What’s happening with the Sears building?

Some of you may have read Steve Brandt's article in the Star Tribune on June 14 noting there are now four proposals for the renovation of the Sears building at Lake and Chicago. These proposals will go to the City Council in September, and one developer will be selected.

I am associated with Basim Sabri of Sabri Properties in presenting one of the proposals.

Most readers of Southside Pride will remember my pleas to save the Sears building in 1987 when a former City Council Member at that time was threatening to tear it down for a Chicago developer who wanted to put up a strip mall. The building actually saved itself (it cost $5 million to demolish, an amount no developer would pay).

Chicago and Lake have fallen on hard times, and rennovating the Sears building is probably the key to turning that corner around. Some of the most dramatic rehabilitation on Lake Street is happening with Sabri Properties' renovation of the area from 2nd Avenue to 5th Avenue, a strip most others had given up on. Basim Sabri has financed this development on his own, and he has created business spaces for many hundreds of Somali and Latin American immigrants. With the Reachout building at 417 East Lake, he spent $3.2 million and renovated a warehouse into a sparkling shopping mall in six months. I was so excited with the results of his renovation that I convinced him to submit a proposal to do similar work on the Sears building.