Thursday, September 26, 2013

And A Beautiful Building Emerges

Before
After
For the first time since at least 2007, the building at 1025 Sunnyside is free from netting, scaffolding and brown-painted windows. 

It took a long time to get to this point.  Netting went up in 2007 at the then-Tom Seay Salvation Army Center to catch falling masonry.  The building ceased being an overnight shelter that same year due to zoning issues.  It served as a soup kitchen until September 2008, when the Salvation Army declared that it was too decrepit to use and too expensive to fix. 

The building went up for sale in July 2009.  Rumors abounded that Ald. Helen Shiller intended to buy it with TIF funds for use as a green center to raise fish and worms, but that never happened.  Scaffolding went up to protect passersby from hazardous conditions in January 2012. 

In July 2012, Cedar Street Cos. bought the building and announced plans to rehab it, rent out the retail, and move its corporate headquarters there.  Repairs have been going on ever since. 

This week is the first time we've seen the building unobstructed in years.  Nice.  Very nice.

6 comments:

  1. Looks great! Thanks for saving the building, Cedar Street!

    ReplyDelete
  2. DAMN,

    that building looks good. Tuckpointing, powerwashing and new windows are a good thang.

    Let's celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks great just a shame that it took so long to repair.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Was the building saved because of any historical or architectural significance?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, Scott, it use to be the telephone company building when it was built. I think it just took a company acquiring it that had enough money to fix it up, something that the Salvation Army wasn't in a position to do.

      Delete
    2. Thanks. I was curious to the difference in cost to gut an rehab vs. tear down and build new in a situation like this. It's cool that it used to be the telephone company though. I wonder if the building is left with any restored remnants and/or markers as a tribute to it's days as the telephone co? I love the idea of keeping our buildings' history alive and integrating it tastefully into a rehab. Anyway, thanks for the tip. I wonder when the Salvation Army will decide the same fate for the property at Marine/Lawrence. They've surely had some tempting offers from developers over the years for that lakefront spot.

      Delete