Monday, April 2, 2012

Extreme Makeover, Clark Street Edition

from Google Streetview, c. 2009


The building on the northwest corner of Sunnyside and Clark has just gotten a really nice facelift.  Formerly the home of Vega Trading, it's been rebricked, the horrible drywall cladding has come down, and the windows are now bright and showroom-ready.  According to the sign in the window, two spaces are available:  4500 square feet and 2700 square feet.  Know anyone interested?

8 comments:

  1. VERY NICE.
    That has been such a down and out stretch of Clark for so long. About time it got fixed up.

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  2. @jeffo: It really has not been a "down and out" stretch, actually. Just because the city chose to neglect the area for such a long time and did not invest in it until the last couple years, it has still been home to many successful businesses. It's long been a thriving wholesale district. But, clearly the property owners are recognizing new opportunities for the area and making investments to attract different types of tenants.

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  3. It does look nice! It would be even nicer if the property owners had continued the facade improvements along the full Clark Street frontage of the building (i.e. Fox Village & Rachel Lee Collections). But, of course, half a loaf is better than none. :)

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  4. Wasn't this location supposed to be the new soul food restaurant? http://www.uptownupdate.com/2012/02/soul-food-coming-to-clark.html

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  5. It's interesting looking at the details put into the restoration. The windows to reorganized from 8 to 6, a second little tower thing was added on the left side of the building, and even the little medallion on the right side was moved up the wall. I like those details, and it certainly is nice to see someone appreciate a building along there as opposed to just tearing them down.

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  6. Okay QRBNT,

    Successful thriving businesses in super blah unfixed up falling apart buildings. It was full of thriving businesses that I had no interest in checking out for many many years, but Im sure Im not the only one who held this view.

    This stretch of clark is only recently reviving, just as the stretch of Clark just south of Devon is now just waking up again as well.

    I didnt know the City owned all these commercial buildings. My mistake.

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  7. @jeffo: if you set your sarcasm aside and consider what I actually wrote you would realize that:

    1) I was referring the city's recent investment in the N. Clark Streetscaping improvements - not the buildings themselves.

    &

    2) Yes, of course you would not have shopped there, because it is a WHOLESALE district, not retail. Do you even know what the difference is?

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  8. Yes I know what the difference is.
    It was like the area in LA, the clothing district. Which is okay, but overall not very exciting.

    Im not sure a garment district needs to be in such a prime location. Or possibly in a prime location to be.

    Yes its great that the city invested in the streetscape. That perhaps may have happened sooner if the landlords of these buildings had invested so money into them sooner. Right now a bunch are being torn down because of extreme neglect. That was my main point. That is why I was being sarcastic, because it was the landlords not reinvesting into their own buildings was more of the problem.

    Usually an area gets better because of a grass roots effort that happens before a streetscape.

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