WIN: Maxim’s to Reopen as the Astor Club in Late 2022
"On a recent sunny morning, Goudy Square, the small park in the heart of the Gold Coast at Astor and Goethe Streets, was alive with dozens of little children in the company of their parents, grandparents or nannies."You could hear their carefree and playful noise across the street where...
WIN: ‘Authenticity is Guiding Principle’ for Adaptive Reuse of Peabody Elementary School into Residential Building (Chicago 7 2015)
"There used to be a teacher’s desk in each classroom at the old Elizabeth Peabody public school building on Augusta Boulevard in Noble Square. Now each one has a kitchen island."The Peabody school, one of dozens of Chicago Public Schools buildings shut down in 2013, is getting a second...
WIN: Henry B. Clarke House / Bishop Ford House to Begin $1 Million Renovation
"Bishop Louis Henry Ford, the influential Black pastor who saved a noteworthy 1830s house from ruin and rehabbed it over the course of decades, may be honored with more than simply renaming the house."City officials 'are looking at ways we might amplify the story' of Ford buying the Greek...
WIN: Muddy Waters MOJO Museum Momentum Finally Overcomes Aldermanic Delays with Approval to Buy Adjacent Vacant Lot
"The Muddy Waters MOJO Museum could get a new garden to host outdoor performances — if the city allows the owner to buy an adjacent lot."Museum founder Chandra Cooper and her team unveiled plans for the empty lot during an Aug. 30 community meeting. They hope to transform the...
WIN: Francis Scott Key Public School in Austin Reopens as The Field School (Chicago 7 2015)
"Students attending a private Christian school will start the year in a renovated building that used to be Francis Scott Elementary School until CPS shuttered it nearly a decade ago. Now the building will house pre-K through eighth grade students attending The Field School."'We’re so excited to be in...
WIN: Covent Hotel Renovation and Conversion to Affordable Housing to Begin
"Construction is set to begin on the Covent Hotel redevelopment this September after years of planning and approval hurdles. Originally proposed back in 2016, the project at 2653 N. Clark will reuse the existing Covent Hotel building while adding a new building to the parking lot behind the building."Planned...
WIN: 100-Year Old ‘Ghost Signs’ Rescued Just Days Before Demolition
Bob Behounek, Robert Frese, Kelsey McClellan and Andrew McClellan pose for a photo at 3609 N. Ravenswood Ave. on Aug. 3, 2022, where well-preserved signs dating back to the early 1900s were recently revealed when the siding was removed. Photo credit: Colin Boyle / Block Club ChicagoThe siding...
WIN: Adaptive Reuse Progressing of Vintage Fulton Market Industrial Building Into Guinness Chicago Taproom
"Renovation and construction work are rapidly taking shape for Fulton Market’s new Guinness Taproom. Coordinated by developer Fred Latsko, the project is an adaptive re-use of the former Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal Building at 375 N Morgan Street. A former destination for street art, the converted beer hub will yield...
WIN: Illinois Institute of Technology Completes Restoration of Three Mies van der Rohe Buildings
"With Dirk Denison Architects and Gilbane Building Company, the Illinois Institute of Technology has recently completed a $70 million housing project that has restored three Ludwig Mies van der Rohe buildings. With the completion of the Carman Hall residential facility, the three-building project has renewed Illinois Tech’s front door...
WIN: Revised Hollander Warehouse Building Adaptive Reuse Moving Forward
"Developer GW Properties has come back to the community to propose a new plan for the rehabilitation of the Hollander Building. Located at 2422 N. Milwaukee, the building stands just north of the intersection of N. Milwaukee Ave and W. Fullerton Ave. The rear of the Hollander Building turns...
WIN: Landmarks Report Confirms Century and Consumers Buildings are Landmark Eligible (Chicago 7 2011, 2013 & 2022)
The Century Building, 202 S. State Street. Photo credit: Chicago Architectural Photographing Company, State Street, 200-298 S. Folder 1177, Sheet 13, CPC_04_D_1177_013, Chicago - Photographic Images of Change, University of Illinois at Chicago. Library. Special Collections DepartmentKey preservation and Chicago Collaborative Archive Center leaders following the two hour meeting...
POTENTIAL WIN: City Seeks Redevelopment for Roseland Theater and other Roseland Sites (Chicago 7 2020)
"More homes and spots for businesses and shopping could be coming to Roseland as the city looks to redevelop three large sites in the neighborhood."The city’s Department of Planning and Development soon will open the process to pitch redevelopment ideas for the closed Gately’s Peoples Store, the former Roseland...
