Real Estate In Albany Park

The Albany Park community is on the northwest side of Chicago. It is well-located, being halfway between O'Hare International Airport and the Chicago Loop, and 5 minutes from the Kennedy and Edens Expressways. Albany Park also sits at the end of the CTA's Brown line (Ravenswood), with stops at Kedzie Avenue and the Kimball Station terminal.

The neighborhood is bordered by the Chicago River, which makes for some very picturesque and peaceful spots in the proximate parks.

Albany Park with a population of 58,000 is a culturally diverse community. People of different cultures have been making Albany Park their second home since 1907, when the Ravenswood El began to bring development to the neighborhood around Kimball and Lawrence avenues. Once a predominantly middle-class Jewish neighborhood, today Albany Park has developed a more diverse ethnic feel as immigrants have made it their home.

The 1990 census reports that Albany Park consists of a mix of Hispanics (31%), Asians (24%), Europeans (40%), and African Americans (3%) making it one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the country, with more than 24 languages regularly spoken in the area. Bosnians have been the most recent ethnic group to move into the neighborhood.

This cultural diversity enriches the neighborhood. The combination of restaurants, most of them around the intersection of Lawrence and Kedzie Avenues, is evidence of that distinction. You can find a Korean barbecue house, Thai restaurants, pizza, as well as Middle Eastern bakeries and ethnic markets. The commercial hub and heart of the community is Lawrence Avenue, which was renamed Seoul Drive because of the many Korean-owned business that line the streets.

Albany Park's large quantity of affordable housing is also an attraction. Average single-family home prices in Albany Park in 1995 were $129,900, when average home prices were $132,000, according to the Chicago Association of Realtors, Multiple Listing Service statistics. In addition to a diverse housing market, Albany Park has retail shops and new development on the east and west sides of the neighborhood.