March 2015

With April now just 1 day away, we’re closer than ever to SPRING! At last, we can put all the snow, cold weather, and dreary days behind us and start enjoying every Chicagoan's favorite time of the year—warm weather seasons!

Although we’re a good month or so away from all the street festivals and outdoor events, baseball season is only a week away, neighborhood street cleaning is about to begin, and all signs are FINALLY pointing to winter being in the rear view mirror.

So to help all our readers officially get geared up for spring in Chicago—even despite it being a little chilly outside still—enjoy some of these awesome "springtime in Chicago" photos!

 

SPRING PHOTOS TAKEN OF DOWNTOWN CHICAGO

With luxury rentals dominating Chicago’s development boom lately, it only makes sense for a high-end condo project to garner serious attention from those of us in the industry, and that’s exactly what’s happening with the new “No.9 Walton” proposal over at 9 West Walton St. in the Gold Coast.

If approved, No.9 Walton will fill out the vacant lot that currently occupies the southwest corner of Walton and State, which of course is only just a few blocks from the Ultra Luxury Waldorf Astoria Condos (Previously the Elysian) and the new Gold Coast condo development in the works at 4 East Elm.

Although nothing is been approved and details are still fairly scarce, the proposed tower by JDL Development aims to feature just 67 luxury residences over its planned

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More possible large-scale development could be coming to River North, and this time it involves both commercial and residential real estate. First brought to our attention by our friends from Curbed Chicago, the new plan, which involves an 8-story office building and a 22-story residential tower, will be presented later this month during a public meeting by its would-be developers, Centrum Partners.

If approved, the new project would take the place of a parking lot that currently occupies 215 W. Hubbard, but unlike many new developments going on around downtown Chicago, this one poses some unique challenges.

If you refer to the renderings, you’ll see that elevated L tracks curve directly through the northwest corner of the lot, and as a result, the

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Although the dyeing of the Chicago River green and many of downtown’s annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities took place this past weekend, there's still plenty of celebrating left to do in case you happened to miss out. Here's a list of St. Patrick's Day related events happening all throughout March 17th, or better known as St Patrick's Day 2015!

St. Patrick’s Day Celebration at Irish American Heritage Center

Taking place from 12 noon all the way up until 10 PM,  there’s no better way to experience authentic St. Patrick’s Day celebration than to make your way over to the Irish-American Heritage Center for their annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Life music, Irish dancers, and colorful face-painting make this event fun for the whole family.

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The Loop’s last original station house at Washington & Wabash, which first opened all the way back on November 8, 1896, is finally set to close in order to make way for the new Loop Superstation that was first announced in 2013.

According to DNAinfo’s original report, the new station will be expected to serve nearly 13,400 daily entries when completed, making it the 5th busiest CTA station in all of Chicago during the week. The new modern design of the Washington-Wabash station is a pretty sharp contrast to the current station, which has long been outdated to say the least.

The current century-old station, although charming, can simply no longer handle the needs of today’s public transit, and continuing to improve the city’s infrastructure, especially

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In a market as large as Chicago’s, unique real estate opportunities certainly are commonplace, especially around the downtown area; and given our specialty at Gold Coast Realty happens to be luxury Chicago real estate, being able to feature some of the city’s most impressive properties currently on the market is about as fun as it gets.

After spending a little time looking around the MLS®, 55 E. Erie #5502 is a River North condo that happened to catch our eye, and not just because of its vibrant, fire-engine red kitchen. A corner unit that boasts insane north and east facing views and one of the coolest interior spaces you’ll find anywhere, this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bathroom masterpiece truly is everything you could want in a luxury Chicago condo.

Plenty of

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First brought to our attention by our friends over a Curbed Chicago, it looks like star Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson has put his striking River West townhome on the market.

A four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom stunner, Hjalmarsson’s townhome features 4,000 square feet of living space, a range of elegant interiors, and custom closets that will keep any serious clothes horse happy.

It’s reported that the 27 year old Blackhawk originally bought the home back in 2010 for $1.3 million, but has now listed it for $1.695. And given downtown Chicago’s luxury market is red hot and market conditions have dramatically improved over the past 4+ years, we fully expect this one to sell quickly.

As for Hjalmarsson himself, no word yet on where

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In the world luxury Gold Coast real estate, row homes, brownstones, and townhomes certainly play a significant role. At any given time, you’ll likely find quite the array of these and various other high-end properties occupying a place on downtown’s vast real estate market, and if you happen to be browsing the Gold Coast inventory right now, you might just notice it happens to be a bit more crowded than usual.

Among some of the more impressive homes currently for sale are a five-bedroom, six-bathroom brownstone at 1440 North Dearborn listed for $6.495 million; a five-bedroom, six-bathroom home at 1337 N. Dearborn that’s been completely and elegantly updated on the interior (listed for $5,499,900); a charming four-bedroom row house at 1302 N. Ritchie

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Chicago’s 110-story Willis Tower is up for sale and despite early reports saying the purchase price could exceed $1.5 billion, the Chicago Tribune now claims there might already be a buyer.  

The current owners—New York investors Joseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian and Skokie-based American Landmark Properties—most recently tried to sell the 4.6 million square foot building back in 2011, but failed to get the offer they were seeking, most likely because it was just too early in the overall economic recovery.

Since then however, the marketplace has drastically improved, the demand for commercial property in Chicago has skyrocketed, and new high-profile leases at Willis Tower all combine to make the country’s second tallest skyscraper a unique and

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If you live or work in Chicago’s Loop, you likely know that CTA bus travel is about as painful as it gets when it comes to public transportation. Whether it’s rush hour, early morning, or late-night, taking a bus through the Loop isn’t one of the most pleasant ways to get around downtown Chicago right now, but that could soon be changing according to an announcement from city officials today.

In an effort to re-organize downtown’s busiest streets, Chicago Department of Transportation is set to undertake a $31.8 million construction project that is expected to shorten commute times and significantly reduce congestion by adding a 2-mile rapid bus transit lane that will serve Washington, Madison, Clinton, and Canal.

Roughly 21,000 commuters ride CTA buses

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