The overnight email included this news release:

The development team for Wolf Point unveiled a plan Tuesday night for a stunning, signature proposal for the long-dormant property at the junction of the north, south and east branches of the Chicago River.

The three-phase project includes three towers – a residential building on the western portion and two commercial buildings placed to the south and east. The proposal also provides for a public park and open space, and a major improvement and enhancement of the river walk. The new section of river walk will begin west of the Orleans Street bridge, extend along the entire perimeter of the site where it ends just south of Kinzie Street, adjacent to the north branch of the Chicago River.

Hines, in partnership with Kennedy Enterprises and Magellan Development Group, and with their architects Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, bKL Architecture and Wolff Landscaping Architecture, presented the plans at a community meeting hosted by Alderman Brendan Reilly of the 42nd Ward.

“The Wolf Point project is a major investment in the city and its future. The project demonstrates the growing momentum of the economic recovery here in Chicago. It’s a world-class proposal for one of the most unique sites in the entire country,” said Chis Kennedy. “We have put together a superstar team with the track record and the plan to enhance this exceptional site and fulfill more than a century of planning for Wolf Point.”

The first phase of the proposed project is a 525 foot-tall residential building with 500 luxury rental units on the western portion of the property. The east building is designed as a 750 foot-tall commercial building. The signature south building will also be a commercial building and will reach up to 950 feet tall. Building coverage will be 22% of the total site area, with extensive parks, the 1,000 foot river walk and other public spaces covering the majority of the nearly four acre area.

“Reviewing the history of Wolf Point and planning documents created over the last 100 years, it was clear that a significant, multiple-building, signature development is the highest and best use for the site,” said Fred Clarke with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. “The design principles for Wolf Point evoke the timeless architecture of Chicago’s best buildings. We are particularly excited about the new river walk, parks and open spaces that we have integrated into the proposal.”

The development is an investment of more than $1 billion in Chicago and is expected to create 2,000 construction and permanent jobs. No public incentives, subsidies or tax increment financing will be part of the project financing. When complete, the project is expected to generate more than $35 million in new public revenue through property and other taxes, annually.

“It truly is an amazing location. It has unparalleled access to both CTA rail and bus lines, as well as the two main Metra hubs. It is one of the most walkable locations in the city with easy access to both the Loop and River North,” noted Greg Van Schaack, Senior Managing Director with development firm Hines. “For more than one hundred years, city planners – from Burnham in the early 1900s to several Central Area Plans dating to 1959 – have all called for prominent buildings and urban density at the site, and we are very eager to finally realize Wolf Point’s full potential.”

Zoning for the site has been in place for nearly 40 years through the establishment of a planned development in 1973, which was subsequently ratified by the City of Chicago in 2004 and 2012. Kennedy Enterprises and Hines will submit an amendment to the planned development for approval that reflects the proposed buildings, river walk and open space. The project design contains less square footage than what is allowable under the current planned development.

Chicago Real Estate Daily has a report on last night’s community meeting.

This New England-style Barrington estate is a genuine work of art that’s unlike any home you’ve ever seen.

When you enter you might begin comparing it with a designer showcase home. As you meander through its unique floor plan, you’ll quickly realize that the home’s visual integrity and the richness of its detailing place it in another category. It’s a museum-quality home, lovingly and passionately crafted by its current owner over several decades.

The home has been extensively expanded since its creation as a working dairy farm in 1906, and now spans more than 7,500 square feet on nearly eight carefully-sculpted acres.

Carl, the home’s visionary owner, is our host on this nearly 20-minute video tour, which can only hint at the home’s uniqueness.

The home is listed for sale for $2.4 million with Coldwell Banker’s Meladee Hughes, 312-636-8020.

Here’s something you don’t see often – a top-to-bottom remodeling in Logan Square priced at $299,000.

The 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home at 1834 N Monticello Ave has hardwood floors, a stylish kitchen with a large island and pantry cabinets, a finished walk-out lower level and a 2-car garage.

