Travel Rogue

August 17, 2005

Chicago's South Loop

Helped Manish and Neha move from their South State Street condo to a beautiful apartment. It's amazing how much the South Loop has changed. There's a cute cluster of restaurants on Wabash and State. Gioco's, Zapatista's, Subway... The brand new Target concept store on Roosevelt and Clark, and reportedly a shopping mall anchored down by Whole Foods! Property values out there seem to be rising superfast. Though, it would seem if Whole Foods, a high-end organic type grocery store, concluded from their financial analysis that it would be profitable to plunk down a South Loop store, then the neighborhood must have some extra juice left to squeeze. I think the initial appeal of the South Loop was under-priced, under-developed land. The area has similar benefits to the north side: stops on the red line, close to Lake Michigan, cute little restaurants. It also has a couple features the north sides doesn't have: easy access to the expressway, a Target, and the benefits of new construction.

Actually, maybe the reason for the price differential between my Edgewater condo and a South Loop investment is that I would have to put about $25k of upgrades into my condo to make it comparable to new construction. Ah, yes, that makes sense.

Either way, wish I could get in on the action. Besides Manish and Neha, I know two other people who have bought in the area, and both of them are expecting some healthy appreciation.

Meet one of my favorite south side bloggers: Blagica: blah-GEET-sa

Posted by carolyn at August 17, 2005 08:35 AM

Comments

Post a comment