Logan Square's Morris B. Sachs Flatiron Building Gets a Face Lift

By Amy Perry in News on Jan 11, 2010 9:40PM

The Logan Square neighborhood is graced with beautiful tree-lined boulevards, quaint squares and historic buildings. For years, speculation has been raised over the fate of one of those landmark buildings: the Morris B. Sachs Flatiron, which lies on a triangle lot between Milwaukee and Kimball Avenue and has been vacant for 20 years, with the exception of a Payless Shoe store.

Finally, an agreement has been reached by the city’s Community Development Commission to approve Brinshore Development’s proposal to redevelop the space. The six-story Sachs Building, built in 1930, will be turned into the Hairpin Lofts and Logan Square Community Arts Center, a project that combines affordable housing, historic preservation, environmental sustainability, transit-oriented development, and the creation of a community arts center. The adjacent two-story building is also vacant and will be redeveloped to make way for the project. A portion of the second building will be demolished.

Adam Natenshon, vice president at Brinshore, told the The Architect’s Newspaper that he sees the Arts Center as a multipurpose venue. "It will provide a flexible art space for the community that may serve moms and kids, seniors, yoga classes during the day and serve as a venue for music, dance, theater or spoken word at night," he said.

The planned redevelopment, partially financed by Tax Increment Financing dollars, will consist of 28 new residential loft units, 25 of which will be affordable to households earning at or below 30 to 60 percent of the area median income, or $22,600 to $45,240 for a family of four. The second floor will be home to the 7,000 square foot arts center with an outdoor patio deck and the first floor will contain four market-rate retail units totaling over 8,500 square feet. Amenities include a laundry room, community room and bike storage/maintenance room.