Moving to chicago for school (Normal, Addison: apartment, lease, condo)

[skratchmo]

Hi everyone. I will be moving back to Chicago to go to school at IIT (state and 31st). I will have a budget of no more than $1000/month for rent for a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment. I would like to stay in Bridgeport since it's close and I lived there when I went there for undergrad so I know it's a decent, safe neighborhood.

My question to you guys is what other neighborhoods would you recommend for that budget? It doesn't necessarily have to be real close to IIT but I also don't want anything on the far north side. I have looked online at several of the links in the sticky thread in this forum and they have kinda helped. I just want to get some opinions from people who actually live there.

[soulful]

For 1000.00 a month you pretty much can have your pick of neighborhoods. You can even get a small 1br/1bath in an East Lakeview vintage courtyard type building which is an ultra cool neighborhood. I am not sure how you define far north so perhaps Lakeview (addison or belmont red line stops) are too far up for you? Most consider Rogers Park "far north" so maybe you would be ok with Lakeview as I know other IIT students who live in Lakeview and commute without a problem.

You could also live in the South Loop as there are so many vacant condo buildings you may find a good deal in a larger apartment. However, you have to be careful when renting in a condo building as even if they give you a 1 year lease with no "out" clauses for the landlord, you could get kicked out at the end of the year if they have "sold" your unit. This is why I hate the idea of renting in condo buildings. Plus, they have the right to "show" your unit while you are living there. Anyway, despite all those caveats, there are good deals to be had at the moment

Wicker Park is also cool.

[chet everett]

I agree, nothing special about Bridgeport, with your budget you can live basically anywhere in the city.

If there is something that draws you to Bridgeport (Sox games?) I think you can find a lot bigger palce for $1,000.

[skratchmo]

Well I was just thinking of Bridgeport because it's really close to school and I could walk if I wanted to and I wouldn't have to spend too much time commuting back and forth on the train/driving. But like I said I'm not 100% committed to Bridgeport.

I was thinking anything north of Belmont or maybe Addison to be my definition of "far north" in terms of distance from IIT. But I guess if I find a nice place up there who knows.

[chet everett]

One of the bad things about walking to IIT from Bridgeport is the "wasteland" that the State of Illinois created in the way it "parking lot carpet bombed" everything between the Dan Ryan and Normal along 33rd , though I guess this arguably better because of Armour Sq Park than the over the 35 St viaduct. Additionally the stretch from where the Ryan dominates to actually being on the IIT Campus (vs the service alleys that the stretch from Wentworth to Dearborn is...) is easily a quarter of mile of yuck, especially in the worst weather of winter -- it ain't there are shop keepers to shovel that...

Not hard to figure out why the north side college area and that other baseball team attract a much more vibrant street scene.

[Surfindude]

Hyde Park isn't far from there.