The Second Biggest Story Of 2013: East Humboldt Park Becomes The New “It” Neighborhood
I know some of you wanted to chatter about Bowmanville, but the level of activity there doesn’t come close to what is happening in East Humboldt Park.
By “East Humboldt Park”, I’m talking about the area that is west of Western Avenue- all the way west to Humboldt Boulevard.
It is north of Division and south of Armitage.
Yes- I am making up these boundaries. They are NOT official realtor boundaries. Some of it is “officially” in West Town and some of it is Logan Square.
But there are a bunch of foreclosures being bought and renovated and/or houses are being torn down and new construction homes are being built in the $350,000 to $600,000 price range.
Consider the 4-bedroom home that has been renovated at 1512 N. Talman in West Town. This is just east of Humboldt Park.
It was formerly a bank owned 2-flat.
The interior has been completely gutted and it has a new kitchen with ebony shaker cabinets, granite counter tops, a full backsplash and stainless steel appliances.
3 out of the 4 bedrooms are on the second floor. The fourth is on the main floor along with the laundry room.
There’s no basement but there is a 2-car garage on a 25×124 lot.
The 2600 square foot house came on the market in November listed at $399,000.
How many of you are thinking about forgoing the condo for that starter home in East Humboldt Park in 2013 instead?
Karen Biazar at North Clybourn Group has the listing. See the pictures here.
You can also still see pictures of it as a bank owned 2-flat here.
1512 N. Talman: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2600 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in December 1998 for $165,000
- Sold in June 2005 for $355,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in January 2011
- Bank owned in December 2011
- Sold in March 2012 for $88,500
- Renovated and relisted in November 2012 for $399,000
- Currently still listed at $399,000
- Taxes of $4767
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 18×14 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 15×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 13×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 12×8 (main floor)
Nice place but I suspect that many will pass because they fear that it is actually called:
East robbed at gunpoint park
East rape my wife park
Or
East stay in your house at night park
In the 90’s I lived west of Ashland in Lakeview. It was a great area and very family driven. We never had a problem worse than a stolen bike out of our basement. Our friends were convinced we would end up on the news. Back then Racine was considered the Mason Dixon line. Think that we all missed out on the Southport gentrification. Actually tried to buy three buildings in that area and was outbid (by cash offers) on all 3 of them. Don’t know if this is a similar situation but at the time I recall realtors subtle hints that 1600 west was not a safe place to live.
Nice place and a great price, but, yeah — the area right under the park (North to Division, Western to California) is still just not safe. A little north or a little south and you’d be relatively fine, but that specific area makes me nervous in broad daylight.
A few years back I’d regularly visit a friend in the 2700 block of Division. I recall a local café proudly displaying a “no yuppies” sign in English and Spanish. How’s that for a welcome wagon?
Have fun, urban pioneers. This area will be hot when the next property bubble hits…in 20 years.
“Nice place and a great price, but, yeah — the area right under the park (North to Division, Western to California) is still just not safe. A little north or a little south and you’d be relatively fine, but that specific area makes me nervous in broad daylight.”
How many buyers look at crime statistics? How many go visit a property or neighborhood at night?
I’m just throwing these questions out there because these properties ARE selling in this area. Buyers are paying $400,000 and up. They could have chosen Bronzeville, Galewood, Beverly, Morgan Park, Bowmanville, Oak Park, Park Ridge, Evanston. But instead, they are buying in this neighborhood.
“This area will be hot when the next property bubble hits…in 20 years.”
But that’s the thing TB. This area is hot right now. There area a half a dozen new construction homes and/or rehabs on the market now.
The area south of Bloomingdale, north of Division and west of Western is still gang central. Slightly better between Armitage and Bloomingdale, but certainly not the new “it” neighborhood. Owned buildings in this area, ROI was outstanding, tenant issues were not. Huge pushback against gentrification by existing residents, I can’t imagine walking these streets during the day, much less at night. Good luck to Muffy and Biff from Cincinnati on their new purchase, love to see the panic on the faces of their out-of-town visitors.
