Villa Park a good idea? (Chicago, Cicero: sales, renting, condo) - Chicago Suburbs - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

BC60402 · 03-24-2009, 09:44 PM

Hello all-

I just recently moved from Berwyn to Elmhurst and the change has been like night and day. I have been renting however and am now looking to buy this summer. We left Berwyn because of the gangs, graffiti and crime. Elmhurst has been wonderful, but in the interests of not living "house poor", have decided to look at other areas.

That said, I have been looking at Villa Park and have received mixed reviews. Housing is obviously more affordable than Elmhurst and gives me a more "blue collar" feel. I do see that there are a few "active" gangs (coming from Cicero and Berwyn I use that term loosely), but how prevalent are they? Do you see Villa Park as being on a downward trend? Will it gentrify? North Avenue reminds me of Melrose Park, but the rest of the town looks decent. I work in the northern burbs, so staying near I-294 is a must. Any info from residents would be greatly appreciated.

Prairie · 03-26-2009, 05:26 AM

Villa Park is a good choice for getting more house for the $. I do not see Villa Park in a downward trend at all in fact it is a budding community. Look for homes in near the Prairie Path - off of St. Charles Road.

gardener34 · 03-26-2009, 07:02 PM

Yeah, stay near the older part of town, the nearest to Elmhurst actually. Stay out of Brandywine townhouse development. Someone we know got robbed 3x in one year there. (this was years ago though). I think the south end is generally better. We almost bought in villa park as I spent much time there. Growing up in elmhurst, where do you think all elmhurst residents shop? Certainly not Elmhurst. In Lombard and VP.

crbcrbrgv · 03-26-2009, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BC60402

Hello all-

I just recently moved from Berwyn to Elmhurst and the change has been like night and day. I have been renting however and am now looking to buy this summer. We left Berwyn because of the gangs, graffiti and crime. Elmhurst has been wonderful, but in the interests of not living "house poor", have decided to look at other areas.

That said, I have been looking at Villa Park and have received mixed reviews. Housing is obviously more affordable than Elmhurst and gives me a more "blue collar" feel. I do see that there are a few "active" gangs (coming from Cicero and Berwyn I use that term loosely), but how prevalent are they? Do you see Villa Park as being on a downward trend? Will it gentrify? North Avenue reminds me of Melrose Park, but the rest of the town looks decent. I work in the northern burbs, so staying near I-294 is a must. Any info from residents would be greatly appreciated.

Gangs, graffiti and crime? Where did you live, on the corner of Lombard and 16th? Villa Park is fine. One of my best friends has lived there for years with his family. I'll have to be honest. A lot of parts of Berwyn will gentrify and increase in value before Villa Park. I'm kind of surprised you didn't look between Ogden and the tracks/Harlem and Oak Park Avenue.

BRU67 · 03-26-2009, 11:09 PM

Who knows? You pays your money and you takes your choices, or however that saying goes. I grew up in Elmhurst and live in Berwyn now and you're right, it's like night and day -- but in a good way IMHO. But then again, I lived in the City for quite some time and I like a more walkable urban type area that's close to public transit. Elmhurst doesn't really offer this unless you live right downtown (which of course costs $$$$). I guess it's what you prefer.

I don't know if Villa Park will ever become Elmhurst West, if that's what you're thinking. I don't know if people who find Elmhurst a bit too expensive are going into Villa Park at this point. A lot of people choose Elmhurst because of the schools. The schools in Villa Park aren't bad, but certainly not top tier (Willowbrook HS is below the State average on the ISAT -- which would probably cause it to be ruled out for the type of person who typically considers Elmhurst).

There's also, if it matters to you, an increasing Hispanic population in Villa Park. School Dist. 45 is now nearly 30% Hispanic and its LEP (Limited English Proficiency) rate is 27%, which is actually higher than North Berwyn Dist. 98 where you use to live (11%). So if that's why you didn't like Berwyn/Cicero, well...

