Chicago designer and builder Environs Development is heating up in the freshly built luxury housing market as low-inventory and high demand for new homes shows a need for more residential development.
Environs’ latest hit is a 9,000-square-foot mansion at 1837 North Howe Street in Lincoln Park that sold for $7.2 million, or about $800 per square foot, according to public listing information.
The seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom home was originally listed for $7.35 million in March of last year, and sold last month shortly after the home’s construction was scheduled to be completed, according to Environs’ website. The developer took out a $4.8 million construction loan in September 2023 from Heartland Bank & Trust to fund work on the project, with the potential to be advanced up to $4.8 million more, depending on the costs it encountered, Cook County records show. The final cost of the project is unclear from public records.
The deal comes on the back of the sale of another luxury Environs home earlier this year, just down the road at 1920 North Howe in Lincoln Park. That home sold for $6.8 million to an unknown buyer.
Lincoln Park has been a key area of focus for new development and restoration work by Environs in recent years, along with Lakeview, Gold Coast and the DePaul area where the builder developed a 10-unit luxury condo building known as Schubert Pointe.
Another home Environs has under construction in Lakeview — 1236 West Melrose Street — went under contract at the end of May for just under $4 million and has been pending sale ever since, according to public listing information.
The Lincoln Park home that sold for $7.2 million last month was listed by Environs Sales Manager and @properties Christie’s International Real Estate broker Kevin Wood. The buyers, who purchased the home through a trust that obscures their identity, were represented by Dan Collins, also of @properties.
Neither Wood nor Collins responded to requests for comment. Environs Development also did not respond to requests for comment on the deal.
Lincoln Park has consistently ranked among Chicago’s wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods, coming in at No. 9 in a 2023 ranking by the Chicago Tribune. As of last year, the outlet found that the average single-family home in Lincoln Park was valued at $813,000. Also last year, a Lincoln Park mansion at 1956 North Orchard Street came in at No. 4 on The Real Deal’s list of priciest home sales, selling for $10.6 million.
As the Federal Reserve moves to further cut interest rates, lower costs on construction loans could put new wind in the sails of development in Chicago, @properties Co-Founder Mike Golden said in a recent interview.If past trends hold true, areas like Lincoln Park and Lakeview are likely to benefit more from this than others. A 2020 WBEZ investigation found that lenders invested more into Lincoln Park, a predominantly white neighborhood, than all of the city’s predominantly Black neighborhoods combined.
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Residential
Chicago
Luxury Lincoln Park homes change hands in off-market sales for combined $11M