The Home Front

The former Xsport Fitness at Piper's Alley (above) By Don DeBat Thousands of Old Town neighborhood residents are gleefully doing cartwheels over the planned opening of a classy Whole Foods Market store on the 1600 North block of North Wells St. after an eight-year grocery desert. However, many real estate insiders are skeptical about the mystery behind the sudden announcement. Is it all part of the sophisticated chess game developer Fern Hill is playing at the intersection of

(Above) The former Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church. Photo: @properties Christie’s International Real Estate / Compass. BY DON DEBAT In the heart of what was once the nation’s most infamous public housing project, a 137-year-old church is being gutted for $1.4 million condos – anchoring a luxury transition that developers are rebranding as ‘Gold Coast West.’ The Near North Side neighborhood once infamously known as the Cabrini-Green public housing “ghetto” is at a cr

(above) Chicago Police Commissioner Larry Snelling By Don DeBat With the dawn of 2026, many Chicago apartment renters, home buyers and bungalow owners probably are wondering how they survived the crazy roller-coaster- ride of 2025. Read these 2025 stories recently reported by The Home Front column: • With property tax bills soaring by an average of 16.7%, there are threats of double-digit apartment rent increases on the horizon for spring of 2026. • Resale home prices in Linc

Apartment hunters in downtown Chicago may encounter sharply higher rents next spring due to a significant drop in new rental unit...

(Above) 2017 photo of a flooded Chicago Riverwalk. As recent monsoon-like rains inundate neighborhoods, Chicago homeowners are grappling...

(Above) Buildings in the Old Town Historic District. Photo by Don DeBat. With a 36-story apartment tower set to rise in Old Town, and the...