Bought 5 yrs ago and my family and I feels safe. It helps that we became proactive meeting our neighbors, going to CAPS, and meeting with the Alderman. I would say the neighborhood feel is Wicker Park in the late 90’s, very early 00’s. The turn has been made and yes there are problems but they are becoming anomalies rather than the norm. We snagged a great deal on a sfh that we would not have been able to afford if it were just a mere 3 blocks to the east and there are still more out there. A 1840 sqft gut rehab sfh on our block just auctioned for about $150,000.
Also, North of North is not considered EHP, but rather WBP
The area has some potential and I suspect it will gentrify. Single family home prices within the GZ are just out of reach for many folks, but there is a pretty sizable market for those willing to pay upwards of $500k. These places are going to be comp killers for the duplex downs in the area.
The thing with gentrification is that it moves slow enough that most people won’t notice the opportunity whereas the few that can see the potential will benefit greatly.
Usually what makes these areas take off is if there is sufficient concentrated development within a block or so. The key is that the buyers must be vigilant about caring for their properties, calling police, etc. You’d be surprised at how a few active neighbors can entirely turn around an area. I saw it happen in some similar areas in Atlanta and it was truly amazing how they turned a once blighted area into a solidly middle/upper middle class haven in the span of a few short years. It all started with a few developers recognizing decent housing stock and proximity to downtown Atlanta and they started gutting/building decent looking single family homes in the upper 100s/low 200s. 10 plus years later you’d be hard pressed to find those same houses under $400k and plenty are in the $500/$600 range. Not to mention a thriving business district. The vast majority of the crackheads, trap houses, and D boys have been pushed out. Think Kirkwood, Edgewood, Candler Park, Oakhurst if you are familar with Atlanta neighborhoods.
If we’re talking about the area in the original post, between Division and Armitage, that’s my neck of the woods. I’ve have had some horrific things happen over the years here. Once, I had a box of fruit delivered to my house by mistake. Harry and David I think. I had to walk it over to the correct address. And another time, the city left construction signs behind after they repaved my street. The list of horrors could go on and on. I jest, but those are the only things on my block as of late I have to complain about. There’s a truffle shop now, for god’s sake. On Armitage.
Another huge negative, you’ll have to pay upwards of $100,000 for a two bed loft if you go the condo route:
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1935-N-Fairfield-Ave-60647/unit-101/home/12724341
“By “East Humboldt Park”, I’m talking about the area that is west of Western Avenue- all the way west to Humboldt Boulevard.,”
Good to know I grew up in GZ area. Just before the bust HP was showing signs, new construction was starting and people were flipping houses. I really wish my grand mother had accepted the insane offer for her crapshack, but alas she was too scared to take a chance.
My friends looked at a condo on this block and it’s not a block on which I would want to live, nor did they want to. The area has a lot of scattered site housing and lots of gang bangers around and those are not going to be torn down any time soon. It’s a long walk from the El and North Avenue changes quite a bit, not for the better, once you go west of Western.
“How many of you are thinking about forgoing the condo for that starter home in East Humboldt Park in 2013 instead?”
The same number of people that are buying starter condos? Very few…
“I’m talking about the area that is west of Western Avenue- all the way west to Humboldt Boulevard. It is north of Division and south of Armitage.”
$350k-$750k Detached SFH closed in this area YTD 11/30/xx:
2012 24
2011 15
2010 8
2009 6
2008 9
2007 13
2006 15
2005 21
2004 12
“They could have chosen Bronzeville, Galewood, Beverly, Morgan Park, Bowmanville, Oak Park, Park Ridge, Evanston. But instead, they are buying in this neighborhood.”
Oak Park $350k-$750k Detached SFH closed in this area YTD 11/30/xx:
2012 170
2011 142
2010 157
2009 167
2008 186
2007 248
Evanston $350k-$750k Detached SFH closed in this area YTD 11/30/xx:
2012 197
2011 154
2010 175
2009 156
2008 188
2007 213
Park Ridge $350k-$750k Detached SFH closed in this area YTD 11/30/xx:
2012 146
2011 121
2010 139
2009 115
2008 130
2007 173
I’d go with East Village over this neighborhood.
