The old Jacob Riis Elementary School is boarded up, a relic of Chicago’s past, but the neighborhood around the old structure appears to be reviving.
Riis, the Danish-American for whom the school is named, was a crusading advocate for better living conditions for immigrants at the turn of the 20th Century. He would be pleased at what is happening near the school.
Chicago’s West Side, a historic gateway for new immigrants, is welcoming yet another wave of newcomers–this time from other parts of the city and from the suburbs.
The new residents are populating an area that was once a combination of warehouses and commercial buildings interspersed with Chicago Housing Authority projects, the University of Illinois at Chicago campus and the growing medical district around Rush University Medical Center and the various hospitals that are located near Ashland Avenue.
Bordered by the Eisenhower Expressway on the north, the Dan Ryan on the east and the rail tracks, which act has a demarcation between the industrial area and the residential Mexican-American Pilsen neighborhood on the south, the area has been undergoing dramatic change.
The huge University Village project that replaced the historic, but blighted, Maxwell Street area is well under way. Farther west on Roosevelt Road near Racine Avenue, where the Chicago Housing Authority’s former ABLA Homes once stood, another massive development planned for more than 2,400 homes is beginning to appear.
Roosevelt Square is planned as a mixed-income neighborhood with more than 1,300 for-sale homes and 1,000 rental units to be built over 10 years.
The development will spill north and south of Roosevelt Road in a 30-block area, where many of the structures have been razed, between the University of Illinois at Chicago campus on the east and the medical district on the west.
The project is part of an ambitious plan to transform former Chicago Housing Authority sites–of which Cabrini-Green on the city’s North Side is perhaps the best known–into mixed-income neighborhoods with market-rate and affordable housing and rental, as well as retail outlets and social services.
Roosevelt Square is to be built in six phases. New townhouses, three-flats, six-flats, three-story courtyard buildings and five-story elevator structures are planned. During the life of the project, 30 floor plans will be offered (though not all may be available in every building phase), ranging from one-bedroom condos to three-bedroom townhouses.
New-home sales opened in November 2004, and 90 percent of the 233 homes for sale in the first phase are sold. The first phase of rentals, 185 units, are occupied.
The developers wisely put the sales center across the street from St. Ignatius College Prep, the selective Jesuit high school that has stood as an anchor and bulwark in the midst of the area’s changing fortunes for 100 years. The well-tended buildings and school grounds are beautiful, a vision of what the area aspires to become.
With much open land awaiting development, the first-phase buildings are near the enclave of Little Italy and Taylor Street, home to numerous eateries.
Mike Kelly, director of marketing for LR Realty, which is in charge of sales for the development, says Taylor Street serves as a real plus, with its long-established small businesses that include a hardware store, dry cleaner and food shops.
The community provides “much more of a neighborhood feel” than in some other new-home development areas, he said.
Inside the sales center, a map dotted with pins indicates early buyers have come from as far as Waukegan, Park Forest and Hobart, Ind.
Kelly describes the core buyers, though by no means the only buyers, as “a younger couple looking for access to the Loop” for work.
Typically out of school for four or five years, they are couples who want to enjoy the city. In addition, early buyers are staffers at UIC and from the nearby medical centers, as well as a smattering of longtime Little Italy residents eager for new-construction housing.
In addition, a few parents are buying condos for university students rather than paying for student housing or rent. The development is tied to city programs aimed at marketing to city employees–police officers, fire fighters and teachers.
Two-bedroom units have been the most popular so far.
The only furnished model is the Shubert floor plan, a three-bedroom with den condominium in an updated version of the classic Chicago three-flat, about a block north of the sales center.
The 1,562-square-foot model on the second floor has mostly standard amenities, a big plus in my book. This is a walk-up building, so the stairway from the entrance leads up to a small landing on the second floor.
The front door of the model opens to the kitchen and a small foyer between the living-dining area at the front of the unit and the center hallway that leads to the back.
The kitchen is a compact U-shape, with a peninsula counter open to the living and dining room. The peninsula breakfast bar could seat three people comfortably.
The kitchen is open to the 16-by-15-foot living room, which has a modest alcove, shown as a formal dining area, jutting to the left.
There are windows on two walls in this living/dining/kitchen area for plenty of natural light. Sliding doors with a Juliet railing on one wall of the living room open the area to fresh air and a view of the street.
Though not large, the alcove is a charming addition. It adds some space and a lot of character to the room, saving it from being one more boring box.
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Three closets line the hallway to the back of the unit. Two are much-needed coat or storage areas, while the third is for the furnace and hot water heater.
Also off the hall are the doors to two bedrooms, each 10 by 10 feet, with a window and closet. There is a door to the hall bath, which also has the washer and dry hookup.
At the end of the hall is a den/family room on the left and the door to the master suite to the right.
The 10-by-13-foot den has lots of light from windows on two walls and the door to the 9-by-8-foot back deck. The deck is big enough for a cafe table and a couple of chairs. It overlooks the tiny yard and the garage at the back of the lot.
The bedroom in the master suite is 12 by 11 feet and has windows overlooking the deck. There are high windows on another wall for added light, as well as a short hall between two walk-in closets to the master bath.
There is a lot to like in this unit–from the birch flooring to the wide windowsills in some windows. The interior has little wasted space and the basic amenities are well chosen. One nice extra: residents of the entire development will have access to WI-FI, short for wireless fidelity, for computers.
At $402,000, about $260 a square foot, the condo is not inexpensive, but competitive for urban new construction. A garage space is included in the price.
This is a home that will probably most appeal to those who don’t need to live large or have a lot of clutter. The kitchen is small and storage could be a problem. The secondary bedrooms will work for small children or the occasional overnight guest, but perhaps would be tight for older children.
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Classic three-flats at Roosevelt Square, Chicago
Base price range: $380,000 to $422,000
FACTS AND FIGURES
Three bedrooms plus den, two baths and one garage parking space
Square feet: 1,491 to 1,590
Monthly assessment: $162 to $173
Developer: LR Development Co. LLC and Quest Development Group
Web site: www.rooseveltsquare.com
AMENITIES
Nine-foot ceilings; yellow birch flooring in living, dining room; kitchen, den; air conditioning; maple cabinets in kitchen and bath; plastic laminate kitchen countertops; GE stainless steel kitchen appliances; in-unit washer and dryer hookup.
Community: Part of a 30-block mixed-income neighborhood planned for 2,441 units near University of Illinois and the Medical District.
GETTING THERE
Address: 1200 W. Roosevelt Road
Phone: 312-836-1200
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