“The nearly 110-year-old Hollander Storage & Moving building on Milwaukee Avenue could finally see new life after city officials backed a zoning change to allow a local developer to overhaul the site.
“The City Council signed off Wednesday on a plan for GW Properties to redevelop the property at 2418 N. Milwaukee Ave. The renovation would bring in offices, retail, nine loft-style, live-work apartments, and salon lofts. Guidepost Montessori, a day care, also has signed onto the project, said Mitch Goltz of GW Properties.
“The current plans are a scaled-back version of a project that has been in the works since 2018. Now the GW Properties team only is seeking redevelop within the property’s existing blueprint. The one-story structure next to the Hollander building that would have become the five-story addition will instead be converted to retail.
“Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), who represents the area that includes the Hollander building, has endorsed the redesign. La Spata likened it to the redevelopment of the Margies Candies building along the Logan Square/Bucktown border and the Congress Theater rehab project. Both structures have historic significance.
“‘They’re great projects. They’re making use of existing buildings in our community. I love seeing developers find creative ways to do that,’ La Spata said.
“The Hollander building has a long history in the neighborhood. Albert Hollander founded the storage and moving company in Chicago in 1888, when horse-drawn wagons were the only mode of transportation. The growing family company built the Logan Square structure in 1912.
“Generations of Hollanders have taken the helm of the moving and storage company. But in 2018, the family decided to sell the Logan Square building to GW Properties and focus on its headquarters in Elk Grove Village. At the time, the Logan Square building was only being used to store the company’s archives and records. The old moving company building has been empty ever since.
“Goltz said they want to start construction this fall with the goal of wrapping by spring 2022.” (Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 7/21/21)
Preservation Chicago had been in communication with developer, former owner David Hollander and aldermen’s offices to encourage a preservation-sensitive reuse of the building and to promote a potential landmark designation. All were receptive to the concept. Preservation Chicago encourages the developer to consider landmarking the Hollander Warehouse building and its highly decorative and intact lobby.
A different building with similar name, the Hollander Fireproof Warehouse located at Milwaukee, North and Damen avenues was renovated in 2016 as part of the Northwest Tower/ Robey House Hotel project.
Read the full story at Block Club Chicago
Logan Square’s Hollander Building To Become Lofts, Retail, Day Care After City Council Vote
Developer GW Properties wants to rehab and redevelop the nearly 110-year-old building at 2418 N. Milwaukee Ave., a project years in the making; Mina Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 7/21/21