Parkside of Old Town Development -- good investment? (section 8, apartments)

[charleypartanna]

Anyone have any thoughts on the investment potential in the townhouses at the Parkside of Old Town development (Parkside of Old Town) at 465 West Division? (Yes, right across from Caprini Green.) The townhomes start at $500,000. Seems like a decent deal for being so close to the loop.

Any thoughts on what to expect for that area over the next five years?


-- Charley

[desibear]

I'd look at these as more of a home than as an investment per se. The location is good and it's only going to get better through the years. My big issue with this place was the small amount of space you get and the relatively high assessments. If you are interested in planned communities like this, check out University Village and Roosevelt Square as well. Basically more bang for the buck and I personally like the near west side more than that part of old town. More of the smaller restaurants, pubs, etc..

[Drover]

Crime is still way too much of an issue in that area for me to spend half a million to live there -- especially when that kind of scratch can buy me a rather nice single-family home with a yard and two-car garage on an extra-wide lot in my current (and substantially safer) neighborhood.

[Phl_Gd]

We looked at Parkside as well but decided against it in late 2006 for the following reasons:
--> The unknown of a mixed income development
--> We got a lot less space in a $600,000 townhome than we did in a Single Family further west.
--> Not really 'neighborhoody'...too manufactured and not 'city-ish'
--> Price does not indicate a lot of upside (margin) from an investment perspective. At least compared to further west.
--> Didn't like the idea of the apartments looking over our roof top deck in the townhomes.

[Na'Kenyah]

Do you accept section 8 vouchers?

[lincolnparker]

yeah, the streets around cabrini green are littered with garbage, and people are still loitering on the st. I am now thinking its one of those condo/townhome developments where you go straight to garage and drive to where you want to go, then come home in your car, all without having to walk on the street. who knows, you might be stopped by some random people and get killed in bright day light. I might be a little paranoided, but it is definitely a possibility after going to some of the new developments near cabrini green

[lincolnparker]

oh and also, I overheard some people talk about the possibility of a bullet comes through your townhome window while you watch tv in your living room. Scary?!

[PokerPlayer1]

Originally Posted by charleypartanna

Anyone have any thoughts on the investment potential in the townhouses at the Parkside of Old Town development (Parkside of Old Town) at 465 West Division? (Yes, right across from Caprini Green.) The townhomes start at $500,000. Seems like a decent deal for being so close to the loop.

Any thoughts on what to expect for that area over the next five years?


-- Charley

Are you willing to invest a half-million dollars to participate in an "experiment" that is designed by idealists who have consistently shown a complete detachment from reality?

For those who aren't familiar with the concept: "Relative yield" is a central precept of value investing. What that means is while something might appear to be a "good deal" when examined independent of everything else, the more important matter addresses whether or not the selected investment is a "good deal" relative to other investment vehicles of a similar type.
For example, Stock XYZ might be a 'great deal' because of it's cheap price for a 6% taxable dividend yield, but if your only concern was yield, would you buy shares of Stock XYZ if you could get a 6% tax free yield by investing the same amount of money in Municipal Bonds? Of course not. You would buy the Municipal bonds instead, even though stock XYZ might be a 'good deal' in it's own right.

The point is, while Parkside of Old Town may have some long term viability and prospect value, it's probably an inferior choice (with substantial added risk, given their "mixed income" status) to other, available neighborhoods where your $500K would buy a lot more potential.

One last thing: A 5 year timeframe for an 'up and coming area' is way too short. Everyone's been waiting for Pilsen to 'whiten up' for 20 years now, and it's very slow going. That particular area you're looking at is probably on the low end of the gentrification-time-spectrum given it's location, but I would expect at least a 10 year soak, just to be safe.

[BRU67]

A friend of mine lives in the Cabrini area. It just feels...I don't know, kind of like a colony or base of some sort. The cops are a very strong presence 24/7. You often see squad cars just parked on corners in the upscale parts. That may give the illusion of safety to some but to me is kind of frightening, not to mention a major waste of resources given the amount of crime in other parts of the City. In that respect, this is definitely an "experiment" that the taxpayers of the City on the whole are subsidizing.

And don't think the CHA projects are virtually gone. There are still plenty of them around the area. Residents of the new buildings were practically holding parties every time one of the "reds" or the "whites" would come down (so much for diversity). That was proceeding with haste for awhile but with the housing bust, will that continue? My guess is no, at least for awhile.

Overall, you could probably do much better in other parts of the City for that amount of money.

[oldtwnrs]

I currently live in the townhomes of Parkside and we love it. It is a quick and easy walk to Wells St, the brown line and the red line. It is centrally located in the city and is close to many of the desirable shops and restaurants. The main selling point for us was the location and the price. We bought one of the larger corner townhomes. Yes, these have a hefty price point, but they also have many included upgrades with attached garages that supply plenty of extra storage. In terms of safety or "bullets flying through the windows while watching TV," there have been no issues. The townhomes have 2 units per row of affordable housing and/or section 8. The families in our row are very nice and have caused no trouble. They go through extensive screening before becoming approved to live in these units. Further, there are association managers living throughout the units in case of any issues. There are also many young families that have moved into these homes are very pleased. It is close to the Cabrini row homes, however, they do not come by the development, and we feel safe. In terms of appreciation, our unit has already appreciated 35k since our purchase in 2007. The investment factor was another great selling point. Before eliminating these homes and moving to the outskirts of the city, talk to the residents or someone who is educated on the topic.