A deck opens directly from the kitchen into a nice-sized back yard.

Monticello Park is a few doors south of the home and the McCormick Tribune YMCA is just a block away.

Sergio & Banks‘ Izabela Sloma is our tour guide in the sponsored video.

The renovated vintage midrise at 860 Hinman is home to two of Evanston’s favorites – the Brothers K coffee house and the Lucky Platter restaurant. Along Main Street and around the corner on Chicago Ave residents find a good selection of one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants, together with Starbucks and Whole Foods. CTA and Metra stops are a block away.

Studio and one-bedroom apartments have dishwashers, microwaves, hardwood floors and newer kitchens and baths.

Residents at 860 Hinman also enjoy a fitness room, laundry, and on-site management and maintenance.

The property is managed by BJB Evanston, which also offers a wide selection of vintage and contemporary apartments in other Evanston locations.

My son and I shopped at Room & Board in Skokie nearly 6 years ago when he was setting up his new home in Antioch, but I hadn’t been there since.

The store’s less than a mile from where I live, and I pass it daily on my way to and from work. I’d seen it expand over the years, and couldn’t resist when I received an invitation for a tour.

Room & Board offers a large variety of home furnishings and accessories, all distinctly contemporary without being time-bound or overly trendy, and all tasteful enough to satisfy most shoppers.

Michael, one of the knowledgeable Design Associates at the store, was my tour guide in this video, which showcases only a few of the available options.

Residents of 1225 Old Town, the new apartment tower about to open at 1225 N Wells St, could look forward to a feast of nearby grocery shopping options: a Jewel, a Dominick’s, two Potash Markets, two Treasure Islands, two Whole Foods and a Trader Joe’s – for starters.

All of those grocers may have a tough time attracting business from 1225 residents who will have a new Plum Market on-site. Crain’s recently reported that Plum Market will be leasing 28,000 of the approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space in the development. This will be Plum Market’s first foray outside of its Michigan base.

The exterior of 1225 Old Town was nearing completion last Monday when I shot the above photo. The leasing office is open across the street at 1212 N Wells.

NOTE: 1225 Old Town is the sponsor of our Old Town apartment rental guide.

It’s been over three years since we last checked up on Adams on the Park, a 6-story building with 5 full-floor condos at 1259 W Adams St in the West Loop. At the time, only one unit remained for sale, a 2,200 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2 ½ bath home priced in the $720s. The development takes its name from the adjacent Skinner Park.

The first resale in the building, Unit 5, hit the market 3 days ago, priced at $799,000 – just a hair below the $802,000 it sold for in February of 2008. The fifth-floor unit has 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, 3 outdoor spaces, and a garage parking space. Each unit in the building has private elevator access.

Adams on the Park is a block away from the new Target that’s nearing completion at Jackson and Aberdeen.

Not far from Adams on the Park, slightly smaller new 3-bedroom, 3-bath units, also with private elevator access and garage parking, are priced from $499,900 to $574,900 at CA23 (one of our sponsors). Deliveries of units at CA23 are scheduled to begin late in December. You can see the status of the project as of last Friday in the following photo.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has a YouTube channel that’s drawn few views despite hosting videos on topics of wide interest to Chicago residents in general and architecture buffs in particular. The channel definitely merits more attention.

One project that’s likely to generate great excitement and delight Chicagoans for generations is the reimagining of 20 acres of Grant Park as North Grant Park. The plans were outlined in a recent Lunch Talks session at CAF, and you can see part of the presentation in the above video. In the following video, landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh talks about his design philosophy.

Planned Property Management, one of our sponsors, has run contests for the best video set to the company’s theme song and for the its official t-shirt design.

The latest contest solicited residents to vie for a $300 rent credit by creating a video describing why they love where they live. The entries are as varied as the residents, and you can see several dozen more of them at Planned’s YouTube channel.

