Though the Chicago Spire has been defunct for years and its site is now owned by Related Media, new renderings have recently been released from architectural powerhouse Gensler that shows a ground-breaking development for the site.
Though no plans have been officially announced and the design was part of a competition within the firm, the renderings do show the phenomenal potential of the river and lake front site.
Read more at Curbed Chicago here .
The highly-anticipated Vista Tower, a supertall skyscraper designed by Jeanne Gang for a prominent site in the Neweast Side, has sold more than $200 million in condos since it launched its sales effort, according to a report in a Hong Kong-based publication.
The report says that the $200 million in sales has come in since March of this year. The tower will ultimately run about $1 billion and contain 406 residences and 191 hotel rooms...
A new transit-oriented development could soon be coming to Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park.
Deverlop BlitzLake Partners presented a proposal for 31 rental units above retail spaces that would replace two corner buildings at 2448 and 2463 N. Lincoln Avenue.
The development, just up the street from the redevelopment site of the old Children's Memorial Hospital, could further enliven the street in the area.
Read more at Crain's Chicago here ...
A shortage of inventory across the country will continue to make the buying process difficult, especially for first-time buyers this spring and summer.
Chicago has seen dramatic decreases in its inventory of houses for sales, particularly in the middle and bottom tiers. Year-over-year, Chicago's bottom tier inventory has declined by just over 15 percent while it's middle tier has seen a decline of 16.7 percent...
A busy corner in Lincoln Park could soon see a new 10-story mixed use building.
Ald. Brian Hopkins and the Sheffield Neighborhood Association hosted a meeting earlier this week for the building, which, if built, would be 105 feet tall and have 85 rental units.
The ground floor of the masonry, glass and concrete building would feature nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space. It would have 85 parking spaces and 85 bicycle spaces as well...
More sales numbers are in and the best selling suburb in the Chicago area for the month of April was Naperville
The popular western suburb notched a total of 271 sales versus Aurora's 221 and Plainfield's 175.
When adjusted in focus solely on attached homes such as condos and townhouses, Evanston joined the top three in third place with 64 sales, though still trailing Naperville and Aurora.
Read more at Chicago Agent Magazine here .
The numbers are in and once again the Near North Side is the champion with the most home sales in the month of April.
The popular neighborhood had a total of 261 sales. It was followed by the West Loop with 212 and the South Loop with 130.
Single family homes were, as usual, a different story. The Northwest Side dominated in that segment. Leading the pack was Norwood Park with 41 sales, followed by Portage Park with 37 and Dunning with 35...
April saw home sales rise to a 10-year high following three months of consecutive increases according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
The Pending Homes Sales Index was up 5.1 percent in April, a 4.6 percent increase from the previous year...
Millennials should look to Chicago when making their housing choices, even if they have student debt.
A new study from Apartment List, which looks at the total number of years it takes for Millennials to save for a down payment by metro areas, places the Chicago-area near the top of the list.
It should take a typical Millennial just three years to save for a down payment in Chicago, compared to 5.3 years nationwide. With student debt it takes only 3...
While the recent report from the U.S. Census showed Chicago slightly losing population, the Downtown area has bucked that trend.
The South Loop's population more than doubled from 2000 to 2014, while the Loop's population nearly doubled. The city as a whole lost 175,000 people, or 6.5 percent, during the same period.
Read more at DNAinfo Chicago here .
New home sales in the city of Chicago leapt by more than a third in the first four months of this year, according to Midwest Real Estate Data.
Builders have sold 449 new houses (that includes both detached and attached) so far this year, up from 334 from the same period in 2015. City homes sales in total were 7,707, up 3.4 percent from last year.
And since some builders never list their properties on the MLS, the total number of sales could be even higher...
New numbers out from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate strong construction of single family homes in 2016.
Through April of this year, new single family home construction was up 3.3 percent from March at a rate of 736,000. The total annual increase is 13.1 percent year over year.
Building permits in general were also up 3.6 percent, but even with all of the construction economists are predicting, the severe inventory shortage is likely to continue...
While the city of Chicago works through proposed changes to regulations for short-term rental facilities, largly effecting websites such as Airbnb and VRBO, condo owners in particular are vulnerable if they don't read the fine print carefully...
A new development could soon be coming to the South Loop area that would fill the last large vacant parcel in the downtown area and connect the Loop with Chinatown.
Developer Related Midwest has signed a deal to lead the development of 62 acres of riverfront land south of Roosevelt Road and just east of the Chicago River's South Branch.
The property, a former railyard, has sat vacant for decades...
Ending years of false starts, the Old Main Post Office, vacant since the 1990s and a potential anchor for development at an important gateway to downtown, has sold.
New York Developer 601W Companies purchased the building from long-time British owner Bill Davies ( who sadly passed away suddenly today shortly after selling the important Art Deco building)...
RealtyTrac is out with their report on mortgage activity for the Chicago area and while it shows a decline, the important fact is inside the numbers.
Through the entire first quarter, lenders saw a 16 percent decline from the previous year but purchase loans, the most important indicator of market activity, is actually up 11 percent over the previous year.
Refinancings fell 26 percent, meanwhile...
Home ownership continues to be a mainstay of the American Dream, but it's no secret that there are a variety of tax benefits that make home ownership among the most attractive investments most people can make.
The Chicago Tribune's columnist Benny Kass recently broke down the tax benefits:
• Real estate property taxes are deductible.
• Mortgage interest is deductible.
• Mortgage points are deductible...
According to CoreLogic's latest report, the Chicago Metro area is among the top cities for home flippers in the country.
The report analyzes the top 86 metros in the country and found that the median gross profit for property flippers, those that buy a building, fix it up and then re-sell it, is 68.4 percent or $76,000, enough to land the area the number 18 slot...
More market data is in and for the month of April, the fastest-selling market in the city was West Town, having 240 transactions with an average time on the market of 77 days.
Following closely behind was Logan Square with 106 sales and an average time of 81 days on the market.
Third place was the Near South Side with 94 total sales and an average of 94 days.
The top suburban market was Minooka with 29 sales and an average of just 77 days on the market...
Two Chicago suburbs were recently recognized as among the safest places in America, with 16 making the top 100.
The two suburbs that cracked the top 10 in real estate analytics company NeighborhoodScout were Lake-In-The-Hills (number 6) and Bartlett (number 8)...
