OAK PARK
FROM $210,000
TO $300,000

Since the 1970s, Dennis Wiegan has built many new homes in the south and southwest suburbs. So when he took on a 98-year-old Oak Park apartment building that needed renovation, he kept up his old ways.

“Everything is new,” says Wiegand. “The plumbing, the gas lines, the air conditioning, the steel-reinforced foundation—and we lowered the basement floors two and a half to three feet.” He also modified the floor plans to make the building’s small rooms “more effective and comfortable to fit today’s needs,” he says.

Each of the eight units now has a large open combination of living and dining rooms, and four units have spiral staircases leading down to a lower level. The building—called the Washington-Taylor Condominiums (at 102-104 West Washington Boulevard)—has three parking spaces available for rent; most residents will park on the street.

Wiegand, who is also the building’s sales agent, put the condos on the market in early 2009, and he has cut prices by 14 to 20 percent since then. Four units remain, priced from $210,000 for a 575-square-foot two-bedroom condo to $300,000 for an 1,800-square-foot duplex with a sun porch.

Photograph: Dennis Rodkin