Chicago Heights

Like many neighborhoods within Chicago Heights, the North End takes pride in having longtime residents. This area may no longer be a manufacturing center, but it remains a suburban enclave with winding streets that lead to amenities. “The North End has a really tight-knit community,” says Lauren Roman, a real estate agent with @properties. “There are a lot of second-generation homeowners in the area, so many community members have gotten to know one another. Residents are also conveniently located just five minutes from big box stores like Home Depot, Target and Old Navy.” Other local realtors note that not much has changed in recent years, and new developments don’t seem forthcoming – but that consistency is what keeps residents around and attracts new ones. Split-levels, bungalows, cozy Cape Cods and modest midcentury ranches make up the majority of the North End housing market. Most of these homes sit close together on quarter-acre lots and feature attached, front-facing garages. Prices tend to hover in the mid $200,000s, but can go as low as $150,000, making the North End a more affordable area compared to surrounding neighborhoods in Chicago Heights. At that lower end of North End’s price range, homebuyers will find midcentury fixer uppers. Towards the upper end of the market are properties in the $300,000 range. These typically show up as late 19th-century four-bedroom homes with over 2,000 square feet of living space. Streetscapes are quintessentially suburban, with mature leafy trees and smooth stretches of front lawn. Halstead Street is a key thoroughfare on the east end. Residents can use it to hop on Interstate 57 and finish the 30-mile trip to downtown Chicago, or use it for taking a bus. Commuters also have access to a rail station about one mile west. “There’s also a Metra Electric Line in Flossmoor that people will pick up,” says Brandon Rodriguez, who’s with Corona Homes Team and has family who grew up in the area. Driving along Halstead Street on the neighborhood’s east side also delivers residents to a selection of locally owned eateries and chain restaurants. Comfort food defines the scene. JJ Fish & Chicken serves up fried dinners, while Tuscan Gardens Pub offers nightlife fun with live music and cocktails. Residents will drive about four miles south to Lincoln Highway, where large retailers like Walmart and Aldi offer a chance to pick up weekly essentials. Golf is an outdoor diversion to easily get involved with here. The North End has five courses within a 3-mile drive from the neighborhood’s center. At the Chicago Heights East Course, 18 holes pass by ponds, pines and oaks. Three miles northwest is the Idlewild Country Club, home to a par-72 course that has served the community since 1908. North End Park has a playground, basketball courts and open space to roam on. All the area’s public schools are highly ranked by Niche, with none falling below a B-minus overall rating. Serena Hills Elementary serves around 330 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. North End middle schoolers can attend Parker Junior High, which boasts a student-teacher ratio of 12-to-1. Young writers and aspiring journalists can get involved with the Parker Press, a student-made news publication that focuses on student life and current events. With an overall rating of A, Homewood-Flossmoor High hosts just under 3,000 students and is ranked in the top 100 public high schools in Illinois. Locals can continue their education at Prairie State College, which first opened its doors in 1958. Degree seekers have 60 academic programs to choose from.

A drive down Country Club Drive gives a glimpse into the essence of this Chicago Heights community. The elegant and well-maintained homes sit away from the street, allowing passersby to admire the architecture in all its glory. “Our neighborhood is close to so many different resources. We have more golf courses within a 10 minute drive than some of the world’s golf capitals. We have a great park district and walking trails, and we have beautiful, historic homes that sell for much less than the surrounding suburbs,” says Valerie Kearns, a broker with Baird & Warner, who has over 15 years of experience and is local to the neighborhood. Home styles are diverse, from the classic Chicago bungalows and Split-Level homes to the statelier Mediterranean Revivals, Dutch Colonials, American Foursquare, and Georgian Revivals. “The value of the homes in the neighborhood is a huge draw. They are typically priced lower than surrounding suburbs, which is surprising due to the amount of beautiful historic homes listed on the National Registrar. We even offer historic homes and gardens tours throughout the year,” Kearns says. Homeowners here enjoy tree-lined sidewalks and lots larger than the national average at lower prices. The median sales price for a single-family home hovers around $200,000, with home prices ranging from $110,000 for a three-bedroom bungalow that needs a cosmetic refresh to $340,000 for an updated historic Foursquare. The Chicago Heights School District No. 170 and Bloom Township High School District No. 206 serve the community. Elementary and middle school students in the neighborhood may attend Kennedy Elementary School, scoring a C-rating on Niche. Students then move on to Bloom High School, achieving a C-plus. Private alternatives, such as the co-educational Marian Catholic