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Chicago
Windy City Magazine
Discover Chicagoland and the Businesses That Drive It
Downtown Chicago

Streeterville

Streeterville is the lakefront corner of the Near North Side, east of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Oak Street, in the Downtown Chicago group. Most of the land is fill; the neighborhood takes the name from George Streeter, who ran a boat aground on a sandbar here in the 1880s and spent decades claiming the ground that built up around it. Navy Pier at 600 E Grand Ave is the east end of the neighborhood, per Navy Pier, and Ohio Street Beach and the Lakefront Trail give residents the water, according to Choose Chicago.

The blocks between Michigan and the lake hold Northwestern University’s Chicago campus, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Lurie Children’s and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, so a lot of neighbors are medical staff and graduate students. The rest of the towers are condos, hotels and the back doors of Magnificent Mile stores. The Museum of Contemporary Art faces Chicago Avenue across from the old Water Tower pumping station, Lake Shore Park has a running track and tennis courts at Chicago and Lake Shore Drive, and Milton Lee Olive Park juts into the lake north of the pier. The street grid is quiet on weekends except for the walk to Navy Pier.

Housing and prices

Housing is high-rise condos, from 1920s apartment buildings on Lake Shore Drive and Delaware to 1960s and 1970s towers and the newer glass buildings around Grand and McClurg. Construction dates run from the 1920s to the present. Condos typically range from about $350,000 for older one-bedrooms to $3 million or more for lake-view floors in the newest buildings. These are broad editorial estimates as of September 2026, not appraisals. Assessments in the older towers can be steep, and lake views drive the spread more than square footage does.

Getting around

No L station sits inside Streeterville; the Red Line at Grand and Chicago on State Street is a short walk west. Buses do the work here: the 124 Navy Pier runs from Union Station and Ogilvie, the 65 Grand and 66 Chicago cross to the West Side, the 2, 3, 146, 147 and 151 run along Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, and the 29 State bus links Navy Pier to the South Side. Lake Shore Drive ramps at Grand and Ohio connect to the Kennedy through the Ohio Street feeder. Divvy docks cluster around Navy Pier and Grand Avenue. Parking is garages, including the Navy Pier garages and hospital decks; street parking is metered and scarce, with residential permit zones on a few streets near Lake Shore Park.

Where to eat, drink and shop

Pizza is the neighborhood’s calling card. https://windycitymagazine.com/business/ginos-east/ on Superior is the deep-dish original with the graffiti walls, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/roberts-pizza-and-dough-company/ on McClurg Court does thin pies from a riverfront room near the pier. https://windycitymagazine.com/business/shanghai-terrace/ inside the Peninsula hotel on Superior is the dressed-up option for Cantonese dim sum and dinner. https://windycitymagazine.com/business/do-rite-donuts-and-chicken/ handles doughnuts and fried chicken sandwiches for the hospital crowd.

For things to do, the https://windycitymagazine.com/business/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago/ on Chicago Avenue rotates exhibitions and runs summer terrace nights, and the https://windycitymagazine.com/business/chicago-childrens-museum/ at Navy Pier fills a rainy afternoon with kids. The river tour boats leave from the docks under the Michigan Avenue bridge: https://windycitymagazine.com/business/wendella-tours-and-cruises/ from the north bank at the Wrigley Building and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/shoreline-sightseeing/ from the south side of the river and from Navy Pier.

Businesses in Streeterville

Directory listings in Streeterville, in alphabetical order.

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