At what point do the EXURBS begin? (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, home builders)

[Tex?Il?]

I was talking to another person who recently moved from the Chicago suburbs to LA (as I did about a half a year ago) and our converstion got me thinking:

Threads have been started asking at what point does it become country/rural when you get outside Chicago: The usual answers would be west of route 47 in Kane County, all the way up the IL-WI state line, and southwest of Joliet, maybe Crete-Monee.

There is countless discussion about the differences between urban and suburban, but in Chicagoland, as in many other large metro areas, there is in my mind, a very distinct exurban zone;

a zone of more patchy suburban development, of areas that have a small town or rural character, yet at the same time, built up and a lot of traffic. A lot of two lane roads, etc.

Areas like this can included municipalities that are very wealthy and anti-development, or simply towns that have their own distinctive character, grew up somewhat separate and then started to really get developed recently, or even in some cases in the south suburbs south of I-80, it might be the opposite, economically depressed and has been slow to growth, so a lot of fields still around. These exurbs may also have LARGE tracts of forest preserves, state parks, et.

In my opinion, I would go so far as to say that most of Lake County is distinctly exurban. It is noticeably different today even today after the housing boom has filled in a lot of areas of the county with subdivisions and shopping centers.

Where I grew up in Buffalo Grove, a stone throw from the Cook-Lake line, in high school I though of Lake County as being a bit more country than Cook County. When I started high school in the mid 90s, large areas of the Lake County side of BG was still open space (although slated for development I'm sure) by the end of the 90s, much of that was built up and filled in, (although suprisingly when I go back there are still a couple farm fields) Long Grove, being a very anti-development community, staved off a lot of development even by the late 90s and still had a rural appearance, but the housing bubble, lead to a lot more development through the early-mid 2000s. Although Long Grove, has set aside a multitude of small nature preserves especially all along its creeks.

To the west of Chicago, "the country" begins west of 47, but I think it even starts to feel exurban west of 355. To the south I think you only have to go Willow Springs before it gets exurban. Granted there are huge tracts of forest preserves. But go through Lemont and it still feel like a built up small town.

Thats the key about exurbs, They are a distinct transition between suburban and rural. What feels kind of like a built up rural area. Areas where you have a lot of the same natural features, patches of woods, farm fields here and there, people with horses, but more built up, more money, and more traffic.

What do you think?

[chet everett]

There are people with horses inside Cook Co and just across the Cook-DuPage boarder too, I don't know if I would call Oak Brook "exurbs" these days. And though I can certainly appreciate the unique qualities that make Naperville attractive to so many it would be hard to call it other than very much "suburban" despite being west of 355 and having large patches of wooded areas near the DuPage River and even a few tilled fields here and there.

Overal density has a lot to do with the look and even character of different areas. If you ever head to Wayne it is either a good example of town that is not really that far west having decidedly rural appearance or just an example of folks with nice chunks of land being steadfastly anti-development...

Fact is employment in the region is decidely oriented toward Chicago and even if someone decides to put up with a long commute to get to a buccolic site in the exurbs the odds of them being to make a living without some reliance on urbanized areas is pretty remote. The trend that drove firms to build very nature intensive "campus" settings for their businesses has not really been a positive. More and more folks seem to either prefer working in the Loop or simply working from home. Those pretty office parks with streams and walking paths seem to have attracted a lot more warehouses and light manufacturing / food service firms than office workers...

[westburbsil]

Great question, having lived all over the Chicagoland area, the term country has many different meanings. City dwellers who grew up in the city would consider places like Niles, Mount Prospect, etc. as suburbs and stuff further like Wheaton, Naperville, etc country. To some it is really distance from Chicago.
I live out in Geneva and many people consider it country, but in reality it is a very old historic river town in which sprawl reached and now is totally in tune with Chicagoland. But it is funny, west of Kirk road on 38 between Winfield and Geneva there is not much development, lots of open space.

I would say towns like Elburn, Lily Lake, etc. are very country. Basically like the last part of Chicagoland. Some consider it part of, some do not.

Lake County is a large amount country, with residential boom time neighbohoods(between 2000-2007) mixed in and some shopping centers.

I am sure there will be another boom which will fill in some gaps between country and suburbia(prob not as much as last time boom in construction), but it will happen. In 50 years, I bet Milwauke and Chicago will almost be one giant metro.

