Posts Tagged New use for old Chicago firehouse

New use for old Chicago firehouse (more)

This from Dennis McGuire, Jr:

Excerpts from chicagoblockclub.com:

The rehabilitation of two historical Jefferson Park buildings could help revitalize the neighborhood, and the developer is looking for tenants.

For the past eight years, developer Tim Pomaville has been working to transform the Jefferson Park firehouse at 4841 N. Lipps Ave. into a mixed-use residential development. The initial plans involved Lake Effect Brewing Company setting up its taproom on the ground floor, but years of delays and complications to buy and rezone the property prompted the brewery to pull the plug in 2022.

Ambrosia Homes, Inc. has similar plans for the Lero building at 4762 N. Milwaukee Ave. Pomaville. Both buildings are ready for commercial tenants to draw people to Jefferson Park. Ambrosia Homes unveiled plans to invest $2.4 million into the former Jefferson Park firehouse in 2018.

Built in 1906, the firehouse has been vacant for years. The city council agreed to sell the property to Ambrosia Homes in 2021 as part of its $1 land sale program. Ambrosia paid $208,000 to the city, which used the money for remediation reimbursement. Lead paint and asbestos had to be removed from the fire station.

With Lake Effect’s taproom on the ground floor, the plan was to add a third floor and building nine apartment units in the upper levels.

The property had to undergo a zoning change in 2020, and a liquor sales ban was lifted along the street in 2021. After six years of waiting, Lake Effect couldn’t weather any more delays as its lease at 4727 W. Montrose Ave. was up at the end of 2022, the owner said at the time. Instead, the brewery found a different location.

Now, Ambrosia Homes is looking for another business to take over the space. The ground floor could be split into two 4,000-square-foot units that would each be rented for about $3,700 a month. Plans for the residential portion of the building have also changed. The firehouse will likely remain two stories, and the upstairs will have four apartments.

While some potential tenants have asked about buying the firehouse, Ambrosia Homes is not looking to sell.

Named after its former owner, the building functioned as a billiard hall and amateur boxing ring in the 1920s. Over the years, the two-story bow truss building has also housed a relief center for people struggling with food insecurity, a community hall and a furniture business. The building has largely sat vacant for the past 30 years.

The Lero is a prime location just a short walk from the Jefferson Park Blue Line station and next to a cannabis dispensary called Cannabist, which revitalized two empty storefronts in 2022.

Like the Jefferson Park firehouse, the Lero’s ground floor could be split into two 5,000-square-foot units. Rent for each would be $3,800 a month, but Ambrosia Homes is willing to sell the building for $695,000.

If Ambrosia retains ownership of the Lero, they plan on building six apartments on the upper floor and are considering adding a third floor. The building has six parking spots in the back.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

New use for old Chicago firehouse (more)

This from Dennis McGuire, Jr.:

Engine 108’s old house on Lipps.

Excerpts from bookclubchicago.org:

Lake Effect Brewing Company’s planned move to a historic Jefferson Park firehouse has been scrapped, but the brewer still plans to open a taproom nearby.

Lake Effect Brewing partnered with developer Ambrosia Homes in 2016 with plans to open its first taproom and kitchen on the ground floor of a vacant firehouse at 4841 N. Lipps Ave. Last year, the city council agreed to sell the firehouse, built in 1906, to Ambrosia Homes for $1. Nine rental loft apartments were planned on the floors above. The $2.4 million development was scheduled to be completed by this summer, but the city has been slow to approve needed permits.

The location was approved for a zoning change in 2020 and a liquor sales ban was lifted along the street last year, but with the clock ticking on Lake Effect’s current space at 4727 W. Montrose Ave., the brewery owner said he  couldn’t wait any longer. The brewery’s lease is up at the end of the year, and the timeline for the firehouse project remains uncertain. After looking at several empty buildings along the Northwest Side that had the correct zoning and liquor moratorium rules, Lake Effect secured an Avondale storefront this month and plans to move operations in the next few months.

The firehouse development is still moving forward despite delays and is waiting for the city to approve small rendering changes with hopes that construction can begin later this summer. The developer will add a third floor to the firehouse for apartments, which needs to be completed before any work can begin on the ground floor.

If construction can begin later this summer, tenants could move into the apartments by summer 2023.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Of interest … The Packingtown Museum

This is something of interest. The location of this new museum is Truck 33’s old firehouse on Marshfield. 

Excerpts from meetup.com:

For the past few years, a group of Chicago history enthusiasts have been working on creating a museum to commemorate the heritage of the Chicago Stockyards area in a former packinghouse. The Packingtown Museum will host its official grand opening on March 28th from 3-6PM. The Packingtown Museum is housed at The Plant, a former meatpacking facility that is being repurposed as a collaborative community of food businesses committed to material re-use and closed-loop systems.

This facility is dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and presenting the industrial history and cultural heritage of Chicago’s Union Stock Yard and its surrounding neighborhoods. Through a combination of exhibits and educational programming, the museum strives to connect Chicago’s industrial past to its future and inform contemporary conversations about labor, immigration, food production, community development, and the economy.