There's a Metra station there, which is a good feature, and I'd probably try to stay close to that if possible. Public transit access will be key to the future of most communities I think.

BC60402 · 03-27-2009, 08:07 AM

Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it. Was not trying to bash Berwyn- the main reason for moving was that I am in sales and am headquartered in Vernon Hills, so I like the central location of the Elmhurst area to reach many of the major highways for the commute in minutes. Growing up in Berwyn, I would love more than anything for the City to gentrify. I guess I should have stated that I wanted a nice community to live in and was hoping for that in Villa Park. As a kid I loved it in Berwyn and still do to this day, but I have to tell you that the gang influence is much more prevalent than maybe you see on the surface. I came up through dist 100, which is the supposed better of the two, and you had many gangs represented starting in the sixth grade there. That was in the 90's, so I would assume it hasn't weakened since then. I do believe that Berwyn is headed in the right direction though and I believe that a large possible propellant of this trend would be to work much more strongly with Michael Flight, the property manager at Cermak Plaza. It is currently about 50% vacant with the exit of Circuit City and their other flagship, Office Depot, is limping through this economy and may not exist a year from now. I see it advantageous to raze the entire property in phases, relocating current tenants to new storefronts, bringing in a big box retailer such as Costco or Meijer (who have both expressed interest to the City in having a presence there), and utilize the land much better than it currently is. That large barren land mass behind the Plaza should be utilized, relocating the car wash elsewhere as it is the only thing back there. There are great things happening up and down Roosevelt and the Depot Dist. is nice too. I see Cermak as being a fight, but it is one the city could win. New businesses such as Bodhi Thai and Wing's Firehouse have been great additions to the City, now we must keep that trend moving and not just allow dollar stores and currency exchanges. Sorry for the rambling. It only shows my passion for Berwyn

BRU67 · 03-27-2009, 09:39 AM

That’s cool. I wasn’t trying to argue with you there. I live where you came from and lived where you are now so I thought I'd chime in is all.

Glad you still have the Berwyn passion. Never in my life have I seen so many non-residents so passionate about a community. You could hold a gun to my head and I wouldn’t be able to tell you the Elmhurst Mayor/President/Team Captain or whatever they call their leader these days. The only reason the town is still even in my thought process is because they have a Buffalo Wild Wings

By contrast, I bet you could tell me Mayor O’Connor’s date of birth, favorite color and what he had for breakfast this morning!

Good news is that good people are replacing people like yourself. A lot of young professionals are moving in from Chicago and Oak Park (would you have pictured that 20 years ago?) and buying their first house. This seems to have accelerated as of late, at least in my ‘hood.

I too think revitalization of the Plaza would be helpful. Reportedly, there are some good deals in the works there (which you have summarized) but, as Flight is in the driver’s seat, you never know for certain. Problem with that is there’s only so much the City can do regarding privately owned property. Berwyn definitely drew the short end of the stick when Bermant bought that place all those years ago.

BC60402 · 03-27-2009, 01:03 PM

Where do you live? I grew up on 26th and Clinton, then lived in the Depot for a while on Home and Stanley, the better parts of B-town.

Maybe in a few years I will be in a different career and be able to take advantage of Berwyn once again. You can't beat the 15 minute Metra ride DT.

bulldawg1594 · 03-27-2009, 05:24 PM

Villa Park is a lot better than Berwyn, and you wouldn't have a problem with any gangs.

BRU67 · 03-27-2009, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BC60402

Where do you live? I grew up on 26th and Clinton, then lived in the Depot for a while on Home and Stanley, the better parts of B-town.

Maybe in a few years I will be in a different career and be able to take advantage of Berwyn once again. You can't beat the 15 minute Metra ride DT.

Near Proksa Park, not far from where you grew up. Yes, you sure can't beat the 15 minute Metra ride downtown from this place

That's pretty much why I picked this particular area in the first place. A little more development in the Depot District and we'll be perfect. Hopefully the new condo project will ignite something!