Chicago Apartment Listing Tests South Side Neighborhood’s Hype

A South Side landlord is testing how buzzy Bronzeville has become by listing two apartment buildings for $225,000 per unit.

Raphael Lowenstiein, who previously landed in financial hot water from racking up code violations on other South Side properties, has put two apartment buildings at 4201 and 4750 South Michigan Avenue up for sale together or separately. If the combined 45 units sold at the target price of $10.1 million, the sale would be on par with recent multifamily sales in more established real estate markets in Chicago. The properties have however collected several code violations, some of which are resolved and some of which are outstanding.

Assets snagging between $200,000 and $300,000 in the past year include a 17-unit complex sold in Avondale, which sold for $235,000 per unit last May; a 47-unit complex in river West that sold for $302,000 per unit the following month; and in the West Loop, a 274-unit tower that sold for $278,000 per unit in October.

Bronzeville had been experiencing a dramatic decline in population until recently, much like other areas of the South Side.

The neighborhood was a hub for Black population growth during the Great Migration in the early to mid-1900s, but years of disinvestment led its population to decline by more than 75 percent between 1950 and 2000, according to United Way of Metro Chicago.

Growth in nearby Hyde Park and the expected 2026 completion of the Obama presidential library in Woodlawn has spurred an influx of interest recently, along with Farpoint Development’s planned $3.2 billion megadevelopment known as Bronzeville Lakefront.

On the residential side, a single family home in Woodlawn set a record this month, selling for $1.2 million, which was $400,000 more than any previous home sold in the neighborhood.

“From the 7100 block up to Douglas, it’s all improved significantly,” said SVN’s Joe Connelly, who is listing agent for Lowenstein’s South Michigan Avenue properties. “In Woodlawn, I was working on a deal for $200,000 a door. That would have been absolutely unheard of even four years ago.”

A sale at or above $200,000 per unit is not a guarantee, even with the area’s growth. A two-building Hyde Park portfolio at 5111 South University Avenue and 5135 South Blackstone Avenue totaling 77 studio and one-bedroom units sold this month for $103,000 per unit.

But the South Michigan Avenue properties also benefit from their proximity to Bronzeville Lakefront and from larger-than-typical floorplans because they were converted from condos and renovated, Connelly said.

“Local investors think the price per door is a little steep for Bronzeville, but it reflects the rents that they’re achieving,” Connelly said.

Average rents are close to $2,000 per unit, and the average average unit size is about 1,315 square feet, Connelly said. Some duplex units have 2,400-square-foot floorplans, he said.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the buildings’ owners. Raphael Lowenstein, who leads property management firm 312 Properties with his brother Ari Lowenstein, have been accused of allowing other properties they run to rack up code violations and leave tenants living in poor conditions.

The code violations at properties at 4520 and 4830 South Drexel Boulevard and 4612-4626 South Lake Park Avenue nearly led the landlords to default on $54 million worth of CMBS loans backing the properties but they later cleared the violations and secured new financing.

Raphael Lowenstein did not respond to requests for comment.

Editor’s note: this post has been updated to properly reflect the current status of the South Michigan Avenue property’s code violations.