“It’s a long walk from the El ”
Too bad they tore down the el thru here:
http://www.chicago-l.org/operations/lines/humboldt.html
“They could have chosen Bronzeville, Galewood, Beverly, Morgan Park, Bowmanville, Oak Park, Park Ridge, Evanston. But instead, they are buying in this neighborhood.”
I’ve learned my lesson. If I were spending $400k on a house these days, I would not be buying it in this neighborhood or even Bronzeville. I bought in Bronzeville awhile ago thinking it was a prime spot to turn. I have seen things get better, but many things have stayed the same. If I’m buying a $400k house that I might start a family in I would never choose EHP over Oak Park, Park Ridge, Evanston, or even Beverly or Galewood. It might be a great place now, but will you want your 2 year old running around in the front yard in 5-8 years?
I’ll take Smith Park over this area, as long as we’re talking two hoods with poor access to the L.
Google: Paseo Boricua unless they take a blowtorch to that thing, I wouldn’t give this hood the time of day.
Even though it’s further North, I would choose Logan square over this area… Somewhere near a train stop and all the great restaurants popping up there…
My family and I have lived in this area for 10+ years (6 renting, 4 years after purchasing a condo) and we love it. Like any neighborhood in Chicago, you have to be aware of your surroundings but I personally have never felt threatened. There was an incident a few years ago when some teenage kids were throwing rocks in the alley against a garage. Since then, no problems! The folks that people mention that do not want gentrification are the same neighbors that snow blowed the alley and sidewalks for everyone after one of the worst snow storms in Chicago. They also lend a hand when they see you working in your yard, knock on the door if you forget to move your car on the street cleaning morning and wave and say hi every time you meet them on the sidewalk. I think it is easy to say negative things about an area that you drive through once (yes, there is public housing that is primarily used by elderly women who keep beautiful yards and the working poor) or people who’s culture you are not familiar with (all of my neighbors are super family oriented and yeah, they like to drink a Corona and play music a little loud on a Sunday afternoon…so do I!)
While the country watched home prices sink over the past few years, we continued to watch our home value rise (confirmed with an appraisal for a refinance.) All in all, we are thrilled to have such a beautiful, affordable home, on a mixed income block, steps from one of the most gorgeous parks in the city. We will be here for a long time…unless we can not find a SFH in the area for our growing family in 5 years!
I moved into my friend’s apartment on Maplewood in September. Love our block. Everyone takes pride in their property and people say hello to each other on the street — noticeably more often than any other neighborhood I’ve lived in (Logan Square, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Avondale, Ukrainian Village).
But there is something about Rockwell and the streets west of Rockwell, I get a bad vibe. Artesian, Campbell and Maplewood between Division and North are fine.
As for getting around (being a female and all), I would not wait for the bus on California late at night. I have my “walking routes” to the North and Western buses. Thankfully, biking is my main mode of transportation. I could still get f*cked with but I’m not really into walking around these parts alone late at night.
(Yes, I’m a renter and yes I’m a person who has been priced out of every other “chic” neighborhood I’ve lived in. Thanks.)
EHP is one of many fringe neighborhoods that is not nearly as bad as the green zone only crowd makes it out to be. People here about gang activity at 3 am, get scared and get the itch to move back home with the parents in Schaumburg but lets be real, it’s not like yuppies living in EHP are in any more danger than those in Wicker.
At least it’s being called “East Humboldt Park” rather than “West Wicker Park” like it was 5 or so years ago.
This area is completely ghetto – no way I would ever live there. The few folks I do know that live there have regret and can’t sell to get out. Humboldt Park blows.
I live in EHP just off Division and Western and it is a fine neighborhood. We I first moved in it was a bit on the edgy side but now it has come around. I feel completely safe and fully expect the neighborhood to keep getting better.
