Dramatically rehabbed Wicker Park multiunit is now luxury mansion

Wicker Park is post-gentrified. Just this week, DNAinfo reported that even the Jimmy John’s on Milwaukee Avenue is closing due to the rent being too high. While few (if any) tears will be shed for the loss of the chain sandwich shop, many other Wicker Park small businesses have shuttered in the last few years due to rent increases and evictions.

One of the reasons for the changes along Milwaukee Avenue’s once thriving retail corridor in Wicker Park? Listings like this one offer some clues.

What was once a classic masonry two-flat built in the old Bohemian style that was common a century ago has been transformed into a contemporary luxury mansion. The custom finishes are high-end and certainly impress, but they’re also going to cost you. This one is listed for sale for $1.649 million, making it one of the priciest homes for sale in Wicker Park right now.

This same house closed at the very end of 2015 for $515,000. Certainly, builders and developers are in the business of making money, but the charm and edge that created the investment climate in Wicker Park years ago is becoming a distant memory. Will people want to live in Wicker Park once it’s lost its edge?

And the reduction in housing stock by converting multiunit buildings into single family homes not only makes less room for residents, but makes housing more expensive—particularly when former multiunit buildings are being transformed into luxury homes. It’s something that has been well documented in Lincoln Park and other pricey neighborhoods.

• 2123 W Potomac, Chicago, IL 60622 [Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group]