“”Plans to redevelop the building at 2616-18 N. Milwaukee Ave. into a mixed-use project with Logan Square Athletic Club as its anchor tenant is getting revived after receiving a $3 million Community Development Grant from the Department of Planning and Development, said Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th) and department officials who announced the news Wednesday morning.

“The total rehab project is expected to cost $11 million, city officials said. The four-story gym would be called the Logan Square Athletic Club and would operate under the Chicago Athletic Club brand, which has several locations in the city, including in Bucktown, Lincoln Park and the West Loop. A restaurant and cafe is planned for the first floor.

“‘Grace’s Furniture has been vacant for 20 years and community members have long commented that it’s been considered an eyesore,’ Quezada told Block Club. ‘This redevelopment project is an incredibly welcomed investment in the community.’

“A community benefits agreement made with the developers, Quezada and the neighborhood groups include preserving the building’s vintage sign and restoring the facade, hiring locally to bring more jobs to residents who will be paid a living wage and offering affordable gym rates for residents of the Lucy Gonzalez Parsons Apartments across the street.

“Zoning attorney Rolando Acosta described Logan Square Preservation as having ‘been critical in moving this project along.’

“Andy Schneider, president of Logan Square Preservation, said his group is ‘over the moon’ to finally see the project move forward and that the vintage sign, which has been there since the 1920s, will be restored.

“‘The project will be a beautiful wall of windows overlooking the square and a beautiful complement to the redesign,’ Schneider said. ‘It will speak to the language of the square and the restored blade sign will speak to the commercial corridor.’

“The Grace’s Furniture building, with its signature neon sign, has deteriorated as it’s sat vacant for years despite being one of the most prominent structures overlooking Logan Square and the Illinois Centennial Monument.” (Parrella-Aureli, Block Club Chicago, 6/24/26)

The Grace’s Furniture building — originally constructed in 1914 as the Logan Square branch of the David Fireproof Storage Warehouse Company, designed by architect J.H. Duneford in the Renaissance Revival style — is a contributing structure within the Logan Square Boulevards Chicago Landmark District. Prominently positioned at the neighborhood’s iconic six-corner intersection, directly across from Logan Square Park and the Illinois Centennial Monument, the building served as a community anchor for decades when the Martinez family operated Grace’s Furniture on the premises from the mid-1970s until the store was closed in 2010.

The road to rehabilitation has been long and contentious. Redevelopment was stalled for years by a protracted legal battle over billboard advertising on the building’s side elevation. After sustained pressure from local preservationists (led by Logan Square Preservation with support by Preservation Chicago), the City of Chicago banned the billboards in 2013. VisualCast, the billboard company, sued and lost; the last sign came down in 2016.

Developers Blue Star Properties and Marc Realty won zoning approval for a boutique hotel in 2019, with Longman & Eagle Group as operator, but those plans were ultimately abandoned. The pivot to a large-format gym — anchored by the Logan Square Athletic Club under the Chicago Athletic Club brand, designed by K2 Studio — found broad community support, with Logan Square Preservation playing an instrumental role in moving the project forward.

Preservation Chicago has long supported the adaptive reuse of Grace’s Furniture Building and applauds this important step toward a beautiful building rehabilitation after a two-decades-long advocacy effort. This adaptive reuse project will restore the historic Milwaukee Avenue façade and retain the iconic vintage neon blade sign. New windows overlooking the square will finally beautify the solid brick party wall that was historically concealed by adjacent buildings until the expansion of the Blue Line in 1969.

Read the full story at Block Club Chicago

• Grace’s Furniture Building Developers Get $3 Million To Revive Logan Square Gym Plan; Ariel Parrella-Aureli, Block Club Chicago, 6/24/26
• Gym Redevelopment Progresses For Former Logan Square Showroom; Ian Achong, Chicago YIMBY, 6/25/26
• Landmarks Approves Updated Plan for 2618 N. Milwaukee; Lukas Kugler, Urbanize Chicago, 11/15/22
• Logan Square Athletic Club Could Be Coming To Grace’s Furniture Building After Long-Awaited Boutique Hotel Plan Scrapped; Block Club Chicago, 9/22/22
• Grace’s Furniture Sign In Logan Square Could Be Preserved As City Leaders Try To Save Other Vintage Signs; Block Club Chicago, 6/27/23
• Logan Square Boutique Hotel Is Still On Track — With Longman & Eagle Group Now As Operator, Lawyer Says; Block Club Chicago, 11/4/20