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The Glen…before it was The Glen

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There are reminders everywhere in The Glen.  The statues in the middle of the shops in Glen Town Center.  The commemorative signs on walls along Tower Drive.  Six flags in the park.  And the street names…Independence Avenue, Valor Drive, Constitution Drive, Admiral Court, Patriot Boulevard, and Annapolis Drive.  Here once proudly stood Naval Air Station Glenview!

The Glen is the North Shore’s premier lifestyle community which resides on the land which was an operational air base for the United States Navy from the 1923 until 1995.  Naval Air Station Glenview was used for aircraft training and as a base for sea planes on Lake Michigan, approximately 5 miles away.  During World War II alone over 9,000 Naval, Marine and Coast Guard cadets received their air training on the base.  After the war it was used to support the Naval Air Reserve and active duty Coast Guard.

Among the thousands of service men who received training at Naval Air Station Glenview were some men whose names you will recognize.  President George Herbert Walker Bush received carrier qualification training in Glenview’s base.  President Gerald Ford was stationed here and at nearby Great Lakes Naval Training Station.  And movie star Robert Taylor was a flight instructor for a time at NASG.

The planes no longer fly in Glenview as the base was closed and sold to the Village of Glenview which developed what is known today as The Glen.  Today The Glen is a premier destination venue for shopping and for those who want to dine in one of our many wonderful eateries.  In fact residents of The Glen can walk to 17 restaurants and scores of shops, as well as a movie theater, book store, art gallery, park, lake, pools, Kohl Children’s Museum, and two golf courses.  The Glen is also home to some of the finest single family homes, townhomes, duplexes, villas, two-flats, and condos in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The Glen has it all…including a rich military history.  If you may be interested in living in The Glen, please contact me.   I have been a resident of this beautiful community for ten years.  I can be reached at margaretludemann@gmail.com or 847-401-1802.

Margaret Ludemann, @properties Realtor

New Census Data for The Glen

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A census is done each year in The Glen (by Ehlers & Associates), and the information is always very interesting to those of us who live here and to prospective home buyers.  The Glen is a luxury home and retail development in Glenview, Illinois in the Chicago area’s North Shore.  Some time ago I wrote a blog with the results of 2012’s census.  Below I will summarize some of 2013’s study;  and I will offer more of its information in future blogs.

There are 13 development areas in The Glen, 9 of which are composed of private residences.  The additional 4 areas include 3 senior housing developments and 1 composed of Navy housing.

For the 9 private home development areas, the following shows the number of homes and the number of residents in each (in alphabetical order), broken down by adults and children.  Particularly interesting is the percentage of children in each development.

Aloft Apartments:  181 homes,  199 residents,  188 adults,  11 children,  percentage of children 6%

Cambridge:  244 homes,  698 residents,  478 adults,  220 children,  percentage of children 32%

Chapel Crossing:  167 homes,  676 residents,  378 adults,  298 children,  percentage of children 44%

Glen Shore:  31 homes,  52 residents,  48 adults,  4 children,  percentage of children 8%

Landings (formerly Concord):  143 homes,  588 residents,  322 adults,  266 children,  percentage of children 45%

Patriot Commons:  68 homes,  144 residents,  122 adults, 22 children,  percentage of children 15%

Regency:  62 homes, 153 residents,  124 adults,  29 children,  percentage of children 19%

Southgate:  299 homes,  1,024 residents,  612 adults,  412 children,  percentage of children 40%

Tower Crossing:  154 homes,  378 residents,  299 adults,  79 children,  percentage of children 21%

TOTAL:  1,349 homes,  3,912 residents,  2,571 adults,  1,341 children,  percentage of children 34%

Not surprisingly, the areas with the most single family homes have the largest percentage of children, those would be Landings (formerly called Concord), Chapel Crossing, and Southgate.  Tower Crossing, Patriot Commons, Cambridge, Regency, Aloft, and Glen Shore offer attached housing units such as townhomes, row homes, villas, two-flats, duplexes,  condos or apartments.  Southgate, Regency and Cambridge have single family AND attached homes.

If you may be interested in living in The Glen, please contact me at 847-401-1802 or by email at margaretludemann@gmail.com.  I have lived in The Glen for 10 years, and I know each development intimately.

Margaret Ludemann, Resident of The Glen and @properties Realtor

Connecting Neighbors in The Glen

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The Glen is an upscale residential and retail community in Glenview, Illinois.  It is composed of 1,106 privately owned homes of various types including single family, townhomes, duplexes, two-flats, villas and condos.  2,439 adults live in these homes, and of course a lot of children as well.  The Glen is like a small town with its own “downtown” (Glen Town Center) with scores of restaurants, shops, theater and more.

