Housing Bulletin: The Upside of 13 Canceled Condo Projects

In 2008, according to Appraisal Research Counselors, developers called off 13 downtown condo projects, pulling a total of 2,078 housing units out of an already log-jammed condo market. (Only one of those buildings—Burnham Pointe, at 720 South Clark Street—was already under construction; it was sold to an apartment developer.) While the cancellations aren’t necessarily happy news...

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Chic Gems Donates

Shop for a Cause

The jewelry designer Sarah Radford of Chic Gems (312-602-2561; chicgemsetc.com) has long supported various charities, including the cancer support agency Imerman Angels and the charity Aid for AIDS. This month, Radford partners with Angela Rose of PAVE, a national non-profit organization founded in 2001 to raise money for victims of domestic abuse. Shop at Chic Gems virtual trunk show online and enter the discount code “pave” through the end of the month to save 10 percent on any jewelry purchase; 20 percent of proceeds will...

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Sale of the Week: Among the Mega in Lincoln Park

List Price: $4.75 million
Sale Price: $5.05 million
The Property: This 13-room residence, with its ornate carved limestone and brick façade, stands among the new mega-homes along Burling, Orchard, and Howe streets south of Armitage Avenue in Chicago. The house has six bedrooms, six-plus baths, two fireplaces, and..

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Weekend Photos: Windy City Soul Club at Heart of Gold

Who says hipsters don't dance? We caught hordes of folks getting down this past Saturday at Windy City Soul Club, a new monthly night dedicated to 1960s and '70s Motown soul at Heart of Gold (3036 N. Lincoln Ave., fourth floor), a new gallery and performance space. From 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. the first Saturday of every month, DJs/collectors spin the best and rarest on 45s—none of this newfangled iPod nonsense. Check out our photos below; then rustle up $5 and head to the next WCSC on February 7th...

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Housing Bulletin: And now, the rest of the story

Every Thursday except holidays, I post a short tour of a home that is for sale, including the sellers’ asking price. But the asking price is only half of the story, as the past year’s market drop has clarified for all of us; the other half is the final selling price.
So, as Paul Harvey would say, now here’s the rest of the story on several properties I posted on Thursdays in 2008...

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Sale of the Week: Swingin' with the Rat Pack in Park Ridge

List Price: $1,450,000
Sale Price: $1,011,500
The Property: “It’s a home that was built for the kind of people who loved the Rat Pack,” says Dan Delano, the real estate agent who recently sold this Park Ridge house, built in 1961. “I thought that would be a selling point, but I guess we live in a world of...

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Midnight Spoils

Tough Talk

In the wake of all of the warm fuzzies and holiday cheer, what better way to return to the cynicism of the real world than a night with Neil LaBute? To cap off its season dedicated to the darkly comedic playwright, Profiles Theatre (4147 N. Broadway; profilestheatre.org) hosts an evening with LaBute on Saturday, January 3rd. A preshow reception begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by readings and an audience Q&A. Admission is $50 and includes a ticket to the theatre’s next...

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Hot Dogs and Hamburgers

Getting Mary’d

After 11 years of anchoring Andersonville, the idiosyncratic Tomboy (5402 N. Clark St.; 773-907-0636) is getting out while the getting’s good. Tomboy’s neighbor “Hamburger Mary’s [5400 N. Clark St.; 773-784-6969] is expanding,” says Stacy Malow-Williams, a partner at Tomboy, which closed on December 21st. “I have an eight-month-old baby at home and we got an offer we could not refuse. It’s the perfect opportunity.” Ashley Wright, a partner at Hamburger Mary’s Chicago franchise, says his restaurant will double its seating capacity when the new space opens in the spring. “It will be mostly high-topped tables,” says Wright, who promises the same...

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Housing Bulletin: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Realtors Have Left the Building

’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring—not even a real-estate agent eager to show off the granite countertops in the kitchen or the triangular Jacuzzi for two in the master bath. Instead, with home sales down more than 40 percent from the height of the market in 2006, agents have been departing the industry in large numbers. At the end of November, with roughly 57,100 members, the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) had experienced a...

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The It List: Happy Holidaze

1. Bye-bye, Kevin; hello, Theory. An upscale sports bar from Joel Sorinsky, a former manager at Joe’s, and Brian Merel, a partner/exec chef of Stefani Restaurants, has opened in the old Kevin space. Highlights include oversized booths and more than 20 plasmas, some of which you—the barflies—will control. We smell the sports-bar competition getting fierce in River North.

2. Meanwhile, Bull & Bear (431 N. Wells St.), from the Stone Lotus team, is aiming for...

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Eco Art in Bucktown

Green Machine

Ever wonder how the green ethos can blend with urban chic? Then check out the new Bucktown gallery and shop 360SEE (1924 N. Damen Ave.; 773-698-6340, 360seegallery.com), a new minimalist space that features one-of-a-kind sculptures and furniture that uses reclaimed materials, such as a coffee table made from the hood of a 1972 Chevy truck. In all, the store showcases the work of 20 artists...

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Weekend Photos: Rebel Bar & Grill

It's go-time for holiday sweaters. Tacky pullovers that almost never see the light of day get not one but two airings this week: Once on Christmas Day in honor of Grandma Gertie, who crocheted the darn thing in the first place; and once this past Friday, when revelers donned their kitschiest knitwear for Chicago Sport and Social's holiday sweater party at Rebel Bar & Grill...

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Sale of the Week: A Patient Buyer Prevails in Oak Brook

List Price: $1,995,000
Sale Price: $1,595,000
The Property: The rear of this 12-room house looks across a swimming pool and enormous back lawn toward a small lake (part of Ginger Creek) and, beyond that, to homes on the other side of the water. Approximately 35 years old, this house has a soaring peaked ceiling in the main living rooms, four bedrooms, and a...

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All I Want for Xmas is a $2 Old Style

Darwin, Dinosaurs, Drag: Must Be Christmas at the Hideout

Here’s one you won’t see in back-to-back rotation on the ABC Family channel: The Third Annual Hideout Christmas Dinosaur Panto—a play modeled on the traditional British style of pantomime, which calls for lots of audience participation in the form of hissing and booing—follows Charles Darwin in his quest to discover the origins of Christmas, and stars such local luminaries as rocker Jon Langford (as a woman) and Hideout co-owner Tim Tuten (as the father of evolutionary theory). If that’s not trippy enough, Old Style cans are a mere $2. The show runs 7 and 10 p.m. Friday...

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Check Back Tuesday

Nightspotting is juggling the holiday crazies. Check back on Monday for on-the-scene photos of seasonal tippling and again on Tuesday for the latest in nightlife news.

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On the Market: A Franglish Manor in Highland Park

List Price: $1,099,000
The Property: With its mix of crisp, orderly limestone on the lower walls and rusticated stucco and half timbers above, this mansion, built in 1927, isn’t sure whether it’s French or English. But instead of feeling confused, the eclectic exterior makes an apt container for what’s inside: a 13-room collection of materials and craftwork from...

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