Beal Properties Leading Chicago Urban Renewal Without Gentrifying

Throughout the country’s largest cities, evolving ecosystems, economic changes, national trends, and even global events have always dictated the relative living conditions of the city. From housing availability, rental prices, bounty of business, and even the presence of recreational activities, these factors within large cities have ebbed and flowed throughout each city’s history. A stable presence in Chicago’s rental housing market for over thirty years, Beal Properties has not only witnessed the changing tides of Chicago’s neighborhoods, but has invested greatly into the revitalization of local areas through a process of urban renewal without gentrification.

After the Industrial Revolution, hordes of people flocked to emerging cities, like Chicago, due to the immediate availability of various jobs. Finding positions in growing factories, manufacturing plants, and small businesses alike, countless individuals bolstered Chicago’s local economy, developed the city to include architectural masterpieces, and helped to create what many referred to as a city of hope.

The Start Of Urban Decline

As the city’s West and South sides began losing the many factories that employed millions of local residents, the process of urban decline started, affecting the city’s most vulnerable citizens, while further exacerbating the divide between the rich and the poor. When the factories closed, so did the local businesses that relied on the spending power of factory workers, including restaurants, salons, grocery stores, and many other small businesses that also employed local residents. With many leaving Chicago’s neighborhoods in favor of areas that offered more potential opportunity, the demise of various urban neighborhoods began to creep into previously robust neighborhoods.

The Problem With Gentrification

Following the rapid rise of outsourcing, and the subsequent closing of many industrial jobs, many of Chicago’s neighborhoods experienced growing urban decline. These conditions opened hyper-local areas for the prospect of gentrification, which presents its own set of potential problems. While many may think that the idea of wealthy development companies investing money into local infrastructure, business, and housing appears to be a positive move that can only help local residents, gentrification of neighborhoods can lead to devastating effects for the area’s local residents. As developers create amenity-rich luxury condominiums in place of low-income housing developments, local residents can no longer afford rent, causing them to have to relocate. In turn, this loss of locals creates a loss of neighborhood identity, culture, and the exact nuances that previously made each neighborhood unique.

Urban Renewal Without Gentrification

In order to preserve the integrity of Chicago’s neighborhoods, while maintaining an inclusive, sensitive, and forward-thinking balance, innovative companies like Beal Properties are considering the most meaningful ways to drive positive change forward, creating urban renewal without gentrification. As Beal Properties provides housing, a basic human need required by all to survive, the company understands their integral role in shaping Chicago’s local housing market trends, rates, and affordability. Thus, through the company’s vast placement in various neighborhoods, including Lake View, Wrigleyville, Gold Coast, and Highland Park, Beal Properties has been committed to maintaining affordability for a diverse resident base, maintaining the architectural integrity of historic buildings to retain character, and actively listening to apartment dwellers’ feedback to accommodate needs.

To best serve the needs of all Chicagoans, and avoid the pitfalls of gentrification, support from local government, and other community-focused groups, is integral. Listening to the active voices of local residents, and acting upon the best interest of those groups, is a key element to avoiding gentrification, and ensuring that proactive public planning leads to collaboratively implemented goals. In the niche of housing revitalization, particular attention must be placed on the concept of displacement, maintaining cultural diversity, and the allowance of affordability for all residents to find suitable housing. Committed to these standards since inception, Beal Properties has been actively pursuing this goal amidst changing metro conditions through a process of deconversion of previously developed luxury condominiums.

Deconversion of Condos

Amenity-driven high-rise condominiums cropped up in Chicagoland’s various neighborhoods as an alternative to traditional apartment rentals, intended for wealthier residents during the height of the seemingly dated version of the American Dream, when property ownership was sought after as a status symbol. With exorbitantly high tax rates, condo fees, and other hidden payments involved in the ownership of these condominium units, many buildings lost money. For the dominant developers who erected these increasingly empty condominiums, the financial losses may have been burdensome, but not enough to unload these properties. Thus, half empty condominiums began to litter the view, with declining interest from upper middle-class residents. Meanwhile, these vacant units provided no reprise to the dwindling selection of housing options for Chicago’s working-class residents.

Seeing this as a problem, Beal Properties became a champion for the concept of deconverting condominium units back into apartments, creating housing options for a diverse population, without the wasteful need for demolition. By reimagining cost-prohibitive housing into widely affordable housing, all while eliminating costly demolition and development, Beal Properties has been able to salvage the structures, while simultaneously reviving their neighborhoods.

This practice has helped to maintain the unique character of each neighborhood, by salvaging historical buildings, filled with architectural charm. By updating these buildings to include modern amenities, but retaining original handiwork, Beal has been able to champion the continuity of aesthetic qualities that make up each neighborhood. While modern developers often focus on an ultra-sleek and minimalist aesthetic, this often equates to the loss of grand design that has given life to the streets.

In addition to preserving the physical characteristics of local areas, the deconversion of condominium units can have many trickle-down effects that benefit the hyper-local economy. By maintaining affordable rental prices, these newly minted apartment buildings invite a diverse resident base, and provide local spending power for the community, as residents aren’t bogged down by soaring rental rates. In turn, this spending power increases local business activity, which further propels the hyper-local economy, and allows for the growth of a neighborhood’s public use infrastructure. Without driving away these local community partners through redevelopment of housing that eliminates any traces of Chicagoland’s cultural diversity, local commerce can grow. This big picture analysis has propelled Beal Properties to act as a leader in the realm of condo deconversion.

Notably, in 2018, Beal purchased the 445 West Wellington Avenue condominium for another successful deconversion. Boasting 117 units in the Lakeview neighborhood, this $30 million acquisition allowed for the building to return to its roots as a traditional apartment complex. Built in 1953, the building was originally utilized as an apartment complex, prior to being converted to condominiums in the 1970’s. Beal’s acquisition of this landmark building restored it as a viable housing option for all. As increasing numbers of Lakeview residents continue to seek rental options, the deconversion of this condo filled the need, turning previously half-empty condo units into bustling apartments.

Beal Property’s Commitment to Chicago

As a long-standing Chicago-based community that directly serves the residential population, and employs local residents in a multitude of positions, Beal Properties has been committed to the betterment of the metro area, as well as the lives of all inhabitants, for over 30 years. Throughout this robust history, Beal has adapted to the evolution of rental practices, technological advancements, and the growing needs of local residents. The company has spearheaded hyper local growth and development through consumer-driven practices focused on providing stable, amenity-rich, fair, and attentive property management. From increasing tech-based renter communication that allows for seamless real-time communication for busy professionals, to ensuring that beautifully renovated units remain affordable for all residents, Beal continues to keep the dweller at the forefront of consideration during the modern evolution of Chicago.

Offering varied styles of housing, including garden style apartments, high-rises, vintage, and modern styles, Beal ensures that there is a perfect match for all renters. Seamlessly marrying modern conveniences, like in-unit washers and dryers, with historically renowned finishes, like gilded crown moldings, Beal expertly walks the line between offering contemporary choices while maintaining cultural and historical integrity. With many options located conveniently near public transportation options, Beal purposefully creates an easy commute for professionals of all types, further propelling the livelihood of local residents, by providing easy access to mobility infrastructure. These commitments add to Beal’s overarching goal of urban renewal without gentrification. Through these thoughtful considerations, and a penchant for successfully deconverting condominium buildings into apartments, Beal Properties continues to serve as a renowned example of a Chicago-based company, working for a better Chicago.