David Nadler of City Ranch Real Estate is a staunch proponent of the notion that condo and townhome rentals are value-priced in comparison to rental apartment buildings.

I asked David for some recent examples, and he sent along a half-dozen, ranging from a studio at Sandburg Village to Lincoln Park townhomes. David singled out a north-facing 2-bedroom, 2-bath he recently rented at Water Tower Place as “the most interesting of the properties.”
Unit 3402, which spans nearly 1,800 square feet, rented for $3,900 a month. David’s take:

In a ‘healthy’ housing market, renters would not have the opportunity to live in Chicago’s landmarks, which were traditionally reserved exclusively for purchasers.

Water Tower is a special landmark building. $3,900 represents a very fair price for a 2-bedroom right now in general. This home has unobstructed lake views and includes a separate dining room, a full-size laundry room and walk-in closet.

Access to the recently renovated Carlton Club is included in the rent. The Ritz Carlton Hotel services, including room service, are available to residents of Water Tower.

There are several luxury rental buildings nearby with 2-bedroom rent rates ranging into the high $3,000s, but none with comparable square footage or a level of service and ambiance comparable to that of Water Tower Place.

Another 02-tier unit in the Water Tower, Unit 4002, is currently offered for rent at $7,500 a month. From the pictures, it appears to have a much higher level of finishes than Unit 3402.

You can see some of the properties that David considered bargains in the following video, shot several months ago, and see the second and third parts of our tour at YouTube:

Credit David Greising at the now-defunct Chicago News Cooperative for the “fake no little plans” take on British developer Bill Davies’ proposals for the Old Post Office.

We’ve previously contrasted Greising’s reality-based approach to the development with the Trib’s Blair Kamin’s taking it somewhat seriously, and suggested the project reeks of BS.

Two days ago the above video surfaced at Vimeo. The video begins by stating the City of Chicago’s population as 9,686,021, and proceeds to outline the proposed development.

The proposal contemplates riverbanks along the Chicago River, 2 million square feet of office space, 12,000 parking spaces, 6.2 million square feet of entertainment, dining and retail space, 7,500 hotel rooms in 4.1 million square feet, 3.8 million square feet of residential space and a 20-acre rooftop garden and park.

Memorial Day Weekend is a great time to sample the zeitgeist of the North Shore, whether you’re doing so on the beach or at one of the parades or other events that mark a day of solemn remembrance.

You’ll find that the North Shore communities vary markedly in their approach to Memorial Day, as they do in much else, with Kenilworth opting for the most traditional ceremonies.

In the 2007 video, below, Kenilworth’s T. Tolbert Chisum, accompanied by the strains of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, intoned the name and address of each Kenilworth resident who died to secure our liberty. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts planted a flag memorializing each fallen hero.

The homes at Ambry Estates are just minutes from I-394 in Lynwood and nestled within an established neighborhood set against the backdrop of mature forest preserve land.

Jan Scott of J. Lawrence Homes presents this tour of a newly built home at Ambry Estates in Lynwood, IL.

This 2-story home has an open floor plan of 2,700 square feet with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, formal living and dining room, fireplace, and a 1st floor den. The kitchen is decked out in everything you’d expect – granite, island, large functional cabinets, and stainless steel. This home includes a 3-car attached garage and a full basement ready for your ideas.

K2 at K Station is a 496-unit 34-story apartment tower that’s under construction in Chicago’s Fulton River District.

McHugh Construction Project Engineer Owen Smith showed me around the site yesterday, starting at ground level and ending on the 13th floor, which is partially complete. From the 9th floor on we climbed construction ladders.

We stopped a number of times on various floors while Owen answered my questions about what we were looking at.

Thanks, Owen, for an informative tour.

NOTE: Apologies for the shakiness of some of the video, but it was all shot hand-held due to site conditions.

There’s more video from K2 at our YouTube playlist.

