Neighborhood Names -Chicago (Lincoln, Madison, Fulton: rentals, lofts, mover)

[charlygal]

I'm doing research on Chicago neighborhoods. I'm looking for clean, safe areas with nice rental properties. I fingure I wold begin with the Loop and then move on out from there.

Can you provide the names of some of the areas surrounding the Loop? What are the name of some of the nicer areas in Chicago?

[marothisu]

What's your monthly housing budget, and what are you looking for in a neighborhood? Will you want to live in a denser neighborhood that's walkable or do you not care about that? Which part of town will you be working in?

That will determine a list of areas

[charlygal]

Originally Posted by marothisu

What's your monthly housing budget, and what are you looking for in a neighborhood? Will you want to live in a denser neighborhood that's walkable or do you not care about that? Which part of town will you be working in?

That will determine a list of areas

May be working in the West Loop near Madison Ave. Budget is a max of $1800/month. Prefer midrise/smaller buildings over highrises. Near trains. Prefer to stay as close to the West Loop as possible.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by charlygal

May be working in the West Loop near Madison Ave. Budget is a max of $1800/month. Prefer midrise/smaller buildings over highrises. Near trains. Prefer to stay as close to the West Loop as possible.

I see. In what general area of Madison Avenue? This might matter..

The Loop is a pretty boring place - it is mainly offices minus a few parts in the east of the neighborhood. I guess you could afford a 1 bedroom in the West Loop, most likely. Not THE most exciting place, but not the most boring either. A good amount of good food in that neighborhood, some bars and lounges and such. You're going to want to stay West of the interstate.

There may be other options too, depending on where the office is on Madison.

[oakparkdude]

BTW, its Madison St. Madison Ave is in NYC.

[charlygal]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

BTW, its Madison St. Madison Ave is in NYC.

Sorry. I lived in NYC fo 10 years.

Anyway, what are the names of the nicer neighborhoods that are adjacent to the Loop?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by charlygal

Anyway, what are the names of the nicer neighborhoods that are adjacent to the Loop?

First of all, refer to my response above. Second of all, the Loop and West Loop are not the same things. Pretty much every neighborhood adjacent to the Loop is nice (including the Loop itself, but I wouldn't recommend living there), not usually cheap, and all growing still. There are neighborhoods that are not adjacent but pretty near to West Loop you might be interested in such as Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village area, Lincoln Park, etc. Again, it will depend on how long of a commute you're willing to do and this also matters where on Madison you'll be working. Also what kind of neighborhood you're looking for (i.e. types of people, establishments, etc).

[chet everett]

West Loop is becoming an overly generic term. It can include spots east of the Kennedy / West of the river that generally is very boring and really only a "plus" for folks who want a very short walk to the office. Further west "Greek Town" has a slightly wider range of eateries and bars but also attracts lots of tourists. North of that the "resturant row" near Randolph has many well regarded eating spots but also the mess / smells or those establishments as well as the hold-outs from the Fulton Market area and little real neighborhood feel. West of that the United Center area is adding a lot of residential units but the scale wholesale redevelopment is unlikely to ever to give the area the kind of feel of other northside areas. North of there the Fulton River area is kind of an intereting transition from the rail yards of the West Loop to the nightclubs and such of other areas like Wicker Park and Ukranian Village...

South Loop too is developing a few different sub-neighborhoods, the portions closest to Congress were developed long enough ago that it's going through a secondary redevelopment with some of the original lofts and such from Printers Row and Dearborn Station becoming more appealing.Sections closer to Canal benefit from the good access to regular shopping at Target and Whole Foods. Sections east of State are more oriented high rise living.

The areas to the east / north east of the Loop are very strongly high rise oriented from the older Illinois Center and East Randolph condos to the new rentals like Aqua. Not much "street life". North of that, across the river, Streeterville suffers from some of the same isolated feel. West of their, River North is much mover lively. Arguably the areas closer to the north State Parkway, know as the Gold Coast, have a scale that is not so alienating, but the relative mix of folks that just don't linger at more youth oriented nightspots makes it harder to recommend...

[Carson9]

Originally Posted by marothisu

First of all, refer to my response above. Second of all, the Loop and West Loop are not the same things. Pretty much every neighborhood adjacent to the Loop is nice (including the Loop itself, but I wouldn't recommend living there), not usually cheap, and all growing still. There are neighborhoods that are not adjacent but pretty near to West Loop you might be interested in such as Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village area, Lincoln Park, etc. Again, it will depend on how long of a commute you're willing to do and this also matters where on Madison you'll be working. Also what kind of neighborhood you're looking for (i.e. types of people, establishments, etc).

She said she'd be working on Madison in the West Loop (hopefully somewhere between Ashland and Halsted). If this is the case, she could get a very nice 1 bed rental for $1850. It's a great area to live in, and if she's working there too the commute would be awesome.