Eleven new condos at Welbourn Row priced $50,000 below market value
Dubin Residential is now accepting contracts from qualified moderate-income homebuyers for 11 condominiums priced approximately $50,000 below market value through a special City of Chicago Department of Housing program. The two-bedroom condominiums are priced at $170,000 and available at Welbourn Row, a new development in West Lake View.
"Chicago's strong real estate market has been a blessing for many homeowners, but it has also put the dream of a new home in the most attractive neighborhoods beyond the budgets of many moderate-income wage earners. This is especially true for first-time buyers," said Michael Kelahan, a spokesman for Dubin Residential.
To assist these buyers, Dubin teamed with the Chicago Department of Housing and its Chicago Partnership for Affordable Neighborhoods (CPAN), a city program intended to help first-time buyers purchase homes in market-rate developments within appreciating areas.
Kelahan said one of these neighborhoods includes West Lake View where Welbourn Row is offering a limited number of opportunities to purchase. Occupying an entire city block across the street from the Lathrop Homes public housing development at the intersection of Clybourn, Wellington and Hoyne avenues, Welbourn Row will consist of 140 condominiums. The 11 CPAN homes available here include two-bedroom and one-bath condominiums in an elevator building with 9-foot ceilings and a terrace or balcony on
every home.
Market-rate homes in the development are base-priced from the $250,000s to the $300,000s. The CPAN homes offer features similar to market-rate homes and include Whirlpool kitchen appliances; oak cabinets; luxury carpeting and pad in the living/dining room, bedroom, den and hallway; and gas-forced heat with central air conditioning.
CPAN was created by Mayor Richard M. Daley and the Chicago Department Housing in 2002. Among the program's early supporters was Ald. Manuel Flores (1st).
"Chicago is known as a city of vibrant, diverse neighborhoods, and to remain so, our neighborhoods need to continue providing housing options at a variety of income levels," Ald. Flores said. "This has been the mission of the CPAN program, and recognition of this need has only grown with time."
To qualify for the CPAN program, homebuyers can earn up to 100 percent of the city's median household income — for example, up to $52,800 for one person and up to $60,300 for a household of two. Buyers must also attend a workshop for new homeowners, get approved for a 30-year mortgage by a qualified program lender, and not have owned a home in the last three years.
"Through CPAN, more than 330 affordable homes have been built or are being planned in neighborhoods such as Lincoln Square, the West Loop, Uptown and Lake View," said Richard Monocchio, first deputy commissioner with the Chicago Department of Housing. "The program is strengthening these communities by enabling working professionals such as teachers, administrative assistants, nurses and police officers to live in and near the communities to which they are already contributing."
Kelahan said the CPAN homes at Welbourn Row offer buyers an excellent value: "The price per square foot of our market-rate homes begin in the $240s, which is very good by Lake View standards, but the price per square foot for buyers of an affordable unit averages $205, which is just exceptional."
The development's location is another feature buyers will appreciate, Kelahan said.
"Welbourn Row sits at the hub of the North Side surrounded by neighborhoods like Bucktown, Lincoln Park and Roscoe Village. It is near Lathrop Homes, the Kennedy Expressway and four major city thoroughfares — Belmont, Clybourn, Damen and Diversey. This gives residents easy access to the city," Kelahan said. |
