Thirty-year-old Tom Duke has a large park across the street from his home, an elementary school that will be built just a stone’s throw away and direct access to a path along a lake.
Although Duke’s living arrangement sounds very suburban, it’s actually in the heart of downtown Chicago. The lake is Lake Michigan, and the grade school will be a 400-student, kindergarten through 4th-grade public school in the 28-acre Lakeshore East development on the site of the former Illinois Central rail yard that was, for a time, a nine-hole urban golf course.
As new owners of a condominium unit in the 29-story Lancaster at Lakeshore East high-rise–along the Chicago River and east of Michigan Avenue–Duke and his wife, Jennifer, are the faces of the residential building boom in downtown Chicago. The neighborhood’s growth has steadily attracted young people to the city’s central business district since the late 1990s.
That building boom shows no signs of abating, despite continual fears of rising interest rates. Recently released data by Appraisal Research Counselors show that almost 6,300 new-home sales agreements were reached to buy places in downtown Chicago in 2004.
That’s 12 percent more than the previous record of 5,625 new downtown real-estate sales agreements that was reached in 2000. And it’s a whopping 80 percent higher than the number of new-home sales that took place in downtown in 2003.
In all, downtown Chicago has added close to 40,000 residential units since 1990, almost doubling the 48,000 dwellings just 15 years ago.
New residential developments are popping up on all sides of downtown, extending as far south as Chinatown and as far west as Damen Avenue. While the majority of the new housing consists of condo buildings, projects range from high-rise towers to luxury town-home developments and conversions of industrial buildings into lofts.
What’s bringing people downtown, instead of buying or renting a place in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Bucktown, Wicker Park or even the suburbs?
A number of factors are involved, including the proximity of new developments to Millennium Park and Grant Park, units that are moderately priced, a desire for a short commute and the perception that downtown Chicago is safer and cleaner than in the past.
In addition, new residents feel that on evenings and weekends, downtown Chicago–and especially North Michigan Avenue–offers more to do than ever before. The Loop now attracts a broad demographic–everyone from young singles and married couples without children to couples with young children and empty-nesters.
“The draw for us really was the school for our new daughter, and the parks, both the one next to our building and Millennium Park, which is just across the street,” said Duke, a lawyer who previously rented in the building at 440 N. Wabash Ave. “Also, I train for triathlons, and we live just a few steps from the lakefront paths.”
When Duke and his wife decided to buy, they chose to stay downtown, chiefly for the convenience of being so close to work and to all the attractions, he said.
Similarly, Chris Owen, an investment analyst in his 30s, said he and his wife, Kathy, decided to buy their first home in a new condominium tower on North McClurg Court so they could be close to Lake Michigan and their offices. A bonus, he said, is that they were able to buy a unit in a brand-new building at a price that was lower than or comparable to the price they would have paid for a similar unit in Lincoln Park. And with the expressways a quick drive west and the Michigan Avenue shopping district two blocks away, it’s hard to beat the location.
“Since I need to get in to work early every day, it was an advantage to be closer to the office,” Owen said. “I don’t think you give anything up by being downtown. It’s so centrally located, and if we want to get up to Lincoln Park, it’s not that far away.”
