WICKER PARK — The owners of a vintage building at the corner of Damen and Pierce avenues are pitching their property as a "redevelopment" opportunity, alarming preservationists and some members of a Wicker Park neighborhood group who fear the 108-year-old building could get demolished.
Located at 1530 N. Damen Ave., the building that has been home to the North Avenue Day Nursery for the past 25 years is across from Big Star and steps from the CTA Blue Line "L" stop.
"We didn't do anything. We've remained the same. Change happened around us," said Steve Koll, executive director of North Avenue Day Nursery, a nonprofit daycare that serves children from age 2 to 12.
Koll said the decision for the nonprofit group's advisory board to look for a buyer through a bidding process that starts Monday was prompted by fewer lower-income parents in the area whose children need affordable preschool.
With space for 118 kids, the daycare is underutilized and serves around 80, Koll said.
Jon Morgan, a co-founder and managing principal at Interra Realty, is handling the bids.
The fact that the building is being shopped around for redevelopment and is being marketed by Interra Realty as a location for a future transit-oriented development was first reported by Curbed.
Morgan did not respond to a request for comment early Monday.
The daycare was originally part of Association House on North Avenue, a nonprofit group that relocated to Humboldt Park 1999 when its century-old headquarters was turned into condos.
North Ave Day Nursery bought the building at 1530-32 Damen Ave. for $225,000 in 1988, according to county records. Prior to the daycare, Illinois Bell telephone company had an office in the spot.
Gail Goodwin grew up on Wicker Park and began going to the Association House at age 12.
Goodwin, now 50, works as an administrative assistant at the daycare and says she has spent 38 years of her life with the nonprofit group.
"It's not a happy situation. This building is full of memories. It's very emotional. If and when [the daycare] relocates, it will be difficult. This is a good location, easy to get to because of the Blue Line," Goodwin said.
Ward Miller, Executive Director of Preservation Chicago, said that the building was designed by Frederick "Fritz" Foltz, of Treat & Foltz and completed in 1906 for the Metropolitan Business College.
Miller's group said they want the city to save the building, by extending the Milwaukee Avenue Landmark District to include the property.
Ed Tamminga, chairman of the Wicker Park Committee's preservation and development subcommittee, said that his group is "acutely aware and concerned about the recent activity to market the building at Damen and Pierce."
"Developer interest is certainly running high. ... This building makes a significant contribution to the architectural fabric of the Damen Ave. streetscape and should absolutely not disappear," Tamminga said.
Koll acknowledged that there is "sentimental value in the building."
"We are only exploring what is best for North Avenue Day Nursery and the children and the families that we serve," Koll said.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
