Houses have been disappearing lately on my Logan Square street. Last fall, a pile of rubble appeared in the space where a home had stood just a few days before. Soon after that, the building a few doors north of mine was gone. They were frame houses, like most of the others on the street, which lies just north of an area in rapid transition. Since 2013, construction workers have been turning what was once an abandoned rail line nearby into the 2.7-mile-long Bloomingdale Trail and Park, a $95 million project modeled after elevated urban parks like New York City’s High Line. In place of the razed buildings new ones are growing, modern-looking brick rectangles with big windows that stand in contrast to the older houses that remain on the block, with their sloped roofs and vinyl siding.
The construction of the Bloomingdale Trail may be the most conspicuous explanation for the rising housing prices and development boom in the surrounding areas, but it’s not the only one. Real estate prices in Chicago overall are going up, still in recovery from the housing market crash of 2008. And Logan Square, and to a lesser extent Humboldt Park, were gentrifying well before plans to create the trail were part of the public consciousness; the media frenzy around the trail began only about three years ago, after the project began to move forward in earnest. Residents have been worried about being priced out for longer than that, and that concern has intensified recently as a result of the Bloomingdale Trail’s construction. Now some of them are organizing to try to make sure they’re not displaced.
Whatever the reason, housing prices in Logan Square and Humboldt Park are recovering from the housing collapse faster than in any other area of Chicago. According to a price index recently released by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, prices of single-family homes in both Logan Square/Avondale and Humboldt Park/Garfield Park have increased by more than 40 percent from the market’s lowest point—compared to a median recovery in Chicago of 21 percent. A major difference between the two areas is that Humboldt Park/Garfield Park also saw a bigger housing bubble before the crash; from the peak, housing prices dropped by more than 70 percent before they finally began climbing again (the highest swing in the city, compared to a median decline citywide of 46.6 percent). Logan Square/Avondale saw a price decline of only 35 percent; housing prices there are now approaching peak level, whereas in Humboldt Park/Garfield Park they’re still well below peak level.
Last month, LSNA’s annual congress addressed ongoing concerns among community members about gentrification and rising housing prices. Community resident Jennifer Velasquez, 20, says that the goal of the meeting was to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the 606—both within the community and among elected officials—and try to get officials on board with measures to protect the community. Velasquez, who lives a stone’s throw from the trail on Kimball, says that the campaign is still researching the best ways to preserve affordable housing in the community, but organizers have already asked Cook County commissioner Luis Arroyo and Cook County assessor Joe Berrios to support property tax abatement measures, which grant reduction of or exemption from taxes for a specific period of time to ease financial burden for longtime home owners. Berrios and other elected officials are planning to host workshops to educate residents on how to appeal their property taxes. And this summer, teens from After School Matters and the Logan Square Youth Leadership Institute will knock on doors in Humboldt Park and Logan Square to gather information from residents about whether their rent or property taxes have gone up, as well as passing out information about property tax workshops.
New York’s High Line, an elevated 1.5-mile park built along an unused rail line, has been transforming the West Chelsea neighborhood where it’s located since the first section opened in 2009 (the third and final leg opened last fall). In an area often described as “gritty” or “industrial” before the park’s opening, property values increased 103 percent between 2003 and 2011; high-rise condos line the trail.
Sat 6/6, 8 AM-9 PM Free
The festivities include ribbon cuttings at each access ramp, trail-top processions of decorated bikes, sports and arts activities, and a street festival on Humboldt Boulevard. Visit the606.org for additional location and event information.
