Video of the fire here in #WestLoop. pic.twitter.com/vBplgFGsm2
— Patrick Erwin (@PatrickErwin) February 6, 2017
WEST LOOP — A fire broke out in a building that was formerly part of the Harpo Studios campus near Washington Boulevard and May Street Monday morning in the West Loop.
At 10:24 a.m. Monday, firefighters were called to the two-story stone building at 1115 W. Washington Blvd. where thick black smoke filled the sky.
Chris Visger, of Johler Demolition, said he was with a crew of four workers on site Monday doing work to prepare the building for demolition after permits were issued on Jan. 18, according to city records. Crews were working on the roof.
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"Some sparks from what they were working on I guess fell on some garbage that was in the building and it caught on fire," he said.
"The roofing material smokes real bad," so that's why there was so much smoke, he said.
Firefighters extinguished the flames within 15 minutes and no workers injured, he said.
There was little to no damage done to the interior of the building because "there's nothing inside, just garbage piled up inside."
Crews clean up after a fire broke out at 1115 W. Washington Monday. [Photos by DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
Fire Department officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The fire was across the street and down the block from the main Harpo Studios building, which was sold and is now going to be the new corporate headquarters for McDonald's. The 19,000-square-foot building that caught fire was formerly part of the Harpo campus but was sold along with the main Harpo building in 2014, according to the Tribune.
Peerless Real Estate Investments aims to develop two residential buildings at the site and at 19-27 W. May St. The two nine-story, 109-foot condo buildings would house 56 condos — 28 in each building, according to city records. The developer aims to build three and four-bedroom "family-sized" units with terraces.