WIN: After Decades of Delays, St. Boniface Residential Adaptive Reuse Moving Forward (Chicago 7 2003 & 2009)
"Construction on a long-delayed project to turn a historical Noble Square church into condos will begin as soon as the city grants a key permit, the developer said this week."St. Boniface Church, 1358 W. Chestnut St., was bought in 2016 by STAS Development President Michael Skoulsky, who pledged to...
WIN: 7 Acre Former Locomotive Headlight Factory Renovated into The Terminal Innovation Center
"As a real estate project, the property marketed as The Terminal in West Humboldt Park reveals itself slowly — so slowly that it’s hard for passersby to appreciate."Walk by the two-story building at 1334 N. Kostner Ave. and you see a handsome example of industrial architecture from a century...
WIN: New Owner Values Historic Pizzeria Uno and Due Buildings
"The man who expanded Chicago restaurant Pizzeria Uno into a national chain has sold the River North buildings that house the original location and its sister spot, Pizzeria Due, back to the company for $2.3 million and $4.2 million."The plan is to keep the buildings unchanged—except for a few...
POTENTIAL WIN: City of Chicago Seek Developers for Central Manufacturing District Warehouses (Chicago 7 2014 and 2020)
Watch Preservation Chicago's Central Manufacturing District-Original East District Walking Tour video recorded September 25th, 2021 Image Credit: Preservation Chicago"The city is reviving a push to redevelop a massive and empty historic warehouse it owns in McKinley Park, starting with a plan to put the property up for sale."The Chicago...
WIN: Original Decorative Cast Iron Window Elements from 1899 Donated to Illinois Railway Museum
Preservation Chicago and The St. Jude League Building/The Williams Building at 205 W. Monroe donated 16 large, original cast iron window members on July 11, 2022 to the Illinois Railway Museum. The current plan is to incorporate these building elements into the IRM visitor center. We wish to applaud the...
WIN: Rusnak Brothers Store Adaptive Reuse for Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub Complete
"South Side healthy living center will soon open on 79th Street, bringing neighborhood essentials to the community, nearly two years after winning a $10 million citywide prize. The Healthy Lifestyle Hub, 839 W. 79th St., will open July 29, 2022 said Carlos Nelson, director of the Greater Auburn Gresham...
WIN: Long Vacant Englewood Firehouse to be Restored by INVEST South/West for Eco-Food Hub
"Developers of a multimillion-dollar project that would transform a historical Englewood firehouse into an eco-food hub could break ground this fall as they work through the summer to get final approvals."McLaurin Development Partners, a real estate development team, received a key city approval this month from the Community Development...
WIN: Laramie State Bank Restoration Powerfully Catalyzes Chicago Avenue Revitalization (Chicago 7 2019)
"Plans for renovation of the historic Laramie State Bank building in Austin are taking shape. Nearly 20 small businesses are planning to remodel or open on the stretch of Chicago Avenue that calls itself the Soul City Corridor. And Shawnie Jones' year-old Chicago Eats Sports Bar is enjoying robust...
POTENTIAL WIN: Zoning Amendment Submitted for Salvation Army Building Adaptive Reuse as Hotel and Apartments (Chicago 7 2021)
"Thousands of apartment units and a hotel could replace the former Salvation Army property and a neighboring site steps from the city’s first casino in River West."Chicago-based Shapack Partners plans to transform two areas, including the closed store at 509 N. Union Ave., into an apartment-hotel hybrid campus, according...
PARTIAL WIN: Jefferson Park Firehouse Adaptive Reuse Moving Forward, Despite Lake Effect Brewery Backing Out
"Far Northwest Side neighbors are disappointed and frustrated after Lake Effect Brewing Company bowed out of plans to open a taproom in a historical neighborhood firehouse, joining a line of businesses pitched for the area that never opened their doors."Lake Effect announced Tuesday it was abandoning the firehouse project,...
WIN: Morton Salt Reopens as The Salt Shed Music Venue
"Adhering to Chicago tradition, Bruce Finkelman is making no small plans for the Salt Shed. The former Morton Salt complex in West Town is being transformed into a performance venue and had its first outdoor concerts this week, the first Tuesday and Fleet Foxes Wednesday. Andrew Bird and Iron...
WIN: Epworth Church Receives Preliminary Landmark Designation Approval
"Epworth Church is one step closer to becoming a city landmark just as the historical church is set to be redeveloped — possibly into apartments."The city’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted Thursday to give Epworth Church preliminary landmark status, which would give the church campus demolition protections after an...
