Dreamy patio at Tre Kronor Restaurant in North Park

Let's hope for a few more warm days to enjoy outdoor eating at Tre Kronor!

A colleague and  I had meetings at Northeastern Illinois University on Wednesday. Afterwards I took him to lunch at one of my favorite local spots on the North Side.  Tre Kronor is a charming Swedish restaurant located across from North Park University in the North Park Community Area of Chicago.  The back patio is one of the best in Chicago to enjoy really great food.

 Check out North Park single family home sales here.

I rarely look at the menu and order my usual: a raspberry danish and the Anders' Hash and Eggs.

Pending Lincoln Park home sales have asking price of $2.5 million

An iconic row house at Clark and Dickens sports a "Cow on Parade". This has been one of my favorite homes in a favorite location near the lakefront parks, zoo and dining. Photo Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

27 Lincoln Park single family homes are listed under contract with a median asking price for almost $2.5 million. The actually selling prices when closed should far exceed Lincoln Park's overall median price of about $1.5 million this year.

New construction homes have helped drive the higher pending contract prices.  The three most expensive homes under contract are currently under construction at 2033 N Seminary Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60614 for $5,995,000, 1829 N Orchard St for $6,200,000 and 1924 N Orchard Street at $8,500,000. All three homes exceed the highest closed price in Lincoln Park thus far in 2015 (that's about $5.7 million).

Vanille on Clark near Dickens

122 single family homes are currently for sale in Lincoln Park.  It's higher inventory than I would have guessed. The median asking price for active homes is almost $2.4 million.

Progress at new Vogel play lot in Lincoln Square

I took a quick pic driving by the Vogel play-lot construction today. #anewlawrence

posted from Bloggeroid

Lincoln Square single family home sales up BIG 44% as of October 2015

Are Lincoln Square single family home sales still hot?  Things slow down? Prices are way up from 3 years ago but how are unit sales?

Houses on the 5000 block of North Oakley (Photo Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty)

Lincoln Square Single Family Home Sales January 1st to October 28th, 2015
111 single family homes are recorded as closed in MREDLLC.com (our member MLS). That's up 44% over last year. The median price of a sold house is about $695,000.   77 homes closed in 2014 over the same period with a median price about $640,000. The higher median price in 2015 reflects some very high-end new construction and re-sales that came to market this year pushing comparable prices higher. Still hot!

The highest sold house is  2026 W Wilson Ave , Chicago, Illinois 60625 for $2,922,000. The luxury new construction is built on a triple wide 75'x122' lot in the epicenter of Lincoln Square a stone's throw from Lycee Francais Chicago.  Can you say "Sport court" in the back yard!

The lowest priced sold home is 2317 West Foster for $225,000 cash.  The small foreclosure house is on busy West Foster but still a pretty good location close enough to the action. At the $225,000 price this could be a three unit condo development. Many existing and new development condo buildings line this couple blocks of West Foster.

September and October of 2015 have been a little more active than last year.  12 homes closed in the month of September and 6 so far this October (with maybe a closing or two tomorrow, Friday).   7 homes closed in September 2014 and 5 homes in October 2014.  

All stats pulled from MREDLLC.com and public records and presented by Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

River Bandits win 8U Welles Park 2015 Fall Baseball Championship

I spent a 4th great season coaching in Welles Park Baseball. The 8U River Bandits won the 2015 fall league title on Sunday.

The #2 ranked River Bandits won a pitcher's dual 3-0 over the #1 ranked Scrappers over the weekend.  The kids played amazing defense to capture the 11 team league.  The Bandits split four games with the Scrappers 2-2 over the season.

The Welles Park Parents Association features a "fall ball" baseball league played exclusively at Winnemac Park 5100 N. Leavitt St. Chicago, Illinois 60625 .  Teams can either be entered as a whole or assembled from registered players.  The infields are well cared for by the volunteer association.

