With maps and tape measures in hand, the hunters stalk through the trendy urban canyons of Lincoln Park, De Paul, Streeterville and the Gold Coast this time each year.
Or they prowl in their cars, double park and scramble up the steps of restored graystones, madly scanning signs that read: ”For Rent in this Building.”
They are apartment hunters hungering for vintage Victorian. And they are trapped on the North Side`s annual ”May Merry-Go-Round,” rental agents said.
The Near North and North Sides are the only major urban areas in the country in which the bulk of apartment leases in prime rental neighborhoods expire at the same times–April 30 and Sept. 30–according to those in the rental trade.
Although the origins of the May 1 and Oct. 1 leasing dates are hazy, renters, landlords, moving companies, truck rental agents and telephone installers agree that the semiannual apartment scramble turns the City on the Make into the City on the Move.
And many of the scramblers are searching for the same, some say impossible, dream place:
Lincoln Park-De Paul area. Two bedrooms. Two baths. Wood-burning fireplace. Natural woodwork. Stained glass. High ceilings. Parking provided. Laundry in building. Restaurants nearby. Two blocks to the El. Dirt cheap.
”We joke about having a standard profile for the guy who comes out of college,” said Alice Peters, a vice president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago. ”He is 21 years old, wants a two bedroom with wood-burning fireplace, hardwood floors, overlooking Lincoln Park and doesn`t want to pay more than $250 a month. And, oh yeah, he has a great Dane.
”We tell people looking for something like that, that they are either in the wrong neighborhood or we are in the wrong business. There is no such thing.”
Julian Sims of City Dwellers rental agents said apartment hunters from all over come to Lincoln Park seeking the perfect place at a bargain price.
”We have one right now, for $1,500 a month,” he said. ”The demand for apartments like that is tremendous and there is very little available.”
The condo craze that hit the North Side about 10 years ago knocked the vast majority of prime apartment buildings out of the market, and construction of new rental buildings in those most-sought-after neighborhoods has been revived only in the last few years, real estate traders said.
As a result, the close-in, Lincoln Park, De Paul, Streeterville and Gold Coast neighborhoods are low on vacancies and high on rents. The typical Lincoln Park and De Paul one-bedrooms begin at $600 plus heat or $750 with heat, and there are one bedrooms in those neighborhoods going for $900 plus heat. In general, Streeterville and Gold Coast apartments are much more expensive.
”We have three-bedrooms in Lincoln Park for $450, but you get what you pay for,” said a rental agent in April and September, there is no such thing as a solitary hunter, rental agents said.
”We hear a lot of horror stories of people showing up to see an apartment and finding that they are on a waiting list of 30 or 40 other people who want it, too,” Sims said.
How the city`s North Side apartment market went on a semiannual binge is a mystery to most rental agents, though theories and legends abound.
”I have heard it has to do with the harvest and planting seasons,” said Sandra Moore of Relocation Services in Elmhurst.
”My theory is that Oct. 1 is the last time to move before the snow falls, and May 1 is the first time to move after cabin fever sets in,” Sims said.
”I think the real estate agencies all got together years ago and did it because they couldn`t give away an apartment in the winter,” said Sylvia Cagan of Cagan`s Realty in Skokie.
Few rental agents enjoy the ”May Merry-Go-Round,” any more than renters.
”It doesn`t make sense because you can`t get a moving truck or a telephone installed when everyone is moving at once,” Moore said, adding facetiously, ”I don`t think it is convenient for 2.5 million people to be moving on May 1 every year.”
Rental agents working in the prime North Side neighborhoods find themselves caught up in a frenzy of showing apartments, taking applications, checking credit ratings and getting leases signed, they said.
”The thing that is most aggravating is people who don`t show up for appointments,” said Fred Kuczmierczyk of Andco Management. ”If we catch them, we tie them to the bumper of our cars.”
But renters have legitimate gripes against some rental agents and landlords, too, the apartment peddlers agreed.
Some landlords practice the sort of advertising come-ons generally associated with used-car salesmen, and others, in particular those in the most desirable neighborhoods, will demand $800 a month for an apartment that hasn`t been visited by a paint brush since the Bicentennial.
”It is a form of arrogance,” said Moore, of Relocation Services. ”I don`t think it occurs to some apartment owners that when somebody moves out of a unit, you have to clean it, paint it and shampoo the carpet.”
Rental agents suggest that vertigo on the ”May Merry-Go-Round” can be avoided by searching for apartments outside the high-demand areas. They suggest friendly, but not-so fashionable neighborhoods such as East and West Lakeview, Rogers Park and Ravenswood as well as Belmont Harbor, Ukrainian Village, Logan Square, Buena Park and Bucktown.
Or, the true bargain apartment hunter might follow the credo of Kuczmierczyk, who once conducted an advertising campaign offering apartments in neighborhoods designated ”Too Far North” and ”Too Far South.”
”One of the keys to really going out and finding a great deal is to find a neighborhood that doesn`t have a name yet,” said Kuczmierczyk, who suggested that serious bargain hunters follow the Ravenswood elevated tracks north and search along the way.
But for those who refuse to give up their dreams of high living at low cost, there is hope offered by rental agent Moore, who advised the hunters to ”hit the bricks every day.”
”Someday, you will find the little old lady of Lincoln Park who doesn`t know the market and increases her rent only $10 a month every year,” she said.
”You`ll need lots of time and lots of patience, and when you find it, you better hope that it`s May or October and your own lease is up.”
![An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-structure-fire-041724-06.jpg?w=525 "An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]")