The small town feel is one of the great benefits of living in The Glen even though it is a community within Chicagoland’s popular North Shore.  Contributing to this sense of community is our group email system which uses Yahoo as its technology engine.  Membership in The Glen Yahoo Group is restricted to homeowners/residents alone.

Sharing helpful information is the purpose of our email group…in other words, being neighborly.  Most emails deal with recommendations of service providers (“I need a plumber.”), promoting community activities (“This weekend is the art show in Glen Town Center”), assisting neighbors in need, promoting non-profit organizations, and even selling personal items such as the bike you no longer need or your priceless (!) collection of 8-track tapes.  For profit commercial & marketing activity is not allowed, though selling your extra Cubs or Bears tickets is just fine.

Some of the individual neighborhoods within The Glen also have their own group email systems in addition to the larger Glen group.  I know of groups for the Regency, Southgate, Tower Crossing, Landings, and Chapel Crossing neighborhoods.  Emails posted on these group systems tend to be neighborhood-specific, while The Glen group emails are about most anything that strikes your fancy.

Being neighborly is a treasured characteristic among residents of The Glen.  We take pride in our community where I have lived for 10 years.  If you would like to explore living in The Glen please contact me at margaret.ludemann@gmail.com or 847-401-1802.

Margaret Ludemann, Resident of The Glen and @properties Realtor

Only 31 Homes Left at Regency at The Glen

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I have previously written about a new development under construction in The Glen, Regency.  Pulte is the developer of this new Glenview, Illinois neighborhood.   It is located just north of West Lake Avenue and west of Shermer Road.  For golfers it is an ideal location, walking distance to both The Glen Club’s 18 home championship course and Glenview Prairie Club, a 9 hole course + 4 paddle tennis courts.  All homes are short distances from Glen Town Center’s many shops and restaurants, and also to the Glen’s Metra Station.

149 homes are planned in Regency, consisting of 109 townhomes, 38 villas, and 2 single family homes.  The townhomes come in 4 models.  There are two models of villas (duplexes), both with first floor master suites.  I recently sat down with my friends at Pulte, and received these new updates.

Update:  As of today, all villas and single family homes have been sold, though some have not yet been completed.  Only 1 villa is currently for sale (it just came on the market); and it is a re-sale which I have listed.  It is the first villa re-sale in Regency.  The couple who owns this home have lived there for only 9 months, and they have been transferred.

Update:  Of the planned 109 townhomes 78 have been sold.  This is up to the minute news.  While I wasn’t a math major, I’m pretty sure that leaves 31 homes still for sale.  This is important information for anyone interested in maintenance free, new construction, townhome living in The Glen.  This has proven to be a very popular development, so the 31 remaining homes will not be available for long.

For additional information or to tour a Regency home please call me at 847-401-3325 or email me at margaretludemann@gmail.com.

Margaret Ludemann, Resident of The Glen & @properties Realtor

Rising Home Sales & Prices in The Glen

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Recently I was asked to give a presentation about the real estate market to a group of business men and women.  While preparing my presentation I was struck by the words I saw on my laptop’s screen, words that I had written, but startling none-the-less:  sales are up, prices are up, time on market down, far fewer distressed properties.  Seeing these words on the screen put a smile on my face.  I decided to create another slide that I would have prepared not very long ago:  sales stagnant, prices flat & still falling in some areas, time on market still way too long, too many distressed properties dragging down prices.

Bob Dylan was right, The Times…they are a-changin’

Real estate in The Glen is doing quite well.  Most north shore communities saw increases in prices in 2012 of between 2% – 3%, most of those gains being won late in the year.  But prices in zip code 60026 (dominated by The Glen) rose 4.5% last year, in contrast with greater Glenview (zip code 60025) at 2.9%.  While there are many reasons for The Glen’s superior price performance, I believe the attractiveness of our community’s lifestyle is at the top of the list.  Glen Town Center’s many shops and restaurants (as well as its theater, spa, book store and art gallery), along with Lake Glenview, Gallery Park and golf courses, make this a particularly wonderful place to live.  Our variety of homes, from stately single family homes in Southgate, Chapel Crossing, and Landings to stunning townhomes and villas Tower Crossing, Cambridge, and Regency also attract buyers.

Improving prices are welcome news to Glen homeowners, but buyers have reasons to smile as well.  Prices are still well below their peaks of 5 years ago.  North shore communities are still between 20.5% and 26.1% below those highs.  So this is a great time to buy a Glen home while prices are still below their peaks and before they get any higher.

Margaret Ludemann, resident of The Glen, @properties Realtor