax revenues from other sources, which Whitney said should keep homeowner taxes from rising significantly. The administration has been working to lure unspecified commercial interests to the community’s main arteries of Kedzie Avenue, 147th Street (which becomes Sibley Boulevard at I-57) and Western Avenue (which becomes Dixie Highway). The primary enterprises now are used-car dealers.
The plan is for any new businesses to serve “as a magnet or base to attract even more commercial development,” Whitney said.
A high proportion of job holders work in the building trades. “It’s definitely a union town,” Whitney noted. Many others commute to downtown Chicago from Metra stations in Midlothian or Blue Island.
To complement its four parks, Posen reopened its centrally located community center in early 1998. It had been closed by a previous administration. For a $25 per person annual fee, children have a place to play or study after school, said Dawn Harnish, the director. Adults can participate in basketball, volleyball, line dancing and other evening activities. Teen dances will be held on some Friday nights.
“I think it’s great that we have these kinds of activities to offer residents,” said Harnish.
The small community offers an environment reminiscent of an earlier, safer and friendlier time, Whitney said.
“It’s kind of a throwback to the towns of the ’50s,” said Whitney, who was reared in Posen and returned to the village. “It’s like Mayberry.”
