Chicago Real Estate’s Roaring Twenties

Posted on September 30, 2016 by relatedchicago

Related Realty Real Estate affords you the opportunity to live the Gatsby lifestyle. Before F. Scott Fitzgerald conjured up the classic image of the grand Long Island (party) mansion where his hero Jay Gatsby watched the green light near Daisy Buchanan’s home across the bay, Chicago was redefining the cultural landscape of America as the center of the Jazz Age. Today, in glamorous properties managed by elite real estate companies in Chicago, you can almost hear the well-heeled men and women of that earlier time clinking their champagne flutes. So, gas up your speedster and take a tour of the Gold Coast mansions and Chicago condos for sale from Related Realty brokerage.

The tour starts with a nod to the groundbreaking African American musicians from New Orleans, where jazz first took root, who moved north to the Windy City in the early 1900s in search of jobs. They brought with them syncopated rhythms and blaring horn riffs. With Prohibition afoot, flappers and dapper gentlemen began to seek out the nighttime allure of the city in speakeasies like the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, which today still features live music and cocktails every night of the week.

The toney route through the heart of the Gold Coast takes you into the Astor Street District, where you’ll find streets still draped in the excess of the 1920s, lined with Gatsby-era mansions. One of the most striking buildings you’ll pass is the landmarked Three Arts Club. Formerly a women’s club, this Holabird & Roche-designed complex is now home to a Restoration Hardware flagship store, restaurants, and an event space that can host even the glitziest top-hat-and-tails or boa-and-pearls blowout celebration under the glass vaulted ceiling replete with pendant chandelier.

The real estate portfolio from Related Realty also includes some of the finest examples of Gilded Age architecture—with all of the luxury amenities of the iPhone Age. On Astor Street, you’ll find a seven-bedroom mansion with turrets, red-brick facade, grand foyers, and custom millwork, and a Tudor-style mansion with outdoor space, wrought-iron entry, full-floor master bedroom, and exercise room. No matter your preference, living in Chicago means you can find a home that would make even Jay Gatsby green (light-across-the-bay) with envy.

Streeterville Luxury High-Rise Condos On Sale For $2 Million To $6 Million

Posted on September 23, 2016 by relatedchicago

Click here to read the DNA info piece about Related Midwests latest endeavor, One Bennett Park.

The 67-story One Bennett Park at 451 E. Grand Avenue will be completed in 2018.

This condo developer is seeking buyers, but not too many

Posted on September 22, 2016 by relatedchicago

Click here to read the Crains story featuring Related Midwests new luxury residential tower in Streeterville, One Bennett Park.

Chicago’s Literary Landmarks

Posted on September 20, 2016 by relatedchicago

Chicago, a city where literature thrives, is teeming with landmarks where writers have found inspiration and left their mark. Discover your own piece of Chicago real estate with the help of the Related Realty brokerage firm, and you will be living where Nelson Algren, Lorraine Hansberry, Saul Bellow, and Ernest Hemingway helped build the literary landscape of the Windy City and America.

One of the most beloved literary landmarks in Chicago lies at the center of Wicker Park: a fountain commemorating the life and work of Nelson Algren, perhaps the writer who most clearly developed the myth of Chicago that still exists today. Algren, the author of Chicago: City on the Make, once wrote that: “Between the curved steel of the El and the nearest Clark Street hockshop, between the penny arcade and the shooting gallery, between the basement gin-mill and the biggest juke in Bronzeville, the prairie is caught for keeps at last.” You can see the building where Algren lived from 1959 to 1975 at 1958 West Evergreen, but if you really want to chase his ghost, pay a visit to a famous former speakeasy, Lottie’s Pub, in Bucktown; you can have a drink in the room where Algren is rumored to have romanced French author Simone de Beauvoir, whom he seduced away from Jean-Paul Sartre.

Humboldt Park, another neighborhood immortalized by a Chicago writer, features prominently in two of Saul Bellow’s masterpieces, The Adventures of Augie March and Humboldt’s Gift. A child of immigrants, Bellow was captivated by the mix of cultures that defined the neighborhood in the 1920s. Visitors can take a swim in the newly revitalized Humboldt Lagoon and channel the poetic rhythm of Augie and other famous Bellow characters. You can see the building where Bellow grew up at 2629 West Augusta and visit what became his favorite bar later in life, The Woodlawn Tap in Hyde Park, which he frequented as a student and a professor at the University of Chicago. The Woodlawn is also the bar where Dylan Thomas parked himself while away from the White Horse Tavern in New York.

Another notable author’s home is the Lorraine Hansberry House at 6140 South Rhodes Avenue, famous for being part of the inspiration for her seminal play A Raisin in the Sun, as well as for being the contested grounds over which her father had to fight all the way to the Supreme Court against racially biased housing laws, a case which he famously won.