My son Ryne at bat for the Welles Park River Bandits this past weekend

This was my son's second year in the fall ball league where players face kid pitch, catch and hit "kid pitch" in real game situations starting at the 8U (8yrs and under) division. The team was compromised of five players off our summer house league (World Series runner up) and seven other players from Welles Park Baseball's spring/summer league.

The River Bandits take the field earlier in the season.

There are few things more enjoyable for us than fall weekends of good baseball with Winnemac Park as the backdrop. So many families enjoyed the great weather in the park all season!

Photo! Loop Link bus route progress on West Washington Street downtown

Photo taken last Thursday October 22nd on the way (walking) to a closing downtown. All Photos Eric Rojas and Bob DePalma, Brokers, Kale Realty

Massive shelter and bus only lane construction on the West Washington portion of the "Loop Link"

 

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North Center and Lincoln Square condo sales along North Lincoln Avenue

A long stretch of North Lincoln Avenue delivers the quality urban life city dwellers love. Several long time favorites anchor the stretch such as Sulzer Library, Welles Park and Bistro Campagne pictured above. Photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

North Lincoln Avenue traveling northwest from West Irving Park Road (4000 N) to West Lawrence Avenue (4800 N) is full of businesses, services, parks, entertainment and transportation options. The strip crosses through the highly desirable North Side neighborhoods of North Center and Lincoln Square in Chicago's 47th Ward. 

Condos sales from 4000 N Lincoln Avenue to 4800 N Lincoln Avenue

• 18 attached units (condo, town homes) sold over the past 12 months with a median price of $460,000. 

• The highest sale is $520,000 at 4245 N Lincoln Ave Unit 4, Chicago, Illinois 60618 for a new construction three bedrooms, two baths with a full roof deck. 

• The least expensive sold unit is $340,000 at 4050 N Lincoln Ave Unit 406, Chicago, Illinois 60618. The two beds, two baths soft-loft style elevator building was built in 2000.

There are luxury new construction condo options right at Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square. Photo Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

The condo units offered along this 8 blocks of North Lincoln Avenue are almost exclusively newer construction.  I don't recall any vintage condo options.  There are vintage rental apartments available in mixed use buildings that would offer a more affordable way to live in this vibrant city location.

#chifoodtruckfest at Daley plaza, one date left October 28th

Great weather, Food Truck Fest... yes. Photos Eric Rojas, Bob DePalma Brokers.

We visited our real estate attorney Kent Novit downtown to drop off some closing paperwork. We picked a good day to swing by Daley Center 50 West Washington Street, Chicago IL 60602.

#chifoodtruckfest next date October 28th, 2015

Need a real estate attorney? Our guy Kent Novit

Address 100 N La Salle #2200, Chicago, IL, 60602 Phone # 3123322407 Fax # 3123326452

Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club at Revere Park, basketball sign-up now to October 30th

Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club, 2501 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60618

 I stopped by the Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club at Revere Park in North Center to sign-up my 1st and 3rd graders for basketball.  The popular program will be a nice fit. Kids ease into real game-play and teams are encouraged to practice during the week. It's crazy affordable. Click the link above for program info.

Views along North Ravenswood Avenue

This tree sort of stands alone on the Metra embankment at the corner of North Ravenswood and West Carmen.  It stands taller than any trees within a couple blocks and has survived some major trimming.  It catches my eye as I use this stretch of Ravenswood often while commuting on my bike. 

North Ravenswood Avenue can offer many surprises including unique homes, wooded lots and the West Andersonville Gardens north of West Foster.

"Decorated" work cars creep along the Metra tracks.

 

Sold! Lincoln Square house sells over list price at $718,000

4845 N Hamilton Ave , Chicago, Illinois 60625 recently closed for $718,000 in a multiple offer.  The list price was $699,900.  Take the video walk through of this charming Lincoln Square house on a great block.



Our clients were friends and active community members. This was a tough move for them. We took pride in helping them prep the home for sale and helped care of the house during their transition. I even mowed the lawn on this one.

 Check out more details.

Amazing value for this attractive move in ready single family house in one of Chicago's hottest locations.  Feel like you're home the minute you walk up to the inviting front porch.

