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Luxury
for less by Barry Pearce
Bertsche’s new
Edgebrook Glen development, 5200 W. Armstong Ave., is in some ways the
picture of luxury. The 64 single-family homes being built on the former
site of the Armstrong Tool Co. have four to six bedrooms, 3.5 to 4.5 baths,
attached two-car garages and around 3,300 to 4,600 square feet of finished
space. They include the sorts
of luxury features you would expect in an ultra-luxury condominium downtown
– hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances,
marble master baths, cherry cabinets, fireplaces and separate laundry
rooms. And they have some
amenities you won’t find downtown or on the lakefront – two
neighboring golf courses, a wooded riverfront trail and acres of forest
preserves next door. The one ultra-luxury
feature they’re missing is a high price tag. “Hands down,
these houses would cost twice as much in Lincoln Park and at least 50
percent more in Lakeview,” Bertsche says. “We’re priced
from the mid-$600s to the mid-$900s. And that’s for homes with wood
stairs, granite, stainless, marble, woodburning fireplaces…They have
cedar elevations, and some of these lots are over 10,000 square feet.
That’s the size of three city lots.” Green space in the
form of private yards and two acres of common landscaped space as well
as the adjoining forest preserves, is one of the project’s key attractions,
according to Bertsche. The developer is building a fitness trail that
will give homeowners a quarter-mile path for jogging, walking and biking,
and a public bike trail meanders north along the Chicago River. Homeowners will look
onto that green space from extra-wide porches on most homes. “These are very
gracious, family-oriented, accommodating homes that invite you to visit
with your neighbors,” Bertsche says. In keeping with that theme,
he also designed streets at the community wide enough to allow for guest
parking. Architect FitzGerald
Associates created a variety of traditional facades for the homes ranging
from “neo-Victorian” to Prairie to Tudor, Bertsche says, all
with cedar and masonry. Eight floor plans and 12 elevations are available. In keeping with the
traditional approach here, FitzGerald also designed conventional rear-fed
garages that are served by alleys for all but nine of the homes. It would be difficult
to find a more traditional, family-oriented location in the city than
this site, which sits on the edge of Forest Glen and Edgebrook. Both neighborhoods
are known for their suburban flavor and are home to judges, workers and
city officials who need to keep Chicago addresses but want a quiet lifestyle. Two Metra stops and
both the Edens and Kennedy expressways are convenient, making travel to
the Loop, O’Hare and the suburbs painless. “We think it’s
an incredible alternative to moving to the suburbs, or for people who
may have had a great condo or townhouse in the city and want to move up
but don’t want to move out,” Bertsche says. “You can be
downtown in 20 minutes, at the airport in 10 minutes. You’re in the
city, and you can enjoy all it has to offer – some great restaurants
and shopping – but you have the quiet seclusion of your own little
neighborhood. It doesn’t get much better than this.” At press time, a sales office for Edgebrook Glen was scheduled to open on site, at 5200 W. Armstrong Ave. |
There’s
luxury pricing and then there’s luxury living. According to Paul
Bertsche, of CA Development, one does not have to follow the other.