From Renters to Owners: An Avondale Couple's Two-Flat Purchase Is a Quiet Win for Bricktown — and a Window Into a Contested City Law
By Socialhood News · Avondale ·
On a block near Elston and Belmont avenues in Avondale, Sarah and Brian Sharpe are doing something that has become increasingly rare on Chicago's northwest side: they own the building they live in. The couple — longtime renters in the neighborhood — recently purchased their two-flat, a milestone that the City of Chicago's Department of Housing is now holding up as a model success story for its tenant opportunity-to-purchase law. Block Club Chicago reporter Ariel Parrella-Aureli broke the story on October 7, 2026, putting a face on a policy debate that has until now been mostly abstract for many Avondale residents.
The mechanics of the deal are telling. According to documents obtained by Block Club through a Freedom of Information Act request, the building's owners provided the required notices and documents to all tenants — including the Sharpes and their upstairs neighbor. That neighbor chose to waive his right to purchase the building. The Sharpes did not. They put in an offer that met the sale price, and it was accepted. The result: a family that might otherwise have been displaced by a sale to an outside investor instead became the building's owners, preserving not just their own housing but the building's character as a neighborhood two-flat rather than a flipped property.
For the Sharpes, keeping the building out of the hands of developers looking to flip it was a meaningful part of the outcome — not just a side benefit. That framing matters in Avondale, a neighborhood that has spent years grappling with development pressure, rising rents, and the slow erosion of the affordable housing stock that gave Bricktown its working-class, multi-generational texture. The City's Department of Housing, through spokesperson Ugo Okere, offered its own read in a statement to Block Club: "The Department of Housing views achieving our goals of the ordinance as measurements of success. Every sale is going to look slightly different as no two real estate purchase processes are the same."
But the Sharpes themselves are more measured. They describe their case as a "unicorn" — an unusually clean set of circumstances where the building owner complied fully, the notices arrived in order, the upstairs neighbor stepped aside, and the purchase price was within reach. They are clear that most renters in Chicago, including in Avondale, are not so lucky. The law exists, but the path from legal right to actual ownership is long, expensive, and full of places where the process can break down. Their story is a genuine win, and they know it. It is also, by their own account, not the norm.
That honesty is what makes the Sharpe story worth paying attention to as a neighborhood matter rather than just a policy footnote. Avondale is a place where the tension between growth and displacement is felt block by block, building by building. The DePaul University Institute for Housing Studies has previously flagged Avondale and neighboring Irving Park as among Chicago's fastest-losing neighborhoods for affordable housing, with rents climbing at rates that echo what happened in Logan Square and Humboldt Park before significant displacement there. Against that backdrop, every two-flat that stays in the hands of the people who live in it — rather than being sold to an outside flipper — is a small but real counterweight.
For Avondale residents who rent and have ever wondered what happens when a landlord puts a building on the market, the Sharpe story is an invitation to learn more about what rights actually exist. Chicago's tenant opportunity-to-purchase ordinance gives renters a legal window to make an offer before a sale closes to an outside buyer — but exercising that right requires knowing it exists, receiving the proper notices, and having access to financing. Community organizations operating in the 35th Ward can help renters understand the process. Block Club Chicago's ongoing coverage of the Avondale beat, reported by Ariel Parrella-Aureli, is the best place to follow the policy debate as lawsuits tied to the ordinance continue to work through the courts.
For now, though, the view from the garden behind a two-flat near Elston and Belmont tells its own story. Sarah and Brian Sharpe are Avondale homeowners. They got there through a law the city passed, a landlord who followed the rules, a neighbor who stepped back, and their own willingness to take the leap. Bricktown could use more stories like theirs.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/10/07/longtime-renters-bought-their-avondale-home-but-did-the-citys-tenant-law-actually-help/