The name is a big giveaway here, but the Near North Side is the last neighborhood considered to be downtown before you make the transition to the North Side proper. So, as you can imagine, living here gives you the benefit of being able to move very quickly and easily between very different, and very exciting, parts of the city while living in a fantastic hybrid of them all.
Start your morning off with a stroll along the river, stop at the latest fusion cuisine hot spot or steakhouse for a late lunch, walk to high-end designer home furnishings and boutique shopping, then end the day sipping a cocktail in a jazz club or dancing at a rooftop bar. Sounds pretty perfect, doesn’t it? Oh, and you can also walk to Oak Street Beach to see and be seen; just sayin’.
If you’re looking for something a little more high-brow, you don’t have to walk Downtown to the Art Institute of Chicago—or even the Museum of Contemporary Art (although you could)—to view cutting edge paintings or masterpieces of sculpture, when you’ve got dozens of world class galleries right down the street; where you can buy something to decorate your new digs!
If you take a walk through the Near North Side, the three and four-story brownstones, historic mansions, and perfectly preserved row homes might get you thinking that this is a super-exclusive area to settle down in. While more exclusive space does equate to higher costs, the neighborhood also has a large number of high-rise condominiums, with studios and one-bedrooms that offer a more economical way to invest in the area, as well.
The neighborhood is a favorite with urban-loving empty nesters, retirees, families, and professionals that commute on foot. Of course, being downtown means that the Near North Side is very centrally located and easily accessible by all major highways, Lake Shore Drive, every type of public transportation, taxi, bicycle, and (as stated) by foot!
Things We Appreciate