Optima Center, 200 E Illinois in Streeterville, has risen to two stories above the upper-level of Illinois Street. When complete the 325-unit building will be 42 stories tall.

The building in the background at the right of the photo is the new Ronald McDonald House.

Optima Center is a project that generates a lot of interest among architecture buffs, and you can see many more pictures of its progress in a thread at SkyscraperPage.com.

You can track the major new apartment projects underway in downtown Chicago at our at-a-glance list and map.

The 500-unit apartment tower under construction at 500 N Lake Shore Dr in Streeterville is more than halfway toward its 45-story height. In the picture above the building is framed by the RiverView Condominiums, 415 and 445 E North Water St.

When complete, the building will include a 30,000 square foot amenity package with club rooms for entertaining and relaxing on the 11th and 45th floors. The building will also feature a landscaped exterior roof terrace with a lap-length pool, sundeck, private cabanas and dining spaces with kitchens and a fire pit.

The development is targeting occupancy beginning in May 2013.

You can track the major new apartment projects underway in downtown Chicago at our at-a-glance list and map.

Bits of the façade are nearly all that’s left of the Mexican restaurant and rent-a-car outlet that formerly operated at 73 E Lake St in the Loop, and they’re being pulverized, bit by bit.

M&R Development anticipates locking down construction financing shortly for a 42-story, 336-unit apartment tower on the site, according to Chicago Real Estate Daily. The new development, which will be known as Summit on Lake, is following the trend of planning to compete with existing apartments by offering “condo-style amenities and finishes.”

You can track the major new apartment projects underway in downtown Chicago at our at-a-glance list and map.

When I visited K2 at K Station earlier today approximately 150 workers from various trades were busy assembling plumbing fittings, installing electrical equipment and windows, assembling and disassembling forms, pouring and finishing concrete – and engaged in a variety of other activities on the 496-unit 34-story apartment tower.

In the above photo you can see the third floor lobby level progressing toward its connection with Halsted Street.

McHugh Construction Project Engineer Owen Smith showed me around the site, starting at ground level and ending on the 13th floor, above, which is partially complete. From the 9th floor on we climbed construction ladders.

Within a day or two I’ll have video from the tour available. In the meantime, there’s video from K2 at our YouTube playlist.

The honking RENT NOW! sign for SoNo East apartments, 840 W Blackhawk St, is atop SoNo West. It’s hard to miss even from points that are miles away. Below are some recent shots from 1157 W Diversey, 629 W Deming and 2850 N Sheridan.

The on-site signage is even more difficult to miss.

The south portico of the building is mercifully free of commands.

The 43-story tower at 360 West Hubbard is just coming out of the ground in River North. It won’t be long before it obscures the south-facing views from the Sexton Lofts, 360 W Illinois.

When it’s complete, 360 West Hubbard will include 450 apartments and an extensive 9th-floor amenity level above a 520-car garage. Some of the spaces in the garage are set aside for the East Bank Club, which is directly west on Kingsbury St.

The Coast, 345 E Wacker Dr, is about two-thirds of the way toward its ultimate 49-story height. It appears to be on track to meet its targeted completion date of February 2013.

When it’s complete, The Coast will include 499 apartments, 18,000 square feet of retail space, 18,000 square feet of amenities, and parking below Wacker Drive.

You can see many more photos and follow the progress of the building in a thread at SkyscraperPage.com.

The 3-bedroom, 2-bath home at 3134 S Union in Bridgeport has been extensively renovated and reconfigured by its owner-architect. It’s listed for sale at $429,000.

The showplace kitchen has an 18-foot long quartz island, high-end appliances and a wall of glass opening to an entertainment-centric back yard.

There’s also a 4th guest bedroom and family room on the lower level.

Eric Rojas of Kale Realty is our tour guide in this sponsored video.

A few days ago the multi-year reconstruction of Congress Parkway and Wacker Drive passed a major milestone with the opening of all lanes on Congress to traffic.

