The front gate to Chicago, for many decades, was the old Illinois Central railroad station on Michigan Avenue. Generations of new Chicagoans rode into town on the Illinois Central's iron arteries, that ran through the heartland of the nation down to the Gulf of Mexico. Now, a new generation is putting down roots there as the Central Station community, an ambitious project that will eventually create between 4,000 and 5,000 new town houses and condominiums, as well as shops, offices and parks.
"Central Station is the fastest-selling, mixed-use development in Chicago with more than 400 town houses and condominiums sold in the past 12 moths," according to Gerald W. Fogelson, co-chairman of Central Station Development Corp. "Today, this neighborhood has approximately 750 residents living in 300 homes. In about 18 months, those numbers will climb to more than 3,000 residents in more than 1,000 new town homes and condominiums."
Three builders currently have several hundred condominiums for sale ranging in price from about $176,000 to $1.18 million. A few town houses are available at $579,000 to $875,000. The MCL Companies, the first to build there, quickly sold out its 300 town houses in the Centennial Court section.
The new neighborhood will fill in an 80-acre strip of old railroad yards and commercial sites from the south end of Grant Park, down along the west side of Lake Shore Drive to opposite McCormick Place.
The Prairie Avenue Historic District, with some of the city's oldest homes, is its neighbor on the south end, and to the west.
After the Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed the city's biggest mansions along Michigan Avenue, many of the first families moved south to the Prairie Avenue area, including Marshall Field, of department store fame, railroad man George Pullman and Phillip Armour, the meat packer.
"Most of the land east of Michigan Avenue is landfill," according to B. Timothy Desmond, president and CEO of the development corporation. "Most of it is construction debris form the Chicago Fire. There was nothing here but the lake bed, originally."
The property has been owned by the Central Station Development Corp. since 1989. The corporation was formed by the developers, Fogelson Properties Inc. and Forest City Enterprises of Ohio. The area was "seeded" for residential growth in 1995, with the start of MCL's 300 town houses, Desmond said.
The boom in construction at Central Station and the Near South Side has been the result of massive building and improvements by the city and others over the past 10 to 15 years, he said.
These have included, he said, the relocation of Lake Shore Drive, the renovation of the Museum Campus, the Roosevelt Road extension, McCormick Place expansion, Field Museum improvements and plans for Soldier Field expansion and the proposed conversion of Meigs Field to the Northerly Island Park.
"In all total, there is about $2.5 billion worth of infrastructure improvements over that 10-year period," Desmond said. "That has prompted the neighborhood to grow. When the people come, the restaurants and shops move in, and more people move in. "
Downtown Chicago is a good market for new housing now, he said. Central Station is getting a blend of first-time buyers, move-up couples and empty-nesters, moving in from the suburbs, he said.
"Because of the hospitals and educational facilities in the area, we have a large number of professors and doctors," he said. "You have the traditional South Sider who is moving north-people from Beverly. We have a significant number of African-American buyers and a diverse group of Asian-Americans."
About 20 percent of buyers have been former North Side residents who are moving south because it is less congested, and they can park, Desmond said.
"We jokingly say that you buy a parking place and we throw in a condo," he said.
Central Station's most notable resident is Mayor Daley, one of the early town-house purchasers in 1993.
"The mayor moving into the area obviously was a big plus just because of the publicity it generated," he said. "Obviously Central Station had nothing to do with the history of the family and their long association with Bridgeport. For them to make that change was a huge benefit."
The Museum Park section, on the north of the development, will adjoin an extension to Grant Park, from Roosevelt Road to the 14th Street, over the Metra tracks. The 5 acres of air rights and the 1-acre Daniel Webster Park, at South Indiana and East 14th, have been donated to the city.
A 2-acre Mark Twain Park is tentatively designed to run the width of the development, from East 15th Place and East 16th Street.
The old city freight tunnel system intersects the development at several spots and is now the raceway for fiber optic cables carrying computer information and other signals. The residents will also have service from the nation's major optic system, which runs parallel to the Metra tracks and the city express "busway" from the Illinois Center complex, at Randolph Street, to McCormick Place.
