If your weekend plans involve walking, driving or exploring the Gold Coast or River North neighborhoods this weekend, please be advised of the following activity taking place that might cause a slight disruption to whatever plans you have.  Forewarned is forearmed!

FILMING NOTICE July 16-18 

“Transformers 3” will be filming the weekend of July 16, 17 &18 on the Michigan Ave Bridge. An aerial photography unit will also be flying in the vicinity of Trump Tower at Wabash and the Chicago River.

 STREET CLOSURES

• Michigan Ave will be closed from Ontario St to Wacker Dr
• 8:00pm on Thursday July 15th through 5:00am on Monday July 19th
• Lower Michigan Ave will be closed from Lower Wacker to Hubbard
• 8:00pm on Friday July 16th through 5:00am on Monday July 19th

VEHICLE DETOUR

• Michigan Ave southbound will be diverted at Ontario and detoured to Clark Street
• Ohio St will be open to east and northbound traffic only at Michigan Avenue
• Michigan Ave northbound will be diverted at Randolph and detoured to Dearborn
• Water St and Lake St will be open for Local Traffic only
• Businesses and garages between Wacker and Randolph will be accessible
• Upper E North Water St and City Front Plaza Drive will be open to Local Traffic only

PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

Michigan Ave sidewalks will remain open to pedestrians between Ohio & Illinois. Stores and buildings will remain open. To cross the Chicago River, pedestrians will need to access the Wabash and Columbus Street bridges. 

SPECIAL EFFECTS

The Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Police Department will supervise the use of special effects and pyrotechnics, including:

• -simulated gunfire
• -smoke
• -fireballs
• -explosions 

HELICOPTERS

For brief periods between the hours of 8:00am – 8:00pm on both Saturday & Sunday, helicopters will be used for both aerial photography and stunt parachutists in the vicinity.

My new contact information is below.  I am very excited about this new affiliation and believe that together with Koenig & Strey and HomeServices of America I have the added resources and support to ensure my client’s real estate experience exceeds all expectations.

Liane Pruchnik, Realtor

Koenig & Strey Real Living

900 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1700 Chicago, IL 60611

O: 312.893.1372

C: 312.209.2264

F:866.298.7339

OnlineChicagoRealEstate.com

OnlineChicagoRealEstateBlog.com

While you’re surfing the web on Monday make sure to check out the new Rubloff.com website. It is sure to impress!!

Some good news, sales INCREASED over  the previous month for the fourth straight time.

In Chicago, the median home price fell 29.5% in May to $225,000 compared with $319,000 in May of 2008.

Per David Hanna – President of the Chicago Association of Realtors

“The city of Chicago condominium sales numbers continue to reflect a critical need for governmental agencies to review the growing disparity in the ability to finance a condominium purchase in the city.  This affordable housing will become unaffordable and unattainable to many qualified first-time homebuyers in the city of Chicago unless existing federal guidelines, which do not take into account nuances of the local market, are modified.”

Bills have been introduced in both the Senate and the House to do the following:

• Open the Credit to ALL Buyers
• Keep it Available through Next Year
• Remove the current Income Limitations
• Allowing Current Home Owners to Participate

Currently the income limitations are $75,000 for a single and $150,000 for a couple and you cannot have owned a home in the last three years to take advantage of the credit.

There is also talk of a possible $3,000 tax credit for those refinancing.

If these bills pass it propbably woulnd’t be until the fall.  Keep watch Chicago!

Realty Times Article

I am attaching some photos of the views from each property so you can see  how beautiful the day was.

Thanks again, Chicago!

30 East Division- Unit 8A

400 West Ontario – Unit 709

The film festival is also paying tribute to the late Paul Newman with one of my all time favorite movies – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof!  Brick, Big Daddy and Maggie are not to be missed!

Here is the line-up!

Sunset Boulevard – July 14

Duck Soup – July 21

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – July 28

Born Yesterday – Aug 4

Psycho – Aug 11

Young Mr. Lincoln – Aug 18

Tootsie – Aug 25

Remember, films begin at dusk, no alcohol is allowed, popcorn is free, no rain out or make-up dates, no pets.  The screen is located in the southwest corner of Lake Shore Drive and Monroe street.  You can’t miss it!

Trivia:

What movies above are these lines from? 

• “How about a Dubbonet with a twist?”
• “One of those no-neck monsters hit me with some ice cream.”
• “Oh, God. I begged you to get therapy.”

The thumbprints will not be public records.

Per the Illinois Association of Realtors Chicago area home sales fell 22% in April compared to last year but increased over the previous month for the third straight time.

The $8,000 First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit and record low mortgage rates continue to help boost Chicago sales.