Jesus Wept (When His Beach was Shadowed by Highrise)
At about three in the afternoon last summer, I felt a chill come over me as I was laying on North Avenue Beach. As soon as the sun dipped below the tallest building West of LSD, the appeal of the beach was eclipsed by the need to put on a sweatshirt and run to the nearest booze cabana.
It’s one thing if you have tall buildings in a city like Chicago; it’s another thing if they are compromising a high standard of shoreline aesthetics. These towns aren’t big fans of tall buildings and condominiums, and whenever developers are pitted against wealthy homeowners, you know there’s gonna be a sweet battle.
I’ll talk about the Evanston tower a bit later. First, let’s look at some “modern” (i.e. pre-1980’s) condo buildings along the lakefront in Wilmette:
1616 SHERIDAN Rd #8B, WILMETTE, IL 60091
Price: $399,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
1630 SHERIDAN Rd #4C, WILMETTE, IL 60091
Price: $489,000
Beds: 2
Baths: 2.1
With a median household income that is almost three times as much as the Illinois median, these are huge bargains to be had, with one heck of a great location and easy access to the city. Considering you’ll be paying well over a million for a brick-faced vintage home on the water, the condo building doesn’t seem like a bad idea at all.
There’s just something about tall buildings and coastline that is hard to reconcile, though. But we all make a sacrifice now and then, don’t we?