Let me just say 3 words; “Scattered Site Housing”.
There’s a lot of it in this area, although I think there’s even more to the West of Humboldt Blvd. I’ll have to dig out my list, but anywhere you’ve got clusters of Scattered Site and/or Section 8 “affordable housing”, well, it’s just not going to gentrify quietly. If people buy there now in the winter when it’s quiet, they’ll be in for quite a surprise come summertime.
As someone who has lived in exactly this neighborhood for the past 3 years (and recently bought a place to live in here), I find these comments to be ill-informed and frankly, to sound like they are written by white people a little afraid of minorities. What exactly constitutes a “gang banger?” I sure haven’t seen them. I see lots of hispanic families—I really hope gang banger is not just a blanket term for minority.
As far as Atlanta goes, I lived there for 4 years and feel safer here than I ever did living in Grant Park or in Little5Points. I’d totally walk down Western and North Ave in the dark but never would I walk down Moreland in Atlanta after sunset.
This is a great neighborhood and for those of you who think Humboldt park is scary, then I’m glad you’re staying away and leaving it for the rest of us to enjoy. But please don’t make the yuppy mistake of assuming that just because we have more than white frat boys here that it is unsafe.
“$350k-$750k Detached SFH closed in this area YTD 11/30/xx:”
Oak Park has a population over 50,000
Evanston has over 70,000
Park Ridge has 38,000
West Town has 80,000 people
I don’t know, I can’t put my finger on it, but this is just too far west. I may be uninformed for failure to actually visit the neighborhood any time recently, but, there are so many places to buy nice homes, albeit not completely renovated this one, for $400,000, although not necessarily in the city. There’s a reason this is so cheap (for the product, not cheap in general given average home prices) and it’s the neighborhood. This a few blocks to the east would cost $1,000 or $2,000 more a month, at least.
Section 8 kills neighborhoods.
The 2 teenagers shot today at 2600 W. Chicago were just 4 blocks north of Smith Park – where they are building very expensive 1% houses. That part of east humboldt park is south of where some of the other new construction is located, however.
“sound like they are written by white people a little afraid of minorities.”
welcome to Crib Chatter
Green Zone = Safe for Suburban Whites Zone
“don’t make the yuppy mistake of assuming that just because we have more than white frat boys here that it is unsafe”
Wait–only whities can be yuppies??
I lived in EHP for two years and it is annoying in the summer to have random groups of teens (I think) hanging out in front of your place. I agree that it is block by block in this area, which really isn’t that much different from the so called green zones in my experience. I can think of more bad things happening to people I know in Lincoln Park (mugged and badly beaten) Old Town (robbed at gun point) Bucktown (burglary) than have happened to people I know in EHP (car stolen). I wouldn’t buy there b/c the transportation isn’t that great. I hated taking the western bus to the blue line. I sometimes ended up with a 45 minute commute downtown.
Clearly a typo. Should read: “The Second Biggest Story Of 2013: East Humboldt Park Becomes The New sh-it Neighborhood”
Someone was just found shot to death on this block
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/545/article/p2p-73915795/
fear not, the IL Senate passed some more anti-gun laws. They’ll work.
Paid nearly nothing for a gorgeous 2/2 last summer in EHP closer to north and western than to the park. The building next door has a very similar unit priced to rent for $2500/mo.
Needless to say, my condo was an excellent investment, and I’m looking forward to seeing the investment grow before I sell in the next 5-7 years. The hipsters have arrived,our bodega only sells high end beers, wines, and liquors, and any cruddy looking property is either for sale, recently sold, or has a work permit in the window. I am looking forward to seeing what EHP looks like once we are out of this economic contraction and cash is easier to come by. It’s only a matter of time, and if you are looking to buy a starter place, this is the place and this is the time to buy in this neighborhood.
Well this is telling
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2012-chicago-murders#map
Isn’t Riot Fest held in Humboldt Park? The area South of Division has seen a lot of nice growth and new developments going up. Seems like a changing area.