University Village Apartments

In the past decade, thousands of new construction apartments, townhouses for rent, mid-rises, and single-family homes for rent have emerged in the University Village neighborhood, and warehouses and industrial plants have been rehabbed into impressive lofts for rent. The frantic pace of apartment building development has brought new residents to University Village in droves.

Situated next to the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, University Village is a Chicago neighborhood born from the renowned Maxwell Street neighborhood. Along Maxwell Street was an open-air market recognized for being one of the initial incubators of the Chicago Blues throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Here, musicians would play for tips, including the "father of modern Chicago Blues," Muddy Waters.  

UIC is the largest university in the Chicago area, with 25,000 students, 15 colleges, and the nation's largest medical school. The University Village UIC community encompasses more than 100 buildings located somewhere around 240 acres and lends the "University Village" neighborhood of Chicago its name. This Chicago neighborhood is just a short walk from the West Loop, Pilsen, and South Loop. The Illinois Medical District with Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, and Rush Hospital is just west along the Eisenhower Expressway.

The prodigious new University Village development has transformed South Halsted Street into a thriving retail strip, replete with restaurants, coffee, delis, sandwich shops, grocers, and boutiques.

University Village Chicago includes Little Italy on the northwest side of the neighborhood, above, on, and below Taylor Street, where you can find Italian restaurants and other casual hang-out spots. Many professors and colleagues from the adjacent Rush-Presbyterian / St. Luke's Medical Center and UIC live in this area, replete with traditional Greystone two- and three-flat apartment buildings and townhouses, courtyard apartment buildings, and single-family houses for rent. Buildings in Little Italy generally tend to be older than the different parts of University Village, with many buildings built over a century ago.

Parks in University Village Chicago include Addams/Medill Park, Les Miller Field at Curtis Granderson Stadium, Giuseppe Garibaldi Park, Arrigo Park, Vernon Park, and Sheridan Park.

The CTA Blue line traces the northern border of the University Village Chicago neighborhood, and the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower expressways circumscribe the north and eastern boundaries.

Popular University Village Chicago Apartment Buildings

The Otis Loft Apartments

Addams Coliving Apartments

X Chicago Apartments

SCIO at Medical District Apartments

1542 North Sangamon Apartments

Schools at University Village Chicago

John M Smyth Public School

Chicago Tech Academy

Whitney Young Magnet High School

University Village Montessori School

Skinner West Elementary School

St Ignatius College Prep School

Urban Prep Academy

Urban Prairie Waldorf School

Pilsen Academy

Simpson Academy for Young Women

Moses Montefiore Public School

Andrew Jackson Language Academy School

St Patrick School

DeVry University Advantage Academy

Allen School

Medill Intermediate and Upper School

STEM Magnet School

Find University Village Chicago Apartments by Size

Refine your search for University Village apartments to find your ideal apartment based on the number of bedrooms. Search University Village studio apartments, 1-bedroom apartments, 2-bedroom apartments, 3-bedroom apartments, and 4-bedroom apartments for rent.

The Soul Food Cafe, a name invented for the movie, was initially known as Lyon's Deli and was operated for many years as a cozy Jewish delicatessen a few steps below grade at 807 West Maxwell Street in University Village Chicago, with a small lunch counter and seating for six patrons at three tables. Nate Duncan, a tall, imposing, but tender-hearted giant, had worked for the Lyon family since his teenage years in the early 1940s and had learned to cook traditional Jewish fare. Nate acquired the restaurant from the Lyon family in 1973 and promptly renamed it "Nate's Deli." Nate lived upstairs in the building with his mother and sister. He continued to serve "Jewish soul food" until 1994, when the state exercised its eminent domain powers to accommodate the expansion plans of the University of Illinois-Chicago. Nate was never the same, as the delicatessen was the center of his universe. He passed away on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, at 76.

By the way, Nate's mother and daughter made a cameo in the Blues Brothers movie, peeking down at the Soul Food Cafe from their upstairs window.

Address: 
807 West Maxwell Street
Neighborhood: 
University Village

View more History in University Village