[reppin_the_847]

I agree with you about the employment part to an extent. But when you add up areas like Northbrook/Deerfield/Lake Forest (near Lake Cook Rd & the I-94 corridors), Schaumburg, Oak Brook, etc. Between these areas especially there's a ton of office space. Granted, the employment centers are a little bit more spread out and way less vertical in space than Chicago, but it's still significant enough that a decent amount of city folk even reverse commute to these areas for work.

Originally Posted by chet everett

There are people with horses inside Cook Co and just across the Cook-DuPage boarder too, I don't know if I would call Oak Brook "exurbs" these days. And though I can certainly appreciate the unique qualities that make Naperville attractive to so many it would be hard to call it other than very much "suburban" despite being west of 355 and having large patches of wooded areas near the DuPage River and even a few tilled fields here and there.

Overal density has a lot to do with the look and even character of different areas. If you ever head to Wayne it is either a good example of town that is not really that far west having decidedly rural appearance or just an example of folks with nice chunks of land being steadfastly anti-development...

Fact is employment in the region is decidely oriented toward Chicago and even if someone decides to put up with a long commute to get to a buccolic site in the exurbs the odds of them being to make a living without some reliance on urbanized areas is pretty remote. The trend that drove firms to build very nature intensive "campus" settings for their businesses has not really been a positive. More and more folks seem to either prefer working in the Loop or simply working from home. Those pretty office parks with streams and walking paths seem to have attracted a lot more warehouses and light manufacturing / food service firms than office workers...

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I agree with you about the employment part to an extent. But when you add up areas like Northbrook/Deerfield/Lake Forest (near Lake Cook Rd & the I-94 corridors), Schaumburg, Oak Brook, etc. Between these areas especially there's a ton of office space. Granted, the employment centers are a little bit more spread out and way less vertical in space than Chicago, but it's still significant enough that a decent amount of city folk even reverse commute to these areas for work.

I agree. Although I think Chet is onto something a little. The suburban office complexes with their landscaping has gotten almost a little . . . passe. Most of the construction is well over 10 years old. Obviously there is still a huge amount of business going on there as there ever was.

I think what he was trying to get at, was you do have maybe a bigger split between people who actually want to work in the hustle and bustle of the urban center, or those who like it more quiet, and those people in many cases simply prefer and can work from home many times.

[pvande55]

The term "Exurbs" is more common in the East Coast. To city reporters, anything past the third suburb out. 20 years ago a working demarcation point was the Elgin Joliet and Eastern Railroad, now owned by CN. Today, IL 47 is a good western boundary, Rt 132 by Great America the Northern and I-80 on the south.

[reppin_the_847]

This is true. This is probably a big reason why Google is strongly considering moving Motorola Mobility's HQ from Libertyville to downtown Chicago (Merchandise Mart supposedly).

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

I agree. Although I think Chet is onto something a little. The suburban office complexes with their landscaping has gotten almost a little . . . passe. Most of the construction is well over 10 years old. Obviously there is still a huge amount of business going on there as there ever was.

I think what he was trying to get at, was you do have maybe a bigger split between people who actually want to work in the hustle and bustle of the urban center, or those who like it more quiet, and those people in many cases simply prefer and can work from home many times.

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

Exurbs=Huntly, Woodstock, Lindenhurst, Round Lake and the like.

[sware2cod]

Check to see where the vast majority of new home subdivisions are being built. This is your exhurb. Usually you an draw a huge ring around the city and the exhurbs are where the new home builders are having the parade of homes and advertising like crazy. This growth ring goes farther and farther out year after year. An exhurb from 7 years ago is likely a suburb now.

The newspaper real estate section sometimes show a map and lists the new subdivisions/builder info and shows an icon on the map. It's very clear to see the exhurb line when looking at this map. It's where the icons are all next to eachother because there are so many of them.

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

Originally Posted by sware2cod

Check to see where the vast majority of new home subdivisions are being built. This is your exhurb. Usually you an draw a huge ring around the city and the exhurbs are where the new home builders are having the parade of homes and advertising like crazy. This growth ring goes farther and farther out year after year. An exhurb from 7 years ago is likely a suburb now.

The newspaper real estate section sometimes show a map and lists the new subdivisions/builder info and shows an icon on the map. It's very clear to see the exhurb line when looking at this map. It's where the icons are all next to eachother because there are so many of them.

Well the real estate collapse seems to have halted exurban expansion dead in its tracks.