When the project is completed later this year there will be three acres of new parkland flanking Congress, which is the major artery into the Loop from the Eisenhower Expressway.

The new park, tentatively named Wacker Gateway Park, is immediately south of the new high-rise condo at 235 Van Buren, the sponsor of this video.

The video takes a look at the status of the construction on Congress Parkway from the vantage of a 29th floor south-facing balcony at 235 Van Buren.

Colleen McIntyre, the property manager at Park Michigan Apartments in the South Loop, has more than 20 years’ experience managing commercial and residential properties. Among her other duties she’s currently overseeing a major upgrading of Park Michigan’s common areas and amenities.

The property manager at a major Chicago high-rise has to be knowledgeable in many areas. She has responsibility for a major asset, a multi-million dollar budget — and the challenge of providing for the comfort of hundreds of residents.

Park Michigan’s Jill Dolnicek introduces Colleen in this sponsored video and elicits her take on what makes the community attractive to residents and prospective renters.

The 6,300 square foot single-family greystone at 48 E Cedar St in the Gold Coast was completely reconstructed two years ago.

The 3-story plus lower-level home has 5 bedrooms, 5 full and two half baths, a library, a media room, a Christopher Peacock kitchen and all the features you’d expect in a luxury residence.

The home also has a large deck, a private walled garden, and two deeded parking spaces in an adjacent building. It’s listed for sale at $3,500,000 with Coldwell Banker’s Meladee Hughes, our tour guide in this sponsored video.

Five years ago we reported that a development called The Terrace was offering 24 3-bedroom, 2 ½ bath condos in four 6-flats at 3917 – 3935 N Kedzie Ave in Irving Park. One building was said to be complete, and the others “in various stages of construction.”

Six weeks later we wrote that “approximately 1,800 square foot” units in the development were available for immediate occupancy at prices starting in the $390s.

Unit 3S, which had sold for $400,000 five years ago, resold a week ago for $50,000. The reported square footage of the unit, at 1,234, also reflects a significant reduction.

A number of other units in the building are lender-owned.

And the other three buildings that were said to be in “various stages of construction?” A recent Google Earth image shows only vacant lots – with a strange image of a light plane superimposed.

This high-ceilinged 2-bedroom, 2-bath corner loft floods with light through large windows facing south and east.

The 1,600 square foot condo home has recently been renovated with a new kitchen, refinished hardwood floors, a new washer / dryer and air-conditioning. It’s priced at $339,000.

The highlight of this loft is a flexible rectangular space that’s open to the kitchen and can accommodate large furniture and an easily defined dining area.

The generously-sized master suite has a spacious walk-in closet, built-in-shelving and an oversized master bath.

The location has a Walker’s Paradise Walk Score of 98 and a Transit Score of 100. It’s close to everything, and steps from Grant Park.

Eric Rojas of Kale Realty is our tour guide in this sponsored video of Unit 3E, 1020 S Wabash in Chicago’s South Loop.

All the media hubbub attending Michael Jordan’s offering his Highland Park home for sale for $29 million doesn’t seem to have boosted property values or sales velocity in the Architecture Point subdivision in which is home is located. Five of the 8 parcels in the subdivision are currently on the market.

A 6-bedroom, 7 ½ bath, 8,318 square foot home at 1530 Museum Dr (arrow, above) just came on the market at a list price of $1,469,000. The home, which is slightly more than an acre, has a reported property tax bill of $57,107 and had previously been listed for $2.05M. An adjacent vacant lot that sold for $600,000 10 years ago is currently being offered at $450,000. The contemporary home next door, at 1500 Museum Dr, sold for $700,000 a year ago.

A nearby 5-bedroom, 6 ½ bath home at 2650 Point Ln has been on the market for 40 days with a current asking price of $1,195,000. Property taxes are reported at $26,801.

