Buying a Loft in River North (Chicago, Erie: relocating, budget, condo)

[fozzy40]

Hello! I just returned from a weekend of condo shopping and will be relocating hopefully in the river north area. I was really interested in a property at the intersection of Wells and W. Huron. It looks like a safe area during the day but it's next to the train tracks and not the most lighted area at night. I am leaning towards some properties just a couple blocks west of there off of Ontario, Erie, and Kingsbury. There are some really nice properties off of Larrabee but the neighborhood definitely looks a little shady to me west of kingsbury.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Drover]

Your main concern should be what's north rather than what's west: the remnants of the Cabrini-Green projects. Much of Cabrini-Green is being famously torn down. Some of it is not, namely all of the rowhouses between Chicago to the south, Oak to the north, Larrabee to the west and Sedgewick to the east. You'll want to stay at least a few blocks away from there. I would guess that any address on Larrabee that you were looking at was within one block of the Cabrini-Green rowhouses. Your instincts are basically correct: that's a fairly risky proposition.

All of the potential places you looked at are within a just a few blocks of this patch, and that does present some crimes-of-opportunity issues. Generally, the further east and/or south of Chicago& Sedgewick, the better. Especially during the day, there's tons of foot traffic in those and so no worries. At night the foot traffic dwindles, especially west of Wells, but there's still quite a bit of nightlife in the area. It doesn't get really abandoned until about midnight or so. That's when you'll need to be particularly aware of your surroundings. The crimes-of-opportunity issue isn't bad enough to keep lots people from living, working and playing in the River North area. As for being a place to live, in the area you're looking you'll generally want to keep at least a 3 blocks south of Chicago and/or 3 blocks east of Sedgewick. (And by that I mean actual blocks, not numbered blocks. Something you'll come to find out about block numbering in Chicago is that there are two actual blocks for every numbered block. So Wells is the 200 block west and Orleans is the 300 block west, even though Franklin is in between them.)

[via chicago]

i work at 600 west chicago (old montgomery ward warehouse), and that building contains lofts as well. the name of the loft section is "domain", and its on 900 kingsbury. i dont know what your budget is, but its pretty pricey. but i think they start around 300k and go to over 1 mil. i do know the views are unbeatable on the upper floors.

[fozzy40]

Drover,

Thanks for such a great and detailed post! The lofts that I am most interested in are on the 400 block West Ontario. Seemed like a pretty quiet part of town. Any thoughts?

[desibear]

if these are near the the Reza's restaurant, then that's a pretty safe neighborhood. I've had friends who lived near there for a few years w/o a single issue.

[Drover]

The 400 block of Ontario is a pretty quiet area in terms of foot traffic since it's a little off the beaten path. It's sufficiently far away from the iffy spots that crime shouldn't be a major issue, by urban standards anyway. However, its relative distance from foot traffic means that if you do have a problem, you're on your own.

My biggest concern with living there would be the noise from the Ohio feeder ramp to the expressway. If you have a balcony, that can kind of take away the enjoyment of it, unless maybe it's on the north side of the building. Otherwise, I would imagine you'll have your windows shut pretty much year-round and that should be sufficient to drown out traffic.

Per desibear, yes, the River North location of Reza is on the 400 block of Ontario.

[fozzy40]

Yes, I'm looking at the street of Reza. Thanks again for the great posts!

[fozzy40]

Any good resources on researching crime reports in these areas?

[Drover]

chicagocrime.org: Chicago crime database

To get the most flexible and meaningful search results, in your "Browse By" options choose the "City Map" option, then narrow it down to your police district (in this case, the 18th district).