Tower Crossing

6 Tower Crossing homes now for sale! (6 for rent, too)

by

Three months ago I wrote that only 1 Tower Crossing home was available for sale. My my, how the world has changed in 3 months. Since then 5 homes have been newly listed, and a total of 6 homes are currently for sale.

Tower Crossing is a 154 unit luxury townhome development in The Glen in Glenview, Illinois. To anyone who has ever visited the Glen’s restaurants or shops, Tower Crossing will be remembered as the homes bordering Glen Town Center on 3 sides. They are memorable, too, because they are 4 stories high with beautiful Georgian architecture.

There are 6 basic models in Tower Crossing and some major variations such as end units and bridge units. The homes are large, ranging in size from 3031 sq ft to 4105 sq ft. The price points of Tower Crossing homes range between roughly $625,000 and $900,000.

Now is a great time to be in the market for a Tower Crossing townhome because 4 of the models are for sale. There are 2 Astorias for sale, and 1 of them is an end unit. Astorias offer 3210 sq ft, and the end unit adds another 390 sq ft. 3 Blackstones (384 sq ft), an Omni 3625 sq ft) and a Drake end unit (3075 sq ft) are also on the market.

There are 6 homes also on the rental market ranging in prices between $3950 per month to $4500 per month.

The beauty of Tower Crossing lies not only IN the homes, but also outside. You can walk to 25 eating establishments, numerous boutiques, 2 golf courses (including The Glen Club), a movie theater and a book store. And if you walk across the street (Patriot Boulevard) you’ll find Battery Park, Lake Glenview, the Glenview Park Center, walking and biking trails, tennis courts and more. Residents of Tower Crossing will tell you that living here is all about the lifestyle. It’s the best combination of urban and suburban living.

If you are interested in learning more about Tower Crossing or anywhere in The Glen, please contact me at margaretludemann@gmail.com or 847-401-1802. I am a Tower Crossing resident and a leading Glen-area realtor.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties

24 great reasons to live in The Glen

by

There are 24 restaurants in The Glen, the upscale housing and retail development in Glenview Illinois on Chicago’s North Shore. We realtors talk a lot about homes. How big they are. Where they are located. Nearby schools. Prices. Too often, though, we forget to discuss other benefits of living in a particular locale. So today I want to tell you about a HUGE benefit of living in The Glen. And here’s one: As a resident I can walk to two dozen Glen restaurants. Really.

The Glen is not your ordinary housing development. Sure, we have plenty of single family homes with large yards. But we also have townhomes, row homes, two-flats, duplexes, condos, and rental apartments. And they are in close proximity to all of these wonderful places to dine and also dozens of shops and entertainment venues. We’re kind of suburban. But we’re kind of urban, too. Actually, we’re a blend of both…with the advantages of each.

I live in Tower Crossing. It’s a neighborhood of townhomes that borders Glen Town Center, The Glen’s “main street”. I can walk out my front door and walk a half block to Salerno’s Italian restaurant. Walk a half block in the other direction and I can dine in The Glen Club’s grill with traditional American cuisine. There are 15 other restaurants right in town center and several others if I’m up for a walk of 5 or 6 blocks. The Glen offers food of all kinds. We have, as I said, Italian and American cuisine; and we also have Mexican, Irish, Japanese, Thai and Indian. From upscale dining to casual sandwich shops, The Glen has it all.

How many times have you wanted to go out to eat, but you didn’t want to deal with traffic? Or maybe you didn’t want to drive after having a cocktail? Ah, the beauty of living in The Glen.

To see a list of all Glen restaurants (and their menus) go to www.theglentowncenter.com. And if you are interested in living in the Glen, give me a call at 847-401-1802 or send me an email at MargaretLudemann@CBexchange.com.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

Where the kids are…in The Glen

by

The Glen is a housing and retail development in Glenview Illinois, on Chicago‘s North Shore. It’s filled with luxury homes, restaurants galore, boutiques, a book store, a movie theater, and (drum roll please)…a lot of kids! In my most recent blog I wrote about the new Glen census which tells us that roughly one-third of the 3,921 residents in privately owned homes and rental housing are children. I’ve had a few emails asking which specific Glen neighborhoods have the most.

There are 9 such neighborhoods in The Glen (not counting Navy and senior housing). Naturally the neighborhoods with the most single family homes have the most children. In these neighborhoods about 40% of residents are kids. Chapel Crossing (43%), Landings (44%) and Southgate (40%) have only single family homes. Cambridge (42%) offers single family homes, town homes, duplexes, and two-flats.

2 neighborhoods offer only attached homes and have roughly 20% children:  Tower Crossing (18%) and Patriot Commons (19%). Another neighborhood, Regency, has a high percentage of town homes; and 19% of its residents are children.

Aloft (5%) offers rental apartments in Glen Town Center, The Glen’s shopping and restaurant “main street”. And Glenshore (7%) has condo apartments.