A bit closer to the Jordan property, 2670 Point Ln is listed at $899,000, just under half of what it sold for in 2009. The property tax bill is reported to be $37,458. According to a Redfin agent note, the home “is very rundown and has standing water in the basement. Needs a ton of work.”

The question of dead pigeons is addressed in a current post at Atlantic Cities. Short answer: dead pigeons are tasty treats for many predators.

And baby pigeons? A Straight Dope reader offered a reprise of a National Lampoon riff:

Re your recent comment on baby pigeons: don’t be fooled by false sightings from gullible bird lovers. The blunt truth is this: the pigeons you see all over the city are the baby pigeons. The adult has a wingspan of 8-12 feet. When they reach adulthood they fly to remote mountain fastnesses and live off the occasional tourist. I do not, however, subscribe to the theory that the adults will one day return en masse to wreak vengeance on us a la The Birds.
— Bob W., Melrose Park, Illinois

YoChicago’s photo archives encompass well over 100,000 images. You can see a sampler of them at Flickr and on our neighborhood pages.

A 4-bedroom, 3 ½ bath proposed new construction home has just come on the market at 1820 N California Ave in Logan Square. The list price is $549,900.

Some of you may recall that we wrote about this site, which was formerly known as California Estates, back in January. At the time, we noted that two single-families in the development resold in the $430s and a third was on the market at $549,000. That home, which has been on and off the market for some time, has 4 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths, and its price has been reduced to $499,900. It’s at 1828 N California.

The existing homes on the site are traditional in style while the recently-listed new construction is showing a rendering of a more modern front elevation.

My recent schedule has kept me from spending as much time as I would have liked to at K2 at K Station, which is under construction in the Fulton River District. I did stop by briefly on Wednesday to check on the project’s status.

Crews were pouring the 6th floor and planning to start construction on the 7th the following week when I visited on April 18:

Plans called for a 3-day per floor construction cycle after the 9th floor and, as you can see in the above photo, the project appears to be hitting that target. You can also see windows being set on the first residential floor of the 496-unit, 34-story tower.

This weekend marks the 42nd Annual Beverly Hills / Morgan Park Home Tour. Six private homes and a historic church will be open for viewing Sunday, May 20, from 11 to 5. Tickets for the tour are $25 in advance or $30 at the door.

From 1 to 3 on Sunday you can meet artist Jack Simmerling at his Heritage Gallery, 1915 W 103rd St. Simmerling has been drawing the home tour homes for many years.

Five years ago I stopped in at the Heritage Gallery for a video chat with Simmerling. He’d opened the gallery fresh out of college 50 years prior to the time of my visit, now 55 years ago.

Five years ago we posted the following report:

Sales of new homes downtown fell 46 percent during the first quarter, according to a story in Crain’s Chicago Business, which quoted a new report by Appraisal Research Counselors. Buyers signed contracts for 1,207 new homes downtown during the first quarter, a 46 percent drop from the 2,243 units they bought during the first quarter of 2006, according to the story.

It was the seventh straight quarter of falling sales, but the number of new units that began marketing downtown roughly matched the number of sales during the quarter. That stability is a sign that some developers have scaled back or postponed plans.

Sales for the first quarter of this year, at 113 units, were more than 90% below the first quarter level of 5 years ago, according to a recent Chicago Real Estate Daily report.

When our then-editor Barry Pearce picked up his copy of the June 2007 issue of Chicago Magazine, he was “astounded … to learn that the South Loop is pretty much perfect.” The issue’s cover touted the neighborhood’s “booming real estate … hip restaurants … exploding population … Welcome to the hottest neighborhood in the country.”

The South Loop has developed quite a bit in the interim, but Barry’s take still resonates with many residents:

In our experience, even the most ardent fans of the South Loop have some serious complaints. Some complain about the fact that there aren’t more shops and restaurants and bars and churches – in short, that there still isn’t enough of the stuff that makes a neighborhood a neighborhood.

