It may look like an ordinary building in a plain-brick wrapper, but the Richard Foster Home and Studio is anything but dull.
Foster, a very creative advertising production person, has constructed one of the more unusual mixed-use projects in the city inside of the nondescript structure at 157 W. Ontario St.
Foster purchased the 9,800-square-foot building in 1982 and renovated the first floor and basement into a studio and offices, making the second floor into his residence.
But he has decided that St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands will provide a better setting for his future endeavors, and so the building has been put up for sale.
”It`s a fun property to show,” said Mark B. Weiss, who heads the real estate brokerage of the same name that has been given the selling assignment. ”It`s a lot more exciting than the usual apartment buildings we list.”
The building, a former Chicago Board of Education printing plant for report cards, is on the market for $2.25 million.
Foster concentrated on food advertising, which is why there is a full commercial kitchen on the ground floor. He has filmed or photographed more than 500 commercials from the location, including a memorable one for Domino`s Pizza in which thousands of dominoes were toppled.
The commercial portion of the building features five offices, two storage rooms, an exercise room, a makeup and dressing room, a set construction room, one full and two half baths, an atrium reception area and a 2,275-square-foot soundproof film production studio.
The residence is reached by a winding oak staircase in the two-story vestibule. There are two bedrooms, a semi-circular living room with fireplace, dining room, kitchen, three baths, a conference room with projection booth and three additional offices, which can be converted to residential use.
”You can drive right by and pass the site without realizing what it is,” Weiss said. ”That`s why we feel we have to get people inside it. We`re trying to market it to those people in industries related to Mr. Foster`s-video, photography and design.
”It really can`t be a straight office building. It has to be some kind of artistic or design use. Maybe it could be transformed into a restaurant of some sort, but I don`t know about that. It would take some imagination.”
Despite the increased commercial development in the River North area since Foster purchased the property, the redevelopment potential of the site is limited.
”From a development standpoint, it`s a little problematic since the site is only 37 by 100 feet,” said Joseph Siciliano, the broker who is selling the property.
– The 341-room Hotel Inter-Continental officially opened its doors Thursday.
Even though the restoration of the former Medinah Athletic Club at 505 N. Michigan Ave. is not complete, the parts that are done are spectacular.
Just a year ago, the interior of the 42-story building was littered with debris and its marble columns, brass elevator doors and stenciled ceilings were covered with layers of paint and whitewash.
Now, through the efforts of hundreds of tradesmen-some of whom spent months on their backs painting ceiling designs Michaelangelo-style-th e architectural luster of the building that opened in 1929 has been reclaimed.
Walter Aschlagler, who was a member of the Medinah Club in the 1920s, was the original architect. For the public spaces of the club, each of the first 13 floors was designed to resemble a different architectural period in world history-a stupendous mix of Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Celtic, medeival, Spanish, Italianate and Renaissance styles.
Inter-Continental Hotels Corp. set about doing a museum quality restoration of those floors when they entered into a partnership to redevelop the building in late 1988.
It also designed new guest rooms, some of which had to be reconfigured as the project went along to accommodate the unusual construction elements of the building.
Almost no two rooms are alike, with 175 different layouts among the 341 rooms.
The worldwide hotel company went so far as to enlarge old photographs of the club to determine the carpet and curtain patterns, then had them custom duplicated.
Furniture, china and linens that pick up the recurring architectural themes in their design have also been custom made for the hotel.
Bonnie Reuben, director of public relations for the hotel, said advance bookings have been strong and that some periods later this year are already sold out.
Judging from the reactions of the few groups that have had advance tours of the hotel and are still buzzing about it, the project is sure to arouse the curiosity of people, whether they are architecture buffs or not.
Harry Weese & Associates is the architect on the restoration. Mellon Stuart Co. is the general contractor and MAT Associates provides construction management.
– Elvira Borgstadt, a former broker with Grubb & Ellis and Bennett & Kahnweiler, has formed her own real estate consulting firm, Ebko Inc. The firm will focus on service to corporate and institutional clients.
Underlining the trend away from deal-making that is sweeping the Chicago commercial real estate community, Borgstadt said she will be the only real estate broker in her firm. Instead, she has hired specialists in management, construction, accounting, law and finance to form her consulting team.
”Corporate real estate is no longer a matching game,” she said.
”We look at company structure, profit centers within a corporation, projected growth or downsizing and related issues when assessing the long-term needs of our clients.”
Borgstadt has earned respect in the real estate community through her work with inner-city youths. In the mid 1980s, she established a career development and summer internship program that matched young people from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago with local businesses.
Borgstadt also has earned the respect of the Japanese community in Chicago, both through her real estate work and through her membership in the Japanese American Society of Chicago.
To celebrate the start of her new venture, she was the guest of honor at a recent dinner party held at the Evanston home of the Japanese consul general that included 14 guests from various financial, legal and real estate-related companies.
– Diamond Envelope Corp. will build a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in west suburban Naperville and will move later this year from its current location in Broadview.
In a transaction brokered by HTO Real Estate Services Inc., Diamond purchased a site at Diehl and Shore Roads for a 50,000-square-foot facility that will be constructed by L.B. Erickson Construction Co. Diamond is a maker of a full line of envelope products.
– Construction is underway on a 30,000-square-foot annex to Ridge Plaza, a four-year-old shopping center on Dundee Road west of Arlington Heights Road in northwest suburban Arlington Heights.
The Tucker Companies, owners and developers of the center, said that Silk Greenhouse, a retailer of silk flowers, will lease 24,000 square feet of the new space when it is completed later this spring. Anchors in the original center include Kohls and Cineplex Odeon Theaters.
– Other leases and sales:
An off-shore investment group has purchased the former Benefit Trust Life Insurance Co. headquarters at 1771 W. Howard St. in Chicago. Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented Benefit Trust, which has relocated to Cabot, Cabot & Forbes Conway Park in Lake Forest. Asking price for the 115,000-square-foot property was $6 million. . . . EDS Corp., an electronics and communications firm, has renewed its lease for its Lombard Data Center in the Alter Group`s Oak Creek Center for Office and Industry. Alter said that as a part of the agreement, an affiliate company will remodel the 60,838-square-foot office/service building at 1800 Springer Drive for the Dallas-based company. . . . Telesphere Inc., a long distance carrier company, has expanded to 50,000 square feet at Lincoln Property Co.`s Mid America Plaza, a 407,000- square-foot office building at Illinois Highway 83 and 22nd Street in Oakbrook Terrace. . . . Ardis, a radio communications company formed by Motorola and IBM, has leased 25,000 square feet for a corporate headquarters at 300 Knightsbridge Parkway in Van Vlissingen and Co.`s Lincolnshire Corporate Center in the north suburb. . . . Carlos & Carlos, an Italian restaurant, has leased 5,500 square feet to become the third restaurant at Westbrook Corporate Center. Podolsky & Associates is developing the 1.2-million square-foot office project at Wolf Road and 22nd Street in
Westchester.
