On March 10 the City Council approved a $15.4 million plan to turn the former Morris B. Sachs building—an iconic flatiron structure at the six-way intersection of Milwaukee, Diversey, and Kimball, currently owned by the city—into affordable housing for artists. The Hairpin Lofts, a project of Northbrook-based Brinshore Development and its nonprofit partner, the Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center, will get plenty of government funding: a $7 million contribution from the Fullerton/Milwaukee tax increment financing district, a $4 million “write down” the city’s taking on the building (which it purchased with TIF money), and $1.5 million in state tax credits. That’s a total of $12.5 million in public money. It looks like Brinshore will manage the property, which will consist of four retail spaces on the main floor and 28 apartments—three that’ll rent at market rate, four reserved for disabled tenants, and 21 for artists. A space on the second floor is earmarked for a new Logan Square Community Arts Center. The city is selling the building to the developers for two payments of $1 each.
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Or at least that’s what I’ve gleaned from the scanty information issued so far. Though the city put out a press release when the Hairpin Lofts ordinance passed, by last week both city officials and Brinshore had clammed up about the deal. Spokespeople for each said interview requests were premature, and it would be best to save questions for a few weeks, until the deal closes. (Groundbreaking is expected in mid-April.) The Department of Community Development—which was created by merging the former departments of planning and housing last year—declined to reveal the details of the agreement between Brinshore and the city, leaving us with a passel of unanswered questions. For example: How long will Brinshore be required to maintain bargain rental rates on the artist spaces? What will those rates be? Who will administer the rental program? How will the lucky handful of artists qualify? And who will run the Logan Square Community Arts Center?
They were produced at the Hump Hair Pin Manufacturing Company factory at 1918 S. Prairie, built in 1915 and designed by Alfred Alschuler. The office and retail building on Milwaukee was designed by the firm of Leichenko and Esser, who also did Hyde Park’s Narragansett Apartments, famous for its sculpted elephants. The camel insignia is a version of the logo that decorated Hump Hair Pin packages.
Dawn Marie Galtieri, executive and artistic director of Voice of the City, a multi-arts alliance headquartered across the street from the Hump building, said last month that she expects the Logan Square Chamber of Arts—which currently includes her group, Elastic Arts, Chicago Ballet, Intimate Opera, the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, and three neighborhood groups—to run the community arts center. “Right now we’re looking at a dead building,” she said. “This center is going to provide performance and exhibit space and expand all the programming in the area. It’ll be a beacon of vitality.”
