Million Dollar Play Lots in West Lakeview / Hamlin Park

Two buildings in Hamlin Park have been recently demolished to make way for private play-lots alongside two houses on West Wellington. Normally, we're used to seeing demolition followed by new construction, but these private side-yards are an interesting twist on the growing affluence of the neighborhood.

Here are the before and after photos of our first example. It looks like these owners planned ahead and aquired the adjoining property back in 1997 and held on to it until 2007. Back in 1997, the sale price was $350,000 - according to records in the Cook County Tax database.

In our second example, tax records don't show the recent sales prices, but recent mortgages are in excess of $1-million. It's hard to tell if the amount may have been used to aquire both properties that make up the current family compound, or if the owners simply did a cash-out re-fi.

In any case, today's market value for a typical single-family lot in West Lakeview and Hamlin Park is a solid $550,000. You really gotta love your kids to spend that kind of money...