High School, are also available, with former students like Shonda Rhimes, a noted screenwriter, author, and television producer. At the heart of the community is the Chicago Heights Country Club-West Course. The 100-year-old club offers a 9-hole course, with meticulously manicured green space surrounded by a densely forested backdrop. “The Chicago Heights Country Club is owned by the park district and open to the public. However, Olympia Fields Country Club is the more popular, private option where huge golf tournaments occur,” Kearns says. In addition to the golf course, there are other outdoor recreation areas for residents to enjoy. Landeen Park is tucked away on a residential street, featuring a modest park and playground. To the east, Thorn Creek Trail offers 23 miles of paved and unpaved trails. “Residents typically drive about 5 to 10 minutes to neighboring communities for essentials. “Although there’s an Aldi nearby, Olympia Fields has a new Pete’s Fresh Market for upscale, organic produce,” Kearns says. “Flossmoor is also where you usually go out to eat. The downtown area is full of local restaurants, shops, bars and boutiques,” Kearns says. For major retailers like Target, Petco and The Home Depot, locals can head to Park Place Plaza, about 6 miles away, while Walmart Supercenter is nearby on Western Avenue. Those looking to stay close to home can head to Big Apple Pancake House or Skyline Restaurant for brunch with family and friends. The SPAA Performing Arts Center is on the golf course’s grounds, offering adult and youth programs throughout the year. Residents can also utilize the facility for casual weekends or summer afternoons of fun to more formal functions such as weddings, banquets and bridal showers. The park district also puts on annual events open to the public, “There’s always something to do. The city and park district always has sponsored events and parades. The last event was night golf, where locals played on the range with glow-in-the-dark balls. I don’t even like golf, but I had a great time,” Kearns says. Locals are nearly 10 miles from the Indiana border, while downtown Chicago is about 30 miles away. Bus stops are along Lincoln Highway, and Interstates 57 and 294 are nearby. Commuters can also drive just over 3 miles to the 22nd Street station to hop on the Orange Line, while jet setters head to Chicago Midway International Airport. Prairie State College is about 2 miles away for students, and in case of emergencies, Franciscan Hospital is approximately 5 miles away.

Roosevelt-Cook County is part of the Chicago Heights community. It is directly south of Lincoln Highway and intersected by Chicago Road. With its varied housing options and cultural activities and events, Roosevelt and the rest of Chicago Heights is a community with strong roots. "It's a cohesive community, a lot of people who have lived there for quite some time. You have two or three generations of families that have grown up there. It’s thriving, it’s growing,” says Candyce Herron, South Suburbs native and Realtor at Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty. One-way residential streets lined with trees feature diverse home styles in Roosevelt, including brick Chicago-style bungalows, American Foursquares and Colonial Revivals. Updated, three-bedroom homes with personal driveways start around $100,000 and range as high as $250,000. The area also has several condo buildings with two to four units. These buildings cost around $250,000. Although many homes have been renovated, there are some gutted homes or homes in need of major renovations starting at around $50,000. Chicago Heights is part of the South Suburbs and is 30 miles south of Downtown Chicago. “It is a unique suburb because you border so much of the essentials, transportation, food. You're right off 30. The main street is 30, which is Lincoln Highway, so you can hit a few neighborhoods,” Herron says. “Olympia Fields, Park Forest, Richton Park, Flossmoor...they’re all right there. They border each other, so they cater to many communities.” Chicago Heights is also home to major employers like XPO trucking company, the Ford Motor Company Stamping Plant and American Star Logistics. The Chicago Heights Park District, just northeast of the Roosevelt neighborhood, offers a spectrum of recreational activities and facilities, including a fitness center, indoor pool with swim programs, summer camps and family-friendly events. “Chicago Heights has those resources. There are swimming pools, playgrounds and places where people raise their families,” Herron says. Residents looking to relax outside head to Indian Hill Woods, which provides access to Thorn Creek and Old Plank Road Trail. The 22 miles of paved pedestrian paths run parallel to the scenic Thorn Creek. The routes through prairie lands and dense forests filled with oak trees and sugar maples lend well to activities like hiking, jogging and biking. For golf enthusiasts, Chicago Heights Country Club-West Course is less than one mile away. The 100-year-old club offers a 9-hole course with manicured greens surrounded by a densely forested backdrop. Although golf is the most noteworthy aspect of this public course, residents can also rent out the banquet hall. Locals host weddings, bridal showers and retirement parties in the space, as well as more casual events. Union Street Gallery on the eastern side of the neighborhood features art