List Price: $2,349,000
Sale Price: $2,235,000
The Property: One of ten new high-end houses that front on a private greensward where a street would ordinarily be, this 13-room Italianate brick house has six bedrooms, five-plus baths, and two fireplaces. An 11th house that also shares the common green, along with a clubhouse with a swimming pool and workout room, sits across from the first ten, next to the clubhouse. The cluster, known as the Estates at Columbia Place, was developed by JDL, which since 2001 has built many of the new homes around the intersection of Diversey Parkway and Paulina Street, an area formerly given over to industry.

On this 1.6-acre parcel, the street—the 1600 block of Surf—would have been a dead-end anyway, says the developer Jim Letchinger. “We thought we’d make a unique urban environment here instead,” he says. Garage access is all tucked behind the houses, out of sight of the lawn, and the ten houses north of the green all have rooftop decks looking over the green.

The development has a bit of the feeling of living on the edge of a suburban golf course, but in an entirely urban setting. The broad, common front yard and indoor pool make it an appealing place for families with kids. But there is as yet no locked gate to keep outsiders from roaming in. “That’s up to the [future homeowners} association to decide,” Letchinger says.

Although designed by JDL, this house was built by a separate company, AM Partners, with what their selling agent Roberta Brennan describes as “quiet finishes; it’s very classic and timeless, so in a few years you won’t be saying, ‘ugh, that’s so 2008.’” The sale, to buyers not yet identified in public records, closed July 29th.

Price Points: Four of the 11 houses in this cluster remain for sale; they are priced from $2.35 million to $3.5 million. (Click on the link above for the Estates at Columbia Place for more information.) What’s impressive is the cost of the shared amenities. Letchinger says they will run about $400 a month. An unlimited family pool and workout membership would be a pretty good deal for $4,800 a year, but this one also includes all maintenance on the lawn, including snow removal.

Listing Agent: Roberta Brennan, Rubloff, 312-368-5964