Obviously the large single family home neighborhoods are great for kids. Lovely homes. Big yards. Did I mention BIG YARDS? But before you get the wrong impression, Glen neighborhoods with attached housing are also great for the little ones. I live in Tower Crossing, a development with 154 4-story town homes with 3,031 to 4,105 square feet. We moved here 11 years ago when my son was 3 years old. Our development has a wonderful common area which, to my son, represents his back yard. The additional benefit is that he’s grown up barely one block from all of the fun in Glen Town Center. He walks to the movie theater, meets his buddies for hamburgers at Mooyah, and wanders our wonderful book store.

The bottom line? The Glen is a great place for children whether your preference is for large single family homes or for attached housing. If you would like to learn more about The Glen please email me at MargaretLudemann@CBexchange.com or call me at 847-401-1802. I am an award winning Realtor living in and selling Glen homes.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

New census of The Glen tell us a lot about the homes, neighborhoods and residents

by

The new census for The Glen has just been completed, and it is interesting reading. For instance it tells us that there are 4,960 residents residing in 2,221 homes in the 13 development areas (read: neighborhoods), as of August, 2014. Of these nearly 5,000 residents, 1,367 are children.

Each year the Village of Glenview (in Illinois) has this census done to calculate payments to various jurisdictions which provide services to Glen residents. So, for instance, the more children in schools means that the village owes more money to local school districts. Let’s dig a little deeper into the census results.

The 13 development areas include 9 with privately owned homes or rented single and multi-family homes. The other 4 include Navy housing and 3 senior housing communities. Navy? Yes, indeed. The Glen resides on the grounds of the former Naval Air Station Glenview; and there remain 112 housing units for Navy personnel of which there are 213 adults and 80 children.

In the 9 communities with privately owned and rental homes, there are 3,921 residents of which 1,287 (33%) are children.   Here is a breakdown by neighborhood:

Chapel Crossing: 167 homes, 368 adults, 277 children

Landings (Concord): 143 homes, 324 adults, 250 children

Southgate: 299 homes, 626 adults, 413 children

Cambridge: 244 homes, 481 adults, 200 children

Tower Crossing: 154 townhomes, 306 adults, 68 children

Patriot Commons: 68 homes, 122 adults, 23 children

Regency: 146 homes, 179 adults, 43 children

Aloft: 181 apartments, 185 adults, 10 children

Glenshore: 31 homes, 43 adults, 3 children

Of the 1,287 children in The Glen, 1,175 are of school age. 82% attend public schools. 18% attend private schools. This last number is particularly interesting because in most suburban communities the percentage of children in private schools averages between 4% and 8%. This variance is likely due to the economic standing of Glen residents. In other words, it is a development comprised largely of affluent families who can afford private education.

There is a lot of additional information in this year’s census, and I will include more of it in future blogs.

Margaret Ludemann, Glen homeowner and @properties Realtor

847-401-1802, MargaretLudemann@cbexchange.com

Real estate in The Glen: August lull, September to pick up

by

I have a Glen-specific, proprietary website. In fact you may be reading this blog on that site. It provides information about real estate in the Glen (in Glenview Illinois)and allows visitors to search Glen listings. The search engine optimization firm that I employ provides the tech-marketing magic that brings prospective home buyers to the site; and I am provided with numbers of all kinds weekly.  These numbers show a late summer slow down in the Glen, which is seen nationally as well. In the 4 week period in May over 2,000 first time visitors came to my site. (This is a very POWERFUL tool!) The following 4 week periods declined by 7.6%, 6.7% and 10.9%. In the last two weeks alone (August 10 – 24) the number of first time visitors was down 35% from May. Looking at the site’s first time visitors in previous years shows this same pattern.

The good news for prospective home sellers in the Glen is that the number of first time visitors increases in September and then remains relatively even and strong until December. This trend is supported by my site’s prior-years data. So homowners thinking of selling, should be getting their homes on the real estate market soon to take advantage of the increase in buyer interest just around the corner.

But it’s not only buyers who take a real estate time-out in mid-to-late summer. The listings cupboard in the Glen is pretty bare right now, too. Of the 237 single family homes in the Southgate neighborhood, there is only 1 home listed for sale. The same is true in Tower Crossing, the large, 4 story brick townhomes adjacent to Glen Town Center. In that development there are 154 homes, but only 1 is listed for sale. At the Landings (formerly Concord) and Chapel Crossing neighborhoods (with 311 homes combined) there are only a couple of listings.

Spring interest among buyers is matched by sellers who want to take advantage of that peak selling season. People with children want to make their purchases and get moved in before the new school year begins. In mid-to-late summer interest drops as I’ve shown above; and smart sellers know this so many get their homes on the market in late winter/early spring; and conversely there are few new listings in mid-to-late summer or from Thanksgiving until early March.

Margaret Ludemann, Glen homeowner and @properties Realtor

MargaretLudemann@gmail.com   847-401-1802