In February of 2009 Coldwell Banker’s David Hall called the South Loop “our Las Vegas,” but called attention to its advantages.

Studs Terkel, as probably everyone in Chicago knows, would have turned 100 today.

Back in 2007 YoChicago attended the Studs Terkel Community Media Awards ceremony. Afterwards, the staff and board of the Community Media Workshop joined Studs on stage for a sing-along.

The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Walz on banjo, Eric Zorn on guitar, and Mary Schmich on piano supplied the music.

Some high-rise buildings have very elaborately engineered machinery for washing their windows.

For some buildings, window washing is as simple as having a man rappel down the side of the building with a bucket of soap and water.

As you can see from the following photo, the window washer is about 20 stories up on the south façade of 1133 North Dearborn in the Gold Coast.

City living in the suburbs is how Missy Jerfita of Koenig & Strey describes this luxurious 4000 square foot, 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath townhome in The Glen in Glenview.

The Glen is a complete neighborhood built on the former Glenview Naval Air Station base that includes parks, a lake, various housing, recreational facilities, shops, entertainment and golf. And if you want to get to the big city, it’s a straight shot from the nearby metra station or expressways.

Take a sponsored video tour of this colorful and spacious home at 1819 Admiral Court.

The international-style apartment tower at 1212 S Michigan Ave changed ownership recently, and has been renamed Park Michigan to emphasize its location across from Grant Park.

In addition to the rebranding, the building is in the midst of a major makeover of its common area and in-unit amenities.

One thing that isn’t changing, however, is the spectacular east and west views from most of the apartments. After wrapping up a sponsored video shoot I headed for the roof, where I shot these panoramas.

Five years ago we spotlighted a 3-bedroom, 2-bath condo for sale for $176,000 at 501 W 60Th Pl in Englewood as our deal-of-the-day.

Unit 2E in the building, also a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, sold for $164,500 with 100% financing in November of 2004. It resold last September for $27,500 – 85% below our deal-of-the-day price.

The sale appears to have involved a private-party buyer. One has to wonder whether the buyer was aware that the Norfolk Southern railroad has designs on the location for an expansion of its freight yard to the north.

Our recently-launched YoRents service connects renters directly with quality landlords.

Many renters, however, are daunted by the task of finding an apartment on their own, or unwilling to invest the time, and choose to work with a rental agent. That choice presents them with an even more daunting task: finding an agent who will respect their wishes and help them select the new home that best meets their needs and wants.

Yelp and other review sites are no help. Most of the reviews of individual agents and rental services are untrustworthy at best and fraudulent at worst. Personal referrals are a bit more reliable, but suffer from the referrer’s typically lacking broad experience with rental agents.

The staff at YoChicago has decades of experience in working with real estate agents. We know how to sort the good from the bad, the experienced from the rookies, the knowledgeable from the know-nothings, and the true professionals from those who lack integrity and commitment to their clients.

We’ll soon be launching an expansion of YoRents to introduce you to professional agents who have experience and expertise in selected neighborhoods. It will be a paid advertising feature, but only agents who meet our standards of experience and integrity will be allowed to advertise. We’ll introduce those agents to renters through a brief biography and video, so that renters will know exactly who they’ll be working with rather than walking into a rental service and running the risk of a random rookie.

Introducing Amy Reynolds
Amy Eigel Reynolds was born into the real estate business. The daughter of Prudential Rubloff CEO, Chris Eigel, Amy became a third generation Realtor in the Chicago area shortly after receiving her B.A. in music from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Amy is a licensed broker with a dozen years’ experience. She has expert knowledge of Chicago’s Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods.

A former collegiate volleyball player, a musician and an animal lover, Amy lives in Wicker Park with her husband, her son and their dog.

Amy was recommended to YoRents by Francesca Rose, who I’ve known for twenty years.

Prudential Rubloff is an advertising client of YoChicago’s parent firm.