Recommendations for place to live (Chicago: apartment, rentals, cheap home)

[Ether Bunny]

My wife is starting her residency at UIC Medical Center this summer and she's looking for housing in Chicago. We live in Michigan and so we're not familiar with the neighborhoods in Chicago.

Basically she's looking for a 2BR/1BA with parking for $1400 or less. The area needs to be safe and ideally in an area where she can enjoy some local restaurants and bars. If possible, she'd like to take a bus or train into work everyday. Her work hours will always be during the day (no crazy hours in the middle of the night). We're in our thirties, no kids. Looking for a community of young professionals. Urban environment is definitely preferable to suburban settings.

Any suggestions?

[oakparkdude]

How long a commute?

Luckily there are two subway (el) stations within a few blocks of UIC Hospital. Also, multiple bus lines.

[marothisu]

What kind of commute would she be looking for? IMO one area to look would be north at Ukrainian Village. She'd have to take the bus, but the area is good and just to the north of it is Wicker Park which is even more happening. I think your budget should be good for that, but the parking deal will probably have to be street parking. A lot of rental places ,even if they're small rentals in some of the better neighborhoods will charge you per month.

[ChiNaan]

I second the Ukrainian Village suggestion, though I'd also look along the Pink Line in either direction (West Loop in one direction and Pilsen in the other). The Polk stop on the Pink Line is right in the middle of the medical campus, and I see lots of affiliated people (med students, residents, nurses, etc.) using it to commute there. She'd probably have to get a 1 BR for that price in West Loop, but in Pilsen she could get a 2 BR with money to spare. All of these areas have restaurants and bars.

I'd also look at the Taylor Street area, which would be walking distance. The bars in that area tend to be rather college student-focused, as you might imagine, but there are a few more grown-up options, including Italian places. (The remnants of Little Italy are there.)

[Ether Bunny]

In terms of commute she would be willing to do 20 min by car or 30 min by train/bus.

[chet everett]

The obvious choice for easierst commute is going to be Taylor St -- walking distance to UIC.

The comments about bars in that area seems odd -- The drinking age has been 21 for many decades and the majority of college students are well below that age, further the post college crowd in Chicago seems heavily concentrated in the Lakeview areas nearest Wrigley Field.

Should you wish to perhaps get a little more for your money Pilsen might be worth exploring -- the relatively frequent Pink Line service on the CTA EL lines is far more pleasant than bus travel in Chicago...

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The comments about bars in that area seems odd

Not if you've spent time in them. Even bars in Pilsen get a fairly heavy college crowd due to UIC proximity, but not as much as Taylor Street does.

Originally Posted by chet everett

-- The drinking age has been 21 for many decades and the majority of college students are well below that age,

Yet most major universities have many bars around them filled with college students. Hmm...

The average age of UIC undergraduates is 21:
Office of Institutional Research | University of Illinois at Chicago

As someone who went to college after the drinking age became 21 and who has spent my career working with college students, trust me when I tell you that lots of under-21 students find their way into bars, too.

Like I said, Taylor Street does have some grownup options. It's not the place you want to be in general if you don't like college students, though.

[Isotope-C14]

Originally Posted by Ether Bunny

My wife is starting her residency at UIC Medical Center this summer and she's looking for housing in Chicago. We live in Michigan and so we're not familiar with the neighborhoods in Chicago.

Basically she's looking for a 2BR/1BA with parking for $1400 or less. The area needs to be safe and ideally in an area where she can enjoy some local restaurants and bars. If possible, she'd like to take a bus or train into work everyday. Her work hours will always be during the day (no crazy hours in the middle of the night). We're in our thirties, no kids. Looking for a community of young professionals. Urban environment is definitely preferable to suburban settings.

Any suggestions?

Tri-Taylor is also not bad, you will get a bigger bang for your buck there, in apartment size and space, though quality may be lower than the east side of the district. The caveat is that if you leave something of value in your car, visible (like a gps) you have a high chance of it being stolen. This is true everywhere honestly. Tri-taylor is highly under-rated for its livability. When I lived there I saw plenty of young ladies walking their dogs solo after 10pm all through the summer.

Really, you can get a pretty nice place there for cheap. It's not an urban area of young professionals though. It's more like a sleepy place within a 10 minute walk of UIC, plenty of PhD people live in the area. I've had no problem walking to "the other side" of the medical district, where you can hit up Davanti's, which is fantastic, or any number of over-priced bars over on that side (Vintage, Hawkeye's and something Aces). I tended to take either the western bus or damen bus up to UKV when I desired it. There is a real great taco place in tri-taylor called "Takoz" and the guy who runs that is awesome. Ferrerra's bakery is there if you have a sweet-tooth or need some Giambotti (SP?). Lulu's is a fast food joint with some good burgers and rib specials. Cab ride from UKV late nite was decently cheap home too.

If you get a place that has alley direction bed rooms, you probably won't even hear the ambulance sirens. It was one of the quietest places I've been in the city proper.

Parking is easy. You can either get the zoned residential permit, or park on Polk between Bell and Leavitt. Never had a problem parking there when I had a car. There are a bunch of areas that have free parking there. Not just that stretch of street, also there are some hidden ninja parking spaces other places.

Basically the part of tri-taylor to stick to, is west of ogden, north of taylor, east of western and south of harrison. Med ctr blue line is close- so is the western blue line stop. Western bus isn't bad, very quick up to UKV, damen bus less frequent, and roosevelt bus picks up at ogden & taylor (though it has reduced hours on weekend) and runs east west, a pretty short trip to the south loop, and the target, home depot there, and a mess of other shopping destinations.

There's a Jewel, at Roosevelt & Paulina, which is certainly an easy drive, but I always walked it. Nice to have some groceries pretty close. There's a costco south of there on ashland I believe, and of course if you take the western bus south there are some inexpensive groceries in pilsen.

Good luck with your move!