BUCKTOWN/WICKER PARK — An 1880s brick apartment building and the ivy-covered coach house behind it are getting torn down this week to make way for a new single-family home, according to the seller of one of the Bucktown properties.
Located at 1646-48 N. Wolcott Ave., the two-story, four-unit apartment building and the one-bedroom coach house were bought for $1,550,000 by Michael Kane and Barbara Chun in July from two different sellers in two transactions, county records show.
Charlie DiGiovanni owned two of the apartments and the coach house for 26 years.
"I am happy for the neighborhood. This all worked out perfectly. The guy buying it is super nice. I constantly had people writing me to buy the property. I thought it was time to let it go," DiGiovanni said.
DiGiovanni said that all of the tenants in the apartment building and coach house moved out by July 1.
Kane and Chun were not immediately available for comment, nor was Richard Storto, who owned the apartments in the south half of the building.
DiGiovanni said that the new owners want to build a single-family home on the site of their soon-to-be-razed properties and that he supports the plan.
"That building, the way the neighborhood is, did not make sense. There was no space. Their apartments were tiny, like a garage," DiGiovanni said.
Crews from Taylor Excavating and Wrecking were onsite early Monday and said the coach house would get torn down first and the apartments are scheduled to get demolished Tuesday.
The city issued a demolition permit to Kane on Aug. 23, according to Cityscape.
Ananda Breslof, a Bucktown resident and owner of Flowerlife, a flower shop at 2001 N. Oakley Ave., rented out the coach house from 1997 to 2010.
Breslof said a friend of hers who was passing by the coach house on Monday texted her photos of the now underway demolition.
"It is still a big piece of my heart. Goodbye 1648 N. Wolcott. ... Very sad but very grateful. Bucktown is changing and I'm reflecting on all the wonderful memories," Breslof said.
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