WIN: Emmett Till Home Awarded $150K grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
"Blacks in Green, a Woodlawn-based environmental and community revitalization nonprofit, has received a $150,000 grant from an African American history preservation fund as it seeks to transform the two-flat where Emmett Till lived into a West Woodlawn community space."The home, 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave., became a Chicago landmark...
WIN: Pilgrim Baptist Church Receives $2.1 Million State Grant for National Gospel Museum
"Tumbled-down brick walls, nubs of charred timber — even the cast-iron frame and melted strings from what was once a baby grand piano."Strolling through the remains of the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church — on the first public tour since the devastating 2006 fire — feels almost like traipsing through...
WIN: Historic Studebaker Theater to Reopen After Two-Year Renovation
"Brittle scraps of Scotch tape stick to the marble walls, chipped and gouged from decades of comings and goings — and if it were any darker in the lobby of the Fine Arts Building on South Michigan Avenue, a flashlight might come in handy."Inside, hidden almost in plain sight,...
WIN: KAM Isaiah Israel Receives $250,000 Adopt-a-Landmark Grant for Stained Glass Window Restoration
"The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously during its July 7 meeting to award the KAM Isaiah Israel a $250,000 grant for exterior renovations from its Adopt-a-Landmark Fund."The Kenwood synagogue, 1100 E. Hyde Park Blvd., is already partway through a $5 million project that will fix the domed roof,...
WIN: After Decades of Delays, St. Boniface Residential Adaptive Resuse Moving Forward (Chicago 7 2003 & 2009)
"Construction on a long-delayed project to turn a historical Noble Square church into condos will begin as soon as the city grants a key permit, the developer said this week."St. Boniface Church, 1358 W. Chestnut St., was bought in 2016 by STAS Development President Michael Skoulsky, who pledged to...
WIN: After Personal One-Hour Promontory Point Tour, Mayor Announces Support for Limestone Revetment Restoration (Chicago 7 2022)
"The repair and restoration of Promontory Point has been a subject of debate and contention in Hyde Park for more than 20 years. And as of last week, a representative from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office told the Herald that the city will support a preservation approach to restoring the...
WIN: McKinley Park Workers Cottages Surveyed
In April 2022, the Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative again partnered with Preservation Chicago and students from the Preservation Planning Studio class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to conduct a field survey of workers cottages. The survey of was similar to a 2021 study in Logan...
WIN: Second Presbyterian Church Receives $250,000 Adopt-a-Landmark Grant for Interior Restoration
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has approved Adopt-A-Landmark funding for Second Presbyterian Church. Located at 1936 S. Michigan, the church is designed as a Gothic Revival church that has an arts and crafts interior. The rear portion of the church has two rooms that are open to the public...
WIN: Standard Club’s Great Chicago Fire Murals by Edgar Miller to be Loaned to Art Institute
"The Standard Club, homeless since deciding to close in 2020 and agreeing this year to sell its Plymouth Court building, is loaning—and potentially donating—some of its artwork to the Art Institute of Chicago."Four Great Chicago Fire-themed murals by 20th-century painter and woodcarver Edgar Miller will be conveyed to the...
WIN: Covent Hotel Renovation and Conversion to Affordable Housing to Begin
"Construction is set to begin on the Covent Hotel redevelopment this September after years of planning and approval hurdles. Originally proposed back in 2016, the project at 2653 N. Clark will reuse the existing Covent Hotel building while adding a new building to the parking lot behind the building."Planned...
WIN: Project Hercules Could Rescue Two Vacant Loop Skyscrapers; Thompson Center and 115 S. LaSalle
"In the middle of a pandemic, Michael Reschke and Quintin Primo signed onto a massive rehab project, buying the James R. Thompson Center, a hulking building that had deteriorated from icon to eyesore."Their plan was to overhaul the building—home to 2,500 government workers and the city’s busiest mass transit...
WIN: Google To Purchase Thompson Center for New Chicago Headquarters (Chicago 7 2016, 2018, 2019 & 2020)
"We’re encouraged that the architecturally-daring James R. Thompson Center — seemingly consigned to the scrap heap just a few years ago — is now set to become the downtown home for tech giant Google."In a deal announced by Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a Wednesday morning news conference outside the...
WIN: Modernist Lake Meadows Professional Building to be Fully Restored
"A steel-and-glass building on Bronzeville’s northern edge is among Chicago’s finer modernist structures, yet it has gone relatively unnoticed and uncelebrated since its construction 60 years ago."But that could change over the next year or so."The long-vacant, two-story former Lake Meadows professional building at 31st Street and Rhodes Avenue...
