Upscale 'Montana Row' Houses Under Way

Lincoln Park will soon have yet another rowhouse complex.

Chicago-based Associated Bank recently provided a $6.2 million construction loan for the project to Belgravia Group, according to a report published Wednesday in REJournals.com. The loan will be used to build a 14-unit rowhome development known as "Montana Row" in the 1500 block of West Montana Street in Lincoln Park.

REJournals.com reports:

Montana Row is a development of 14 row homes in Lincoln Park that are 25-feet wide with large rear yards and attached garages at prices in the $900,000s. The first homes will close in early 2013 and others are under construction and available for early 2013 delivery.

Belgravia Group broke ground on the project about a month ago, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report. Located just west of Greenview Avenue and one block north of Fullerton Parkway, homes will be 3,200 square feet with 25-foot wide floorplans on each of three levels, according to an offshoot of the company's website dedicated solely to Montana Row.

The Businessweek report quotes a director at the Elgin-based housing research firm Metrostudy, saying that developers began construction on 90 for-sale units in Chicago this year through September, and the 2012 total will likely loom around 150.

"That’s more non-rental housing starts than in the past two years combined," the story says. " ... For-sale housing starts in the city of 2.7 million fell last year to 38 units, the lowest in data going back to 2004, according to Huecksteadt."

Construction starts on single-family homes and other residential units totaled 11,485 in 2006—a peak number, according to Hueksteadt.

For more information on the housing market or the Lincoln Park project, check out the full Businessweek report.