Typical "Soon-To-Be Grad Moving to Chicago" Questions (Lincoln: fit in, real estate)

[chicagosk94]

So I'm about to finish undergrad and will be working in the loop. I've spent hours searching neighborhoods, costs, etc. I've explored some cheaper studio options in River North and love the area, and am considering doing that. Some of the things I'm looking for are:

First of all, not going to go the roommate route

1) Proximity to Washington/Wells stop (I'll be working more than 40 hours and want to be close to go home for dinner/come back after)
2) Budget of up to roughly $1800, but open to cheaper options (more to pay off loans)
3) Area with other recent grads. However, Lincoln Park area isn't quite my cup of tea

I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks!

[theuptowner1992]

You could find a few apartments by Merchandise Mart (which is only 1 Brown Line stop from Washington/Wells), but you are more likely to find recent college graduates in Lakeview. Despite major gentrification in the last 20-25 years, River North is still up-and-coming and not nearly as established for young professionals as Lakeview or other North Side neighborhoods.

There are mostly 3-flats along the Red/Brown Line in Lakeview although a few high-rises are pretty walkable distances from the train, especially the Sheridan Red Line stop. Lakeview proper is between Irving Park and Diversey on N-S and Ravenswood and the lake on E-W. You may also want to check out the Lincoln Square or Roscoe Village, which again are mostly flats but have plenty of bars and restaurants and within a short walk of the Brown Line.

[jdiddy]

River North "up and coming"? I don't think any one has used that phrase to describe River North for at least 15 years.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by theuptowner1992

...
Despite major gentrification in the last 20-25 years, River North is still up-and-coming and not nearly as established for young professionals as Lakeview or other North Side neighborhoods.
...

This is an absurd statement. I've lived in River North for 11+ years. It's in no way "up and coming." It has long arrived and is one of the premier neighborhoods of the city and even nation. It has the highest average rents of any neighborhood in Chicago.

The reason it's not ideal for new grads is that it's simply too expensive for new grads and is mainly affordable for established professionals and other high-income people. The average income in most of River North's census blocks is over $100,000. Very few new grads can pull in that kind of cash.

To the OP: I don't know what your income will be, but River North, in addition to having the highest rent of any neighborhood in Chicago, is expensive for nearly anything else you might want to buy. There are no discount grocery stores and even the middle-road brands of grocery stores (like Jewel) charge more in the River North locations than in other parts of the city. There are very few inexpensive restaurant choices, with the majority of restaurants being of the fine dining variety. If you lived in River North, your expenses would be higher than nearly any other neighborhood. The only real savings is that you can probably walk to work (and your other basic needs) from most parts of River North, but there are other neighborhoods you can live car-free in with a reasonable commute to Washington/Wells that are far less expensive both in rent and other cost of living factors.

I would also advise not spending $1,800 per month in rent as a new grad. Especially if you have outstanding loans. Now is the best time to be saving money and living well within your means to build an economic foundation for the rest of your life. I would recommend trying to stick to $1,200 per month. You could spend $15 per night on dinner near the office and still come out ahead, and if you brown bagged dinner or kept the nightly cost under $10 per night, you'd be hundreds of dollars ahead compared to "going home for dinner," not to mention not breaking up your evenings so much getting to and from home (even a home with good proximity).

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by emathias

This is an absurd statement. I've lived in River North for 11+ years. It's in no way "up and coming." It has long arrived and is one of the premier neighborhoods of the city and even nation.

The reason it's not ideal for new grads is that it's simply too expensive for new grads and is mainly affordable for established professionals and other high-income people. The average income in most of River North's census blocks is over $100,000. Very few new grads can pull in that kind of cash.

I agree with emathias that River North, as it is properly defined by traditional boundaries, is a very well established area that is too costly for any significant percentage of households to be other than more established upper-income professionals.

If the OP truly is comfortable spending $1800/mo that suggests an income of over $90k/yr, applying standard income to rent formulas, and is far above typical "new grad" type salaries. I suspect the OP will be spending a whole lot of time at work to earn that income or that they are grossly misjudging how expensive independent living may be...

It is further perplexing as to why the OP would disdain Lincoln Park, nearly any sane apartment hunter would see that that the range of options in Lincoln Park is likely broader in Lincoln Park than River North, and the offerings of dining, nightlife, and other neighborhood amenities is similarly wider...

The one thing that theuptowner1992 does get right is that there are far more recent college grads in Lakeview than pretty much any other part of Chicago. The reasons for this have much to do with the relative affordability of the area for both residential rentals and the sorts of businesses that appeal to them -- if meeting people in a similar situation is at all important to the OP it is hard to beat Lakeview for the shear density of recent college grads...

