Urban pioneers searching for a new and upcoming neighborhood to settle might want to consider Tri-Taylor West on the Near West Side.
The emerging neighborhood of modest Italianate brick row houses and small, single-family homes, worker cottages and modest two-flats is bounded roughly by I-290, Western, Ogden and Kedzie.
Real estate experts say the burgeoning area is being fueled by people who work in the Illinois Medical District and want to live close to work. The area also is a hot spot due to the flurry of spill-off rehabilitation in its sister neighborhood -- the Tri-Taylor Historic District, bounded roughly by Ogden, Polk, Congress, Western and Roosevelt.
In both neighborhoods, many longtime residents have stayed and fixed up their buildings while an influx of do-it-yourselfers and investors are buying up the handyman specials, rehabbing them and staying to become owner-occupants.
"The Tri-Taylor West neighborhood is a hidden jewel," said Nita Snider, a real estate agent with New West Realty, a firm specializing in properties on the Near West Side and other underserved communities. "The Illinois Medical Center District is the largest in the world. About 50,000 people come here every day to serve or be served. So, we're seeing a lot of workers buying in the area."
"Right now the real estate activity is pushing west of the historic district and all the way up to Kedzie," said Gus Mauro, developer and co-founder of New West Realty. "We're seeing a lot of new town house and condo developments going up -- and they're very affordable if you compare the same type of condo or town house to prices in established areas like the Gold Coast or Lincoln Park."
New West Realty says a typical 2-bedroom condo is selling in the mid- to low-$200,000 range. Worker cottages needing rehab sell for about $200,000. Rehabbed workers cottages sell for $300,000 to $400,000. A two-flat needing rehab sells for under $200,000 while a rehabbed two-flat can sell for as much as $400,000.