exhibitions and events, hosts artists in studio spaces and provides opportunities for local artists to showcase their work. Just down the street from the gallery, Chicago Heights Public Library hosts events such as craft nights for adults and teens, cooking classes for all ages, computer classes for seniors, holiday celebrations and more. “Walmart isn’t far, and they have local restaurants that cater to the demographics of the community,” Herron says. ALDI and Walmart are conveniently just outside the neighborhood off Lincoln Highway. Los Compadres and Los Primos are two popular restaurants near the neighborhood serving up authentic Mexican classics such as chilaquiles and tamales. Los Compadres offers a fun and funky interior: its chairs and tables are bright orange and yellow, its bar has a terra-cotta roof and a crystal chandelier adorns the roof. Many students in the neighborhood attend Chicago Heights School District No. 170, starting at the C-minus-rated Roosevelt Elementary School. Older students attend the C-rated Chicago Heights Middle School before progressing to the C-plus-rated Bloom High School. Chicago Heights Middle School completed construction on its building in 2020. The district worked with architects from Harvard University to design the middle school, the first school to exclusively teach sixth through eighth grades in Chicago Heights.

Beacon Hill is a South Chicago suburb steeped in culture with attractive home prices and proximity to communal green spaces. “Beacon Hill is a small home community within Chicago Heights,” says Candyce Herron, South Suburbs native and Realtor at Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty. “The lineage and heritage there is profound. There are a lot of natives, and there’s a wide range of ages.” Beacon Hill, like the rest of Chicago Heights, is closely connected to the suburban towns around it, including Olympia Fields, Flossmoor and Park Forest. “The homes have been there forever. Beacon Hill is no different than other subdivisions in Chicago Heights,” Herron says. The roomy residential streets display modest split-level, ranch-style, Colonial Revival and Cape Cod homes mostly built in the 1960s, as well as apartment communities. Many homes come equipped with personal driveways and one and two-car garages, and mature trees sit on tidy lawns. Most homes have three bedrooms and range from about 900 to 1,700 square feet of living space. These homes cost between $100,000 to $150,000, with homes in need of major renovations starting as low as $50,000. In addition to only being 30 miles from Downtown Chicago, Chicago Heights is home to major employers such as a Ford Motor Company Stamping Plant, XPO trucking company, Solares Scrap Metal & Truck Export, and American Star Logistics. Commuters can drive north to Downtown Chicago via I-94 or take a train from 211th Street train station (accessible from Beacon Hill via Lincoln Highway on Pace Bus Route 357). Many of the restaurants in Chicago Heights sit along Lincoln Highway. For a quick bite, Herron recommends Gios Grill in Beacon Heights. The shop sells fresh, authentic Mexican food like tortas and tacos, as well as sandwiches and burgers. Just down the street, Big Apple Pancake House serves breakfast favorites like fluffy pancakes, corned beef hash and eggs benedict. Locals may also drive to neighboring areas such as Flossmoor and Homewood to pick up food: “There’s a lot of bars and grills people hang out at. There’s a plethora of restaurants in Homewood,” Herron says. For grocery needs, Aldi and Walmart are nearby, just off Lincoln Highway. Indian Hill Woods, immediately east of Beacon Hill, gives access to Thorn Creek and Old Plank Road Trail. Thorn Creek has nearly 21 miles of picturesque waterways that double as a sanctuary for native birds, such as woodpeckers, hawks and other wildlife. The trail, which runs parallel to the creek, has 22 miles of paved pedestrian paths that allow activities such as hiking, jogging and biking with scenic routes along prairie lands and densely forested areas filled with hickory and basswood trees. For more basic park amenities, Sesto Park in Beacon Hill has a playground and covered picnic area. Every August, nonprofit Beacon Hill Community Services hosts its Annual Back to School Festival in Sesto Park, bringing in local food, vendors and rides to get kids excited about the upcoming school year. Chicago Heights also hosts its Music in the Park summer concert series each month during the summer, bringing in live bands, local food trucks and games for the whole family to enjoy. The Drama Group prides itself on bringing a Broadway experience to the South Suburbs since 1931. It offers year-round theater performances and summer camps. School District 163 serves students in Chicago Heights. Children may attend Mohawk Primary Center for kindergarten through third grade, which earned a B-minus grade from Niche. Barack Obama School of Leadership and STEM, located within Beacon Hill, teaches fourth and fifth grade and earned a B-minus. The school has a SmartLab, a computer lab with technology and equipment to complete projects in video production, animation, mechanical engineering, robotics, civil engineering and more. Students progress to the Michelle Obama School of Technology and the Arts, which also earned a B-minus, for sixth through eighth grade. Older students attend the C-plus-rated Bloom High School.