Attractive well maintained home with inviting front porch. All photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

The 4800 block of North Hamilton is one of the most desirable in Lincoln Square. Great block parties, beautiful homes and an easy walk to all Lincoln Square has to offer.  Enjoy one of the best blocks in Lincoln Square from your inviting front porch! Well maintained and updated three bedrooms, two and one-half baths home on 30/ft wide lot. This attractive move-in ready home has great flow. Main level with gorgeous formal foyer, open plan living and dining, powder room, wired for sound and attractive woodwork.

Entry foyer

Living room wired for sound

Open living and dining for huge entertaining space.  You can see from the front of house to the back deck and yard.

The living areas open to the deck and yard.

Renovated warm kitchen with upgraded appliances and walk-in pantry (yes, walk-in!). Second level with three bedrooms, two full baths. True master suite w/ two closets, double vanity bathroom w/ luxury walk-in steam shower. Important improvements include central air, structural beam, newer roof and windows. 

Awesome deck and yard! You really feel the 30' wide lot.

Master bedroom features two closets, great east facing windows and en suite master bath.

Dual vanity master bathroom with walk-in steam shower!

Good sized guest bathroom freshly painted.

Spacious second bedroom with huge closet.

Finished lower level with surround sound and excellent storage.

Basement has walk-out to yard.

Bonus lower level space!

Main floor powder room.

Finished walk-out basement with surround speakers, big storage closets and laundry room. Fantastic deck and yard that really makes this home special! Super value for one of the hottest city locations just a block off Winnemac Park. Walk to night life, Mariano's, restaurants, bars and CTA Brown Line. All you're missing is the white picket fence!

4845 N Hamilton
Three bedrooms
Two and one-half baths
Central air
Finished basement
One and one-half car garage
30' wide lot, appx 120' deep
Newer roof, windows, structural beam and more! 
Taxes about $6,800

Floor-plan

One bock from beautiful Winnemac Park!

You are here!

Exclusively listed by 

Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

542 W Roosevelt Road

Chicago, IL 60607

312-939-5253

Handful of condo sales on North Clark Street in Lincoln Park

This vintage building at 2141 N Clark St Chicago, Illinois 60614 (in the center the withe the shingled "gable" top floor) has always caught my eye on one of my favorite strips of North Clark Street. Unit 3, a top floor duplex-up, recently sold for $620,000. Photos Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

I spend a lot of time traveling, eating and working along North Clark Street in Chicago. I was back on Friday well... traveling, eating and working. The stretch of North Clark Street that runs through Lincoln Park is roughly from North Avenue (1600 N) to Diversey Parkway (2800 N).  This is a great strip of small retail, restaurants, bars, services, schools and commercial buildings near the lake also sports attractive architecture including classic row houses.

Row houses on North Clark Street in Lincoln Park

In the last 12 months only 20 condo sales have been recorded from 1600 North Clark to 2800 North Clark.  The median price of a condo sale (attached unit) is only $260,000.  This reflects the high-rise unit sales on the lower-end and the fact no historic row houses on Clark sold over that period.

The highest sale is at the Eugenie Terrace town house community at 1740 N Clark St Unit 1740, Chicago, Illinois 60614 for $910,000. The lowest sale is $77,000 for a studio apartment at 1850 N Clark St Unit 2706, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

Eleven of the sales are at the 1850 N Clark high-rise (280 units). Four sales are at 1920 N Clark Street mid-rise (43 units).  Five sales are in smaller condo buildings of less than 8 units and one is a town house. 

Good views for North Park single family home sales, unit sales up 48%

Northwestern views over the North Park community area from the (most likely) tallest building in the neighborhood.  Taken from the 8th floor of 5125 N California (Swedish Covenant's newer construction medical building) it's nothing but three stories or less until Evanston.  Chicago really flattens out east of Broadway!

North Park home sales 
71 single family homes have closed thus far in 2015 (January 1st through October 10th). This is a 48% increase in unit sales over same period 2104.  This is a nice jump from unit sales that averaged about 45 units over the past 4 years.  The median price of a house is about $315,000, up over the $280,000 from 2014. It's still a nice value for a North Side neighborhood not too, too far from the action.

