Heady Market in Chicago's North Side Drives Teardowns

Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood is undergoing a major spate of tear-downs. Driven by demand for larger, higher-priced real estate, the area has seen many of its old homes and multifamily units replaced by single-family houses with price tags in the millions.

Dennis Rodkin writes, "In the past five years, nearly 300 older residential buildings in the neighborhood have been torn down and replaced with new homes, according to data compiled by Chicago Cityscape, which tracks building-industry permits in the city."

"In all five of those neighborhoods, 'the demand for new-construction homes is high enough that it makes financial sense to tear down what is a perfectly functioning building and put up a brand-new replacement,' said Mario Greco, [a real estate agent in the area]."

The trend doesn't bode well for those who would prefer a higher-density environment along the lake. As the process of "mansionization" continues, "Many of new single-family homes replace two- or three-flats. On the 3700 block of North Wayne Avenue, the developer who bought a greystone three-flat for $605,000 in September is marketing its replacement, a five-bedroom home with a three-car garage and a wine room, for almost $2.5 million."