Belmont Cragin (Cicero, Irving, Melvin: homes, neighborhood, buy)

[8loody]

Anybody from the belmont cragin neigborhood around belmont and Narragansette? What do you guys think of the area?

[Alacran]

Polish.

Latinos creeping in from the south and east.

[666northstate]

The future is bleak. I would not buy there.

[8loody]

I have recently just drived around the area. Tons of renovation going on in the area; the sidewalks main streats side streats etc all getting fixed. The homes seem well maintained. The only bad areas i came across was once you come across Grand and central.

[666northstate]

Originally Posted by 8loody

I have recently just drived around the area. Tons of renovation going on in the area; the sidewalks main streats side streats etc all getting fixed. The homes seem well maintained. The only bad areas i came across was once you come across Grand and central.

If you will not consider what anyone else says, then why even ask the question?

[8loody]

implying i am not considering what anyone posts?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by 8loody

I have recently just drived around the area. Tons of renovation going on in the area; the sidewalks main streats side streats etc all getting fixed. The homes seem well maintained. The only bad areas i came across was once you come across Grand and central.

Yeah, well Park Manor looks pretty nice on the side streets too but I wouldn't recommend living there.

I wouldn't say BC's future looks "bleak" but its best days are behind it and its future is, at best, uncertain. Gang flare-ups are becoming increasingly commonplace.

[RingWalk]

I bike to the western suburbs regularly. I've found Fullerton borderline safe and Belmont pretty nice. Everything south of that is too rough to bike through in my opinion. It would be a real shame if that area down Belmont deteriorates. I was hoping it would go in the other direction.

[666northstate]

Originally Posted by 8loody

implying i am not considering what anyone posts?

If you like what you saw, move there. Obviously you have your doubts since you had to ask total strangers their opinions. Why even ask if you like what you saw?

[SonySegaTendo617]

I'd say the Belmont/Naragansett area is still safe, despite what others think. I don't have a crystal ball for knowing how that area will change in 10-20 years, but yes if you want to live near that intersection, you should be fine. I know someone who doesn't live too far away(let's just say it's slightly north of Belmont/Melvina), and I've never felt unsafe waiting for the bus late at night. The cops often eat at The Dog Stop(3 blocks east of here, plus it still maintains hours till I believe 2am-ish every night), plus a new liquor store and Dunkin Donuts opened up less than 2 years ago at the Belmont/Melvina intersection. (lol, I will say I love the fact it seems the DD there is one of the rare locations where the donuts are ACTUALLY made on site, plus the donut aroma is always fun to smell when I leave my friend's house)

Yes I agree that there are more business vacancies out there than there used to be(unfortunate, particularly when you think there used to be a diner at the NE corner of Belmont/Naragansett I have a very vague memory of years ago), but I recall seeing a few new businesses open up on Naragansett(on the west side of the street, just south of that intersection) within the last 1-2 years, plus a CVS opened up where a strip mall used to be on the SE corner. And let's remember anyway, that many of these NW side areas are struggling with high business storefront vacancy rates, that have nothing to necessarily do with crime. The West Belmont Library is just south of that intersection, and isn't a bad library, despite that I have a slight preference for the Austin-Irving branch north of there.

You could easily be choosing a much worse part of Belmont Cragin to live in, than the one you're looking at. (don't get me started about certain areas within that neighborhood that are worse, particularly say like Fullerton/Cicero.) And I'd completely agree with Alacran's analysis of it being Polish(and there is still a decent presence out in this area), but slowly becoming more Hispanic.