It’s a Beautiful Day in the Gold Coast

_{Summer sunrise over the Gold Coast. Photo by Roman Boed [CC BY 2.0] via Flickr}

In this series of blog posts, we’ll be providing a summary of the neighborhoods where we’re currently listing and developing homes.

North of downtown and running along the Lake Michigan coast, the Gold Coast is popular with visitors and residents alike—and it’s one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the nation.

Read on to see why it’s always a beautiful day in the Gold Coast.

_{A Gold Coast Home in the springtime. Photo by Bryan Hayes [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr.}

Entertainment and Eating

The Gold Coast neighborhood has anything and everything. It’s filled with museums and fantastic architecture, famous steakhouses (yes, more than one) and upscale shopping. There’s the lakeshore for morning runs and bike rides and Rush Street for nightlife. Beautiful, high-end Gold Coast hotels mean residents are never short on dining or cocktail options.

The Numbers

A typical commute to The Loop by rail from the Gold Coast is about 20 minutes, door to door. To O’Hare Airport, it’s about an hour. By car, a typical drive to The Loop without traffic would take about 10 minutes, and a trip to O’Hare is 20 to 25 minutes. Plentiful Metro stations in the Gold Coast make it easy to get around.

Walkscore.com considers the Gold Coast to be part of the larger Near North Side neighborhood, which is rated the most walkable neighborhood in Chicago with a score of 96. It’s a “Walker’s Paradise,” where daily errands don’t require use of a car. Next, the Gold Coast has world-class public transportation, with a transit score of 90, and is very bikeable, with a score of 81.

Conveniently, small neighborhood parks like Goudy Square Park and Mariano Park dot the Gold Coast, which is just south of one of the city’s gems, Lincoln Park.

According to Zillow, home values in Gold Coast took a dip (of 3.8%) in the past year but are projected to go up 0.3% in the next year.

A Bit of History

The Gold Coast was originally known as the Astor Street District in the late 1800s, named to honor wealthy American businessman John Jacob Astor. Lakeshore Drive opened between North Avenue and Oak Street in 1875, bringing more interest to the area. From there, the neighborhood developed quickly, with the high rise buildings common throughout the neighborhood today following shortly thereafter. A rich history of important Chicago families who have called the Gold Coast home over the years is available on the Gold Coast Neighbors website.

If you’d like to learn more about the Gold Coast, I’d recommend exploring the following resources:

If you’d like to live in the Gold Coast, please check out my active listings page for recently listed homes in the area. Feel free to contact me for more information on this neighborhood and any upcoming listings I may have available.