The story of the development of the Union Stock Yards, the people who worked in them, and the neighborhoods that grew up around it includes chapters on organized labor, the role of immigration in fueling the growth of city and economy, and the changing relationship between people, machines, and food. All of these historical themes are relevant to the political and social dynamics of Chicago and the United States today. Through a better understanding of and appreciation for this 150-year history, we can be more engaged and thoughtful participants in the present and future that is unfolding right in front of us at The Plant.

thanks Dennis

Tags: , , ,

New use for old Chicago firehouse

Excerpts from blockclubchicago.org:

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and Delta Institute asked neighbors more than two years ago what kind of development they wanted in their neighborhood as they mapped empty lots, vacant buildings and brownfield sites across Little Village. When it came to an abandoned fire station at 2358 S. Whipple St., neighbors saw potential, reimagining it as a commercial kitchen that would empower the bustling street vendors on the city’s Southwest Side.

Now, that vision could become a reality. The commercial kitchen project is among six proposals vying for the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s $10 million Chicago Prize. The grant aims to bring private capital to the city’s South and West sides.  Last week, the foundation narrowed the field of finalists from 80 applicants down to six.

As one of the six finalists, Little Village Environmental Organization, a 25-year-old group fighting for environmental justice in the neighborhood, and Delta Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit that collaborates to solve complex environmental challenges, will receive a $100,000 grant to fine-tune their pitch over four to six months, developing a business proposal that will be presented to the Chicago Prize committee. That committee will determine a winner of the prize in spring 2020.

As part of the plan, the fire station would be transformed into a community hub equipped with a commercial kitchen, food cart storage, and maintenance space. It would also have a small storefront for vendors to sell their products and have community space to host entrepreneurial and educational workshops. Mushrooms, micro-greens and other produce would be farmed in the building’s basement, too.

For years, residents have pushed the city to consider development that would put La Villita residents first, rather than develop logistic centers and warehouses that have inundated the neighborhood with diesel traffic and more pollution.

Although 60 percent of the city’s street-based food vendors come from Little Village and the neighborhood boasts some of the city’s best Mexican restaurants, there are no commercial kitchens in the neighborhood. The nearest is in North Lawndale, which is difficult for some people to get to from Little Village.

In addition to redeveloping the building, the groups also plans to build a food-cart cooperative led by the workers themselves. The aim is to create a closed-loop food economy for the neighborhood.

thanks Dennis

Tags: , , , ,

New use for old Chicago firehouse (more)

Updates on the redevelopment of a former CFD fire house in Jefferson Park for the Lake Effect Brewing Company

Lake Effect Brewing Company redeveloping former CFD fire house in Jefferson Park

Lake Effect Brewing Company redeveloping former CFD fire house in Jefferson Park

Lake Effect Brewing Company redeveloping former CFD fire house in Jefferson Park

historic photo of a Chicago FD firehouse in Jefferson Park

vacant Jefferson Park CFD fire house

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

New use for old Chicago firehouse

Excerpts from chicago.curbed.com:

A former fire house in Beverly for Engine 121 was redesigned into a sharp, stylish factory and headquarters for bespoke hatmaker, Optimo.

After 25 years, Optimo needed to expand and recruited architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to create a new space in a 100-year-old decommissioned firehouse at 1700 W. 95th Street. The 7,700-square-foot, two-story building houses a design team, operations, and production.

The new headquarters is highly customized for the small team, which can spend up to six weeks crafting one hat. Throughout the workspace you’ll see elegant 12-foot open steel shelves displaying handmade hats which range from $395 to $1,000. The machinery for trimming, shaping, and steaming is beautiful too and finished in matte black. Elements of glazed brick, blackened steel, walnut, and cork create an earthy but luxurious feel.

On the second floor, the new design embraces the building’s history as a fire station by inserting porthole windows in the floor where firepoles had existed. A 10-foot circular light fixture centers the room which is decorated with collections of custom tools and historic hats.

Off to the side, there is a lounge area with leather sofas, brass light fixtures, and more hats on display. The second floor can also double as an event space with a full kitchen and staging area where the original firehouse showers once stood.

thanks Dennis and Austin

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

renovated former Chicago firehouse

Tom Rossiter photo

Tags: , , , , , , ,

New use for old Chicago firehouse

Excerpts from nadignewspapers.com:

A redevelopment proposal for an approximately 112-year-old former firehouse in Jefferson Park calls for two floors to be added to the two-story building, with a brewery on the ground floor and nine apartments above.

“I am pleased to announce an exciting development proposal for one of the oldest remaining firehouse buildings in the city. The development would mean an expansion of local craft beer brewer Lake Effect Brewing Co. and would restore historic details to the former Jefferson Park firehouse, which sits on the southeast corner of Ainslie and Lipps. Lake Effect would be the ground-floor tenant, brewing beer on-site and offering a tasting room. The developer, Ambrosia Homes, plans to invest $2.4 million in the city-owned property, which was built in 1906,” Alderman John Arena said in his weekly newsletter.

The 45th Ward sanitation services had been located in the former fire station until a few years ago. Several developers have looked at purchasing the building from the city, but the high cost of bringing it up to building code standards reportedly turned away some potential buyers.

“The nine apartments would be two-bedroom, attracting professionals who seek easy access to the nearby Jefferson Park Transit Center. The design would retain the current building while adding two floors and re-installing some architectural elements that were previously removed.” Arena said.

Arena will hold a community meeting on the proposal at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in King’s Hall in the third floor of the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.

Chicago fire station built in 1906

thanks Dan

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,