West Town: Why The Multifamily Market Is Booming In West Town
Welcome to “An Essex Broker’s Guide To,” a monthly series where Essex Realty Group, Inc. brokers share their expertise about the neighborhoods they focus on. This month Director Jordan Multack shares his West Town Guide.
Jordan Multack joined Essex Realty Group, Inc. in 2016 and focuses on the sale of investment real estate throughout Chicago. Jordan began his career in the ultra-competitive logistics industry, where he learned business acumen, cold calling persistence, problem solving, and accountability. The son of a successful property management company owner, he spent many summers helping to care for multi-family properties. Hauling trash, painting apartments and cleaning hallways gave Jordan an appreciation of what is entailed to successfully operate a property.
Jordan received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in Psychology. Outside of work, Jordan is active in several philanthropies, including the Polk Family Charitable Fund, Canine Therapy Corps, JMFF and After Breast Cancer Diagnosis.
Jordan lives with his fiancé in West Town, where they are active members of the community. As a self-proclaimed "foodie," he loves to explore restaurants around the city because he feels the food is the most representative of the culture that resides there.
Q: What is your favorite thing about West Town?
Jordan: I think my favorite thing is the sense of community among everyone who lives in West Town. There are so many different people from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds all living harmoniously together, watching out for each other. I also love how centrally located West Town is in Chicago, it is so easy to get to nearby neighborhoods like River North, West Loop and Fulton Market.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in West Town?
Jordan: This is a tough question for me, so I am going to share my favorite lunch and dinner spots. My favorite restaurant for lunch, without question, is Tempesta Market on Grand Avenue. They opened in December 2017, and I have been a massive supporter ever since. This family run eatery offers incredible in-house charcuterie, gelato, sandwiches, and gourmet pantry items. While I highly recommend the #13, a turkey sandwich, they might be most well-known for their spicy sausage called ‘nduja, which has been perfected by their family over the last 75 years. For dinner I like to go to Chicago’s first Neopolitan pizza spot, Coalfire. Their pies are incredible! One of our favorite things to do when the weather is nice is pick up Coalfire to-go for a picnic in Bickerdike Square Park, which is located about 3 blocks from their restaurant on Grand Avenue.
Q: If you had one hour to spend in West Town, what would you do?
Jordan: I would start by walking down Grand to grab a cup of the best iced coffee in town at Dark Matter’s Chocolate City Coffee Palace & Bodega. Once caffeinated, I would stroll up and down Hoyne Street which is filled with beautiful properties with diverse styles of architecture. From Hoyne, I would proceed to walk east on Chicago Avenue to Eckhart Park to sit outside. Eckhart Park is a great hub for the community as it features tons of green space, a playground, baseball and softball diamonds and a basketball court. The park actually dates back to 1907 and was one of the first official parks on the West Side. It is cool to think it has been a place for those in the community to gather for more than 100 years.
Q: Give me three reasons why I should invest in West Town?
Jordan: The first reason is West Town is extremely well located. The neighborhood is in close proximity to River North and walking distance to Fulton Market, while also accessible via Ashland Avenue and the Ogden Exit off of the Kennedy Expressway, which combined make traveling throughout Chicago quite easy. Some might say there is poor public transportation access, but I argue that the 65 and 66 bus routes along Grand provide great affordable access to River North and the Loop.
The second reason is the scarcity of product. West Town is far less dense than neighborhoods like Logan Square or Rogers Park. In a neighborhood like Logan Square, there are easily 50+ vintage buildings with over 12 units however, in West Town there are less than 15. Also, over the last eight years, many vintage properties have been redeveloped into single family homes, townhomes and condo buildings. Last year I had the opportunity to work on the sale of 1444 West Erie Street, a 13-unit vintage multi-family property. Due to the scarcity of product like this it drew intense interest from investors. We conducted 35 property tours in less than four weeks and generated 12 offers to purchase the building.
The third reason is that over the last five years, West Town has quickly grown into one of the best dining and entertainment hubs in the city. Chicago Avenue specifically has attracted many exciting new restaurants such as Beatnik, Porto, Bar Biscay, Jeong, Fry The Coop, Funkenhausen, and Lao Peng You to name a few. I can’t wait for these amazing places to open up again for dining-in!
Q: What do you think is the most underrated aspect of West Town?
To me the most underrated thing about West Town is the convenience it offers residents to quickly access other areas of the city. Chicago is a city of neighborhoods so it will always be fun to explore the neighborhoods outside of your own. Luckily in West Town streets like Ashland Avenue and Grand Avenue are major thoroughfares that run straight through a number of neighborhoods throughout the city.
Since 1990, Essex Realty Group, Inc. has served Chicago's investment real estate market as a top multifamily brokerage firm. Contact us today to learn more about our recent multifamily and mixed-use property sales.