WIN: Epworth Church Receives Preliminary Landmark Designation Approval
"Epworth Church is one step closer to becoming a city landmark just as the historical church is set to be redeveloped — possibly into apartments."The city’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted Thursday to give Epworth Church preliminary landmark status, which would give the church campus demolition protections after an...
WIN: Motor Row Historic District Streetscape Upgrades Complete
"A South Side neighborhood once known for its fancy auto dealerships now has a pedestrian-friendly look thanks to city investments."Michigan Avenue between Cermak Road and 24th Place — part of the area known as Motor Row — has been reduced to three lanes, had its sidewalks widened and received...
POTENTIAL WIN: Milshire Hotel Neon Sign Safe for Now After Auction Cancelled
"The Milshire Hotel’s neon sign is no longer for sale after the building’s owner bowed to community pressure and reversed his plans, agreeing instead to work with neighbors on a plan to keep the historical sign in Logan Square."Well-known property investor Mark Fishman listed the 15-foot-tall sign on Live...
WIN: Central Camera Reopens After Devastating Fire
"Don Flesch is known for passing out little snacks to his customers. 'Grab a chocolate,' Flesch reminds them on their way out."Now, the 73-year-old is back in action behind the counter at Central Camera’s store, which reopened at 230 S. Wabash Ave. in March after being looted and burned...
WIN: In Partnership with Preservation Chicago, Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative Completes Surveys in Logan Square, McKinley Park and South Chicago
"Chicago, they say, is a city of neighborhoods. And the origins of those neighborhoods occupy a unique place among American cities – neither master-planned communities nor built on land controlled by old money. Much of Chicago is defined by its residential buildings, a beautiful mishmash of styles, sizes, and...
WIN: Standard Club’s Great Chicago Fire Murals by Edgar Miller to be Loaned to Art Institute
"The Standard Club, homeless since deciding to close in 2020 and agreeing this year to sell its Plymouth Court building, is loaning—and potentially donating—some of its artwork to the Art Institute of Chicago."Four Great Chicago Fire-themed murals by 20th-century painter and woodcarver Edgar Miller will be conveyed to the...
WIN: Capital Garage To Become Bramble Arts Lofts Theatre
"An upstart theater company is bringing a performing arts space to Andersonville hoping to spark a revival in the city’s play scene following the pandemic."Bramble Theatre Company is working to open the Bramble Arts Loft at 5545 N. Clark St. The second-floor of a historic auto garage will hold...
WIN: Modernist Lake Meadows Professional Building to be Fully Restored
"A steel-and-glass building on Bronzeville’s northern edge is among Chicago’s finer modernist structures, yet it has gone relatively unnoticed and uncelebrated since its construction 60 years ago."But that could change over the next year or so."The long-vacant, two-story former Lake Meadows professional building at 31st Street and Rhodes Avenue...
WIN: Motor Row Historic District Streetscape Upgrades Complete
"A South Side neighborhood once known for its fancy auto dealerships now has a pedestrian-friendly look thanks to city investments."Michigan Avenue between Cermak Road and 24th Place — part of the area known as Motor Row — has been reduced to three lanes, had its sidewalks widened and received...
WIN: Original Decorative Cast Iron Window Elements from 1899 Donated to Illinois Railway Museum
Grand Army of the Republic Hall and Rotunda at the Chicago Cultural Center, 1897, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 78 E Washington St. Photo Credit: Colin Boyle / Block Club ChicagoPreservation Chicago and The St. Jude League Building/The Williams Building at 205 W. Monroe donated 16 large, original cast iron...
WIN: Rusnak Brothers Store Adaptive Reuse for Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub Complete
Grand Army of the Republic Hall and Rotunda at the Chicago Cultural Center, 1897, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 78 E Washington St. Photo Credit: Colin Boyle / Block Club Chicago"South Side healthy living center will soon open on 79th Street, bringing neighborhood essentials to the community, nearly two years...
WIN: Long Vacant Englewood Firehouse to be Restored by INVEST South/West for Eco-Food Hub
"Developers of a multimillion-dollar project that would transform a historical Englewood firehouse into an eco-food hub could break ground this fall as they work through the summer to get final approvals."McLaurin Development Partners, a real estate development team, received a key city approval this month from the Community Development...
PARTIAL WIN: After Rejecting Community Performance Arts Center Proposal Which Would Have Restored Interior and Dome, Second Church of Christ, Scientist Development Will At Least Incorporate Historic Façade (Chicago 7 2019)
"The project is a blend of historic preservation and new construction. It would save the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, at 2700 N. Pine Grove Ave. — by grafting on a six-story residential addition. The church, built in 1901 in the style of a Greek temple, is a typically...