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HAUTE PROPERTY "Lakewood Balmoral has a real small-town feel. People call it 'Mayberry.'" —PAM BALL, BAIRD & WARNER MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 137-138_MA_HP_Opener_October13.indd 138 continued from page 137 Bridget and Bob Markey. It was those large, airy rooms that inspired them to buy the home in 1999. "We were living in a gigantic loft, and this was the only house that had the wide open spaces we liked," says Bob, a remodeling contractor who restored the place to its former glory with appropriate modernizations, to the tune of about $300,000—"at contractor's pricing," he quips. The action this house is seeing isn't unusual for Lakewood Balmoral, the toniest pocket of Andersonville, an enclave in West Edgewater that is bounded by Broadway, Foster, Ravenswood, and Bryn Mawr Avenues and harbors the more diminutive Historic Lakewood Balmoral, which lies in the rectangle created by Magnolia, Wayne, Foster, and Bryn Mawr Avenues. For Ball, it was a replay of a scenario from three months earlier, when she listed a handsome foursquare at 5224 North Wayne Avenue for $1.150 million and had more than 100 attend the open house. She got three offers that day, and it sold at full asking price. Dennis Shaffer, also with Baird & Warner (2762 N. Lincoln Ave., 312-316-4240; bairdwarner.com), and Brian Loomis, with Coldwell Banker (1959 N. Halsted, 773-251-6915; coldwellbankeronline.com), are having similar experiences. Shaffer's listing for a stately 1906 eclectic Colonial at 5457 North Wayne Avenue for $1.395 million, also on an extra-wide corner lot (29 feet), is seeing a lot of action, as is Loomis's listing at 5309 North Wayne Avenue, a 1909 TOP: The kitchen of a 1906 Colonial at 5457 North Wayne Avenue, listed by Dennis Shaffer at Baird & Warner. BELOW: A living room at 1336 West Catalpa Avenue, a Colonial home listed by Pam Ball for $1.695 million. two-flat on a 33-foot-wide lot that has been converted into a single-family home. In fact, at press time those are the only three houses that top $1 million on the market in Lakewood Balmoral, according to a spokesperson from Baird & Warner. One more is $5,000 under the mark—Baird & Warner broker Lisa McGuirt's (737 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1800, 312860-5390; bairdwarner.com) listing at 5440 North Magnolia Avenue for an early 1900 eclectic Colonial, also on a 50-foot-wide lot. The lack of inventory is due to the fact that "it's such a stable area, with such elegant old homes on oversize lots, that people never want to move," says Chicago architect Thom Greene of Greene & Proppe Design in Andersonville, who is also vice president of the Edgewater Historical Society. Indeed, says McGuirt, "when they do come on the market, they go fast." Such are the realities of the real estate market in Lakewood Balmoral, which was established by developer John Lewis Cochran after he bought the parcel it sits on today in 1890. His aim, explains Greene, was to build middle-class housing as an alternative to the lakefront mansions on Sheridan Road three blocks east. Today, most of the mansions are gone, replaced by highrises that offer trim spaces. That has made the spacious, architecturally diverse old homes in this lovely little enclave due west much more desirable. "It has a real small-town feel," points out Ball. "People often call [Lakewood Balmoral] 'Wilmette in the City' or 'Mayberry.'" The small-town shtick goes a long way in making the community appealing. Residents organize to improve everything about the place, from its local businesses to nearby schools, under the aegis of community groups such as the Lakewood Balmoral Residents Council. In 1998, community efforts also got the district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, notes Ball. With committed residents and so many assets, "We don't have the wild housing fluctuations you see in other neighborhoods," says Ball. "Prices never cratered during the recent recession, they just fell about 20 percent. But now they're back up and rising quickly because everyone wants to live here, so most listings turn over in a matter of weeks." If you want in, "you have to cultivate an agent who specializes in this area," advises Ball, who does just that—and lives here, too, in an 1898 home her grandparents bought in the 1940s. "I was born here and haven't left the 'hood yet," she laughs. And of course, that makes it easier for her to know who's about to sell, when she's out schmoozing with neighbors. Says the agent with a smile, "We all love our front porches." MA 138 9/17/13 11:37 AM