AVONDALE — In the five years Carlos Martinez has been living in Avondale, he's seen the neighborhood transform.
"Suddenly, just in the past couple years it seems like there's been construction all over the place," Martinez said. "You got new restaurants, a new park ... and I'm over here like 'damn, it's getting pretty fancy around here.'"
Now, he's moving away. Last month, the owner of the house he's been leasing on 3300 block of North Troy Street put the house up for sale. Martinez is heading to Berwyn, and his house on Troy will be joining a staggering 95 home sales in Avondale in the first four months of 2015. That represents a nearly 73 percent increase from the same period last year, far outpacing any other neighborhood in the city, Chicago magazine reports.
The sudden combustion of the Avondale housing market, says realtor Shay Hata, has a lot to do with the neighborhoods surrounding it.
"The price for single-family homes in Logan Square and West Town just skyrocketed, and we've seen a lot of buyers there getting locked into bidding wars and paying above market value," Hata said. "People are looking for more affordable alternatives, and for that they're moving north."
Avondale has a much more "neighborhood-y feel" than its hip neighbor to the south, Hata said, and has been a magnet for young families looking for something a little quieter.
But some early signs of commercial development along Elston Avenue, the neighborhood's busiest strip, may bring even more activity to the area. The critically acclaimed Parachute Restaurant replaced a mom-and-pop Mexican eatery on Elston this year, and a new Divvy Bike station soon followed across the street. The Park District is about to cut the ribbon on a new playground in Elston Park, and an upscale art gallery just set up shop next to a dusty liquor store on Albany Ave.
So far, though, residents haven't seen the kinds of spikes in rent and property value that have gotten locals up in arms in other Northwest Side neighborhoods. The median price for single-family homes in Avondale is still holding steady at $429,000.
Christian Pecoraro, for one, isn't worried about being priced out of the house he leases on Albany any time soon.
"I've been seeing a few new neighbors moving in, but not a whole lot has been changing on the residential side of things," Pecoraro said. "Once a lot of these new commercial things start opening up, then we might start to see things change, but until then I don't think people are too worried."
And for homeowners like Marcos Hernandez, the changes promise nothing but good news.
"We're seeing a lot of people coming in and doing stuff like flipping houses ... more and more of these old properties are getting fixed up and re-sold," said Hernandez, a Chicago Police officer who's lived on the 3400 block of Troy for eight years. "I haven't heard any complaints, and for me it just means my property value is going to go up, which is great."
Hernandez also said most of the area's gang violence has been snuffed out in the past few years, making it all the more attractive to families.
The flood of new residents hasn't been contained to Avondale, though. According to Hata, a growing number of forward-thinking developers already have their eyes on Irving Park, just north past Addison.
"Just 10 years ago Wicker Park was the hot new place for businesses, and families were moving into Logan Square," Hata said. "It's all part of this continuing march north, and right now Avondale just happens to be in the middle of it."
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