NYC family of 6. Evanston, Winnetka...other places? (Chicago, Oak Park: hair salon, renting)

[chet everett]

If you really want Manhattan style range of walkable businesses you need to have the city itself on your list. I suspect prices in Lincoln Park will not horrify anyone accustomed to NY costs...

Evanston is not as uniformly well developed as Lincoln Park at this point in time. The caveat is that whatever budget a family with school aged children has for housing inside Chicago must also have some contingency for the likelihood that acceptable schools may mean private instead of public if true urban amenities are a priority.

[Doglover5]

Agreed -- look at the area of Lincoln Park north of Armitage -- streets around Webster & Fremont are lovely. Also, just south of Armitage on Mohawk-- these areas are quite nice with amenities just beyond your doorstep. Edit: And grab a cupcake at Sweet Mandy B's at Webster & Racine or a pastry at Floriole bakery just down a couple stores from Sweet Mandy B's. Two great Lincoln Park establishments.

[reppin_the_847]

Lincoln Park would be a great city neighborhood to check out, but it would more like the quieter parts of Manhattan IMO. You won't be getting a home with a yard or anything. You'd also need to strongly consider sending your kids to expensive private schools. But in terms of urban amenities, it would be tough to beat.

Based off what you're seeking, I think Evanston and the neighboring suburbs (esp. Wilmette) just to the north of it are still your best bet.

Originally Posted by Doglover5

Agreed -- look at the area of Lincoln Park north of Armitage -- streets around Webster & Fremont are lovely. Also, just south of Armitage on Mohawk-- these areas are quite nice with amenities just beyond your doorstep. Edit: And grab a cupcake at Sweet Mandy B's at Webster & Racine or a pastry at Floriole bakery just down a couple stores from Sweet Mandy B's. Two great Lincoln Park establishments.

[divakat]

I think that either Evanston or Highland Park would fit the bill for you. Both border the lake, both have walkable and vibrant downtown areas. Both have good schools. Both have beautiful homes with lots of character. Wilmette and the other North Shore towns are just as pretty but have tiny downtown areas. I prefer the other two because I like to live where there is lots of life happening around me. Highland Park also has Ravinia Park (outdoor concerts in the woods) which is lovely. Evanston is closer to Chicago and has Northwestern.

[Water 4 the Pool]

Right, Lincoln Park is certainly on our list of places to check out. There's a (supposedly) good Catholic school in the neighborhood and it's near the park and lake. I've been pricing condos/co-ops there and they're literally 75% cheaper than where I live now, which averages around $1,500 sq ft. So from an affordability standpoint, Lincoln Park is an option.

But we're not looking to move to Chicago and pretend it's Manhattan--they're two different places and we're looking for a different experience and likely a house with a yard...with some of the conveniences we like about NYC.

Like I've noted in some of my other posts, we love NYC but I'm not willing to sacrifice everything to stay here.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Lincoln Park would be a great city neighborhood to check out, but it would more like the quieter parts of Manhattan IMO. You won't be getting a home with a yard or anything. You'd also need to strongly consider sending your kids to expensive private schools. But in terms of urban amenities, it would be tough to beat.

Based off what you're seeking, I think Evanston and the neighboring suburbs (esp. Wilmette) just to the north of it are still your best bet.

There are plenty of single family homes on "normal" city sized lots in Lincoln Park that have rather pleasant back yards and if the OP got a townhouse in Manhattan 14 years ago they very well may have enough scratch to get one of the enormous multi-lot compounds in Lincoln Park... Penny Pritzker's house Lincoln Park, Chicago

[Jandur]

On a side note. You can get a house with a yard in Roscoe Village or a similar neighborhood for 600-800k last I checked. The lots are small, but they exist.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Jandur

On a side note. You can get a house with a yard in Roscoe Village or a similar neighborhood for 600-800k last I checked. The lots are small, but they exist.

If the OP has their heart set on being close enough to actually here the surf the best deals are probably in a town like Zion, of course the other negatives of that former industrial area and lack of any kind of walkable amenities are offsetting negatives...

Roscoe Village is a very pleasant neighborhood in the greater "North Center" portion of Chicago but it is not Lincoln Park and arguably Evanston is going to offer more walkable options to bask in the glory of Lake Michigan 365 days a year. ( Lake Michigan/Marine - Chicago Weather Center -- for reference Long Island Sound is currently about 10 degrees warmer: Jones Beach State Park Water Temperature (Sea) and Wetsuit Guide (Long Island NY, USA) ) Neighborhoods like Rogers Park have a few streets where you could walk to the end of the block and wade around, but the range of resturants and such can't hold a candle to Lincoln Park or even Evanston...

To me a huge part of the equation is budget -- no offense but when I worked full time in residential real estate
there was a certain point where I had to lay it out for some clients: If you really have a budget that would make an NBA star look like a pauper let's go for the kind of house that will offer the least compromises, if your budget is more in line with what a supervisor at the YMCA can afford we can still find some place that makes some of your dreams come true, but you gotta level with me...

[SloopyJ]

I think you're smart to check out Evanston and Wilmette; from what you've described, I suspect Winnetka will not be your thing (pretty and affluent and homogeneous as it is). Since you're interested in walkable amenities, I think you'd be well served to keep your tour focused around the major commercial nodes of both towns:

- Evanston Main Street from Chicago Avenue east;
- Downtown Evanston (you might check out the YMCA on Grove, shopping on Sherman, restaurants on Davis, the movie theater on Maple, the park at Grove and Chicago Ave);
- Central Street Evanston (along Central Street west of Green Bay...grab coffee at Linz and Vail or lunch at Foodstufs and play for a bit at Independence Park);
- Downtown Wilmette (smallish but not bad...Wilmette Ave. or Central Ave. east of Green Bay);
- 4th and Linden area (where the CTA trains end...only a little commercial there, but Maple Park at 4th and Maple is nice and it's an area worth visiting to see if you really want something more suburban...while in that area, drive east on Linden to Sheridan, where the fabulous Bahai Temple is; then go north a bit on Sheridan to Gilson Park to see the best of Wilmette's public lakefront).

All those areas are safe and enjoyable to walk around to get a feel for housing stock. You'll notice the areas get progressively more "suburban" as you go from south to north; Main Street could be a north side City neighborhood, whereas Wilmette is decidedly suburban while still walkable.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Water 4 the Pool

Thanks. This is sounding generally like a place my wife and I would like. She holds dear a lot of the walkable conveniences we have here in NYC--good classes for the kids, cheap manicures, good sushi and Turkish food, nice parks/playgrounds, good public art/good arts community, good grocery stores, good higher-end restaurants, etc.

Walking to get groceries might be a problem as there are not that many good grocery stores. There is a Whole Foods in downtown. There is a Jewel/Osco not far from downtown, but from the northeast side of town, I mostly shopped at the one on Green Bay Road and that one is not easy to walk to. There are some nice indepent grocers. One on Noyes street (D&D) which has a little greek restaurant attached. There is also a Dominick's on Dempster Street. At any rate, there are plenty of grocery shops not far away, though I never found it easy to walk to them except for D&D which was close to where we lived.

There are lots of great parks including pocket parks that are nice, but small. We lived not too far from Fireman's Park which has an old firetruck for the kids to climb around on.

Fireman's Park gets a spring cleaning | Evanston Now

I think you would like it.