Kingsport fosters family and friendships
Helen Anderson always came up with an excuse when her husband Ted talked about moving from their home in Chicago to the suburbs.
Ted thought it would be good for Helen to move after her mother passed away in the couple's home where she had lived with them.
"I told him the house had sold, or that it was too expensive," Helen Anderson said. "So as a last resort, he took me to look at a house in Wheeling where he was doing some tile work. And I just fell in love with the house.
"People thought we were crazy moving into a larger house because our kids had already graduated from high school. But moving at our age was so exciting; we were like kids in a candy shop."
That was five years ago. Today the couple remains happy in the Kingsport subdivision where they have made many good friends. They have a lab named Luxor, and their daughter and her husband recently moved across the street from them.
Located north of Hintz Road just west of Elmhurst Road next to Wheeling High School, Kingsport's 270 homes were constructed by two different builders. One built 40 homes in the 1970s, while another builder completed the subdivision during 1982 to 1985, said Connie Hoos, real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Arlington Heights.
Almost all the homes' exteriors have brick fronts or brick on the first floor. Homes range from 1,900 to 2,500 square feet and have three to four bedrooms, partial or full basements and two- to 2½-car garages. Many people who live in the subdivision are local move-up buyers who wanted to stay in the same schools.
Connie and Bill Hoos have worked as a team in real estate for 30 years and also live in Kingsport.
"We moved from a three-bedroom home in Wheeling to a four-bedroom home here," Connie Hoos said. "We're really fans of Wheeling. We've had four homes in Wheeling and worked our way up."
"We love it here. You can walk to the high school and library; we're close to Metra; and there's a bus stop on the corner of the subdivision.
"We have a lot of history in the area. I and my three siblings went to Wheeling High School, and my husband's five brothers all live in Wheeling. Our daughter was on the basketball team and our son was a wrestler at Wheeling High School. We've been very involved with the high school for years, and we're excited about our new principal."
A lot of people know of the subdivision because of its Christmas decorations, and some people refer to it as Candy Cane Lane. Families really enjoy the attention it brings, and it seems to grow every year, Connie Hoos said.
"This is a family-oriented subdivision with a nice neighborhood feel and lot of social activities."
Convenient shopping includes Randhurst Shopping Center in Mount Prospect, Woodfield Shopping Center in Schaumburg and other strip malls in Wheeling and neighboring communities
Twenty-six miles northwest of the Loop, Wheeling continues to experience residential growth. In recent years, there have been new condo and townhouse developments along Milwaukee Avenue and on Wolf Road as well as the opening of the Westin North Shore.
From Wheeling, commuters reach the Loop via Metra in about 45 minutes. O'Hare is 20 minutes away while Midway is an hour's drive.
Price range: $325,000 to $500,000
Age of homes: 30 years old
Schools: Betsy Ross Elementary, Anne Sullivan Elementary and MacArthur Middle school in Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 and Wheeling High School in Northwest Suburban High School District 214
Parks: Wheeling and Prospect Heights park districts