No tour of literary Chicago would be complete without a visit to the Ernest Hemingway Museum and Birthplace Home at 339 North Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park, where you can see not only the house where Hemingway was born but also take a tour of the artifact- and photo-filled museum across the street.

One of the most suspenseful literary tours of Chicago might well be the Devil in the White City Tour offered by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, which highlights some of the sites from the critically acclaimed book by Eric Larsen about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and its connection with the story of the serial killer Dr. Henry Holmes. The tour will take you to the Art Institute of Chicago, which was built as part of the fair and where you can now find a photograph taken of Nelson Algren outside one his favorite bars on Division Street, where he is ensconced, as he described in Chicago: City on the Make, in “the great city’s night colors.”

To become the hero of your own Windy City adventure, work with Chicago real estate brokerage firm Related Realty to create a new Chicago story.

Chicago Weekender: Wicker Park

Posted on September 8, 2016 by relatedchicago

Chicago’s eclectic neighborhoods offer some of the world’s best dining, architectural landmarks, and art museums—and since its establishment, Wicker Park’s diverse cultural roots have made this neighborhood one of Chicago’s most vibrant. Named after brothers Charles and Joel Wicker, who donated a plot of land in 1870 for use as a public park, this charming area has been home to Ukrainian, Polish, and Puerto Rican communities—and, since the 1980s, to artists and creative entrepreneurs. Today, Wicker Park still exudes an atmosphere of “downtown cool” and what The New York Times describes as “an invigorating blend of reflection and reinvention.” From fine dining to locally owned boutiques, a weekend in Wicker Park offers a perfect staycation just off the Kennedy Expressway.

Dine

Filter Cafe | 1373-75 North Milwaukee Avenue Chicagoans have always been coffee connoisseurs, and in Wicker Park there’s no cathedral to caffeine more revered than Filter. This usually bustling spot is tranquil in the mornings, when you might find yourself simply gazing at the mesmerizing “alley” mural on the ceiling; meanwhile, its ample seating and reliable Wi-Fi also make it ideal for sending off the last work email of the week. Pair a perfectly frothed latte with a mixed berry-topped parfait or the signature lox platter, before setting off for a day in the neighborhood.

Americano 2211 | 2211 West North Avenue For a weekend brunch, lunch, or pastry and macchiato on the go, renowned pastry chef Nancy Silver’s recently opened restaurant is quickly becoming a neighborhood must-visit. Pastries like the cinnamon-hickory nut brioche and chocolatey cocoa-crème fraiche coffee cake are available all day to take out, but you can linger longer over dishes from their full Mediterranean-inspired menu, like the shakshuka or burrata with eggplant jam.

Schwa | 1466 North Ashland Avenue Chef Michael Carlson helms this tasting menu-only establishment, which describes itself as a “kitchen where every ingredient is respected and every choice is intentional.” The minimalist-yet-cozy decor at Schwa, with bare pendant lightbulbs hanging above, allows the meticulously structured nine-course meal to take center stage. Menus are updated regularly to showcase seasonal foods and the versatility of the ingredients; recent highlights include unagi and watermelon, and a dish of snail, fresh pine, and earthy moss. Bring your favorite vintage to this BYOB establishment, but be sure to call ahead to secure a reservation.

Shop

Mildblend Supply Co. | 1342 North Milwaukee Avenue This Wicker Park boutique keeps the fashion-forward denizens of Wicker Park on trend with a well-curated list of quality heritage brands and local and up-and-coming labels. Mildblend stocks men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories, with an extensive selection of raw denim brands, including 3sixteen, Eat Dust, and Nudie Jeans, and fine leather goods. The well-organized store has been a longtime supporter of the Made in USA movement, dedicated to retailing only high-quality and fairly sourced goods.

Urban Remains | 1850 West Grand Avenue Unlike the typical eclectic flea market or antique store wares, the inventory at Urban Remains specializes in architectural remnants and artifacts recovered from historic Chicago buildings, some dating back to the 1800s. Get lost inside on a Sunday afternoon as you ponder whether to take home the streetcar swing stool from the line that ran down Milwaukee Street or the terra-cotta facade of a now-demolished Chicago garage.

Eskell | 1509 North Milwaukee Avenue No shopping experience would be complete without a visit to this Wicker Park mainstay. Started by two friends, Kelly Whitesell and Elizabeth Del Castillo, Eskell is known for its house brand of clothing that channels the season’s trends through classic designs and wearable pieces. You can pick up a geometric gold pendant for yourself or a housewarming gift from its selection of housewares and bath and body products—or channel your inner James Dean with a new leather motorcycle jacket designed by Chicago-based label Straight to Hell.

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Monthly Archives: September 2016

Chicago’s Literary Landmarks

The 25 Most Expensive Homes Sold in Chicago in 2016 (So Far)