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Chicago & Midwest  + North Side  + Apartments  | 

Adaptive Reuse Project Completed at Sears’ First Ground-Up Store

Summit Design + Build has completed construction at 1900 W. Lawrence in the North Side’s Ravenswood neighborhood. The nearly 100-year-old building was the former home of the first ground-up Sears store, which opened in 1925 and permanently closed in 2016. 
 
Spanning the length of a city block, the adaptive reuse project included the renovation and conversion of the former department store to 59 rental residences and first-floor retail. The centrally located five-story tower, a trademark of early Sears department stores, now houses the development’s first floor lobby, and amenity and lounge spaces on floors two through four.

The retail space spans the length of Lawrence Avenue with DeVry University already occupying 90% of the available retail space. 

CA Ventures and Springbank Capital Advisors partnered on the deal to redevelop 1900 W. Lawrence. Gillespie Design Group served as the project architect.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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