Pockets of North Park feature attractive custom brick homes. Photo Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty

The highest priced sold house so far is 5435 N Kildare Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60630 for $710,000.  Incidentally, we were involved in a multiple offer for that house in the unique sub-division of "Sauganash Woods" near North Park Village Nature Center.  The large home with finished attic space was built around 1995. The lowest priced home sale is 3601 W Foster Ave , Chicago, Illinois 60625 for $202,000 cash.  The foreclosure sale is located on a busy street and needed extensive renovation.

Only 48 North Park homes sold over the same period of 2014 with a median price of $280,000.
50 homes sold same period 2013 with a median price of $270,000.
2012 had 45 homes sell for about $235,000 median price.
2011 had 40 homes sold for a median about $279,000.

New residential development proposed for pricey North Lincoln Avenue in "The Square"

5061 N Lincoln Avenue Chicago IL 60625 was purchased for $699,000 according to public real estate records in the last half of 2014. The strip just northwest of Western Avenue has slowly but surely developed into multi-story mixed use residential from the mostly original one story small commercial buildings. All photos and analysis Eric Rojas, Broker, Kale Realty.

Developers for this one story small retail building have requested a zoning change to allow a mixed use residential building. 5061 N Lincoln Avenue was sold in 2014 for $699,000 according to public records. The building is adjacent to a large 18 unit condo building at 5067 N Lincoln Avenue built in 2008 (shown in the photo, check out of our listing videos there). 

On the southeast side of this building is a quirky large property probably four city lots across with a small frame house back deep on the lot (not pictured). Crazy land for this strip so close to the popular shopping and dining strip of Lincoln Square.

Candea development has a sign in the window.  Candea has built many successful condo and single family home projects in the immediate area including an 8 unit new construction building at 5008 N Lincoln Avenue (also on this block) with units selling $475,000 to $579,000.  I'd love to see more residential units (rental or condo) near the heart of Lincoln Square that help improve the street scape and add density to the fantastic area.

The crowd collects at Maifest in Lincoln Square.  The once relatively sleepy area (aside from a few raging German Fests) has diversified with hip new restaurants, retail and condo housing. To the eye, it has brought in a lot of younger, single folks in addition to the families and the strong senior community.

Condo Sales
Condo prices from roughly 4800 N Lincoln Avenue (at Western Ave) to 5200 N Lincoln Avenue (at Foster) are not cheap.  The units are mostly newer construction condos or town houses.  In the last 12 months (October 2014 to October 2015)  20 attached residential units have been recorded as sold with a median price of $490,000! This couple of blocks remains a mixed bag of buildings but has lots of up-side with several commercial sales and developments afoot. 

Bowmanville condo sales in 2015

Bowmanville offers diverse housing stock tucked among gardens and public green space.

23 condo units (attached homes) have sold January 1st to October 10th this year in the Bowmanville neighborhood of Lincoln Square.  The median price of a condo is about $250,000.  25 units sold same period in 2014 for a surprising median price of about $340,000.  A look at sales in 2014 shows more of the newer construction and large units in the area were listed and sold. This year, we saw a handful more of older resale and smaller units hit the market.

The Bowmanville neighborhood located in the northern portion of Lincoln Square community area.

Back in 2011, 19 units sold with a median price of about $295,000.  9 out of the 19 sold were three bedrooms units and look like great deals now for the square footage and finish level.

This two-unit building at 2253 W Foster, Chicago IL 60625 is now near completion.  The top floor duplex is offered for sale at $579,900 and the lower unit duplex is $549,900

The most expensive sold attached unit this year is 2130 W Foster Ave Unit B, Chicago, Illinois 60625 for $540,000.  This is part of an interesting two unit newer "town house" development built in 2009. The lowest sale is 5221 N Hoyne Ave Unit G, Chicago, Illinois 60625 for  $135,000.  The updated garden unit has central air and heat.