[OyCrumbler]

Why not Bridgeport, West Loop, Wicker Park or Logan Square? Aren't those popular with grads, decently priced for the most part, and pretty easy commutes?

Also, hasn't the glut of construction in South Loop made it so that there's actually a good deal of activity in the area and with some places being affordable for the OP's budget (and white collar grads in general)?

[Hosken Powell]

if you can find a place in River North, that would be the best. I've seen individual owners renting their condos over there for $1600-$1800. Look at condo buildings on the west side of river north near the river. (I don't actually know if that's technically considered RN) Here's your place right here: $1750 for a 2BR. jump on that.

https://www.padmapper.com/listings/1...icago-IL-60654

Ok if that doesn't work out. You want to save money, of course having a roommate in Logan Square is the way most do it. However you say no roommates.

Some tricks I don't hear mentioned too often:

look at the very old (i.e. pre 1920s) apartment buildings in Lincoln Park. They usually have a handful of weird studios that have some undesirable feature (garden level, lack of windows, etc) that causes them to rent for quite cheap for the area, like $900.

Also look for individual owners renting out their place in 1960s to 1980s era condo buildings. These are not as desirable as lofts, new builds or "charming" old places so they usually rent for a few hundred less than other kinds of places.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Why not Bridgeport, West Loop, Wicker Park or Logan Square? Aren't those popular with grads, decently priced for the most part, and pretty easy commutes?

There are all kinds of people that are promoting the various options for the kinds of clueless recent college grads flooding into Chicago but mostly the hype does not match reality. I would challenge anyone to take a simple reality test: head down to the Bridgeport Red line stop (or the Orange line stop for that matter) at 6PM on a weeknight and tell me how many riders look like they are getting out of work in a downtown office? How many of that handful are going to fit into the "recent college grad" demographic?

Now go through the same exercise in Lakeview and the results will be DRAMATICALLY different.

Just orders of magnitude different. Probably 1000:1!

The "hype" is just that -- landlords that have run out of affordable properties to development in traditional north side hot spots are desperate to try to create the same kind of magic in other parts of Chicago. I admire their chutzpah but if there are people like the OP that truly want to have lots of others around like them they need to understand that many recent college grads truly would prefer getting a roommate or two to make rents more affordable and have many more amenities nearby then venturing into parts of the Chicago that are more affordable but also far less suited to the sorts of entertainment they'd find appealing....

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by chet everett

There are all kinds of people that are promoting the various options for the kinds of clueless recent college grads flooding into Chicago but mostly the hype does not match reality. I would challenge anyone to take a simple reality test: head down to the Bridgeport Red line stop (or the Orange line stop for that matter) at 6PM on a weeknight and tell me how many riders look like they are getting out of work in a downtown office? How many of that handful are going to fit into the "recent college grad" demographic?

Now go through the same exercise in Lakeview and the results will be DRAMATICALLY different.

Just orders of magnitude different. Probably 1000:1!

The "hype" is just that -- landlords that have run out of affordable properties to development in traditional north side hot spots are desperate to try to create the same kind of magic in other parts of Chicago. I admire their chutzpah but if there are people like the OP that truly want to have lots of others around like them they need to understand that many recent college grads truly would prefer getting a roommate or two to make rents more affordable and have many more amenities nearby then venturing into parts of the Chicago that are more affordable but also far less suited to the sorts of entertainment they'd find appealing....

Just Bridgeport though? Or are you saying that as a blanket statement for West Loop, Wicker Park, and Logan Square as well. I know Bridgeport (and Pilsen and East Humboldt Park to different degrees) are kind of recent "discovered" areas so it's more on the edge of things, but the other three as well?

Also, the change in Bridgeport is definitely there--though you're right, while there are recent grads there, it's a lot less white white collar professional sort. Then again, he said River North was something he liked and Bridgeport is very much not River North.

For most of the West Town neighborhoods, maybe the OP does swing a bit on the hipster side of things rather than with the bros, as in, what does Lincoln Park area not being the OP's cup of tea mean? What is his cup of tea?

[chet everett]

I don't care if the OP is some tattooed rebel type or some ultra ironic NormCore type there really just aren't nearly as many new college grad in Bridgeport or Pilsen as Lakeview, and the hype to try to attract them is largely driven by real estate types NOT some kind of explosion of hot new date night options. The various restaurants and such that have sprung in Pilsen or Bridgeport just do not have the same mix of patrons as places on the north side.

Wicker Park and Logan Square certainly do have more younger people than one would have found their a decade ago, but given the OP's ambiguous "not my cup of tea" about Lincoln Park might cause one to question what exactly they're looking for -- Lincoln Park has a well earned reputation of being a nice blend of somewhat worldly but still neighborhood oriented. While it appeals to many kinds of people, those that it turns off may be more at home in a more anonymous area...