Photo courtesy by chicago.curbed.com
Unused buildings often spiral into a state of disrepair when no one lives or works in them. With no one to take care of maintenance and upkeep, buildings that were once strong, sound structures can become lifeless, dangerous shells. Such has been the case with a 285,000-square foot warehouse building in Chicago’s Goose Island neighborhood. A building at 909 West Bliss Street, formerly the Pickens-Kane Moving Storage building, is due for a rehab job, and investor Matt Garrison is prepared to take on the job.
A New, High-Tech Office Building
Instead of keeping the space in use as a warehouse and storage facility, the space will be updated to attract high-tech tenants and will be converted into office space, with retail space available on the ground floor. Garrison also hopes to attract a restaurant operator to work in the building at some point. Included in the space will be features implemented to attract tech tenants, such as indoor bike parking, LEED certification, multiple green roofs, and more. With luck, the new use of the space will be a complete turnaround for the building, and it will no longer sit abandoned, wasting away.
Timespan for Major Overhauls
Of course, with the amount of work that needs to be done to convert the warehouse space into ultra-modern, green space, the rehab project will be a lengthy one. It will be two to three years before companies can start moving in, which still leaves the building vacant and consequently, presents a set of issues common to all rehab projects: when buildings are uninhabited but contain a wealth of building materials, they can become targets of crimes such as vandalism and theft. Keeping a building as large as this one secure is absolutely essential, especially when considering the types of materials that will be being used to bring the building up to green standards. Expensive, environmentally friendly and green-conscious building materials could easily be stolen and resold. In this situation, it is ideal to secure the building’s entry points with steel window guards and a door guard system. These types of protections against trespassing are just one way to block intruders from gaining entry to a building such as this.
If you’re in the midst of a rehab project and you need a way to protect the building from trespassers, contact DAWGS today.
