Hyde Park, Inc.

When Trushar Patel opened Rajun Cajun in a small storefront on East 53rd Street 22 years ago, it was one of the South Side's first Indian restaurants.

Since then, his neighborhood, Hyde Park-Kenwood, has experienced many firsts, chief among them the election of Barack Obama, a local homeowner, as president of the United States.

This year, Patel has had a front-row view of the largest urban redevelopment efforts the neighborhood has ever seen, ushering in brand-name chain shops including Akira, Five Guys and, soon, Whole Foods.

While Hyde Park has always been known for its independent stores, coffee shops and bookish residents, many locals complain that it lacks the kinds of shopping and entertainment options that draw people to a neighborhood and make them stay. But the lakefront community, home to thousands of University of Chicago students and employees and bordered by some of Chicago's most embattled neighborhoods, is in the midst of a major makeover that could change that image.

A movie theater opened on 53rd Street earlier this year, following a Five Guys, an Akira and a Clarke's-the only 24-hour diner for miles. By the end of 2013, developers say, 53rd Street will have a Hyatt Place Hotel, a concert venue and a new University of Chicago office building as well. The redevelopment is being aided by the University of Chicago, a major landowner, and city tax increment financing funds.

After an outcry from Hyde Parkers over the size of one new development project on 53rd Street this spring, the developers agreed to reduce its height and add more affordable apartment units.

Patel, a longtime Hyde Park resident who is on the neighborhood's TIF council, said he welcomes the commercial growth, even though the new stores may serve as competition.

"This glass building is going to bring 500 people working here, so the foot traffic up here is going to be very heavy," he said, gesturing toward the new office building that has gone up a few blocks east. "Change is always good."

Not everyone is celebrating Hyde Park's new commercial influences outright.

"I was really hoping that if they put in a new grocery store then it would be cheaper," said Emily Swafford, 30, a grad student. "One of the nice things about Hyde Park is that it has such a mix; it's mostly middle-class, but within middle class there's a range of incomes."

Hyde Park's relationship with the rest of the South Side is complicated. It is one of few neighborhoods south of the Loop with a range of independent boutique shops and grocers, making it something of an oasis in a food and retail desert. But those amenities likely wouldn't exist without the financial support of the university community and the University of Chicago. Hyde Park is considered by some a case study in racial and economic integration today, but race, class and town-gown tensions have undergirded most of the area's major residential and commercial changes over the past century.

Area crime rates have decreased over the past decade, according to Chicago Police data. So far this year, Hyde Park has seen two homicides-separate shootings that took place blocks from the Obamas' Kenwood home and have received national attention. In 2012 the neighborhood logged one homicide, and in 2011 there were two.

Dee-Dee Collins-Jones, a neighborhood elementary school teacher, said she feels like Hyde Park is becoming safer as new storefronts attract more foot traffic to 53rd Street.

"Economic growth has been a concern for the South Side in general," she said. "To see more people strolling along here is nice."

For people looking to rent or own property in Hyde Park, the neighborhood offers a range of prices.

Rental units range from $600 for a small studio to $1,100 for a studio in a lakefront high-rise, according to Peter Cassel, the director of MAC Property Management. He said one-bedroom apartments rent from $900 to $1,700, and two-bedrooms start at $1,000.

Local realtors said property values in Hyde Park have increased slightly in recent years, alongside changes in the greater real estate market, and properties are moving more quickly than they used to.

But some condo units still are on the market for as low as $100,000, said Jeanne Spurlock, a realtor, while houses on the toniest blocks sell for $2.5 million or more.

Chef Matthias Merges said the sense of community cohesion he felt in Hyde Park made him want to open a restaurant there. He said he made plans to open two restaurants in the neighborhood, one of them an offshoot of Yusho, a popular Japanese street food concept in Avondale, after seeing the momentum behind other redevelopment projects.

"There's three things that count: where people live, where people play, and where people work, and I think those things are all starting to happen there," he said. "They're creating the amenities that people need to stay within their neighborhood, just like the North Side has, and it creates a great opportunity."

rcromidas@tribune.com