The area is close to the CTA's Roosevelt Road stop, where the major lines meet. It also has Metra service and CTA buses to the Union and Northwestern stations. CTA buses also run through the development as well.
Plans have not been finalized for a wide section running along Lake Shore Drive, south of 14th Street, Desmond said.
"We are looking at business and commercial here," he said. "we see a lot of it happening at this end because of the nearness to McCormick Place."
The northern tip of the plan, along Roosevelt Road between Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive, is also slated for offices, retail and, possibly, rental units, he said.
Special care is being taken with the development of the section of Central Station that abuts the Prairie Avenue Historic District. The district, along Prairie and indtiana, includes the Glessner mansion, from 1887, and the city's oldest existing residence, the Clarke House, built in 1836.
The area also was the site of the Fort Dearborn Massacre, during the War of 1812, when the Native-American inhabitants attacked settlers and military. The victims were following the existing Lake Michigan shoreline south at the time, after surrendering the fort, at what is now the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue.
"We are very careful to make sure that whatever development we do is right for the area, and the homes are very sympathetic to the district," Desmond said. "we knew the city wanted some sort of a buffer with the district, which is why did a town-house development there."
About 50 town houses are being built by Legacy Development Group, along the east side of Prairie Avenue and around the corner on 18th street. More than half of them sold during the first month they were offered, according to Warren Barr, co-principal of Legacy Development Group, the builder.
"Today's buyers are coming here for the same reasons that the 19th century residents were drawn to the area, elegant homes a distinguished neighborhood and an ideal location," Barr said.
All of the various builders' town houses are selling more quickly than they can be built because they are the closest thing to a new, single-family home that buyers can find in the downtown area, Desmond said.
Condominiums in Legacy's Tower Residences, behind the town houses, also are selling quickly, with prices of $180,000 to $360,000, he said. The town houses are priced at $579,900 to $609,900.
The four builders have offered a range of prices for condominiums and town houses to appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers, Desmond said.
"We had a lot of people coming to us and asking if we had any loft buildings," Desmond said. "We had a site that just happened to lend it-self to lofts. This building is on the market now."
The Lofts at Museum Park, at 13th and Indiana, is in the northern-most section, which is being built by the Enterprise Development Companies, headed by Ron Shipka. The new-construction lofts are priced in the $203,500 to $450,000 range. Three high-rise buildings will provide standard condominiums, base-priced at $350,000 to $780,000.
Museum Park residents will have their own club house, complete with a pool, health club, business center and entertainment area.
At the center of things is the Bejco Development Corp., with its Prairie House condo-and town-house complex, at 15th Place and Prairie, and the Prairie Tower condominiums, a block south on 15th Street.
The centerpiece of the Prairie House is its big town houses, which are 30 feet wide instead of the usual 17 to 22 feet, according to Kay Varga, the sales manager. The 4-level town houses have 3,693 to 3,858 square feet. Prices range from $825,000 to $875,000.
"Prairie House is truly a luxury residence," Varga said, "and has been attracting mainly trade-up buyers from the city neighborhoods north and south of here, as well as those from many suburbs."
The condominiums at Prairie House range from $193,900 to $649,900. The units at Prairie Tower are base priced at $185,900 to $1.18 million.
New housing will come on the market early next year, Desmond said.
"The development is on a definite time line," he said. "The middle should be done in 2 or 2-1/2 years, the upper part is perhaps 2007 and the south is 2009. We will be able to develop these in a parallel manner, with units coming on line all the time. We have buildings that are in planning. We have buildings that are being occupied."
- Central Station, 1211 S. Michigan. Central Station Development Corp., (312) 663-5750.
- Museum Park, Enterprise Companies, sales center at 1259 S. Indiana. (312) 362-0200
- Prairie District Homes, Legacy Development Group, sales center at 18th and Prairie. (312) 945-3800
- Prairie House, Bejco Development Crop., sales center at 1501 S. Prairie. (312) 945-3800
