Is Berwyn potentially the next Oak Park? (Chicago, Naperville: houses, neighborhoods)

[Humboldt1]

Runuova,

I may have an aversion to ghetto black behavior but here is some sound advice for Berwyn. The further you are away from Cicero the better you will be. Also steer clear of roosevelt (traffic and rundown). Berwyn becomes decent as you go south, particularly south of cermak (22nd st). Also steer clear of areas near large apartment buildings as that is where you will find most of the Sect 8.

In my opinion, the area near downtown, closest to Metra is the best part of Berwyn.

Bru,

Which part of Berwyn do you favor?

[BRU67]

Personally, because I like bungalows, my favorite areas are the Proksa Park area (still called "Berwyn Park" on some maps) (27th St. to the north, the BNSF line to the south, Harlem to the west, and Kenilworth to the east) and the "Gold Coast" (16th to the north, Cermak to the south, Harlem to the west and maybe Clinton to the east). A lot of octagon bungalows with leaded and stained glass windows and fancy brick. The Proksa Park area is also good because it has the highest scoring elementary school (Emerson) and there's the Metra right there.

Riverside Drive also has some really nice, larger "hybrid" type bungalows. There are larger Victorian houses in the older part of town between the BNSF tracks, Ogden Ave, Harlem and Oak Park.

Roosevelt is undergoing a streetscape and has improved greatly over the past 5 years. It captures the demographics of Oak Park and has high traffic counts. Wishbone and Bohdi Thai have opened there and there are more restaurants coming. I'd say that trend will continue and help make far north Berwyn nicer.

The east part starts to resemble Cicero more in terms of housing stock (simpler flat faced bungalows and one story bungalows). It's not bad but more dense, and the houses tend to be smaller and less ornate.

[BC60402]

I grew up in Berwyn and things changed for the worse growing up, however I believe they're on track to do some great things in the next 10 years, so I would say a great investment right now. The Berwyn Development Corp. (BDC) is an amazing organization that is really creating a unique marriage between business and government, acting as the economic engine to revamp whole city blocks at a time. Here is their news archive on Berwyn:

Berwyn In The News

Sorry if this thread is dead, but thought I would add it.

[BRU67]

This is a good link for news articles on the community, and they seem to update it regularly. I added it to the "Berwyn Yes or No...fill me in" thread because it's the longest and most viewed thread relating to Berwyn.

[jop]

I lived in Berwyn and raised my kids happily there until right before high school. I had to move as the Morton HS district is really bad and unsafe. Lots of nice housing stock there with great prices but very " good old boys" politics as well. Plus and minus. In the long run moving was a good idea. Oak Park is far too trendy.expensive,and many restrictive laws.

[BRU67]

You didn't have to, you chose to. I know parents who have their kids in West and they're fine with it, and the kids will be going to college. Is it a top scoring school? Absolutely not and it definitely faces challenges, but those could be overcome if people gave it a chance and got involved.

[jop]

Real Estate: Community Intelligence Map, Attractions, Schools & Crime Statistics - chicagotribune.com I do agree you can raise your kids anywhere and get good results but why send them to such poorly rated schools when you are able to do better for them? Don't get me wrong, South Berwyn has some lovely homes and friendly neighbors..but I moved as crime was rising and schools were declining. I moved 12 years ago.. looking at Berwyn statistics I feel I made the right move... But the family has nice memories of wide front porches, riding bikes and profitable lemonade stands...

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by jop

Real Estate: Community Intelligence Map, Attractions, Schools & Crime Statistics - chicagotribune.com I do agree you can raise your kids anywhere and get good results but why send them to such poorly rated schools when you are able to do better for them? Don't get me wrong, South Berwyn has some lovely homes and friendly neighbors..but I moved as crime was rising and schools were declining. I moved 12 years ago.. looking at Berwyn statistics I feel I made the right move... But the family has nice memories of wide front porches, riding bikes and profitable lemonade stands...

Whatever helps you justify it I suppose. I don't know what statistics you looked at but per the Illinois State Police's UCR data, Berwyn's 2009 crime rate was 3,195/100,000. Berwyn's 1999 crime rate was 3,444/100k per that same data. Comparatively, Oak Park's rate was 4,395/100k and River Forest's was 3,185/100k in 2009.

IMHO, those who justified moving when the Hispanic influx came in the late 1990s/early 2000s because of "crime" were really moving based on the perception crime would increase, which it ultimately did not per the ISP uniform statistics. But beliefs die hard, and perceptions become reality for some.

Poorly rated schools? Emerson elementary is in the top 25% of Illinois schools, and Irving Elementary, Piper Elementary, and Heritage Middle School also did well also on the 2011 ISAT. So I don’t think that’s fair to say that as a generalized sweeping statement. Morton West does stink (no way around admitting that) but a charter school is in the works that hopefully will offer a good alternative for parents other than private schools.

Having moved in a few years after you apparently left, I can say the community definitely has held up during the 12 years since you left and is on the rise. I hope your new community can say the same.

[BigLake]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Personally, because I like bungalows, my favorite areas are the Proksa Park area (still called "Berwyn Park" on some maps) (27th St. to the north, the BNSF line to the south, Harlem to the west, and Kenilworth to the east) and the "Gold Coast" (16th to the north, Cermak to the south, Harlem to the west and maybe Clinton to the east). A lot of octagon bungalows with leaded and stained glass windows and fancy brick. The Proksa Park area is also good because it has the highest scoring elementary school (Emerson) and there's the Metra right there.

Riverside Drive also has some really nice, larger "hybrid" type bungalows. There are larger Victorian houses in the older part of town between the BNSF tracks, Ogden Ave, Harlem and Oak Park.

Roosevelt is undergoing a streetscape and has improved greatly over the past 5 years. It captures the demographics of Oak Park and has high traffic counts. Wishbone and Bohdi Thai have opened there and there are more restaurants coming. I'd say that trend will continue and help make far north Berwyn nicer.

The east part starts to resemble Cicero more in terms of housing stock (simpler flat faced bungalows and one story bungalows). It's not bad but more dense, and the houses tend to be smaller and less ornate.

Berwyn actually has the nicer side (relatively) of Roosevelt, though Wishbone is gone, it's been replaced by an Italian place. You also have autre monde. Oak Park on the other hand is getting a gun shop.

[urza216]

Rosevelt Road is heaven. I wish I didn't have to leave. How is it "run down"? That makes no sense. Please don't tell me "run down" is a code word now. And when is Buoana's gonna open up in Orland like the manager said they would?