Glen Ellyn Units Lure Empty-Nesters

Empty-nesters are flocking to the Glen Astor, the first new residential building planned for Glen Ellyn in some 20 years.

The six-story, Tudor-design condominium will be built at the northeast corner of Forest and Pennsylvania avenues, the current site of an apartment building and a four-flat.

David M. Strosberg, president of Morningside Group, the developer, said that 14 of the 40 units have been sold to empty-nesters who live in or near Glen Ellyn.

The 2- and 3-bedroom units start at $214,900 to $313,900.

The steel-framed building of brick and masonry has been designed to blend with the area and to “look like it has been there for a long time,” he said.

Baird & Warner, across the street at 543 Pennsylvania, will market the development.

The eight floor plans range in size from 1,422 to 2,045 square feet. The designs include 2 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms and family room or 3 bedrooms. Each unit has 2 baths and a terrace. Most include a bay window.

Standard features include individual heating and air conditioning, a gas fireplace, ceramic tile foyer, carpeting and 9-foot ceilings in living areas.

Units have individual laundry areas, cable TV hookups, storage lockers and deeded parking spaces in the heated garage.

The individual security systems can be wired for medical emergencies. Glen Astor, 543 Pennsylvania, Glen Ellyn; (708) 790-2310.

Au casual. That’s how interior designer John Robert Wiltgen describes the new 2-bedroom furnished model at Haberdasher Square Lofts, 710 W. Jackson.

“It’s clean, simple, sophisticated, but easy,” said Wiltgen. “This is a place designed as a retreat from the fast-paced life in the emerging West Loop.”

The Unit 520 corner condo unit features 1,320 square feet of space, starting at $175,500. The loft plan has a galley kitchen and living-room fireplace at its center. The master suite includes a bath with an 11-foot ceiling and raised tub with two shower heads.

Units range from $104,000 to $399,000 at the former Hart Shaffner & Marx building, for 745- to 1,478-square-foot units. Haberdasher Square Lofts, 710 W. Jackson; Home by Invsco Corp., (312) 831-0500.

Family plan. The houses at Brittany Hills in Algonquin are expandable and flexible floor plans to fit growing households.

The 165 single-family houses will come in 14 ranch and two-story plans that will be base-priced in the low $200,000 range. Each has 1,900 to 3,100 square feet of living space, 2 to 5 bedrooms and at least 2 1/2 baths.

Scott Ballard, sales director for Brittany Homes & Developments, said that since most buyers there have children, family rooms are large and open, with plenty of wall space for large-screen televisions or entertainment systems.

Many plans have the family room, kitchen and breakfast areas open to each other so parents can keep an eye on the kids.

Standard features include fireplaces, 9-foot first-floor ceilings, ceramic tile or hardwood foyers, prefinished doors and trim, and oak railings and vanities, whirlpool tubs, 2- or 3-car garages.

Options include skylights, raised tubs, extra bedrooms and fireplaces, lofts, bay windows and center islands in kitchens. Brittany Hills, on Sleepy Hollow Road, just south of County Line Road, Algonquin; Brittany Homes, for appointment (847) 639-0060.