Moving to chicago in April; help, where? (Evanston, Lincoln: to rent, lofts)

[skipro101]

Hello all you friendly Chicago people and wannabees. ;] I am moving to Chicago in April and need some advice about where to live.

About me:
32
Male
Straight
Single
Am a pilot, fly out of ORD
Originally from Ohio
My heart is out west with the mountains, am super into climbing, skiing, mountain biking.
Do people kiteboard on the lake?
Sick of commuting and feeling like im living in two places, so going to give the Chicago thing a try.

Concerns about location:
I want open space/loft/more square footage. Less 1970s house with small windows and tons of walls and more old warehouse converted to residential, big windows, unique.
No desire to live in a highrise downtown building. Way better for me to be near the lake, near trees, etc. Dont want to be way out in the boondocks/need to be near young single people, but prefer quiet and nature over honking cars and traffic.
Important to have some kind of running/walking/biking trail nearby.
Really value walk score/want to limit getting into my car too much.
Go to keep in mind ease of commute to ORD, would prefer to use metro. Will only be making that trip 5-7 times per month, so this factor isnt super critical.
A major concern is dating. Need to be closer to the 25-35 single educated women areas than the married with kids places.
Budget up to 1800/month, but thats not a goal.


Ideas? I realize some of those comments are conflicting, and that really I should just stay in Montana, but....I need to stop commuting, so any place that comes close?

And thanks in advance I appreciate you sharing your local knowledge with a newcomer ;]

[chet everett]

You are not going to get a big loft space for $1800 a month! It won't be anywhere near the nice areas close to Lake's north side beaches either. And it probably won't be close to ORD... Hard to say you are going to avoid cars / traffic anywhere that still afford you a direct path to ORD -- even the most transit friendly option in the region would put you on top of the Kennedy as the Blue Line runs down its middle for significant portion...

No problem avoiding "married with kid" places as huge swaths of Chicago are in that category.

You could buy something in Roger Park that hit some of your list -- http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/17...89902657_zpid/

[skipro101]

Definitely looking to rent not buy.
Definitely favor ideal location over ideal space.
Doesn't have to be close to ORD. 45 min is ok travel time.
I hear you on the cars/traffic. Its a city. I would go to the suburbs but I fear its all married folk out there.

[chet everett]

Rogers Park is a neighborhood in the city. It is not very family friendly, with now mostly under-performing schools. Many many decades it was one of the more "tree heavy" parts of Chicago. There is quite a bit of park land near the Loyola Campus and I suspect you would encounter a fairly nice mix of well educated University employees there as well as in nearby Evanston, home to Northwestern University.

As more and more neighborhoods closer to the Loop have become too costly developers have renovated some of the older buildings in Rogers Park and you get a lot more for your money than other places. It is within about 30 minutes of driving to O'Hare. It has good access to the north side Lake Michigan beaches, though the closest ones are more likely to attract less affluent crowds than those nearer to Lincoln Park or the Gold Coast. There is decent access to the Forest Preserves inside Chicago as well as good access to the Lake-front bicycle and jogging path.

Really hard to say if this is "ideal" as you are NOT going to find mountains anywhere in Illinois or really the Midwest (though I think you must know that as a pilot...) and I am not really sure that you can predict if there are more or less "outdoorsy" type people in any part of Chicago. There is an REI store in Lincoln Park but I would guess they sell about 50x more yoga apparel than mountaineering gear and even their suburban stores probably sell 10x more kayaks and mountain bikes...

[Vlajos]

Logan Square along the Blue Line is an option worth looking into. Andersonville as well might be good.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by skipro101

Hello all you friendly Chicago people and wannabees. ;] I am moving to Chicago in April and need some advice about where to live.

About me:
32
Male
Straight
Single
Am a pilot, fly out of ORD
Originally from Ohio
My heart is out west with the mountains, am super into climbing, skiing, mountain biking.
Do people kiteboard on the lake?
Sick of commuting and feeling like im living in two places, so going to give the Chicago thing a try.

Concerns about location:
I want open space/loft/more square footage. Less 1970s house with small windows and tons of walls and more old warehouse converted to residential, big windows, unique.
No desire to live in a highrise downtown building. Way better for me to be near the lake, near trees, etc. Dont want to be way out in the boondocks/need to be near young single people, but prefer quiet and nature over honking cars and traffic.
Important to have some kind of running/walking/biking trail nearby.
Really value walk score/want to limit getting into my car too much.
Go to keep in mind ease of commute to ORD, would prefer to use metro. Will only be making that trip 5-7 times per month, so this factor isnt super critical.
A major concern is dating. Need to be closer to the 25-35 single educated women areas than the married with kids places.
Budget up to 1800/month, but thats not a goal.


Ideas? I realize some of those comments are conflicting, and that really I should just stay in Montana, but....I need to stop commuting, so any place that comes close?

And thanks in advance I appreciate you sharing your local knowledge with a newcomer ;]

I would look at 1-BRs in Lincoln Park.

It's near the park and the lake. The singles scene is probably up in Lake View more, and you may want to look there, but it's also more urban/dense.

That being said, Lincoln Park is far from quiet or nature.

You've come to the wrong place for quiet or nature.

[skipro101]

I know. Its a pickle.
No airline bases in Bozeman Montana though.
Tough move for me.

Thanks for the replies.

[marothisu]

I would look along the Blue Line which goes directly to O'Hare and runs 24/7 and it is also near a major expressway that connects to O'Hare too. There are a lot of pilots and flight attendants living in areas like Avondale and Logan Square. Logan Square has come up recently as more of a nightlife destination at least in a few areas (i.e. near the Logan Square and California stops), though for the most part it runs on the more hip/hipster level (but not always). Parts of the area are the typical semi hip now but definitely gentrifying currently. A little further south is Bucktown and Wicker Park which are larger nightlife areas (i.e. near Damen-O'Hare blue line stop). You'll see people refer to Wicker Park also as hipster, but that's not necessarily true. It's one of those formerly hipster areas that gentrified but still has some cool shops, bars, and restaurants too. Good area.

The loft thing will be a bit different - you might have to compromise on that. You can find them for sure, but you'll have to do some digging. I have an acquaintance for example who lives in Cobbler Square in Old Town, which was an old Dr. Scholls factory. His rent for a studio loft is around $1800 or $1900/month I think, but truth be told it's wide open and probably just as big if not bigger than my 1 bedroom in a high rise downtown.

Other than that, if you don't care about having a super easy commute when you need to be home from the airport, then as others have stated, an area like Lincoln Park or Lakeview might be good too (less direct to O'Hare on public transit versus the Blue Line neighborhoods).

[chet everett]

I dunno. Seems being closer to the lakefront is more important to the OP that "hipster nightlife".... Bucktown / Logan Square are not close to water.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I dunno. Seems being closer to the lakefront is more important to the OP that "hipster nightlife".... Bucktown / Logan Square are not close to water.

I did miss that part, but I am setting out for him about the Blue Line and if he wants a super easy commute. At the same time, I also suggested Lincoln Park and Lakeview, so you missed that as well. Of course there are other neighborhoods which could suffice that have some lofts on the north side besides those two areas.