Dearborn Village

Dearborn Village community of 200 row homes is slated to rise in South Loop

Chicago Tribune
July 13, 1997

The rapidly developing South Loop neighborhood will take another step forward with the start of Dearborn Village, a $35 million row-home community planned on seven acres at 18th and State streets.

"The 200 row homes planned at Dearborn Village will be the keystone to a 12-block redevelopment now underway immediately south of Dearborn Park II," said developer Thomas A. Snitzer, president of Snitzer Homes. "Our development in conjunction with the 70-unit Millennium Townhome/Loft project to the south and a new neighborhood police station to the north is creating a whole new neighborhood," Snitzer said.

When completed, the 12-block redevelopment area will contain nearly 270 row homes, townhouses and lofts. Dearborn Village will feature two- and three-bedroom brick row homes with attached garages. Preconstruction base prices range from $124,900 to $179,900

Snitzer said construction is set to begin in September. First residences are scheduled for occupancy next spring. Plans for Dearborn Village call for the row homes to be built in a five-square-block area bounded by 18th, State, 19th and Clark streets.

"We have an unusually open land plan," Snitzer said. "Most of the homes at Dearborn Village will overlook 50-foot- to 60-foot-wide secured landscaped courtyards providing terrific views, including Chicago's skyline."

All residences at Dearborn Village will have an attached garage and overlook landscaped courtyards secured by a wrought-iron privacy fence. The development also will feature 110 outdoor parking spaces for guests and will allow homeowners to purchase additional spaces.

Garden-level residences will have private patios that overlook the courtyards. The two-bedroom, 1,340-square-foot homes sell for $124,900 to $129,900. Snitzer also will offer two-level, two- and three-bedroom row homes. The 1,615-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath unit will sell for $154,900 to $159,900. The 1,860-square-foot, three-bedroom model will sell for $174,900 to $179,900.

The row homes feature a great room with fireplace, and a master bedroom suite with adjoining private bath with double vanity. Duplex row houses have master bath with both separate tub and separate glass-walled shower. A brick patio or balcony also is standard.

KLLM Architects of Chicago designed the residences of Dearborn Village with red brick and limestone facades.

Snitzer noted that more than 1,500 homes, townhouses and loft condominiums have been developed in the South Loop over the last five years. He expects that figure to grow rapidly with many new developments under way. Those include: the Millennium Townhome/Loft project at 19th and Clark, Centrum Realty developments at 15th and State and 1809 S. Michigan Ave., Enterprise Development's Carriage House Lofts at 1545 S. State, Chicago Urban Properties' lofts at 1515 S. Michigan, Robert Frankel's Studebaker Lofts at 1603 S. Michigan and Wolverine Investments' Filmworks II condominium development at 1355 S. Wabash Ave.

In addition, further expansion is planned at the Central Station complex at Indiana Avenue and 15th, and a mixed-use redevelopment of the R.R. Donnelley facility at Cermak Road and Prairie Avenue is planned by Landmark Developments.

"Dearborn Village will fill a void in the marketplace between loft condominiums and the South Loop's more expensive town homes, which sell for up to $250,000," said Keith Giles, partner in Frankel & Giles Realty, 1355 S. Wabash, and the broker who assembled the land for the project.

Snitzer noted that the city is committed to the development of the South Loop. The city is working cooperatively to jointly install all new sidewalks, streetscape and landscape improvements for the new police station and Dearborn Village.