It’s Astor Street Week on Crib Chatter

1210 n astor

Looking back on all of the chatter we’ve done on the Gold Coast, I realized that we actually haven’t chattered all that much about Astor Street.

Considered by many to be one of the most prestigious streets in all of Chicago, it has a mix of vintage and modern, single family homes, co-ops and condos.

Tour groups still stroll the street and the sound of horse drawn carriages echoes throughout the block.

It stretches only from Division to E. North Blvd (aka, Lincoln Park) which, according to Google Maps, is just a half a mile.

Does Astor Street still carry with it the same cache?

Or is it a remnant from another time with buyers now wanting “new” with more amenities and views?

 

22 Responses to “It’s Astor Street Week on Crib Chatter”

  1. I wouldn’t want to live there, the smell of old people makes me feel ill

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  2. It’s a great location. Near the lake, and within walking distance to the loop for those who work. Also within walking distance to the Viagra triangle area for fine dining and high-end shopping on Oak St. & Michigan Ave.

    Whats not to like about the area? If its price, its roughly the same price as Lincoln Park single family homes. If its a lack of “new”, many of these homes have been rehabbed, some even gutted, to basically new condition on the inside.

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  3. I would love to live on Astor street. The homes are so pretty and it has few (if any) cinder block monstrosities like Lincoln Park and Lakeview.

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  4. It is definitely a great street and location. Pretty much walk to everything. Very convenient for city living and shopping. However, it does lack a bit of youthfulness, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think Astor and surrounding streets will maintain its elegance, but I don’t see it attracting the younger set anytime soon.

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  5. plus you guys are forgetting the bars/clubs on Division which is only 1 or 2 blocks walking distance away. So i don’t think its that the younger-set doesn’t like the area. Its just too pricey for them to afford it. Which is why you mostly get 40 year old+ in the area. Since other than family money, you need to be 40+ to have made enough money to afford the area.

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  6. “forgetting the bars/clubs on Division”

    That’s a bug, not a feature.

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  7. IMO these are two shared misconceptions about GC: Russ’s “.. However, it does lack a bit of youthfulness…” & b’s “… Its just too pricey for them ..you need to be 40+ to have made enough money to afford the area.”

    While unquestionably there’s more elderly residents, I note a significant % of 25-40 y.o. residents in GC (skewing somewhat more female which I believe reflects perceived safety of neighborhood & proximity to downtown jobs). Ime GC pricing is very comparable to LP – lots of affordable condos (including 1 BRs @ sub $200K & 2 BRs in low to mid $300K’s & also plentiful supply of rentals @ around $2 psf and up). I don’t dispute there’s no shortage of wealthier older folks but they aren’t the only residents of GC neighborhood

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  8. “note a significant % of 25-40 y.o. residents in GC (skewing somewhat more female which I believe reflects perceived safety of neighborhood & proximity to downtown jobs”

    and proximity to gold digging

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  9. “and proximity to gold digging” As Helmut Hofer, HH’s patron sinner & personal moral compass guide would attest, there are gold diggers of various genders.
    Having said that, I’ll admit GC appears to attract more than a random distribution of attractive females of east European backgrounds

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  10. Elderly people usually make go neighbors. They are quiet and usually don’t smoke (since the ones that did smoke died off). They don’t tend not to grill food, which means I can sit outside on my balcony without worrying they are suddenly going to come outside to burn up raw muscle. They don’t laugh very loudly or wear backwards baseball caps with madras shorts. If they do wear shorts, their legs tend to be less hairy and they pull their socks up to their knees. (Although, the ones who have hair growing out of their ears freak me out.)

    Lastly, I would rather have a confused neighbor with dementia rattling around the hallways than a drunken idiot.

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  11. Good point, old people make great neighbors. my next door neighbor is quiet, polite, and always home to help accept my packages and keep an eye on house, make sure there are no riff-raff in the neighborhood.

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  12. “and proximity to gold digging”

    Who are they gold digging? I was always under the impression that the Gold Coast was made up of many more women than men, the result of the fact that women live longer.

    So, if anything, it would make sense for younger men to move to the Gold Coast to gold dig.

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  13. This is “strictly anecdotal” but an interesting story anyway. I knew a “young” (35-ish) couple who were living in one of the high-rise rental buildings in the area. They and their two grade-school-age kids shared a two-bedroom unit with balcony in a high-amenity building. I asked why they were renting in the Gold Coast when the rent could easily cover a mortgage elsewhere. They explained that the money they were paying in rent at the GC hirise put them in a top neighborhood near downtown and the Ogden (and yes also Latin) school nearby. The equivalent mortgage payment (not counting utilities, taxes etc.) would put them in a fixer-upper home in a less prestigious neighborhood and poorer school district. They were willing to deal with the trade-off of not having equity, etc. in favor of the joys of city living.

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  14. “The equivalent mortgage payment (not counting utilities, taxes etc.)”

    “the rent could easily cover a mortgage elsewhere”

    If the cost of rent wouldn’t cover the taxes, it’s not “easily” covering a mortgage elsewhere.

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  15. @Homedelete

    “undue hardship”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-11-02/why-it-s-so-hard-to-get-rid-of-student-debt

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  16. I thought it was nearly impossible to get “undue hardship.” They made it that way so that everyone couldn’t just discharge it.

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  17. The video says that only 500 people last year tried to get the undue hardship exemption after declaring bankruptcy.

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  18. Maybe one of the reasons student loans are so hard to discharge is that education is intangible. You can’t really give back your education. So someone could run up $100k in debt getting a degree, never pay it back, but still claim all benefits of said degree.

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  19. Another reason is that people getting the loans generally have no credit scores. They are giving huge amounts of money out to people with no credit history. Everyone would discharge the loans after graduation if discharge was allowed.

    As a tax payer, I don’t want to be on the hook for someone else’s student loans. I recall in reading my own student loan paper work, that the debt was dischargable by death or 100% disability.

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  20. Sabrina, How about do a comparison of Gold Coast Condos ($1-4 MM condos) vs. gold coast single family homes in the same price range next?

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  21. “Everyone would discharge the loans after graduation if discharge was allowed.”

    The initial change in dischargeability came because doctors started doing it in some numbers (tho smaller than you’d think) right after completing their residencies.

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  22. “Maybe one of the reasons student loans are so hard to discharge is that education is intangible. You can’t really give back your education. So someone could run up $100k in debt getting a degree, never pay it back, but still claim all benefits of said degree.”

    Nope. Think of all the beneficial things one can charge (e.g., gym memberships, travel…heck, tuition can be put on a credit card). All dischargable in bankruptcy.

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