On parts of Chicago’s North Side, renters are waking up to a subtle shift: their apartment buildings are starting to hit the market as condos. It is not a tidal wave, but a steady trickle of conversions that has owners and developers testing a fresh way to feed an extremely hungry pool of buyers.
Across several recent projects on the North Side and Near North, newly listed units have been snapped up quickly, giving brokers a front-row seat as they try to gauge whether these one-off conversions will actually move the needle for frustrated condo hunters.
Three buildings tell the story so far: an 18-unit conversion on Melrose Avenue in Lakeview, a 12-unit property on Clybourn Avenue in West Lincoln Park, and a six-unit building on Kenmore Avenue in Buena Park (Uptown). As reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, several of the units hit the market late last year, and many quickly went under contract…