The Hungry Hill neighborhood of Chicago Heights has a rich history dating back to the early 1900s when many Italian, Polish and Czech immigrants moved to the neighborhood. The area flourished, nestled close to factories, small family businesses, modest homes, beautiful gardens and a wide variety of cultures. The neighborhood got its name from the close-knit community that looked out for one another. Growing up in Hungry Hill, if residents didn’t have food, they’d be fed by their neighbors. "The 'Hill' was largely settled by Italians and used to be a thriving area with the steel mills there," Greta McKenna, real estate broker with Re/Max 10 says. "While the business activity there has slowed in recent years, there are still people who want to live in a historic home and renovate it.” Affordable housing and fixer-upper opportunities continue to bring homebuyers to this Chicago Heights neighborhood. Homebuyers looking in Hungry Hills will find bungalows, ranch-style and foursquare homes. Homes that require a considerable amount of work go for between $50,000 and $100,000, while more move-in ready homes sell for between $1250,000 and $250,000. No matter the quality of the interior, the bones of these homes have impressed. “They're sturdy, well-made homes that have stood the test of time,” McKenna says. While driveways are common in Hungry Hill, some homes rely on street parking, which is readily available throughout the neighborhood. Many homes also include small, fenced-in front yards. For those looking to take a late afternoon stroll around the neighborhood, there are sidewalks to utilize. Residents of Hungry Hill can take advantage of the Pace Bus system to get around the City of Chicago Heights. Commuters looking to make the trip into Chicago can take the Pace Bus system in combination with the CTA train system, known locally as the ‘L’. Taking the public transit option into the city would take about an hour and a half while driving via one’s personal car is about a 31-mile drive. For trips out of town, Chicago Midway International Airport is a 24-mile drive from Hungry Hill, while the nearest hospital, Franciscan Hospital, is 6 miles away. Young students in Hungry Hill attend Garfield Elementary School, which is centrally located in the neighborhood, making it walkable for students who live nearby. The school earned a C-minus grade from Niche. From there, students move on to Chicago Heights Middle School, which earned a C grade overall by Niche but also an A-minus grade for its diversity. In 9th grade, students move over to Bloom High School, which famously has a cross-town basketball rivalry with Thornton High School. Bloom High School earned a C-plus grade from Niche. As for private school options, Cornerstone Christian School is just to the south and provides a faith-based education for students from preschool through elementary school. When residents want to eat out, they head to La Fondita for Mexican. The restaurant makes its own warm and fluffy corn tortillas. Customers enjoy the taco dinner with three steak tacos served with rice and beans. For those in need of a cake for a special occasion, they head to Elsa’s Bakery. Beautiful designs, great taste and reasonable prices keep residents coming back. On the way to work, residents stop by Hi-Way Bakery. The bakery has a family atmosphere, serving freshly brewed cups of coffee and homemade doughnuts. La Rosita Grocery and La Super Carniceria y Taqueria are Mexican grocery stores in the neighborhood. Locals can drive south on Chicago Road to Jewel Osco for a more traditional supermarket. On the west end of the neighborhood is Indian Hill Woods which provides access to both the Thorn Creek Trail System and the Old Plank Road Trail. Visitors can go for a peaceful walk or bike ride along Thorn Creek and enjoy the scenery. Next to the woods is Euclid Park, which has a sand volleyball court and a playground providing a place for kids to play. Jirtle Park is to the east, closer to houses in the neighborhood and has a playground, baseball and soccer fields, and a basketball court. On hot days in the summer, the park district turns on the sprinklers so that kids can escape the heat. Union Street Gallery is a popular art gallery just north of the neighborhood. The gallery is a nonprofit organization that is looking to be a resource for artists through exhibitions and community. They host various events throughout the year for artists like their Verder Variants, where they have artists apply with their work to show off.