Commuters who use the CTA’s Red Line at Grand Avenue and State Street can always tell when a Chicago baseball team has a night game at home.
Out-of-towners with ball caps and team shirts exiting from the hotels in the North Michigan area stream down the steps into the subway station during the evening rush hour.
This year, there’s been something of a reversal in the direction that most of the fans are traveling. For the first time, there are more fans dressed in White Sox black-and-white heading south to U. S. Cellular Field than blue-and-red-clad Cubs fans heading north to Wrigley Field. Winning the 2005 World Series no doubt has helped build this new traffic pattern, as has the construction on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
From the center of the city, the home of the White Sox is about the same distance south as Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is to the north.
The South Side ballpark is the best-known landmark in Bridgeport, a neighborhood long associated with residents of Irish heritage and two mayors named Daley.
Like the higher-profile and more trendy Wrigleyville, Bridgeport in the last decade has undergone significant change and gentrification.
Unlike the North Side, where shoulder-to-shoulder condominiums and mansion-size single-family houses are pushing the neighborhood into urban density, Bridgeport, for the most part, retains its low-profile character.
Drive the streets of the old neighborhood and you can spot significant new building, but the replacements for what has been torn down very often are new houses. They coexist quite nicely in size and styling with older dwellings, retaining the charm of a neighborhood that still is oriented to families.
One of the projects in this area is Bridgeport Commons, 21 homes tucked on a new cul-de-sac a block west of U. S. Cellular Field.
The houses are part of a swath of new or newer housing from 35th Street south to Pershing Road and they are on the site of a former warehouse west of the railroad tracks that divide the residential area from the ballpark.
They line a new area dubbed South Canal Street that runs north from 37th Street. House styles have front-load garages on the east. Other homes have rear-load garages on an established alley to the west.
Ads and promotional materials describes the homes as “echoing the Arts & Crafts style,” but I would describe them as offering a kind of Tudor flavor with a combination of brick and limestone, wood and stucco detailing.
Ranging from 3,500 to 4,100 square feet, they appear to be among the biggest dwellings in the immediate neighborhood. Unlike most urban homes, they have a broader front facade thanks to the 30-foot-wide lots, bigger across than the Chicago standard.
The furnished model is the 3,500-square-foot Home 3 plan at 3626 S. Canal St. It is a family-size house with three levels which includes the light-filled, half-above-the-ground English basement.
Visitors to the house climb about a dozen steps to reach the front door, which opens into a broad room, roughly 28 1/2 by 12 feet, across the front. Called the great room in the floor plan, the room is shown as a dining room and living room in the model and has a 10-foot ceiling, which contributes to a sense of spaciousness.
Up two steps behind this formal area is the powder room and the 17-by-12-foot kitchen, which opens to a generous 20-by-16-foot family room across the back of the house.
The combined kitchen/family space has a closet for a pantry, and a door to the back deck.
There is plenty of light in this space, thanks to windows on two walls including one of the double sink in the kitchen, the back wall of the family room and on either side of the fireplace (an upgrade).
As shown, the kitchen is divided from the family area with a large island, which serves not only for food preparation but also for casual family dining.
At the center of the floor plan between the living room and family area is the stairway to the second floor and to the lower level. At the top of the stairs on the second floor is the second bath, between two secondary bedrooms, one on each corner of the home.
One bedroom is roughly 12 by 13 feet and the other about 12 by 14 feet. Both have large closets and high ceilings. There is a laundry room, big enough for full-size, side-by-side washer and dryer between a secondary bedroom and the entrance to the master suite, which takes up one side of the second floor, front-to-back.
Those entering the suite turn right to go into the bedroom at the front, overlooking the street, and left to a short hall past the walk-in closet (a small room in itself), and the master bath.
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The hallway configuration has snatched some space, I suspect, from the master bedroom, roughly 16 1/2 by 12 feet, and the bath. On the other hand, the separation between the two rooms could be a plus for those who are sensitive to noise.
It also allows for plenty of light and air in both rooms. The master bathroom has both a tub and shower, as well as a linen closet. It is quite comfortable, but is not for those who like a room the size of a Roman bath.
The stairs to the garage and the lower level are between the living room and family room. On this level, there is a large recreation room, about 21 by 12 feet, a mechanical room, a third full bath and a back corner room, about 11 1/2 by 12 1/2 feet, that could be a fourth bedroom, home office or all-purpose space.
This is a home with lots of light, but it also is close to neighbors. There is little in the way of yard, a plus for some, a minus for others. It will appeal to younger–or very fit– buyers for whom the stairs both inside and outside of the house will be no problem.
The wide millwork around windows and doors was another plus for me. Serious shoppers on a tight budget should ask to see a base-priced model before signing on the dotted line–because the model has been beautifully decorated with such extras as built-in bookcases and some upgrades.
While not inexpensive, these homes are base-priced around $200 a square foot. I did find the hum of the mechanical system, which I heard in the recreation room, disturbing.
And the homes’ proximity to the ballpark and the railroad tracks would certainly give me pause as a buyer. As I stood in the second-floor master bedroom of the model and looked out the windows over the street, I could see the stadium with its towering lights and the scoreboard that blasts away with fireworks after each home run.
Much as I enjoy baseball, I’m not sure I would want that kind of excitement so close to home–but sales manager Karen Ranquist says it has been a plus for several early buyers.
And far from being filled with traffic on game days, she said the neighborhood is so well patrolled by police it is sometimes hard for prospective buyers to get in.
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Bridgeport Commons
Base price range: $619,800 to $789,800
FACTS AND FIGURES
Three-level houses with 4 to 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, attached two-car garages.
Square feet: 3,500 to 4,100
Developer: Ranquist Development
Web site: www.bridgeportcommons.com
AMENITIES
Extra-wide urban lots
9- and 10-foot ceilings; hardwood flooring in kitchen, living and dining room; custom millwork throughout; Frigidaire stainless steel kitchen appliances, Canac kitchen cabinets and granite countertops, cultured marble bath countertops.
Community: A 21-home development on new residential street a block west of U.S. Cellular Field.
GETTING THERE
Address: 3626 South Canal St.
Phone: 312-948-9700
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