Former A. Finkl & Sons Steel Plant To Be Torn Down
By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 22, 2014 9:20PM
The former Lincoln Park home of A. Finkl & Sons, long deserted and the subject of several redevelopment rumors, will finally meet its wrecking ball maker. Crain’s Chicago Business spoke with Joseph Curci, Finkl’s former president and one of the principal partners of the group that owns the site, who said demolition could begin within the next two months and would take anywhere from six to 12 months to complete, depending on the extent of the teardown.
Curci said some of all of the buildings on the site could come down. “We just want to tear it down … make it a little safer,” he told Crain’s.
Founded in 1879, A. Finkl & Sons called Lincoln Park home for 112 years, beginning in 1902. In 2011, its first piece of steel was forged in its current, state of the art Southeast Side plant. The site has been the subject of several redevelopment rumors, more than a couple involving an arena for DePaul University before the Emanuel administration announced plans to build an arena near McCormick Place for DePaul to use. Nestled along the Clybourn corridor which has seen a complete makeover from a mainly depressed industrial area into one of Chicago’s prime commercial real estate strips, Curci and his team hope tearing down the old site can facilitate a sale and redevelopment.
But there are restrictions. The site, as Crain’s notes, sits within a planned manufacturing district with a host of land-use restrictions including the development of no residential buildings. (The thought of how much it would cost to test the land on the site for toxins and clean it up could be astounding.) But the 28 acre Finkl site sits adjacent to the former Gutmann Tannery and the A. Lakin & Sons tire recycling facility. Sold together, one is looking at over 40 acres of land, a pie certain to entice several real estate developers.
Curci said his team has hired Heneghan Wrecking Co. to handle the teardown. Heneghan is already doing prep work.