WICKER PARK — A North Avenue office building that features a striking and colorful "Tree of Life" concrete relief mural on its facade was sold for $2.9 million on Wednesday.
Home to the pioneering sustainability group The Center for Neighborhood Technology, the brick building at 2125 W. North Ave., which includes a fenced-in side yard and a back parking lot, was bought by prolific local developer Don Glisovich, sources confirmed.
Glisovich said Thursday that he has no plans to remove the mural on the east-facing corner of the 12,000-square-foot brick building.
Steve Weaver, executive director of Chicago Public Art Group, a nonprofit that works to promote and preserve public art, said the mural — named "Tree of Life" in English and "Arbol de vida" in Spanish — was made in 1989 by artists John Pitman Weber and Catherine Cajandig. They were helped by nine community-based youth artists, who contributed other works along the same wall.
"Our preference would be to have it remain there because it speaks to the past," Weaver said.
A plaque on the side of the mural says it was a Chicago Public Art Group Youth Service Project, Inc., work funded by the Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Office of Fine Arts and the Mayors Office of Employment Training.
The building, about a block west of the North, Milwaukee and Damen avenues intersection, could be ideal for "a giant restaurant" or a school, Glisovich said.
The property also includes a 5,000-square-foot parking lot in the back, with space for up to 18 cars.
Dan Reynolds, a JLL broker who represented sellers, The Center for Neighborhood Technology, said the building was on the market for just 45 days and they had nine offers.
"It's a spectacular urban infill location that has a lot of adaptive reuse potential. It's a great location, close to transit. The Robey hotel is right there. You are seeing a further push down North Avenue with foot traffic picking up," Reynolds said.
Reynolds said some of the potential buyers were looking to keep the existing building and others wanted to re-develop it "as a higher use" and demolish the building.
"From my clients [the Center for Neighborhood Technology] there was a preference to see someone ultimately keep the building. It was a preference but not a requirement. They are happy that the immediate plan is to keep building and to re-purpose it," Reynolds said.
The century-old building was originally a weaving factory before the Center for Neighborhood Technology relocated there in 1987.
In 2005, the building — which features re-purposed materials and a sustainable heating and cooling system — became the second in Chicago and 13th in the United States to achieve LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to the group's website.
A representative for the Center for Neighborhood Technology declined to comment on the sale, but said the group would be relocating in the future.
Glisovich said he is not sure how long the center will be there.
"We are still playing it by ear. They are a great group," Glisovich said.
The building at 2125 W. North Ave.
The yard next to the building and public art by area youth along the wall.
The yard.
