Nice Suburbs Along I-80? (Chicago, Joliet: rental, condo, house)

[chet everett]

Just trying to sow some "why can't we all just get along" love but I do think the relatively low densities of the south & SW burbs (due to things like forest preserves and lack of major employment hubs) do make it seem A LOT MORE RURAL than places a similar travel time out along the west / northwest / west corridors.

You do "feel like you are the sticks" but you are probably a shorter travel time to Chicago that the Loop to Evanston...

[urza216]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Just trying to sow some "why can't we all just get along" love but I do think the relatively low densities of the south & SW burbs (due to things like forest preserves and lack of major employment hubs) do make it seem A LOT MORE RURAL than places a similar travel time out along the west / northwest / west corridors.

You do "feel like you are the sticks" but you are probably a shorter travel time to Chicago that the Loop to Evanston...

You are right that we don't have very many 15 story office buildings down here. But the factories and steel mills down here employ a lot of people. Yes, there are still factories and steel mills down here (even if I'll be one of the first people to complain about the many of them that closed down). For instance, the Ford plant on the east side of Chicago Heights and the big old industrial park on the southern end of University Park.

Relatively low densities? Until you show me stats, I'm calling B.S. The densities are prabobly higher since a lot of the houses are smaller than a lot of the houses out west and up north.

Chet, have you ever even been to Homewood? Or have you just seen images of it on google maps? You were dead wrong about they're being few apartments in downtown Homewood. Maybe, just maybe, you don't know what you're talking about either. In no way, shape or form does Lansing feel like the schtics.



Chet and others,

Stop taking Chummy Waters seriously. You know how I know he's trolling? According to this short two-page thread, he lives in the same far south suburban town I live in. Not only is Monee south of I-80, it's south of the Cook County line (Steger Road).

[chet everett]

I was in Indiana this weekend and instead of taking the expressway all the way back I got off 65 and took US 30/ Lincoln Hwy. I generally am in NWI about half a dozen times times a year. I filled up my tank at the Costco in Merriliville. American Sales had pools on sale. With the rain / drizzle Sunday morning it was not much faster to stick to the expressway. The actual mills are in East Chicago or Burns Harbor -- you cannot be taken serious if you think those are still major employers. The numbers are tiny fraction of what was in the industry.

I don't understand why anyone would argue that the densities of basically every kind of development is greater in the W/NW/N burbs. There is just so more room between everything in the south / southwest burbs -- this is not a "knock" -- there are golf courses and forest preserves instead of office parks and strip malls. You've got the huge quarry by Thornton. There are railyards and canals. The traffic volumes are vastly different. The OP asked places to rent between Joliet and Hammond -- that is a looong stretch and since Homewood is, by your own admission, NOT directly served by an interchange off of 80 it is probably not the ideal spot, even though it is between the towns the OP asked about. Tinley Park is further west but at least has the full interchange at Harlem which makes for less travel on surface streets. It is has more strip centers but also more apartment complexes. Sheesh, what why can't we all just get along???

[urza216]

Chet, if you would have turned onto State Street from Lincoln Highway, you would have seen pleanty of industrial actvity such as Calumet Steel. Chicago Heights still has industrial activity but it is nothing like how it once was.

And that is incorrect. If you exit south onto Halsted from I-80 you are in Homewood. Nowhere did I "admit" otherwise. I said Flossmoor is a little bit south of I-80 but you can pull into Homewood right off of an exit ramp from the I-80 exprssway. Homewood is along I-80 but Flossmoor is a little south.

Oh, and BTW: In between 394 and 57, Lincoln Highway goes through Ford Heights, Chicago Heights, Olympia Fields and Matteson. So I presume this means the answer is "No, I have never been to Homewood"?

[chet everett]

Presume nothing.

I have been in Homewood, in fact I stopped for breakfast at Blueberry Hill. A lot less crowded than the one near me, same menu. Nice place. A long time ago I shopped for homes in that area. I think I would have made out alright economically (1980s) but decided instead to buy rental homes nearer to where I live -- easier to manage.

Geez, you want me to dump the data from my GPS or something?

[urza216]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Presume nothing.

I have been in Homewood, in fact I stopped for breakfast at Blueberry Hill. A lot less crowded than the one near me, same menu. Nice place. A long time ago I shopped for homes in that area. I think I would have made out alright economically (1980s) but decided instead to buy rental homes nearer to where I live -- easier to manage.

Geez, you want me to dump the data from my GPS or something?

If you want to know the roads like a native to the area then most GPS devices kinda suck, quite honestly. This is why truckers shell out four hundred bucks for thier GPS device without any hesitation or second thoughts. The biggest problem with your standard run-of-the-mill GPS device is that it doesn't understand that the roads have changed and are different than the way they were a few years ago.. But yeah, Chet, if your GPS device didn't tell you that you can exit south onto Halsted Street from I-80and pull into Homewood then I guess it was missing a piece of data.

Blueberry Hill in Homewood is very tasty with great selection but it's a bit pricey. I ate there with my mom a few months ago and saw a small crowd of people. Most of the regular customers at Blueberry Hill prabobly don't work at Calumet Steel, if you know what I mean. A busier pankake house is the Big Apple Pancake House in Park Forest. It's on Western Avenue and I'd recommend it if you're ever in the area. Because it's on the north side of the road, it's technically in Chicago Heights (so don't actually punch "Park Forest" into your GPS device) but if you tell people it's in Chicago Heights, they're less likely to go there... lol

[supportyourschools]

Homewood is served by two exits off of I80, Dixie Hwy and Halsted. There are quite a few rentals in the downtown Homewood area. A good number of the businesses along Dixie Hwy and Ridge Rd. have residential apartments above them. There is also a large house off of Dixie Hwy (I think on Hickory?) that is divided up into several rental units. The rentals are a little harder to find, but they do exist. I used to live in one

I love Homewood.

[deechee]

This has everything to do with nice suburbs along I-80.

Stick with Homewood, OP.

[chet everett]

I don't think it look quite like Arkansas, but I do have to admit that the amount of "urbanization" that makes basically the entire north half 294 (from Ike through Wisconsin) seem fully "mall-ified" is less intensive in southern suburbs.

Personally I like the slightly more distinctive mix of developments that give the S & SW burbs the kind of feel that you don't really get in the N/NW burbs , but I won't agree to using overly negative connotations to disparage the area or its residents. The funny thing is that the more urban suburbs of the south side (like say Oak Lawn) strike me as probably a bit more dense than say Morton Grove or Skokie.

I think it has more to do with the kinds of developers that were active in each area and reflects different trends in what was the more profitable model for development. In some ways similar patterns can be seen if you compare an area like Gurnee to say Plainfield -- both were "booming" at the about the same time but the developers in one area choose to incorporate a different mix of both residential and retail elements... One is not "better" than the other, just different.

[deechee]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I don't think it look quite like Arkansas, but I do have to admit that the amount of "urbanization" that makes basically the entire north half 294 (from Ike through Wisconsin) seem fully "mall-ified" is less intensive in southern suburbs.
... One is not "better" than the other, just different.

Exactly