Near South Side

Sub Neighborhoods:

Dearborn Park, Near South Side, Museum Park, Central Station, Prairie Ave. Historic District

Community Information:

The Near South Side’s boundaries are as follows: North—Roosevelt Road (1200 S); South—26th Street; West—Chicago River between Roosevelt and 18th Street, Clark Street between 18th Street and 22nd Street, Federal between 22nd and the Stevenson Expressway just south of 25th Street, and Clark Street again between the Stevenson and 26th Street; and East—Lake Michigan.
The portion of the Near South Side located east of Lake Shore Drive contains some of the most well-known structures in Chicago: Soldier Field , the eastern half of McCormick Place , the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, and Northerly Island. The remaining area is currently undergoing a major residential and mixed-use redevelopment.

The Near South Side is one of the most dynamic of Chicago’s communities. It has undergone a metamorphosis from a Native American homeland to a blue collar settlement, to an elite socialite residential district, to a center for vice, to a slum, to a public housing and warehouse district, and finally to the home of a newly gentrified residential district.

South Loop residential development has expanded to the Dearborn Park neighborhood (between State and Clark Streets South of Roosevelt Road). The new Central Station neighborhood is the site of major mixed use development that includes One Museum Park, One Museum Park West, numerous residential condominiums and luxury townhomes. This development is built on 72 acres (290,000 m2) of former rail yards and air space rights east of Indiana Avenue between Roosevelt Road and 18th Street that include the former location of the Central Station terminal.

Also, a wave of loft conversions in Printer’s Row that has spread to major North-South Avenues such as Michigan, Wabash, and Indiana is making them residential streets again in this neighborhood after a century of other uses.  The planned development has expanded from 69 to 80 acres (320,000 m2) and includes properties between Michigan and Indiana Avenues.

Recent Listings in this Neighborhood: